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10 Day South Island Spectacular

10 Day South Island Spectacular

This tour offers unbeatable value and provides an excellent coverage of the spectacular South Island of New Zealand. It provides an excellent range of deluxe hotel accommodation, luxury coach travel, cooked breakfasts and dinners plus a comprehensive range of prepaid activities.

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Tour Info

Tour Type: Premium Coach Tour
From: Christchurch to Christchurch
Departures: May 2018 to May 2019
Tour Operator: Grand Pacific Tours
Pace: Relaxing
Duration: 10 Days
Tour Code: GPSI10

Inclusions

9 nights superior hotel accommodation
9 cooked breakfasts
8 sumptuous dinners including 3 specialty dinners: Walter Peak Homestead - Queenstown; Haggis Ceremony - Dunedin; Farewell Dinner - Christchurch
Coast to coast TranzAlpine Train journey through the Southern Alps
Cruise Lake Wakatipu on the TSS Earnslaw
Lakes District Museum
Milford Sound Cruise & Lunch
Haggis Ceremony & Gift
Guided tour of Larnach Castle
Travel wallet, comprehensive customised itinerary, bound map book, accommodation & activity vouchers and local travel guides

Day by Day Tour Itinerary

View Tour PDF
Day 1
Arrive Christchurch

Fly from your homeport to Christchurch where you will be met by a Grand Pacific Tours representative and transferred to your hotel (flight not included).

Stay: Hotel Distinction Christchurch (D)

Day 2
Christchurch - Arthur's Pass - Franz Josef

This morning board the TranzAlpine, renowned as one of the great train journeys of the world. Travel through spectacular gorges to Arthur’s Pass located in the centre of the Southern Alps. Board your coach and travel to Hokitika, famous for its Greenstone, before continuing to Franz Josef where time is available to experience a scenic flight (optional, weather permitting) over the spectacular glaciers.

Stay: Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier (Douglas Wing) (B, D)

Day 3
Franz Josef - Queenstown

See the snow capped peaks of the Southern Alps as you travel via the Haast Pass, an area of stunning beauty before arriving into picturesque Queenstown, a year round resort situated on the shores of magical Lake Wakatipu. This evening is free and you may choose to dine out at one of the many fine restaurants.

Stay: Mercure Queenstown Resort (Lakeview Rooms) (2 nights) (B)

Day 4
Queenstown (Free Day)

Today is a free day. There are plenty of sightseeing options and your Coach Captain is available to assist. You may wish to enjoy the thrill of a jet boat ride, a heritage tour of the scenic Skippers Canyon or the helicopter ride of a lifetime. This evening board the vintage steamship TSS Earnslaw and cruise across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak Station. On arrival sit back and relax, as you are treated to the best of New Zealand’s high country cuisine in the Colonel’s Homestead. Reboard the TSS Earnslaw for a sing along by the piano as you cruise back to Queenstown. (B, SD)

Day 5
Queenstown - Te Anau

Enjoy a leisurely start before travelling to Arrowtown, an old gold mining village and visit the Lakes District Museum. Continue to Te Anau, the gateway to Fiordland.

Stay: Distinction Luxmore Hotel (Deluxe Rooms) (2 nights) (B, D)

Day 6
Te Anau - Milford Sound - Te Anau

Depart Te Anau for a fascinating drive to Milford Sound where you board your launch for a cruise on this magnificent fiord. See the spectacular Bowen Falls and towering Mitre Peak as you enjoy a picnic lunch onboard. This afternoon return to Te Anau where some free time is available. (B, L, D)

Day 7
Te Anau - Dunedin

Travel via Gore and Balclutha to Dunedin known as the “Edinburgh of the South” and enjoy an informative city tour followed by some free time to explore at leisure. Travel along the Otago Peninsula to Larnach Castle where you will hear of the tragic and scandalous history on a guided tour. Tonight a Scottish evening will be presented comprising of bagpipes, great food, special Haggis Ceremony and gift.

