As if you need any convincing at all to visit New Zealand – blessed with spectacular scenery and world-class food and wine the country is also brimming with events and itineraries to delight every visitor. From mud and snow to the arts and beer, here are 15 fantastic reasons to visit Aotearoa New Zealand in 2017.

1. The Lions Tour

Even though there’s no Rugby World Cup in 2017, The British & Irish Lions Series visit to New Zealand in June and July is the next best thing. The Lions will play 10 matches with fixtures in Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

2. Audi Quattro Winter Games NZ

The Audi Quattro Winter Games is set to take place from 25 August – 10 September. Attracting top-class competitors from the Winter Olympics, Paralympics and X Games, the Winter Games are considered one of the top five winter sports events in the world and the only one of their kind in the southern hemisphere.

3. Rotorua Mud Festival

Rotorua is best known for its M?ori culture and rich sense of history, its many lakes and bubbling geysers. Now the city’s famed hot mud springs get their time in the sun thanks to the inaugural Mud Festival to be held in December 2017. The festival is an international partnership with South Korea’s Boryeong City which attracts more than three million people to its own mud festival.

4. Meatstock

Heading to Auckland’s ASB Showgrounds in February 2017, Meatstock is a festival of meat and music. Featuring a menu of smoked, grilled and barbequed meats, cold beers and loud music, Meatstock is a spinoff of the successful Sydney-based venture.

5. TRUE Food & Yoga

The new True Food and Yoga studio is the latest arrival in Auckland’s burgeoning wellness scene. Set in a heritage-listed building looking across the sparkling Waitemata Harbour, this magnificent venue in a former seafood restaurant is now in the hands of the personable Nic and Kelly Watt.

6. Disney’s Pete’s Dragon movie locations

Disney’s Pete’s Dragon is a family adventure film about a young boy and his dragon named Elliot. Starring Robert Redford and Bryce Dallas Howard, it showcases spectacular New Zealand locations like Queenstown, Wellington, Rotorua and Southland. So why not see the film then fashion your New Zealand itinerary to take in some of the landscapes as seen from Elliot’s dragon’s-eye view?

7. Vector Wero Whitewater Park

Dip your toes in Wero Whitewater Park – New Zealand’s first purpose-built whitewater playground, a $37-million marvel found in South Auckland’s Manukau City. With a Grade 3-4 river, as well as a tamer Grade 2 river, activities are accessible to people of all ages and abilities. If you’ve always wanted to have a go at rafting, kayaking or stand-up paddle boarding (SUP), this is the ideal place.

8. The Auckland Arts Festival

Between 8 – 26 March, New Zealand’s largest city will be buzzing with a huge range of performances at The Auckland Arts Festival. From dance to poetry and visual arts to circus, the Festival is one of the biggest arts festivals in the southern hemisphere drawing performers and audiences from around the world. The multi-disciplinary spectacular features as many free events as ticketed including lots of family-friendly offerings to keep younger audiences transfixed.

9. Ride the Alps 2 Ocean

The secret is out with New Zealand’s new Alps 2 Ocean Cycleway included in the Lonely Planet ‘Epic Bike Rides of the World’. This 301km multi-day cycle trail is an achievable adventure set in an epic landscape that travels from the mountains of the magnificent Southern Alps, past alpine lakes and down a river valley all the way to the sea.

10. New 5-star luxury in wine country

The Marlborough Lodge is a grand country estate on 16 acres of secluded parklands, located in the heart of the famous Marlborough wine region and billed as “the ultimate retreat in New Zealand’s gourmet province”. Ten contemporary suites are elegantly designed to ensure every comfort while there’s an in-house bar and a stunning private dining room serving fresh local cuisine. Explore the region’s gourmet delights cruising on a luxury launch or a private gourmet wine and food tour.

11. The 9th World Masters Games

Featuring more athletes than the Olympics and reputed to be the world’s largest multi-sport event, World Masters Games are coming to Auckland in 2017 (21 – 30 April). With minimum ages for each discipline ranging from 27 to 35 years, the sports include archery, athletics, badminton, canoeing, cycling, surf life saving and weightlifting.

12. 30th Anniversary of NZ Cycle Classic

Drive over the rugged hills of the Rimutakas from Wellington and you’ll be rewarded with views of the Wairarapa district, a region of rich farmland and award winning vineyards. But the Wairarapa is also home to an annual international cycling event, The New Zealand Cycle Classic and in January of 2017, the race will be celebrating 30 years of two-wheeled fun.

13. Dunedin Street Art Trail

Famous for its Scottish heritage, student culture and bracing climate at the head of the Otago Harbour, Dunedin is also home to New Zealand’s first public art gallery and art society. The Dunedin Street Art Trail is a  90-minute walk that meanders from the harbour to Queens Gardens. Art lovers can either download the map or collect a printed edition from venues around the city.

14. Beervana

Beer is big business in New Zealand these days, with imaginatively crafted boutique beers springing up all over the country. To celebrate the amber liquid, Wellington hosts the 16th Beervana, New Zealand’s most popular beer festival. With brewers descending on the capital from sunny Northland to the deepest nooks of Southland, you’ll discover creative beer made with imaginative ingredients including lemongrass and lychees.

15. Three New Zealand seafood festivals

Seafood – or kai moana as it’s known in the M?ori language – is one of the most delectable pillars of New Zealand’s culinary culture. From mussels to paua (abalone), scallops to crayfish, immersing yourself in the country’s oceanic delights is not only a must but, thanks to the numerous seafood celebrations, relatively simple.

• The Bluff Oyster and Food Festival held in the South Island town of Bluff is set for May 2017.
• Whitianga’s Scallop Festival is held each September and attracts big-name chefs and renowned musicians to the North Island township.
• Known as the Green Shell Mussel Capital of the World, Havelock’s Mussel and Seafood Festival each March, is all about good fun and good food.

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Has this inspired you to head to New Zealand?

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Thank you to Tourism New Zealand for supplying the information for this post.