The 7 Best Campgrounds in Northland, New Zealand (For a Summer Roadie)
Northland is one of the easiest places in New Zealand to overcomplicate.
You look at the map, see the Bay of Islands, Cape Reinga, Tutukaka, the Karikari Peninsula, the west coast, all those little side roads curling off toward the sea, and suddenly your relaxed summer roadie has become a small military exercise with jandals.
I would avoid that.
I have road-tripped through Northland most summers over the last decade, and the best trips have never been the ones where I tried to tick off every beach and campground in the correct order. They were the ones where the plan stayed loose, the car slowly filled with sand, and every ten minutes there was another ridiculous beach making a very good argument for stopping again.
That is the real appeal of camping up here. Northland slows you down. The locals are friendly, there is less to do in the best possible way, and time goes a bit soft around the edges.
So this is not a list of the most luxurious campgrounds in Northland. It is my honest shortlist of the seven I would actually build a summer road trip around, from comfortable holiday parks to very simple DOC campsites where you need to bring your own gear, your own patience, and ideally a plan B.
Table of Contents
The Short Version
If I was planning a Northland camping road trip, I would mix one comfortable holiday park with two or three simpler beach campsites, then keep the route loose enough to chase weather, bookings, and whatever beach looks too good to drive past.
Maitai Bay is the most beautiful campsite on this list, but it is also the biggest gamble because you cannot book it. I have been turned away there in busy season, which is a fun little lesson when you are 40 minutes from both Mangonui and Kaitaia and suddenly need to invent a new evening.
For something scenic but bookable, I would look at Puriri Bay or Rarawa. Puriri Bay is better if you are staying around Whangaruru, Russell, or the Bay of Islands and want sheltered water. Rarawa is the better Far North base if you are pushing toward Cape Reinga and Te Paki.
If you want comfort, showers, a shop, and the ability to recover from several sandy nights in a tent, go Matauri Bay Holiday Park or Russell TOP 10. They are not the wildest options, but that is sort of the point. A hot shower hits differently after three days of pretending wet wipes are a lifestyle.
Uretiti is the easiest road-trip stop because it sits right off SH1 between Whangarei and Waipu, with a huge beach and a huge DOC campground. Elliot Bay is the opposite: quieter, more basic, privately run, and better suited to people who are happy with a simpler setup.
Heads up: You really want your own wheels for this trip. Northland campgrounds are spread out, public transport is not built for beach-hopping, and some of the best stops are down side roads. If you are renting, compare prices through Discover Cars and check the boring bits of the contract before you get clever with gravel roads, soft grass, or beach driving.
Tip: Summer is not the time to freestyle every night. DOC now requires bookings at Uretiti, Puriri Bay and Rarawa, while Maitai Bay is still first come, first served. In January, that basically means: book what you can, arrive early where you cannot, and always know your backup.
The 7 Best Campgrounds in Northland
1. Matauri Bay Holiday Park
Matauri Bay Holiday Park is the easiest recommendation if you want the beachy Northland feeling without giving up every creature comfort.
The campground sits right by Matauri Bay, with the Cavalli Islands offshore and the Rainbow Warrior resting below the water as a dive site nearby. It is a beautiful part of the coast, but it also has a bit more structure than the DOC campsites on this list: powered and unpowered sites, cabins, caravans, warm showers, a communal kitchen, laundry, drinking water, a general store, and even a fish and chip shop.
That is very handy on a family trip, or if your car has reached the point where everything inside it is either damp, sandy, or somehow both.
I would not choose Matauri Bay if I wanted a totally stripped-back, quiet DOC-style camp. It is a holiday park, and in summer it feels like one. But if you want to camp somewhere genuinely beautiful and still have the option of hot showers, food, fuel, BBQ hire, and a proper reset night, it earns its place.
This is the comfort pick, not the wilderness pick.
The other reason to stay here is location. You can use it as a base for Matauri Bay itself, the Cavalli Islands, the Rainbow Warrior Memorial, and the northeast coast around Kerikeri and Whangaroa. It is not the cheapest option on this list, but comfort costs money. Annoying, but apparently true.
