Beach Houses

Beach house accommodation around the New Zealand coast, near enough to the water that towels and togs dry on the deck between swims.

These are summer holiday houses first: an outdoor shower, a bench for the chilly bin, sandy floors nobody minds, and a deck that gets more use than the living room. Some sit right above the sand, others a short walk back from it through the dunes.

Beach houses suit families, groups of friends, and anyone planning a stay around the tides, a fishing trip or a stretch of school holidays. Coastal weather turns fast, so it pays to pick one with decent indoor space too, for the days the wind comes up.