New Zealand Vista
Experience the best of the North Island & South Island on a 14-day guided holiday
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 downtime amid wineries and city restaurants that take home awards.
Highlights
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Get your glow on at the Waitomo Caves, a magical subterranean world lit by thousands of glowworms. Drift along and prepare to be dazzled.
- 13 Breakfasts, 7 Dinners
- Travel Director, Driver Guide, and local Guides
- Accommodations provided
Your fare excludes:
Return Airport to Hotel transfers are not included in the tour price.
Flights to and from your tour are not included in the tour price.
- Day 1: Flights to arrive prior to 4.00 pm at Auckland Airport
- Day 14: Flights to depart any time from Christchurch Airport
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, your Travel Director will welcome you and brief you on your tour.
Day 2 - Auckland - Rotorua
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.
Day 3 - Rotorua Free Time
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 downtime? 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.
Day 4 - Rotorua - Wellington
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.
Day 5 - Wellington - Picton
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 (entrance fee applies). Wellington sightseeing done and dusted: onwards to the interisland ferry 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.
Day 6 - Picton - Christchurch
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.
Day 7 - Christchurch - Omarama
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 that it may be one of the quietest spots on the planet, yet it has one of the busiest skies in the universe.
Day 8 - Omarama - Dunedin
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.
Day 9 - Dunedin - Te Anau
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.
Day 10 - Te Anau - Queenstown
Some travel days 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.
Day 11 - Queenstown Free Time
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 a 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 dinner.
Day 12 - Queenstown - Franz Josef/Waiau
Journey past shimmering Lake Hawea and through Haast Pass with its powerful waterfalls and dramatic mountain backdrops to the pretty town of Franz Josef/Waiau.
Day 13 - Franz Josef/Waiau - Christchurch
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 board 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.
Day 14 - Farewell from Christchurch
Two islands, two weeks. It’s remarkable what you can see when you have the right people guiding you.
*Please note: This itinerary may be subject to change.
Prices above may vary according to your departure date and accommodation standard
Save up to $1,358pp on Selected 2025 Departures!
Multiple Departure Dates departing Auckland
23 Sep 2025 / 28 Oct 2025 / 11 Nov 2025 / 2 Dec 2025 / 9 Dec 2025
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$8,390$7,032 pp twin share* - From
$10,578$9,220 pp sole traveller*
14 Oct 2025
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12 Jan 2027 / 26 Jan 2027 / 9 Feb 2027 / 23 Feb 2027 / 9 Mar 2027 / 23 Mar 2027
- From $9,145 pp twin share*
- From $12,005 pp sole traveller*
* Prices are subject to availability at time of booking and may change or be withdrawn at any time without notice.
- Holiday Inn Express Auckland City Centre
- Ibis Rotorua Hotel (2 Nights)
- Travelodge Wellington
- Picton Yacht Club Hotel / Picton Beachcomber Inn
- Ibis Hotel Christchurch (2 Nights)
- Distinction Heritage Gateway Hotel
- Scenic Hotel Dunedin City
- Distinction Luxmore Hotel
- Copthorne Hotel and Resort Queenstown (2 Nights)
- Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier
What to bring
- Comfortable walking shoes
- Sunglasses, sunscreen and hat
- Water bottle
- Warm layers
- Camera