Book direct through Matauri Bay Holiday Park.
2. Elliot Bay Campground
Elliot Bay is the low-key option I would pick when the whole point of the trip is to feel a bit further away from everything.
The campground is privately run on a working farm, and the setup is much simpler than the holiday parks. The original post had it right here: no powered sites, no cabins, and best suited to tent campers or self-contained vans that do not need much hand-holding.
That simplicity is also the appeal. You are not coming here for a resort-style camp kitchen or a perfect line of powered sites. You are coming because Elliot Bay is quieter, a little more tucked away, and still close enough to the Bay of Islands / Russell area to make sense on a road trip.
The practical bit is that you should not treat it like a big DOC booking system. Call ahead in busy season if you can, otherwise your odds depend on timing, luck, and how many other people had the same clever idea.
I like this sort of place more for capable campers than first-timers. If you need a guaranteed shower block, a powered site, and a shop within waddling distance, choose Russell TOP 10 or Matauri Bay instead. If you are happy with basic, Elliot Bay has much more charm than polish.
3. Puriri Bay (Whangaruru North Head) Campsite
Puriri Bay is one of the best DOC-style campgrounds in Northland if you want a proper beach-and-harbour setup without going all the way to the Far North.
The campsite overlooks Whangaruru Harbour, so the water feels more sheltered than the exposed east-coast surf beaches. That makes it a good option for swimming, kayaking, boating, and those slow campground days where no one really does anything except wander between the beach, the tent, and whatever food is still cold in the chilly bin.
DOC lists Puriri Bay as a standard campsite with 90 non-powered/tent sites, bookings required, and camp hosts on site from Labour Weekend to the end of April. There are no dogs, no fires, and a pack-in, pack-out rubbish policy, which is worth knowing before you arrive with three days of supermarket packaging and misplaced optimism.
In peak summer, I would book this one ahead. DOC specifically says to book well in advance for 1 December to 28 February and public holiday weekends, and I would take that seriously. Northland campgrounds have a way of looking casual right up until every site is gone.
The one slightly annoying thing is access in the area. DOC notes the public access walking track from Picnic Bay to Puriri Bay is closed because of slip damage, so if you are trying to come in from the carpark there, you need to walk down the road to the camp instead.
4. Uretiti Beach Campground
Uretiti is the easiest campground on this list to slot into a Northland road trip.
It sits just off SH1 between Whangarei and Waipu, behind the dunes at Bream Bay, so you do not need to commit to a long detour. That is its great strength. You can leave Auckland, drive north, get out of the city properly, and be camping by a long surf beach without having to spend the whole day crawling up side roads.
It is also big. DOC lists 300 non-powered/tent sites, bookings required year-round, with camp hosts on site all year and $2 coin-operated hot showers. Your booking is for the number of people in your party rather than a designated site, so you still need to find your own spot once you arrive.
The beach is long, open, and good for a proper wander, but I would be a little cautious with swimming. DOC warns that Bream Bay has strong currents and rips, and recommends swimming at the lifeguard-patrolled section beside Ruakaka. That is not dramatic advice. It is just Northland doing normal Northland things: looking calm enough, then reminding you the sea is in charge.
There is also a local nudist presence further along the beach, which is not really a problem, just something to know before you go striding off with the whole family and a packet of Shapes.
Uretiti is not the dreamiest campground here, but it might be the most useful.
It is easy, bookable, spacious, and right where you need it when the roadie is heading north or south.
5. Rarawa Beach DOC Campsite
Rarawa is the campsite I would use when the trip is properly pointing at the Far North.
It is around 54 km north of Kaitaia, with the campground set back near Rarawa Beach, and it feels much more remote than anything around Waipu or Russell. This is not a polished holiday park. It is a standard campsite with 45 non-powered/tent sites, managed by DOC with local iwi Ngāti Kuri, and you book through the Rarawa Camping website.
