Abel Tasman Coast Track booking guide for 2026/27

Bookings for each Great Walks season open on a single morning in May, walk by walk. For 2026/27 the Abel Tasman opened at 9:30am NZST on 14 May 2026. DOC runs a waiting lobby on opening morning: everyone who logs in before 9:30 gets a random place in the queue, so logging in early earns you nothing, but anyone arriving after 9:30 goes to the back.

The 2027/28 season should open the same way around the middle of May 2027, with exact dates announced on DOC's blog a few weeks ahead. Our guide to when Great Walks bookings open lists them for every walk.

The Abel Tasman is booked all year, so there's no closed season. Missed opening morning? The season is already on sale, and you're competing for what's left plus cancellations.

1. Make a DOC account first. Set one up at bookings.doc.govt.nz and check you can log in. Bookings can't be transferred to another account holder, so book under the person who'll manage the trip.
2. Pick a direction and your ends. You can walk the whole track either way, and DOC says most people walk one way and take a water taxi the other. The road ends are Mārahau in the south (67 km from Nelson), Tōtaranui and Wainui in the north (32 km and 21 km from Tākaka).
3. Check the tides before you choose nights. The Awaroa Inlet is the one compulsory tidal crossing: from 1.5 hours before to 2 hours after low tide, in daylight only, with no all-tide track around it. Torrent Bay and Bark Bay estuaries can be crossed within 2 hours of low tide, but both have all-tide tracks. DOC publishes tide tables for November 2026 to October 2027 on its Abel Tasman Coast Track page.
4. Choose your party and a place for each night. Every person needs a place on the booking, infants included. Ages are infant (0 to 4), child or youth (5 to 17) and adult (18 and over), and anyone 14 or under walks with an adult. Mix huts and campsites as you like, within the night limits. Tōtaranui campsite can only be booked for one night, and Mosquito Bay campsite is reachable only by boat, so leave it out of a walking route.
5. Pay and keep the confirmation. Bring photo ID that matches the name on the booking.

Then book the water taxi. Taxis run year-round between Mārahau or Kaiteriteri and Tōtaranui and must be booked in advance, with scheduled pickups at Apple Tree Bay, Anchorage, Medlands Bay, Bark Bay, Tonga Quarry, Onetahuti, Awaroa and Tōtaranui. They don't go north of Tōtaranui, so Whariwharangi and Wainui are walking-only.

Prices are in NZD, per person, per night, as listed on DOC's Abel Tasman Coast Track page while 2026/27 bookings are open. Outside summer, New Zealanders and international visitors pay the same.

Children (NZ rate 5 to 17, international 0 to 17) pay about half, and NZ-rate infants are free. The NZ rate needs proof of eligibility; book it without that and you pay the difference plus an administration fee. A summer trip with three hut nights comes to $165 per adult on the NZ rate or $252 international. Park entry and day walks are free.

Changing dates. You can move a booking to other dates in the same season, subject to availability, but not to someone else's account.

Cancelling. Great Walks cancellation fees are small well ahead of time and climb steeply in the last fortnight, reaching the full price on arrival day. Medical cancellations with a certificate are refunded. If DOC closes the track you can ask for a refund of unused nights or a move to other dates. Weather that doesn't close it doesn't trigger a refund, and no-shows lose everything. Remember the water taxi is a separate booking with its own terms.

DOC has no waitlist. When someone cancels, their places go straight back on sale to whoever is looking at that moment. On a summer hut trip every night has to line up, so a single freed bunk can reopen a date that has shown full for weeks.

The trouble is that nobody can sit on the booking calendar all summer. Spotbagger watches the four huts for you. Set a watch on your start date, trip length (one to four nights) and party size, and we check the DOC booking system often for any run of hut nights that works, in either direction, including trips that skip a hut when the day's walk stays sensible. The moment one opens we tell you, and you book it yourself on DOC's site. The watch covers huts only; campsites you book directly with DOC. See the Abel Tasman Coast Track page for more on how it works.

Flexibility is your other lever. Because the coast can be split with water taxis, a shorter trip between fewer huts is often easier to find than the full walk, and the cooler months from May bring cheaper huts and a five-night limit. Also in Nelson Tasman, the Heaphy Track is booked year-round too, and our guide to NZ Great Walks that have sold out covers how cancellations work across the rest.

Do you need to book the Abel Tasman Coast Track?

Yes, for any overnight stay. DOC says huts and campsites must be booked in advance all year round, and without a valid booking you can be charged a penalty or turned away if the site is full. Day walks need no booking.

How much does the Abel Tasman Coast Track cost?

From 1 October to 30 April huts are $55 a night on the NZ rate and $84 international, and campsites $21 or $31. Hut prices drop from May, to $33 for everyone in July and August. Water taxis and shuttles are extra.

When do Abel Tasman bookings open?

For 2026/27 they opened at 9:30am NZST on 14 May 2026. The 2027/28 season should open around mid-May 2027, on a date DOC announces on its blog.

How many nights can you stay at one hut?

Two nights per hut or campsite from 1 October to 30 April, and five from 1 May to 30 September. Tōtaranui campsite is limited to one night all year.

Is there a waitlist for the Abel Tasman?

No. DOC doesn't run waitlists. Cancelled places go straight back onto the booking system, which is why a watch on your dates is the most reliable way to catch one.