It’s Great Walk booking season again. On 13 May tens of thousands hikers will be logging into the Department of Conservation’s website in the hope of securing a spot on New Zealand’s most beautiful walks this summer.
From 9:30am, NZ time, the first of eleven Great Walks will be up for grabs between 13 and 28 May.
New Zealand’s Great Walks are a sought-after prize for trampers across the globe. In previous years the appeal of the Milford Track has “broken the internet”. It’s not uncommon for the DOC booking system to buckle under weight of digital foot-traffic. Tech issues have only added to what was already fierce competition for a night in the backcountry huts. As well as eager Kiwis there are additional 40-30% traffic from Australian and US hiking hopefuls. With tens of thousands of hopefuls logging in for only 8000 spaces on the so-called ‘world’s finest walk’, the Milford Track is arguably one of the the most difficult to get on too.
But One tech-savvy tramper is asking, what’s the rush?
James Morgan, an Auckland-based developer, started his Great Walks Huts project after missing out on a space on the Milford in 2022. Initially disheartened by the chaos of booking day, he thought it would be another year until he would get a shot at walking Fiordland’s best known track. Until realised there were hundreds of cancellations being re-released into the system.
Armed with three years of booking cancellation data, he has written a guide for latecomers booking a space on New Zealand’s Great Walks.
Missed out on the Milford? How you can still book a Great Walk
Cancellations and unwanted Great Walk bookings are re-released into the system. Normally this takes 15-30 minutes for them to reappear back in the pool. It’s long been an open secret that after the initial booking rush on opening day, there is often another chance to get a space as duplicate bookings or unwanted dates are returned to DOC.
There are an average of 465 cancellations on the Milford Track a year.
Getting a ticket via a late re-release is as much a lottery as logging in on opening day. Though, Morgan says that there are tricks that can help you know when an where to look.
“There are clear trends as to how and when people are re-releasing their spots back in the system
that can be used to better someone’s chances in securing a spot,” he says.
Interestingly the Milford sees some of the most cancellations along with the other highly prized Fiordland tracks, Kepler (793 cancellations) and Routeburn (623 cancellations). Following the booking frenzy, and walking parties leading to double-ups, second choice dates are likely to end up re-released back into the pool.
Or maybe just FOMO-driven bookings from trampers that can’t easily make their allocated dates.
“People are generally re-releasing their spots back into the system between one and two months out from the intended booking date,” says Morgan.
However when they’re back in the booking system, they don’t stay there long. A hut spends only a couple of days back in the system. On the Milford Track re-released huts spend an average of 0.6 days or around 14 hours in the system before being quickly snapped up again. It’s clear there are plenty of people still looking to get on the walks.
If you’re still hoping to get on your choice of walk this summer, there are things you can do to up your odds.
The obvious one is to have more flexible travel plans and be open to doing the hikes during the fringe seasons. If that is not an option, the best time to look is up to two months out from their intended booking date, when there’s best chance that someone will release a spot for your dates.
The last option is to sign up to an email service like Morgan’s Great Walk Huts which shares email alerts when your preferred walk and dates have freed up. So you’re not endlessly logging in to the DOC Booking system, day after day, refreshing in hope of a bunk in the Clinton Hut.
What the data tells us
- On average spots are released 1-2 months before the booking date. There are not many “last minute” cancellations, likely due to the cancellation fees DOC has.
- Popular huts like Milford are rebooked less than a day after re-release.
- Capacity trends show there is twice the chance of there being spare capacity on a fringe month from the off season.
- There are generally more releases towards the end of the season. Although DOC has been so late with launching availability the last few years
Opening dates for Great Walk hut bookings (for season starting 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026) 9.30am NZST.
- 15 May Heaphy Track, Kepler Track, Rakiura Track and Hump Ridge Track
- 22 May Whanganui Journey, Routeburn Track and Tongariro Northern Circuit
- 27 May Lake Waikaremoana Track, Abel Tasman Coast Track and Paparoa Track
- 28 May Milford Track
Average number of Great Walk places returned to DoC each year
| NZ Great Walk | Average number or re-released bunks |
| Abel Tasman Coast Track | 332 |
| Heaphy Track | 105 |
| Kepler Track | 793 |
| Lake Waikaremoana Track | 37 |
| Milford Track | 465 |
| Paparoa Track | 368 |
| Rakiura Track | 260 |
| Routeburn Track | 623 |
| Tongariro Northern Circuit | 474 |
| Whanganui Journey | 86 |
How quickly do re-released Great Walk huts get booked?
| Great Walk | Hut | Average time for huts to be rebooked (days) |
| Milford Track | Clinton | 0.67 |
| Milford Track | Mintaro | 0.69 |
| Milford Track | Dumpling | 0.84 |
| Routeburn Track | Lake Mackenzie Hut | 1.12 |
| Kepler Track | Luxmore Hut | 2.14 |
| Routeburn Track | Routeburn Falls Hut | 2.74 |
| Lake Waikaremoana | Waiharuru Hut | 5.53 |
| Kepler Track | Iris & Moturau Huts | 5.53 |
| Tongariro Track | Oturere Hut | 5.56 |
| Tongariro Track | Waihohonu Hut | 6.89 |
| Tongariro Track | Mangatepopo Hut | 7.61 |
| Abel Tasman Track | Bark Bay Hut | 8.58 |
| Abel Tasman Track | Awaroa Hut | 8.74 |
| Abel Tasman Track | Waiopaoa Hut | 8.75 |
| Abel Tasman Track | Anchorage Hut | 9.62 |
| Lake Waikaremoana | Panekire Hut | 12.88 |
| Routeburn Track | Routeburn Flats Hut | 13.64 |
| Abel Tasman Track | Whariwharangi Hut | 18.55 |
| Lake Waikaremoana | Marauiti Hut | 29.27 |
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