New Zealand You’ll learn to fall in love with your harness, as you won’t be out of it for long! This adrenaline filled country will have you thrown out of planes, jumping off bridges, gliding through tree tops and swinging through gorges. Make sure you stop off in Queenstown and get yourself a Fergburger!
Best New Zealand Adventure Tour & Trips
Search popular small group trips in New Zealand.
New Zealand Highlights
• 12 days
• £2,349
Kiwiana Panorama Tour
• 16 days
• £1,844
Australia & New Zealand Highlights
• 25 days
• £5,199
New Zealand Backpacker Tours
You’re off to the other side of the world and no one is coming with you – but the thing is, you don’t want to travel alone. Thankfully a few tour companies in New Zealand (and Australia) have discovered a way to connect solo travellers on the road, and allow them to travel together as one big raucous group.
Welcome aboard the backpacker bus…
What’s a backpacker bus? A bus, full of backpackers. You arrange to get on it when you’re at the hostel, and it should take you direct from one town to the next.
Great! So I can just hop on hop off anytime? Well, actually it’s a little bit more complicated than that. You buy a bus pass for a particular ‘journey’ – let’s say travelling from Auckland to Queenstown. You can’t stray off the bus map, or even go back on yourself, unless you decide to pay for public transport on top of your pass and do it independently.
Can I only do this in New Zealand and Australia? No, some of the companies that started in this region have branched out to other counties like Fiji, Thailand, Canada and other worldwide destinations too.
Experience? The bus doesn’t just travel from A to B. It stops off along the way at every major backpacker attraction. So you could find yourself at a big group BBQ, or bungee jumping – this is perfect for the adventure trip or gap year in New Zealand. Sometimes the activities cost extra, but it will all be clearly stated when you buy your pass.
So it’s a bit like a school trip then? Exactly. There’s much more of a ‘structure’ to the journey than normal independent travel, but they do try and keep that hint of spontaneity by making the travel flexible – you can take as long as the ‘time constraints’ of the pass (usually 6 months to a year) allow. It’s also like a school trip in the sense that it’s a group of excitied young people travelling together…
The atmosphere is pretty electric? You could say that. Backpacker buses are renowned for being much more exciting than public buses. The reputation varies from company to company (Stray and Magic are considered to be much more laid back than the ‘Experience’ company), but most of them have been known to become ‘party buses’.
Party bus makes it sound like some sort of weird booze cruise… Well, all reputations tend to get a little over-exaggerated. A lot depends on who gets on the same bus as you. The best thing about the hop on hop off service is probably that, if you hate the people on the bus, you can ditch them in the next town.
But hopefully you won’t? You’ll meet like-minded travellers, stay on the bus with them continuously, make some really good friends and have the time of your life.
North Island
The North Island of New Zealand really has it all; from beaches and mountains, to forests and farms, to history and culture.
North Island Highlights:
The list is long! So here are just a few:
• Marae stay – experience true Maori culture
• Tongariro Alpine Crossing – rated one of the world’s top 10 day hikes
• Tane Mahuta – a spiritual giant, New Zealand’s largest tree
• Kiwi Encounter – get up close and personal with the native icon
South Island
The South Island of New Zealand is all about the drama! From snow-capped mountains, and huge high-country farming stations to palm trees, rainforests, and giant waterfalls.
South Island Highlights
It’s too hard to choose! So here are just a few:
• Abel Tasman National Park by foot and kayak
• The TranzAlpine – one of New Zealand’s great train journeys
• Spend an epic day hiking the Routeburn Track
• Rural farm homestay – experience true Kiwi hospitality
• Adventure capital of the world – Queenstown
Tour Inclusions
What is included really depends on the operator, but usually you get:
• All accommodation for the duration of the trip
• All breakfasts and selected lunches and dinners
• Some of the BEST activities and experiences New Zealand has to offer!
• All Ground transport while on tour – luxury touring vehicle
• Return airport transfers
• Highly qualified, professional Tour Leader and Tour Driver
• Welcome meeting in New Zealand
• 24 hour on-call emergency support in New Zealand
• Free t-shirt – coz it never happened unless you got the t-shirt!
