Testimonials for New Zealand tours & holidays

Kia ora Jon! We had the time of our lives in New Zealand this month! Thank you very much for putting our tour together and supporting us throughout our time there. The accommodations were wonderful and better than expected. We loved that they had kitchenettes - it allowed us to have breakfast in our room and get on the road sooner. And we loved the excursions to Milford Sound (wow!), the Waitomo Glow Worm caves, and the Maori hangi (my personal favorite)! Steve is telling everyone he talks with about how he enjoyed the Trans-Alpine train ride. Switzerland has nothing on Mount Cook and the Southern Alps! While most of your communication was with Gary, we all benefitted from your timely response to our many questions. I would recommend New Zealand Self Drive Tours to anyone traveling in New Zealand. Your country is beautiful, and I can see that the people strive to keep it that way. The views were breathtaking and constantly changing - the beaches, cliffs, mountains, pastures, cultural sites, sheep and cattle, geothermal activity! Suzanne made sure that we all saw every single snow-capped mountain. I was impressed by the integration of the Maori and Anglo cultures and languages. You gotta love a country that has public toilets in every town! And your app is great - so much information. It was the perfect guide for our trip. Thank you, Jon, for all you’ve done to make our vacation a memorable one. Peggy Badlato

My wife and I had a fantastic trip. Vickie contacted us very quickly after we initially made an online enquiry and created an itinerary that perfectly matched our needs. The app was excellent as were all of our accommodation stays. The cost was very reasonable and everything went like clockwork and according to plan. We were really impressed and could find no fault at all with our self-drive holiday. Thank you for a memorable trip.

What can I say, an absolutely incredible trip from start to finish! It took three years to finally make it (COVID:-(!) but so glad we did. Louise did a fantastic job keeping the whole trip together despite the time lag. She did a great job accommodating all our special requests. Our group are all LOTR fanatics and her arrangements for Hobbiton made my Son's birthday extra special!! My Daughter also managed to find several LOTR film locations to visit as we traveled both islands. The trip also included a very special marriage proposal on the Fox Glacier (Yes, she accepted). The Lodging and Rental Car arrangements were amazing! We were somewhat concerned about the size of our rental car vs the amount of luggage we brought. We had no reason to worry; the car was more than adequate (The only hiccup was picking up our car on the South Island at Picton. The intended car had not been properly prepped, but it turned out for the best as we were upgraded to a slightly larger Ford diesel. Serendipity!? New Zealand wine country (Hawk's Bay and Martiborough) were spectacular. Amazing since a great deal of the area had been devastated by Cyclones earlier in the year! We live in an amazing wine region in Oregon and were very impressed with the variety and quality of all the New Zealand wines. Louise had arranged a wide variety of special activities for us throughout the trip. A flight to Cape Reinga, Dry Creek Railroad in Coromandel, Hobbiton, Zip lining and Te Puia in Rotorua, Zealandia in Wellington, Milford Sound Cruise, Jet Boat in Queenstown, Helicopter Ride to Franz Josef/Fox Glacier, and the TranzAlpine Scenic Railroad to name just some. We also managed to find Slope Point (Most Southerly point on the South Island). Did I say the lodgings were amazing too!? Louise found great places for us to stay! We especially enjoyed the accommodations in Marahau and Queenstown! There were so many places to fall in love with on both islands. The diversity of scenery on the North Island (Auckland, Paihia, Waipoua Kauri Forest, Coromandel, Napier) and the splendour of the South Island (Abel Tasman National Park, Kaikoura, Christchurch, Dunedin, Te Anu, Queenstown, Franz Josef). Wow!! I can't recommend New Zealand Fine Touring highly enough if you're looking to visit New Zealand (North Island, South Island, or both)! They can help you achieve a once in a lifetime adventure! I will never run out of lasting memories of our thirty days! The joy of traveling and experiencing with family!! Thank you for it all! Would love to spend more time on both islands!! Kia Ora

