Golden Years 16 Days
North and South Island (Reversible)
This multi day tour itinerary allows the more mature guests to explore stunning landscapes, experience Maori culture, and journey on world famous trains in a relaxed pace. “Tick off your New Zealand Bucket List”
Travel Style: Private driver I Self-drive I Trains I Boats
Accommodation Style: Motel I Hotel I Boutique Lodges
Day 1: Auckland
Suggested activities for Auckland
Explore: Auckland
New Zealand's self-proclaimed "City of Sails" is the country's largest metro area. Resting between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea, this urban paradise has something for everyone. Surrounded by native bush, rainforests, and an abundance of beaches, Auckland is a playground for both the city savvy and those with an eye for adventure. Central museums and galleries can be explored on foot.
Food and Wine: Harbour Dinner Cruise with Explore
This unique on-water dining experience is not to be missed while you're in Auckland. Enjoy smooth sailing on the Waitemata Harbour – then watch this photogenic city come alive with twinkling lights. Enjoy your meal as you sail around the beautiful Auckland Harbour taking in the view as the sun slowly sets. You'll be treated to canapes and a drink as you set off towards Westhaven Marina.
Day 2: Auckland to Rotorua
Travel to Waitomo Caves and then onto Hobbiton before arriving in Rotorua
Suggested activities
World Famous: Waitomo Glowworm Caves
Waitomo Glowworm Caves, take a 45-minute guided tour through impressive underground caverns and learn how stalactites, stalagmites and other limestone structures were formed over millions of years. Your tour includes a boat ride through the Glowworm Grotto - glide silently along an underground river as you gaze at the twinkling glowworms overhead. After visiting Waitomo and Hobbiton, continue to Rotorua, arriving in the early evening.
Day 3: Rotorua
Suggested activities for Rotorua
Explore: Rotorua
Peppered with natural hot springs, boiling mud pools, and steaming geysers, Rotorua sits within one of the world’s most active volcanic regions. Geothermal landmarks aside, this city of sulphur has a rich indigenous history. Home to several prominent Māori tribes, a visit to one of the Māori Villages should be high on your agenda, as should an excursion to the Polynesian Spa for an invigorating soak in its natural mineral hot springs. Alternatively, head up the Rotorua Gondola for soaring lake views, and ride the luge at night for an extra thrill.
Culture: Te Puia Te Rā Daytime Experience including Haka and Steambox Lunch
Te Puia is one of the country's premier indigenous experiences, with its spine-tingling ceremonial welcome, and stunning Kapa Haka cultural show which features traditional ancestral storytelling, song and dance. Enjoy food that has been cooked using the geothermal energy used for centuries, quite literally giving you a taste of Māori culture. You choose what you want to be cooked for your lunch before heading off on a special guided tour of Te Puia.
Culture and Food: Tamaki Maori Village Cultural Tour and Hangi Dinner
Journey back in time to a Pre-European lifestyle experience of customs and traditions. Enjoy the night's festivities with the people of Tamaki Maori Village as you are treated to a banquet of succulent foods cooked the traditional Māori way. Discover the Māori village as it comes alive to the sound and activities of tribal songs, dances, myths, and legends and browse throughout the largest after-hours tribal marketplace in Rotorua. Includes a hangi buffet feast that has cooked slowly underground.
Day 4: Rotorua to Wellington
Suggested activity
Explore: Wellington
Wellington City is New Zealand's capital. It sits on a wonderful deep natural harbour and is surrounded by bush-clad hills. The city centre itself is quite compact (only around 1 square kilometre) and so exploring on foot is relatively easy. From your city centre accommodation, you can easily stroll the cafes and restaurants around Courtenay Place, and New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa, is also close by.
Day 5: Wellington
Suggested Activities for Wellington
Nature: Zealandia By Night Wildlife Sanctuary Tour
Taking a night tour of Zealandia wildlife eco-sanctuary is an unforgettable experience and one we highly recommend. It's a conservation success and safe haven for some of New Zealand's rarest native animals like the iconic Kiwi bird and Tuatara lizard.
World Famous: Wētā Workshop Experience
Visit Weta Cave Workshop and get up close to the props, weapons and costumes created for The Lord of the Rings, Power Rangers, The Great Wall, Avatar, District 9, and more. See artists at work on the tour stage and peek through windows that look directly into the Workshop. Hear stories from the Weta Workshop crew, who in many cases have also worked on the films themselves. goes here
Day 6: Wellington to Christchurch
Interisland Ferry and Coastal Pacific Train
The Coastal Pacific train connects at Picton with the morning Interislander ferry services from Wellington. Explore the stunning Kaikōura Coastline, famous for its marine life and whale watching. Voyage through the vineyards of Blenheim, dripping with New Zealand's premium crop. Canter amidst the idyllic Canterbury countryside to the Garden City of Christchurch
Day 7: Christchurch
Suggested Activity
Explore: Christchurch
New Zealand's garden city is steadily being transformed into a vibrant urban destination. Encompassing a large green belt, it's known for its wide tree-lined avenues and lush gardens. Christchurch is also known for many great restaurants, with the local delicacy being fresh-caught crayfish.
Relax: Vist Akaroa
Just 1.5 hours’ drive from Christchurch, along the incredibly scenic Banks Peninsula, Akaroa is a picturesque little town with unique French heritage. Take in Akaroa's historic cottages and sample fine French cuisine.
