Hidden behind native bush lies New Chums Beach, the Coromandel’s best kept secret where untouched sweeping sands and turquoise waters await. Whilst New Zealand isn’t so well known for its gorgeous beaches, this is one to rival even Australia’s finest. New Chums Beach is undoubtly the most important stop to add to your Coromandel itinerary. Here is all you need to know on finding New Chums Beach.
Our Experience:
Hiking time: 45mins return, 3.5km
Season visited: January, peak summer
Where to find New Chums Beach
You can find New Chums Beach on the stunning Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand’s North Island. It is just short of a 3 hour drive from the larger cities of Auckland and Tauranga.
Once on the peninsula, it is around an hour drive north from the tourist hotspot of Hahei, the town with NZ’s famous hot water beach and Cathedral Cove (both well worth a visit!). Alternatively you can reach New Chums beach by just 25 minutes drive east from the rather sleepy Coromandel Town.
New Chums Beach, Thames-Coromandel District, Waikato, New Zealand
The map above highlights New Chums Beach beach, nestled along from the small township of Whangapoua. Free parking can be found at the end of Mangakahia Drive, from here the beach itself is only accessible by foot or boat.
As the walk begins along a rocky foreshore, it’s best to plan your visit 2 hours either side of low tide.
Note – there are limited signs around, but for us there was quite a collection of cars parked suggesting you’ve made it to the right place!
What makes New Chums Beach special
It’s not often you can find a secluded piece of paradise anymore that hasn’t been commericalised or built up with infrastructure to handle the masses, however New Chums Beach is an exception to the rule – something that the locals fight hard to maintain.
There are no roads, toilets, ice cream carts or kids playgrounds here to detract from the natural beauty of this area, giving a feel that you have stumbled across a deserted beach. Looking out to sea, turquoise waters laps against the golden sand, with a good chance that yours will be the only footprints you will see. Behind you, the beach is lined with lush native bush full of pohutukawa trees, which in the summer months will be in full red bloom.
This does mean that you will have to bring everything you need with you – do not forget a towel!
Although there is some information out there already about New Chums, we can’t recommend enough adding this stop to your itinerary when visiting the Coromandel Peninsula. Yes, it’s a little out of the way compared to your typical tourist spots, but it is well worth the short drive to avoid the crowds.
We felt that most pictures we’d seen online didn’t quite do it justice for how stunning it really is. Luckily for us, we managed to visit and capture our photo’s on a perfect blue sky day in January 2021.
How to get to New Chums Beach
Once parked, make your way to the far left corner of Whangapoua Bay. Follow the beach by walking North heading towards the rocky foreshore.
The first part of the walk takes you across a small stream. If you’re not willing it wade through some water, I recommend going within 2 hours either side of the tide. This will also determine how difficult your rock walk will be. On our way to the beach, we had a higher tide and had to stay right to the edge of the headland to stay dry. On our way back the tide was lower and we could cut out some the route by coming across bigger rocks away from the headland. This made our return trip slightly shorter. It is a little bit slippery when wet, so do be careful, but this section only takes around 10-15 mins to complete.
Once you come to the end of the rocks, a path appears round the corner of the headland. From here you can’t really go wrong, for the most part the path to get to the beach and the lookout are much the same – simply follow the path to take you straight to the beach, or keep an eye to your right for an opening, if you’re heading to the lookout.
It requires around a 30 minute walk to find the stunning New Chums Beach lookout. Plus a little extra time to capture your pictures and walk on the dreamy white sand beach itself. Although it is becoming increasingly well known, the lack of signposting to find the track and the short rock scramble to marvel at this beautiful area means many visitors pass on by – this makes it feel like somewhat of a top NZ secret.
It’s great fun navigating your way around the rocky foreshore. Getting your feet wet makes it feel like quite the adventure to reach! Despite the scramble it is perfectly accessible for anyone really.
Hiking to the lookout
My first thought when we saw someone sliding down from what Mitch was certain was the start of the lookout track was surely not.
It really wasn’t what I was expecting and looked pretty slippery, but having now done it, its not as hard as it looks. Plus it only takes about 10 minutes before you’re rewarded with one of the best views in New Zealand.
Utilise the tree roots to scramble up to the top, place your feet carefully and keep an eye for anyone coming the other way – it doesn’t really offer much space for two way people traffic!
The view at the top really just speaks for itself.
After a short scramble down the lookout, kick your shoes off and walk along the kilometres of untouched golden sands to bask for the afternoon. After an afternoon snooze in the sun, seeing the turquoise water again will have you questioning whether you’re still in New Zealand!
The viewpoint from the beach really shows the lookout on the headland. It’s not too high, making it achieveable for most!
More Recommendations for the Coromandel
Whilst you’re in the Coromandel hunting down New Chums, be sure to visit Cathedral Cove – a close second to New Chums Beach!
A stop to visit Hot Water Beach is also recommended. It’s just about a 1 hour drive south from New Chums Beach to Whangapoua.
Whilst it is very family friendly and we found it a little overrun with screaming children (given it was a long weekend), the experience itself is so unique, it really is another NZ must do – you won’t believe how hot the water can be! It’s great fun hiring a spade to dig your own sandy bath, we recommend going to Moko Artspace where you can hire a spade for $5 and all proceeds go towards supporting Coastguard NZ.
Note – you have to visit within two hours of low tide to ensure the natural hot spring isn’t covered by the Pacific ocean!
Click here to check the tide times for your visit.
