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Daintree Rainforest

New Zealand Vista

2024/2025 Season

Everyday Price From

$5,148

14 days

No Countries

Overview

You could spend eons exploring New Zealand’s North and South Islands. But you can also experience a New Zealand tour in two weeks – if you have the right advice. Follow us for Franz Josef/Waiau tours, a ride on one of the world's top trains, Milford Sound/Piopiotahi cruises in the company of fur seals, glowing Waitomo Caves tours… and some down time amid wineries and city restaurants that take home awards.

Locations Visited

Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, Picton, Christchurch, Omarama, Dunedin, Te Anau, Queenstown, Franz Josef

Countries Visited

New Zealand

Travel Style

Best Buys

Accommodations

13 nights included

Age Requirements

Minimum age 5

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Itinerary

COLLAPSE ALL EXPAND ALL

Day 1

Welcome to Auckland

Auckland never fails to turn on the charm, as you’ll discover while exploring the city before meeting your fellow adventure-seekers. Peruse waterfront precincts filled with yachts or hit up the CBD to discover local designers. Turns out Kiwi creativity is surging. This evening, meet your Travel Director for a Welcome Reception.

  • Accommodation

    Holiday Inn Express Auckland City Centre


 After a morning Auckland tour, set your GPS for the Waikato River to Waitomo Caves. Here, your cruise route is cast in a magical light by thousands of glowworms. It’s a landscape almost as otherworldly as Rotorua, where mud pops and jettisons from bubbling geysers, and steam rushes skywards from cracks in the Earth. Tonight, delve deep into Maori culture and traditions at Te Puia. The Te Pō Indigenous Experience begins with a delicious buffet dinner of locally sourced cuisine and an authentic Māori twist in each dish. Following dinner, view an exhilarating cultural performance that takes place in our beautifully carved meeting house, Te Aronui a Rua. Afterwards, enter the geothermal valley on our waka (electric shuttle) and discover one of New Zealand’s most magnificent geothermal wonderlands – featuring dramatic geysers, bubbling mud, and beautiful native bush. Enjoy a hot chocolate, while seated on a naturally heated rock terrace overlooking the powerful Pōhutu Geyser.

  • Accommodation

    Ibis Rotorua Hotel


  • Meals

    Breakfast

    Highlight Dinner

We’re leaving you up to your own devices today. But have plenty of North Island tour travel tips, depending on your mood. Want a bit of down time? Bliss out at Wai Araki Hot Springs & Spa. Hobbit fans will want to take advantage of the opportunity to tour the sights featured in The Lord of the Rings movies at Hobbiton. These beautiful landscapes are not only a bucket list tour for Hobbit fans, but a gorgeous countryside getaway. The choice is yours.

  • Accommodation

    Ibis Rotorua Hotel


  • Meals

    Breakfast

A staggering 220,000 litres of water thunder over Huka Falls’ 11-metre high escarpment every second. It creates quite the calamity. From here, the road ahead unfolds in a broad panorama of Lake Taupo, its waters so vivid and blue they resemble an Ice Mint. Traverse the Kapiti Coast to New Zealand’s cool little capital, Wellington, where there are so many restaurants and bars to choose from, you’ll need a guidebook. Wait, you have an in-the-know Travel Director to talk to.

  • Accommodation

    Travelodge Wellington


  • Meals

    Breakfast

Forget everything else you have to do today and focus on one thing: getting a cup of Wellington’s amazing coffee. The city is known for its uber-cool cafés, designed to fuel you through a session at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand. (Please note: There is an entry fee for Te Papa, this must be paid at the guests own expense.) Wellington sightseeing done and dusted: onwards to the Interislander for a cruise across Cook Strait, from the North Island to the South, through a maze of arms and inlets into the sleepy seaside village of Picton.

  • Accommodation

    Picton Beachcomber Inn


  • Meals

    Breakfast

    Dinner

There aren’t many beaches more dramatic than the sands of Kaikoura. Bonus points if you spot a sea lion or sperm whale frolicking offshore, Kaikoura is the marine wildlife centre of New Zealand. Talk to your Travel Director for tips on the essential restaurants to dine in tonight – Christchurch has reinvented itself in more ways than one.

  • Accommodation

    Wyndham Garden


  • Meals

    Breakfast

From its devastating 2010/11 earthquakes, Christchurch has become one of the most forward-thinking cities in the world when it comes to design. Case in point the mind-bending Transitional Cathedral, made largely of cardboard, and Turanga, the gold-clad central library. This Christchurch tour is as eye-opening as it is educational. From here, your outlook is the Canterbury Plains: the turquoise waters of Lake Tekapo, snow-capped mountains and atmospheric towns. Your Indoor Dark Sky Astronomy Experience at Tekapo, hosted by passionate guides, will forever change the way you see the night sky. You'll see for yourself it may be one of the quietest spots on the planet, yet it has one of the busiest skies in the universe.

  • Accommodation

    Distinction Heritage Gateway Hotel


  • Meals

    Breakfast

    Dinner

Oamaru may have supplied other NZ cities with limestone, but it kept some for itself – and the result is glorious leafy streets with grand 1800s buildings that stand proud before you journey further south toward Dunedin. It’s easy to while away the afternoon in ‘little Edinburgh’s’ atmospheric art-lined alleys. Or venture further afield to discover the wildlife that thrives in this pretty pocket of the country – fur seals and penguins among them.

