New Zealand’s Sexiest Regions: What the Data Revealed

Which Is New Zealand’s Sexiest Region?

New Zealand has a reputation for dramatic landscapes, quiet coastal towns and people who generally do not make a huge fuss about what happens behind closed doors.

Our shopping habits, however, tell a slightly different story.

Lovehoney’s 2023 New Zealand Sex Map took a closer look at adult-product purchases around Aotearoa. The research used the company’s 2022 sales figures, along with other research and trend data, so the rankings should be treated as a snapshot of that period rather than a live 2026 leaderboard.

Even so, the results were revealing.

From bondage-loving Taranaki to surprisingly adventurous Canterbury, there was far more going on around New Zealand than the stereotypical image of a reserved Kiwi might suggest.

And apparently, New Zealanders bought enough adult toys during the period to create a stack equivalent to roughly 9.8 Sky Towers.

So, where was New Zealand at its cheekiest?

Auckland Took the Sexiest City Crown

Queenstown had previously built a reputation for being adventurous in more ways than one. Lovehoney's earlier research had identified the South Island resort town as a particularly enthusiastic adult-toy market.

By the 2023 round-up, however, Auckland had moved into the spotlight.

The country's largest urban region recorded the highest overall spend on adult products and earned the Sexiest City title.

That result needs some context. Auckland also has a much larger population than other regions of New Zealand. Stats NZ estimates that the Auckland Region had around 1.8 million residents by June 2025, so raw sales totals cannot automatically be interpreted as meaning Aucklanders are more adventurous per person.

Still, the result fits Auckland's position as the country's biggest and most diverse city.

Readers interested in the adult scene today can also explore current Auckland escort listings, although current advertising activity and historical toy-shopping statistics are obviously two very different measures.

Auckland was not alone near the top. Waikato, Wellington and Canterbury also stood out in the original regional results.

For another North Island perspective, our Wellington escort directory shows how today's local adult advertising market differs from that in Auckland.

Canterbury Was New Zealand's Kinkiest Region

This is where the map becomes more interesting.

Canterbury earned the Kinkiest Region title after recording particularly strong purchases of BDSM products and sex machines.

The region also showed notable demand for products focused on male pleasure.

That makes the Canterbury result especially interesting because it covers far more than central Christchurch. The region stretches across a large part of the eastern South Island, combining New Zealand's second-largest city with smaller towns and rural communities.

In other words, kink was hardly confined to big-city nightlife.

Those exploring the region today can find local listings through the Christchurch escort directory.

Taranaki Preferred a Little Restraint

Canterbury did not have exclusive rights to New Zealand's kinkier side.

Taranaki received the Tie Me Up Award, with bondage rope proving especially popular.

Tasman, meanwhile, had a distinctly Fifty Shades flavour. Purchases from the region earned it the Mr & Mrs Grey Award, thanks to strong demand for products associated with the famous erotic franchise.

Then there was Gisborne.

Rather than heavy-duty equipment, Gisborne apparently preferred something considerably softer: pink fluffy handcuffs. That earned the region the appropriately named Cosy but Kinky Award.

Different regions, clearly, had very different interpretations of adventurous.

Dunedin Put Fashion Into Fetish

Dunedin brought another category into the mix.

The university city earned the title of Most Fashionable City for its appetite for fetish costumes.

It is a good example of why adult shopping data can be more engaging when examined by category rather than simply asking which city spends the most.

Hawke's Bay delivered perhaps the most unusual regional result.

Its standout product was a snakeskin-style whip, which earned Lovehoney a tongue-in-cheek David Attenborough Award.

For a broader look at adult listings beyond Canterbury, Dunedin and Queenstown, the site's South Island escort directory covers several of the places appearing in these regional trends.

And New Zealand's Most Vanilla Region?

Every ranking needs someone at the other end of the table.

For this particular dataset, that was the West Coast.

The South Island region received the Vanilla Award after recording the lowest adult-toy purchasing levels.

But "vanilla" probably deserves quotation marks here.

Lower retail spending does not tell us what individual West Coasters do in private, nor does buying more sex toys automatically make one region more sexually adventurous than another.

Population, access to retailers, online-shopping habits, demographics and simple personal preference can all influence sales.

That distinction matters whenever statistics about sexuality are turned into headlines.

What These Rankings Really Say About Kiwi Sexuality

Perhaps the most interesting part of the New Zealand Sex Map is not deciding whether Auckland, Canterbury or Taranaki deserves the national crown.

It is the degree of variation in the results.

Big cities, university centres, provincial communities and rural regions all appeared in different categories. The stereotype that adventurous sexuality belongs only to Auckland nightlife or Queenstown weekends does not hold up very well.

More broadly, adult-product shopping is increasingly discussed as part of sexual wellbeing rather than something that must automatically remain embarrassing or secret.

Whatever people choose to explore, healthy adult sexuality still comes back to communication, privacy, mutual respect and consent. Health New Zealand likewise emphasises consent and safer-sex practices as central parts of sexual wellbeing.

Readers looking beyond the historical rankings can explore adult companionship nationwide through the New Zealand escorts directory.

Aotearoa Is Less Vanilla Than It Looks

New Zealand may look peaceful from the outside, but Lovehoney's data offered a much more colourful picture behind closed doors.

Auckland had the spending power. Canterbury brought the kink. Taranaki reached for the rope. Gisborne kept things fluffy. Dunedin dressed for the occasion, while the West Coast stayed relatively restrained.

The bigger lesson is simple: there probably isn't one "sexiest" version of New Zealand.

Different parts of Aotearoa have different tastes—and that's what made the map worth talking about in the first place.

References

[1] https://www.lovehoney.co.nz/trends-insights/sex-map-2023.html

[2]  https://tools.summaries.stats.govt.nz/places/RC/auckland-region