My family and I had the privilege of partaking in the most amazing trip to New Zealand through New Zealand Self Drive Tours. We would like to particularly thank Harriet McGregor for organising our trip and making the experience so wonderful. Harriet is so friendly and helpful in making sure we communicated well and ensured all of our requirements were met. Thankyou so much for your support in ensuring our trip would be the best we have ever had. The South Island is unbeatable. The most gorgeous place to visit, my family’s favourite spots being Queenstown, Franz Joseph and Aoraki Mount Cook. Unforgettable memories on the Tasman Lake to the glacier, walking towards the Franz Joseph glacier through a guided tour and the delicious BBQ buffet through the TSS Earnslaw Cruise. Our most favourite activities however collectively, were both Milford Sound and the TranzAlpine train, which presented us with the most marvellous experience of Scenic Plus which we had no previous knowledge of. It made the journey so special and memorable. Milford Sound is unbelievably beautiful and the journey with Altitude was simply the best with the tour guides commentary. I remember almost everything they talked about. The North was wonderful too with incredible drives through endless green hills and gorgeous cityscapes within Auckland and Wellington, even if our time there was short. The drive past the volcanos was daunting yet mesmerising as they shot out from the dry landscape. Rotorua was a completely new experience full of beauty and renowned for its geothermal activity and Maori culture - a must-visit place with a unique odour from the hot pools. Thank you again to New Zealand Self Drive Tours. We hope in the future to return and will undoubtedly continue with your service ❤️ From Alisha and the Bennett family!

Thank you very much for your help in arranging our New Zealand self-drive itinerary, something which started two years ago in pre-Covid days. The tour from start to finish was excellent and all your arrangements were perfect. The last time Robyne and I used a similar self-drive itinerary was in Scotland in 2017, and that, like our New Zealand trip, was very easy and very convenient. We were stunned by the amount of work still needed to restore Christchurch to its pre-earthquake condition, but we enjoyed the city very much. Mount Cook was stunning and the Hermitage Hotel was superb. All in all, your arrangements for accommodation and activities were excellent. It was unfortunate that our Franz Joesph Glacier activity was made impossible by the weather, but that is something that no one can predict. I appreciated NZSD’s prompt attention to the credit for this activity. We have absolutely no hesitation in recommending NZSD to our friends. Once again, thank you so much for the attention and efficiency that you showed to us.

Thank you for all the work you put in re our trip through NZ. We both totally enjoyed our tour and everything you had organised was first class. We didn't have any problems and all the accommodation was great.We will recommend you to our friends and maybe next year we might do the northern part of the South Island so we know who to go to. Thanks again. I have placed a Google review as well.

Our trip went very well due to Nichole’s excellent organisation and communication and on the whole the weather was kind to us! Wouldn’t hesitate to recommend your company.

Thanks to Shelley, Victoria and all the others who made our NZ vacation so wonderful! Thanks for the suggestions and timely updates along the way. We particularly enjoyed the personal tour of the TePapa museum in Auckland. That and all of the beautiful scenery and people we met left us with wonderful memories of NZ.

It was a great tour. Thank You, Christina, for your excellent communication and organizational skills for making it happen. The accommodations were all very good, except the Bella Vista in Rotorua, which has seen better days. We especially liked Rotorua, Queenstown, the glaciers and the Southern Alps. Kaikoura whale watching was disappointing since we saw only one sperm whale on the surface for 3 or 4 minutes during our 2.5-hour boat ride. It was probably not the right time of the year for this activity. Overall it was a fantastic trip which we can highly recommend for all nature lovers.

We recently completed a 21 day self-drive holiday of the North Island of NZ. We found the general organisation was excellent and the choice of accommodation each night was first class. We had a few unavoidable hiccups, mainly related to flights and weather, but these were all overcome without too many dramas. We would recommend this tour to anyone.