Godzone on tourism bible's must-see list

The Lonely Planet Blue List extols New Zealand's bucolic landscape and lists a drive down the West Coast of the South Island as one of the top 10 road trips in the world.

Free-range cows, hard-working honey bees and a subterranean hobbit hideaway have helped New Zealand to the title of second-best-value destination, and placed it in the top 10 most unusual places to stay in the latest Lonely Planet travel bible.

The Lonely Planet Blue List - published last month - puts Godzone second only to Buenos Aires in Argentina as the place to go for thrifty travellers, and ahead of exotic locales such as Morocco (No 3), China and Cambodia.

The guidebook is gushing in its praise of New Zealand, painting the country as a bucolic wonderland.

"With skies abuzz with honey bees and rich pastures feeding free-range cows, they don't call this the land of milk and honey for nothing."

The guide claims careful travellers could get by on $50 a day in New Zealand "unless you plan to throw yourself out of a plane, or cling to a jetboat every day of your trip".

Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler said nominations for the world's best tourist destinations came from visitors to the company's website, and 200 contributing writers.

Mr Wheeler, who has visited a number of times since writing the first Lonely Planet New Zealand guidebook in the 1970s, said the Kiwi tourism industry had developed from its jet boating and bungee jumping past and now offered a number of value-for-money activities.

Waitomo's Woodlyn Park - which boasts "subterranean self-contained motel units for hobbits" and made the top 10 list of unusual places to stay - was a "wildcard entry" Mr Wheeler admitted to being unfamiliar with. "It's on my list now. Next time I am in New Zealand, I am going to try it."

A drive down the West Coast of the South Island rates in the top 10 best road trips, though it is not quite as popular as a jaunt along Route 66 in the United States, or a journey from Capetown to Cairo.

Taking a drive along Australia's eastern coast was voted the best possible road trip.

For those tourists who would rather wear out a pair of hiking boots than a set of car tyres, the South Island's Routeburn Track made the top 10 list of Most Awesome Treks.

The Everest Base Camp in Nepal and the Inca Trail in Peru were predictable trek-category winners.

Mr Wheeler said the success of New Zealand in the voting showed it was capable of attracting repeat visitors, despite its distance from the rest of the world.

"That's a huge acid test.

"To come back to a place that is at the other end of the world is a real achievement."