Ten late summer nights out of Dunedin Airport, Lunar New Year on the road
Mid February in Otago is summer at its best: long golden evenings, a sea breeze drifting in off the Pacific, and the paddocks around Momona turning the colour of toast. Families here for the Lunar New Year break step out of the terminal into that bright, slightly cool air and point the car at the Otago Peninsula, the Catlins or the long road inland to Central Otago. For a 10 night trip from 12 to 22 February 2027, Dunedin Airport car rental is the easiest way to stitch it all together. The airport sits about half an hour south of the city, and a bus won't get you to the albatross colony or the Moeraki boulders on your own schedule. We found 30 listings with a median of $2015.43, so you have real choice.
GO Rentals is the supplier to watch, with eight listings averaging $1756.25 and prices running from $1575 to $2135. Hertz has the lowest single quote at $1535.74 but also the highest at $3422.75, so its average of $2373.03 swings a lot depending on the car you pick. A smart booker compares by car size rather than by brand, then checks whether GO Rentals or Ezi has a cheaper version of the same class.
Twenty five of the 30 listings seat five, which suits a family with suitcases, and only a handful of 7, 8 and 12 seaters exist, so a bigger group should book early. Petrol is the norm, and the seven hybrids offer a quieter, thriftier ride for the long highway stretches. February roads are dry, but the gravel tracks in the Catlins and the hills near Central Otago still reward an AWD or a 4x4 if you plan to leave the sealed highway. Leave yourself some time at pickup, because the airport car park fills after each arrival and the queue builds fast around the Lunar New Year.