Paihia, New Zealand

Paihia is a quaint little seaside town in the bay of island, if your looking for a thrill seeking adventure this isn’t the place but if your looking for a place to relax with a beach, nice bars and plenty to do then this is ideal. It is recongnised as ‘the jewel of the bay of islands’ and when you’re wondering around the town and the white sandy beaches you’ll see why. There are plenty of back packers to stay at here all of the very reasonably priced and if you don’t go in high season in the height of summer the weather will still be good but you can get accommodation much cheaper. From all the hostels in Paihia its a short wall along the sea front to the town, you’ll walk past many restaurants and bars all pretty reasonably priced. And once in the town theres a supermarket, shops and similar cafes, bars and restaurants.

Now if you’ve had enough of relaxing on the beach sunbathing and swimming. There’s plenty you can do, you can go sailing, swim with dolphins and if you fancy at of an adventure and are feeling fit you can kayak around some of the 144 islands that make up the bay of islands and kayak hire is relatively cheap for the day and some of the hostels even have some you can borrow for free. If your up in the north island and just fancy a few days relaxing Paihia is perfect.