The beach is the big reason to come. Rarawa has that bright white silica sand that squeaks under your feet, which sounds made up until you hear it. The area also works well if you are visiting Cape Reinga, Te Paki, Houhora, or doing a Far North loop rather than just dipping into the Bay of Islands and calling it Northland.
But it is also a place to arrive prepared. DOC notes there are no rubbish bins outside peak-season collection arrangements, limited mobile reception in Te Paki, mosquitoes and sandflies, wasps in season, and a beach that can be dangerous for swimming with rough seas, strong currents and water that gets deep quickly.
So yes, it is beautiful.
It is also not where I would turn up half-organised at 7 pm with no food plan, no insect repellent, and the vague belief that everything will probably be fine. That is how the Far North teaches you humility.
Book Rarawa through the Rarawa Camping website.
6. Russell TOP 10 Holiday Park
Russell TOP 10 is the comfort pick, and I mean that as a compliment.
After a few nights of basic DOC camping, a well-run holiday park suddenly feels outrageously luxurious. Hot showers. A proper kitchen. Laundry. Somewhere to charge things. Flat grass. These are not glamorous features until you have spent several days pretending a wet towel will dry in a car.
The main reason to stay here is the location. Russell TOP 10 is centrally located in Russell, so you can walk into town, get food, visit the historic sites, head to Hone’s, or wander over toward Long Beach / Oneroa Bay. It gives you a campground base without feeling like you are stuck out on the edge of town.
It has powered and unpowered sites, plus cabins, villas and units if you decide you are done being heroic. That makes it good for families, mixed groups, campervans, or anyone who wants Northland camping with a few more guarantees built in.
The tradeoff is obvious: it is more managed and less wild than the DOC campsites. In peak season it can feel busy, and you are paying for convenience rather than solitude. But for a Bay of Islands night, especially if the weather is iffy or everyone needs a reset, I would happily use it.
Book direct through Russell TOP 10, or use Booking.com if you are comparing Russell accommodation more broadly.
7. Maitai Bay DOC Campsite
Maitai Bay is probably the most beautiful campground on this list, and also the one most likely to mess with your plans.
The campsite sits behind the beach on the Karikari Peninsula, with a grassy camping area, white sand, clear water, and rocks at either end for snorkelling. If you get a good spot in good weather, it is exactly the sort of Northland camping people imagine when they start planning a summer road trip from a desk in Auckland.
The catch is that you cannot book it. DOC lists 100 non-powered/tent sites and says it is first come, first served, with the campsite usually full over Christmas, New Year, January, school holidays and long weekends when the weather is good.
I have been turned away here before, and honestly, that is the only part of Maitai Bay I do not enjoy recommending. It is a long enough drive from the main towns that “we will just see what happens” can become a very average little strategy if you arrive late in the day.
Maitai Bay is worth the gamble, but only if you have a backup.
Facilities are basic: toilets, water, no powered sites, no cabins, no dogs, no fires, and no rubbish bins outside peak collection arrangements. There is also a rāhui over the area, so no fishing or taking seafood. Snorkelling is welcome, and that is a much better way to experience the bay anyway.
Would I still try to camp here? Absolutely. I would just arrive early, avoid peak dates if I could, and have a backup near Whatuwhiwhi, Tokerau Beach, or back toward Mangonui.
Because when Maitai Bay works, it really works.
Final Thoughts
Northland camping is at its best when you give it enough room to breathe.
Book the places that need booking, leave one or two gaps for weather and lucky detours, and do not plan the whole trip like every beach is a meeting you are late for. That is the fastest way to miss the point.
My ideal version would be simple: start with an easy night at Uretiti or Russell, head toward Puriri Bay or Matauri Bay for the northeast coast, then push up to Rarawa or Maitai Bay if you have enough days. Add a comfort night when the tent starts feeling a bit feral. No shame in that.
If you are flying into Auckland and hiring a car, I would compare prices on Discover Cars, then use Booking.com for the nights where camping is full, the weather turns, or you suddenly remember that beds are good.
But mostly, go slowly. Northland is not short on beaches, and the best campground is often the one that lets you stop driving for a bit. Which is the whole point, really.
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