Essence of New Zealand - Small Group

Welcome to Christchurch

Welcome to New Zealand. Kick things off in Christchurch, buzzing with community spirit that runs deep. Spend time at leisure getting to know the city your way before meeting your Travel Director and fellow travellers this evening for a briefing and welcome drinks.

Canterbury Plains and a Taste of Geraldine

See the highlights of Christchurch this morning, including the innovative Cardboard Cathedral and the Botanic Gardens, loved for their landscaped beauty and tranquil riverside setting. Then watch the scenery shift as you travel across the Canterbury Plains to Geraldine. Stop in at historic Barkers Store to sample local cheeses and regional produce before continuing along the East Coast into the Waitaki Valley with its winding rivers, rolling farmland and mountain backdrops near Lake Benmore. Arrive in Omarama this evening, a quintessential country town and your home for the night.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Discover Clyde and Invercargill

Clyde is sure to keep your camera busy with its big personality. Wander its historic precinct where gold mining era buildings have been transformed into cafes and shops. Later, you’ll roll into Invercargill, a city with a real passion for wheels and speed legends. Visit Bill Richardson Transport World for a guided tour, exploring more than 300 vehicles and the stories behind them, from rare finds to classic favourites.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
Accommodations:  Distinction Invercargill

Your Choice in Invercargill

Today is yours to explore the southern reaches of Aotearoa (New Zealand) at your own pace. You may choose an Optional Experience day trip to Rakiura (Stewart Island), where 85% of the island is protected as national park, creating a sanctuary for native birdlife and wildlife including kiwi, seabirds and rare species. A guided Village and Bays tour reveals rugged coastlines, native bush and local stories, followed by free time to explore this remote island.  Or, remain in Invercargill and discover its unique heritage. On an Optional Experience, visit Classic Motorcycle Mecca, home to one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest collections of over 300 vintage motorcycles and interactive displays spanning more than a century of motoring history and indulge your sweet tooth at Toot Sweets, a local favourite for handcrafted treats and nostalgic charm.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
Accommodations:  Distinction Invercargill

Spectacular Milford Sound

Journey through the dramatic landscapes of Fiordland National Park, travelling deep into one of Aotearoa (New Zealand)’s most awe-inspiring natural regions. Arrive at Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) and board a scenic cruise, gliding past towering cliffs, cascading waterfalls and rainforest that clings to sheer rock faces, with opportunities to spot seals, and native birdlife. After your cruise, continue by road through alpine valleys and ancient beech forest to Te Anau, the gateway to Fiordland. Settle in for your overnight stay in this peaceful lakeside town.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
• Dinner
Accommodations:  Distinction Luxmore Hotel

Meet a local farmer

Get a taste of country life and classic southern hospitality at Real Country as you meet a local farmer and step into day-to-day farm living. Watch horse communication in action and see working sheep dogs muster with skill and speed on this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. Later, you’ll have the chance to wander the heritage streets of Arrowtown, a gold rush village lined with trees and character-filled boutiques before arriving in Queenstown for a two-night stay in New Zealand’s adventure capital.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
Accommodations:  Copthorne Hotel and Resort Queenstown Lakefront

Queenstown, Your Way

Today is yours to soak up Queenstown and its surroundings. Grab lunch at leisure at cult favourite Fergburger, known for its gourmet burgers and buzzing atmosphere. You might choose to dial up the thrill with an Optional Experience, like a high-octane jet boat ride tearing along the Shotover River. Prefer something smoother? Head out to nearby vineyards for a tasting or take it easy with an afternoon cruise on Lake Wakatipu aboard the historic TSS Earnslaw to Walter Peak High Country Farm for a gourmet barbecue dinner.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
• Lunch
Accommodations:  Copthorne Hotel and Resort Queenstown Lakefront

Queenstown onto Christchurch

This morning, pick up a sweet taste of the region at the Jones Family fruit stall, then settle in for one of the South Island’s most scenic drives. You’ll cross the alpine sweep of Lindis Pass between Otago and the Mackenzie Basin, with big sky views and rugged peaks, with the majestic Aoraki/Mount Cook among them. Stop in Tekapo on the shores of turquoise Lake Tekapo, where the stone Church of the Good Shepherd sits in a picture-perfect setting. Later, continue across the Canterbury Plains back to Christchurch.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
Accommodations:  Ibis Hotel Christchurch

