The Department of Conservation's Public Conservation Land dataset lists 13 national parks under the National Parks Act, from Abel Tasman to Whanganui. We give the names exactly as the dataset writes them, including its slashes and the note on Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki's former name.1
Which national parks does the Department of Conservation list?
The dataset has 14 records of the type National Park. 13 are national parks; the 14th is land held for national park purposes, which we leave out.1
| National park (as the dataset names it) |
|---|
| Abel Tasman National Park |
| Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park |
| Arthur's Pass National Park |
| Fiordland National Park |
| Kahurangi National Park |
| Mount Aspiring National Park |
| Nelson Lakes National Park |
| Paparoa National Park |
| Rakiura National Park |
| Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki (formerly Egmont National Park) |
| Tongariro National Park |
| Westland National Park/Tai Poutini National Park |
| Whanganui National Park |
The dataset writes the names without macrons, so we do too.
Can this list be reused?
The dataset record says the work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Its copyright obligations ask that reports derived from the data acknowledge the Crown copyright in a set form, and that users state when the data was acquired and that it may now be out of date.1
The Department's website says its material can be reused under CC BY 4.0 if you credit the Department, using text rather than logos.2
What this page cannot tell you
- No regions or dates here. The dataset has no region field, and its record dates are land-record dates, not establishment dates, so we leave them out.
- Data may be out of date. We acquired it on the date in the credit below.
Related: National parks around the world · National parks of Japan · Officially recognised places.
Key takeaways
- The Department of Conservation's dataset lists 13 national parks.
- Names are exactly as the dataset writes them, without macrons.
- The 14th record, land held for national park purposes, is not a national park and is left out.
- What we would skip: reading the list as a ranking or a travel guide. It records an official designation; it says nothing about opening, access or conditions, so check each park's own information before you go.
Sources
The list comes from the Department of Conservation's Public Conservation Land dataset; the reuse terms from its dataset record and copyright page. All read on 1 October 2026. See how we research.
- Department of Conservation (Te Papa Atawhai), DOC Public Conservation Land. Read the dataset record. Accessed 1 October 2026.
- Department of Conservation, Copyright. Read it on doc.govt.nz. Accessed 1 October 2026.
Credit and licence. Crown Copyright: Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai 2018. Source: DOC Public Conservation Land dataset, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Data acquired 1 October 2026 and may now be out of date. National park names extracted from the dataset. CC BY 4.0. Changes made. We extracted the national park names from the dataset and put them in a table. We use no logos or images from these sources. Gallivanting Gadabout is not connected with, or endorsed by, the Department of Conservation.