Objectives  The development of national parks in China is still in the early stage, and the trail construction has not yet been completed. The construction of trails in New Zealand’s national parks shows more developed, with a range of trail routes and complete infrastructure that considered both the protection of the national park’s ecosystem and the recreational experience of tourists. There have been fewer studies on the construction of trail systems in New Zealand national parks, thus it is important to investigate the planning and operational management characteristics of New Zealand national park trail systems to provide scientific references for the construction of national park trail systems in China.

  Methods  13 national parks in New Zealand were selected as the research object, and the characteristics of the planning of the trails were analyzed from the aspects of trail route design and trail supporting service facilities planning. The operational management characteristics of the trails were summarized from the aspects of management organization, recreation management, use management, and maintenance.

  Results  Results showed that: 1) trail routes were mainly linked to the landscape resources of the national parks by means of stringing, encircling and following, and shown three types of spatial layout, namely radial, reticulated and marginal; 2) the trails were classified into three major types, namely, walks, tramping tracks and routes according to the difficulty of hiking, and were subdivided into six subcategories according to the length of hiking and suitable groups of people; 3) the construction of the trail service facilities followed the principle of minimum intervention, providing simple and limited overnight facilities and simple and clear indication system; 4) fine management of recreation was carried out through the division of recreation management zones, consisting of five categories, where national parks with remote and backcountry areas were the most numerous, accounting for more than 90% of the total, and high use track corridors were the fewest, accounting for about 20% of the total; 5) Trail maintenance and management relied on the active participation of multiple non-governmental organizations such as trail clubs and associations.

  Conclusions  The study analyzed the current situation in China and summarized the inspiration of New Zealand’s national parks to China in terms of trail route planning, supporting facilities construction, visitor management system, and trail maintenance management. It is recommended to carry out trail planning and construction in national parks under the premise of giving full play to the characteristics of resources, ensuring the recreational experience, and following the principle of minimum intervention. Additionally, a refined visitor management mechanism and a multi-party participation mechanism are necessary to improve the effectiveness of trail management.