Great Rail Journey to Punakaiki

All aboard the TranzAlpine train for one of New Zealand’s greatest rail journeys. Travel towards Arthur’s Pass, through tunnels and over soaring viaducts as snow-capped peaks, icy rivers, beech forests and deep gorges roll past your window. Stop in Greymouth, known for its mining history, before continuing to Punakaiki to see the famous Pancake Rocks and blowholes.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
• Dinner
Accommodations:  Scenic Punakaiki

Wild beauty, Kahurangi

Today is made for sitting back and taking it all in. Follow the Heritage Highway towards Nelson as your journey winds through the dramatic Buller Gorge, a deep canyon that’s home to New Zealand’s longest swing bridge. Continue alongside the wild beauty of Kahurangi National Park, where rivers, high plateaus, alpine herb fields and coastal forests set the scene for a relaxed arrival into Nelson.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
Accommodations:  The Rutherford Hotel

Top of the South

Sleep in or get moving, today is completely at leisure. If you feel like getting out on the water, you can choose an Optional Experience to Abel Tasman National Park for a cruise and walk. This corner of the island is pure calm, with golden beaches, sculpted granite cliffs and one of the country’s most loved coastal tracks, so make the most of it.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast

Cruise Queen Charlotte Sound

All aboard for a voyage that’s a must on any Kiwi adventure. Today, you’ll cruise through Queen Charlotte Sound, glide up the Tory Channel and cross Cook Strait from the South Island to the North, weaving past a maze of arms and inlets before arriving in Wellington, the country’s cool little capital.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
Accommodations:  James Cook Grand Chancellor

Wellington onto Napier

First, you’ll get to know Wellington on a highlights tour, then you’ll travel on to Napier, a city with a story you can see in every facade. After a massive earthquake in 1931 destroyed the commercial centre of Napier, rebuilding began almost immediately in the architectural styles of the times - Striped Classical, Spanish Mission and Art Deco.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast

Discover Art Deco Icons

This morning, join a Local Specialist from the Art Deco Trust for an easy stroll through Napier’s compact Art Deco Quarter on a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience that brings the city’s fascinating design history to life. The afternoon is yours. You might choose an Optional Experience sampling Hawke’s Bay wines, or head out on an overland safari to the gannet nesting colony at Cape Kidnappers.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast

Culture Capital Rotorua

The scenery opens wide as Lake Taupo comes into view, the country’s largest lake and one of its bluest. Not far away, you’ll hear Huka Falls before you see it, thundering and powerful. Then Rotorua sets the senses alight, where mud pops, steam rises and the land’s geothermal heartbeat is impossible to miss. In the afternoon, you’ll visit a traditional Pounamu workshop to learn about jade carving, a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. Later, delve deep into Māori culture with the Te Pō Indigenous Experience at Te Puia. Enjoy a powerful cultural performance in the carved meeting house Te Aronui a Rua, see the Pohutu Geyser and finish with a buffet dinner of hāngī-inspired flavours.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
• Dinner

Rotorua, It’s All Yours

Today is yours, with your Travel Director on hand if you want tips to match your mood. Ease into the steamy thermal springs at Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa, chase movie magic with an Optional Experience to the Hobbiton Movie Set, or even take to the skies on a scenic flight for a fresh, bird's-eye-view of the scenery.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast

Auckland, the City of Sails

Today, follow the Waikato River as you make your way to Auckland, the ‘City of Sails’, where yachts glide across two harbours and the skyline meets the sea. Then it’s time for something truly Kiwi. Dive into the country’s national game at the interactive All Blacks Experience, exploring the team’s remarkable history through displays and presentations, before a traditional haka performance brings it all to a thrilling close.

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast
Accommodations:  Radisson RED, Auckland

Farwell from Auckland

How do you pick a favorite adventure from the last 18 days? You don't have to - let them all shine in equal measure in your memory

• Meals Included:
• Breakfast