Waikawau Bay, Stony Bay and Fletcher Bay campsite bookings

Waikawau Bay, Stony Bay and Fletcher Bay are three Department of Conservation (DOC) campsites at the top of the Coromandel Peninsula. All three need a booking. You book them online through DOC's booking system, which is open for stays up to 30 June 2027. DOC keeps no spaces for campers who turn up without one.

Waikawau Bay fills first. When I checked DOC's booking calendar on 3 November 2026, every Waikawau Bay camping area was booked out from 28 December to 2 January. Stony Bay and Fletcher Bay still had space on every night over Christmas and New Year. If you want the northern Coromandel at New Year and haven't booked, those two are where to look.

Port Jackson, the other big DOC campsite up here, is covered in our North Island beach campsites guide.

The three campsites at a glance

The sites, prices and rules below come from each campsite's DOC page as of 2 November 2026. Children are 5 to 17, and under-fives camp free. All three campsites take the DOC Campsite Pass, and none of them allows dogs.

At all three, you book a number of people, not a numbered site, and find a spot when you arrive.

Which northern Coromandel campsite fills first?

Waikawau Bay fills first, and by early November its peak week is gone. This is what DOC's booking calendar showed when I read it on 3 November 2026. Each number is how many more people the calendar showed room for that night.

Waikawau Bay's powered sites were booked from 27 December to 2 January. Schnerp hasn't been asked to watch Stony Bay or Fletcher Bay yet, so for those two I read DOC's calendar directly.

This isn't a one-summer pattern. In November 2023, DOC said Waikawau Bay, Port Jackson and Fantail Bay were full from 25 December to the end of the first week of January. In the same release, Fletcher Bay and Stony Bay still had Christmas and New Year space.

Waikawau Bay frees up in the second week of January. Schnerp's scan of Beachside at 11:53pm on 2 November found no space from 1 to 7 January. Then it showed room for 1 person on 8 January, 13 on 10 January and 74 on 14 January.

My take: if your dates fall between Christmas and the first weekend of January, book Stony Bay or Fletcher Bay now. Then watch Waikawau Bay for a cancellation.

Waikawau Bay campsite

Waikawau Bay Campsite sits beside a white-sand surf beach, 42 km north of Coromandel town. DOC calls it its largest campsite, with room for 660 people across three areas:

• Beachside: unpowered sites on the beach side of the road, open all year.
• Bushside: unpowered sites across the road, backing onto native bush, open only from 15 December to 15 February.
• Powered sites: 12 sites for caravans and campervans with a current electrical warrant of fitness, open all year.

Up to five people can book into a site, and every site needs an adult. Unpowered sites cost $18 per adult and $9 per child from 9 February to 25 December. From 26 December to 8 February they cost $20 and $10. Powered sites cost $21 and $10.50, rising to $23 and $11.50 over the same peak. Campsite Pass holders pay $3 each to book a powered site.

DOC advises booking well ahead for 1 December to 28 February and for public-holiday weekends. There are no cooking facilities, so bring a gas cooker. All rubbish goes home with you.

Stony Bay campsite

Stony Bay Campsite is a 5-hectare coastal campsite at the end of Stony Bay Road, 55 km north of Coromandel town. DOC lists 60 unpowered or tent sites and a maximum of 300 people. It costs $18 per adult and $9 per child all year.

The road in from Colville is unsealed, narrow and winding, with tight corners. It's a no-exit road, and DOC warns you may have to reverse to let oncoming traffic past. Drinking water comes from a stream and should be boiled or treated.

If you'd rather have a roof, DOC's Stony Bay Bach is inside the campground. It sleeps five and has a two-night minimum. From 1 December to 29 February it costs $176 a weeknight or $202 a weekend night, and you bring your own bedding.

Fletcher Bay campsite

Fletcher Bay Campsite is a beachfront campsite on farmland at the end of Port Jackson Road. It's 64 km north of Coromandel town and 7 km past Port Jackson. DOC lists 45 unpowered or tent sites and a maximum of 300 people, at $18 per adult and $9 per child.

The drive is the hard part. Port Jackson Road is a remote, narrow gravel road with one-way stretches, and DOC advises a reliable, well-maintained 4WD. A ford between Port Jackson and Fletcher Bay can be hard to cross during or after heavy rain.

You can't drive on from Fletcher Bay to Stony Bay. The Coromandel Walkway links the two bays on foot: 20 km return, about 7 hours, according to DOC. The campsite pages still mention a partial closure from storm slips, so check the walkway page before you plan the full walk.

How do you book a northern Coromandel DOC campsite?

You book Waikawau Bay, Stony Bay and Fletcher Bay online through DOC's booking system. The rules are the same at all three campsites:

• No booking, no space. DOC says "No spaces are kept for campers arriving without a booking." If a date shows no availability online, it's full.
• Same-day bookings work online until 8pm if space remains.
• Phone or visitor-centre bookings cost an extra $10 service fee.
• Campsite Pass holders still have to book online before they arrive.
• Stay limits: up to 14 nights in a row, or 21 nights from 20 December to 8 February, then a 7-day break. DOC lists no minimum stay at any of the three campsites.
• Arrival: check in from 2pm and leave your site by 11am. One vehicle per group.

Weather can close these campsites. Storms in late January 2026 shut all five northern Coromandel DOC campsites, and Waikawau Bay and Stony Bay stayed closed through Waitangi weekend. If DOC closes a campsite you've booked, you can ask for a full refund of the unused nights within 7 days. DOC doesn't refund weather closures automatically.

When do 2027/28 DOC campsite bookings open?

DOC hadn't announced when 2027/28 campsite bookings open as of 2 November 2026. It opens a whole booking year at once. For 2026/27, North Island campsites, these three included, opened at 12 noon NZST on Thursday 14 May 2026. That release covered stays from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, and DOC announced it on 26 March 2026.

Our Great Walks opening dates guide follows DOC's opening-day schedule. Our DOC bookings guide explains the virtual queue on opening day.

Do Waikawau Bay nights come back?

Yes, Waikawau Bay nights come back, but rarely, and they go fast. Schnerp has watched Waikawau Bay since May 2026 for campers who asked us to. Between 6 July and 2 November 2026, this is what came back at the Bushside area for Christmas and New Year (NZ time):

• 30 July, 8:37am: room for a party of four, for five nights from 30 December. It was gone by 8:52am.
• 27 August, 10:47am: room for four on every night from 26 December to 5 January. By 7:47pm, the nights from 29 December to 2 January were full again.

Since that evening, Schnerp's scans haven't seen a single space come back on the nights from 29 December to 2 January.

Later January moves more. At 8:08pm on Saturday 31 October, room for 60 or more people came back on five Bushside nights between 6 and 11 January. By 9:32pm on 2 November, 7, 8 and 9 January were full again.

DOC keeps no waiting list for a campsite that's already booked out, and says so on its online bookings page. It documents no availability alert either, so a night that comes back goes to whoever books it first.

DOC's campground cancellation fee climbs as arrival gets closer. It's 10% from 48 hours after booking until 15 days out, 20% from 14 to 4 days out, and 75% from 3 days out to the day before. I'd check most often just before your stay is 15 days away, and again just before it's 4 days away. Those are the last chances for a camper whose plans changed to cancel more cheaply. That's my inference from the fee table, not a DOC promise, and the August opening came back four months ahead.

If the nights you want are gone, Schnerp can watch them and message you when space opens. Set up a New Zealand availability request. An alert doesn't hold the space, so you still book it on DOC's site. Our New Zealand campsite and hut alerts guide compares the ways to hear about a DOC opening.