Day 8: Christchurch to Franz Josef Glacier
World Famous: The TranzAlpine Scenic Train
Considered one of the world's great train journeys, the TranzAlpine Scenic Train takes you from Greymouth to Christchurch. You'll travel across the South Island from the west to the east coast through Arthur's Pass National Park. From the comfort of your carriage see lush beech forest, deep river valleys, and the spectacular peaks of the Southern Alps.
Day 9: Franz Josef
Suggested activities for Franz Josef
Explore: Franz Josef Glacier
Franz Josef is a small but lively town in the heart of the West Coast, known for its 12km long glacier. Surrounded by lush rainforest-clad mountains the township has a vibrant and bustling atmosphere. To see the ice from a viewpoint you can walk along the valley floor to the viewpoint below the terminal face. However, to go on the glacier itself you must take a licensed helicopter tour.
Adventure: Franz Josef Glacier Helihike
Take a scenic flight over all three Franz Josef glacier icefalls. Landing high on the glacier, take a two-hour guided trip through some of the most beautiful terrain in the country. Your guide will choose the route as you go through a wonderland of blue ice and frozen pinnacles. You'll have endless views of the surrounding mountains and rainforest as well as plenty of opportunities to take photographs.
Day 10: Franz Josef to Queenstown
Heading south, you pass through the small town of Fox Glacier. A short side trip to view the glacier is recommended before heading along the coast and through more classic West Coast bush scenery. At Knights Point Lookout, fur seals and even elephant seals can often be seen basking on the sandy beaches at the far end of the point. Crossing the Haast River, you’ll turn inland and through the mountainous valley studded with waterfalls. Continue on past lakes Hawea and Wanaka into the alpine township of Queenstown
Suggested activities
Explore: Queenstown
Celebrated as New Zealand's adventure capital, Queenstown offers far more than a fast-paced action-packed holiday. Settled on the shores of Lake Wakatipu beneath a soaring panorama of the Remarkables Mountain Range, this alpine town is surrounded by a plethora of historic, gastronomic, and scenic wonders.
Day 11: Queenstown
Suggested activity.
Private Luxury 4WD Guided Tour: Nevis Valley and Central Otago
Experience the rugged beauty of New Zealand's South Island in unparalleled comfort and style with our private luxury 4WD guided tour. Buckle up and embark on an unforgettable journey from Queenstown to the stunning Nevis Valley and Central Otago, where breathtaking landscapes and hidden treasures await.
Unlike extreme 4WD tours, our adventure is meticulously designed to provide a comfortable off-road experience.
World Famous: TSS Earnslaw cruise to Walter Peak including gourmet BBQ dinner and a farm tour
Enjoy a quintessential Kiwi experience – a delicious gourmet BBQ buffet meal and a farm demonstration in a stunning lakeside setting.
Take in the stunning views of Lake Wakatipu and its surroundings as you cruise across the lake to the historic Walter Peak high country farm aboard the TSS Earnslaw Steamship.
After dinner, watch the farm dogs in action with a sheep-herding demonstration and say hello to the other farm animals.
Day 12: Queenstown
Suggested activity.
Visit the eighth natural wonder of the world Milford Sound, below is three day great options from Queenstown.
Nature: Private Tour/Cruise/Fly
This full-day experience journeys to Milford Sound via road with photo stops in Te Anau and the Fiordland National Park. Next, take a Milford Sound cruise famous for its wildlife and epic waterfalls. The experience ends with a 30 minute scenic flight back to Queenstown
Day 13: Queenstown to Dunedin
Suggested activities
Explore: Dunedin
The splendour of many of its public buildings reflects Dunedin's economic and cultural pre-eminence in Victorian New Zealand. Today, Dunedin has a rightly deserved reputation as one of the best-preserved Victorian and Edwardian cities in the Southern Hemisphere. Of particular note is Dunedin Railway Station, built 1904 - 1906 and St Paul's Cathedral in the Octagon.
Day 14: Dunedin
Suggested activities
Nature: Penguin Place Conservation Reserve Tour
Learn about the endangered Yellow-Eyed Penguin when you visit Penguin Place - a private conservation reserve dedicated to ensuring the survival of this unique species. You'll take a short bus trip over to the reserve and be led on foot by your guide through a system of covered trenches to viewing hides which allow access to the living and breeding habitat of this very shy bird, without disturbing them.
Nature: Royal Albatross Centre: Unique Taiaroa Tour
The Royal Albatross colony at Taiaroa Head on the Otago Peninsula is the only mainland breeding colony of Royal Albatross in the world. From the centre, it's a short walk to the observatory for the privilege of seeing the greatest of all seabirds. The Fort Taiaroa guided tour takes you back into New Zealand's colonial past. It covers the Māori and European occupation of the headland with a visit to 'Fort Taiaroa,' underground fortifications beneath the Albatross Colony.
Day 15: Dunedin to Christchurch
Start the day with a photo stop a the Moeraki Boulders are unusually large spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach. Then Stretch your legs in Oamaru, known for its white stone buildings constructed with the local Oamaru Stone before traveling to Christchurch.
Day 16: Christchurch to Auckland
Finishing the tour in Christchurch then onto a flight back to Auckland.