  • Accommodation

    Scenic Hotel Dunedin City


  • Meals

    Breakfast

Dunedin’s Scottish ancestry is everywhere you look, from the manicured grounds of Otago University to the city’s main George Street. Rolling green hills dotted with doe-eyed sheep are replaced by soaring mountains as you weave your way into Fiordland National Park and the South Island’s biggest lake and the town of Te Anau. Soak up the serenity – it doesn’t get any better than this.

  • Accommodation

    Distinction Luxmore Hotel


  • Meals

    Breakfast

    Dinner

There are some travel days that blaze into your memory. Today is one. Your route through Fiordland National Park is an intoxicating union of beech forests, alluvial flats, meadows and mirror-like lakes. Gin-clear rivers carve the countryside, with all roads leading to Milford Sound/Piopiotahi. Cruising this World Heritage listed expanse will give you goosebumps, a string of waterfalls creating a misty curtain across sheer escarpments.

  • Accommodation

    Copthorne Hotel and Resort Queenstown


  • Meals

    Breakfast

Queenstown is known as NZ’s adventure capital for good reason. But don’t take our word for it. Feel the wind in your hair on a high-octane jet boat ride, skidding, twirling and zipping along white-water river. Nature lover? Discover some of New Zealand’s feathered friends at a wildlife centre. Wherever you wander, make sure you’re back in time to glide across Lake Wakatipu aboard the historic TSS Earnslaw to Walter Peak High Country Farm for a gourmet barbecue Highlight Dinner.

  • Accommodation

    Copthorne Hotel and Resort Queenstown


  • Meals

    Breakfast

    Highlight Dinner

As if Queenstown’s Lake Wakatipu wasn’t pretty enough, you have a parade of gleaming waterways to keep you company today. After departing the movie-set-perfect streets of Arrowtown, discover Lake Dunstan, surrounded by orchards where you’ll pause to refuel on flavour packed stone fruit. Then there’s Lake Hawea followed by Lake Wanaka, with its Instagrammable shoreline of poplars and willows. Over the Haast Pass, Franz Josef Glacier/Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere sparkles like a gem. You don’t get many opportunities in life to land and walk on a glacier. This afternoon is one.

  • Accommodation

    Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier


  • Meals

    Breakfast

    Dinner

Swap white at Franz Josef Glacier/Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere for green at Hokitika: the pounamu (native jade) found here is the stuff jewellery dreams are made of. Just when you thought your adventure couldn’t get any better, you’ll aboard the TranzAlpine train bound for Christchurch, through tunnels and over viaducts with panoramic views of snow-capped peaks, icy rivers, beech forests, gorges and river valleys.

  • Accommodation

    Wyndham Garden


  • Meals

    Breakfast

    Farewell Dinner

Two islands, two weeks. It’s remarkable what you can see when you have the right people guiding you.

  • Meals

    Breakfast

Highlights

Flexible Holidays

  • Freedom in travel? Explore remote reaches of the North Island one minute, then sip wine or zip across Queenstown lakes the next. Ask us for tips.

Iconic Sites

  • Within World Heritage listed Fiordland National Park, Milford Sound/Piopiotahi is the kind of place you expect to see on postcards. You’re here in real life.

Make Travel Matter

  • Dark Sky Project is committed to preserving our night skies by connecting manuhiri (visitors) to the relevance of the night sky via scientific and cultural experiences.

Natural Wonders

  • Get your glow on at the Waitomo Caves, a magical subterranean world lit by thousands of glowworms. Drift along and prepare to be dazzled.

Whats included

    • Specialist team of two highly experienced Travel Director and Driver Guide
    • 1 UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Fiordland National Park
    • Comfortable accommodation with easy access to city centres
    • National Park entrance fees

What to Bring

    • Comfortable walking shoes
    • Sunglasses, sunscreen and hat
    • Water bottle
    • Warm layers in cooler months
    • Camera

Flight information

  • Flights to and from the start/end of your trip are not included in the trip price.

    Day 1 – flights to arrive prior to 4.00pm into Auckland Airport
    Day 14 – flights to depart any time from Christchurch Airport

Fitness Requirement

  • Low level of fitness required

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Special Offers

Airfare is not included, but can be added to quote upon request.

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Terms & Conditions

Trip Notes:

  • ​International Air: Please note that airfares are not included. We will quote you the lowest possible airfare available on the day you book.

Terms & Conditions:

  • ​Prices listed are per person, land only and based on double occupancy. Single room supplements are available. 
  • ​'Price with Current Deals' reflects current applicable 'Early Payment Discounts' or 'Last Minute Deals.' Early Payment Discounts (land only) savings vary by itinerary, are not valid on all trips /departure dates and are subject to availability; not valid with all other promotional offers. Last Minute Deals are available on select departures only; not combinable with Early Payment Discounts or any other promotional offers; require full payment due at time of booking. All discounts are for new bookings only, subject to availability and may be withdrawn at any time without notice. Call or request a quote for complete details.
  • ​​​Trip prices and information are correct at the time of the trips going live online, however are subject to confirmation - please confirm all details at time of quote and booking.
  • For full details, please refer to our Terms & Conditions page.
  • Other conditions may apply.