Stay: Scenic Hotel Dunedin City (B, SD)

Day 8
Dunedin - Mt Cook - Twizel

Farewell Dunedin and travel to Oamaru famous for its limestone. Follow the Waitaki River and see Lake Benmore as you continue to marvel at Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak. The opportunity is available to enjoy a scenic flight (optional, weather permitting) over the Southern Alps. Travel to Twizel for your overnight stay.

Stay: MacKenzie Country Hotel (B, D)

Day 9
Twizel - Christchurch

Continue to Lake Tekapo and view the brilliant turquoise water, visit the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Sheep Dog Statue before arriving into Christchurch for an informative city tour. This evening enjoy a farewell dinner with your newfound friends.

Stay: Sudima Christchurch (B, SD)

Day 10
Depart Christchurch

Time to say goodbye. You will be transferred to the airport for your flight home after a memorable New Zealand holiday. (B)

4.6/5.0

There are 20 reviews of this tour from past clients of Relaxing Journeys, averaging 4.6 out of 5.

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Tour Reviews

5
26/03/2018
Excellent value. Service by our travel agent, tour guide and driver were great. All inclusive excursions/dinners were wonderful. Food was excellent. 3 Hotels/Motels rooms did not have air conditioning, although they did provide fans, it would have been way too hot if we had come at a different time of year. Twizel accommodations really need upgraded. Either that or chose a different town to stay in.
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4
31/01/2018
Early rises were a bit excessive - itinerary said leisurely start. I think the schedules could have been better arranged between 8am and 6pm instead of 6am to 4 pm. Longer stops would also have been ideal, and perhaps fewer of them.
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3
31/01/2018
We didn't feel this was a premium tour as some of the hotels needed improvements ie curtains falling apart, bathrooms very old, furniture worn, beds worn. The food was generally very good. The tour manager and driver were excellent, although we were slightly concerned that the driver talked the whole time and felt he should be just driving in order to concentrate.
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4
23/11/2017
This tour exceeded our expectations. The country was beautiful and pictures don't do it any justice. The Tour Captain and the Coach Driver were both excellent and made our holiday most enjoyable.
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5
28/04/2017
We had a great time during the tour with Grand Pacific. As a total rating, I want to rate it as \'Excellent\'\'. I summarize the highlights as below: The tour staff quality was very high. Raewayen (I am not sure the spelling of her name..), tour guide, and Andrew (driver) took good care of us. They were very professional, caring and funny. Especially the tour guide was genuinely nice to us and tried her best to make us comfortable. Participants : This time we travelled with mostly Australians and two Canadians. It was really fun to travel together with them. They were really friendly, sweet and fun-loving people. We had so much laughter together during the tour. Tour Content : The tour was well-organized with enough time for sightseeing and break. We had fully enjoyed all the beautiful scenery and natural landscape in the South Island. As the final message, I had a wonderful time during the tour. If I had a chance to go back to NZ, I will choose to travel with the Grand Pacific and the same tour guide and driver if possible. Thank you!
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5
24/11/2016
Grand Pacific was excellent from planning through execution. Driver Andrew and escort Barrie were very friendly and informative. The hotels and food were above average. Overall, the entire tour exceeded my expectations.
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5
01/03/2016
The South Island Tour was extremly well organized. I enjoyed every single day of the journey!! Both the Couch Captain Craig Inglewood as well as our Guide Paul Dodd told us all we wanted to know, showed us the most interesting places and sceneries and were absolutely helpfull in each and every way. The Hotels were very good, the meals excellent and the special trips like the TSS Earnslaw Boat Trip or the boat trip in Milford Sound were beautiful. I would definitely join that tour next time again and can highly recommend this tour to everybody.
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4
14/10/2015
The standard of the tour from the tour director, coach driver, accommodation, attractions, meals and pace was very good.
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5
07/03/2015
We thought that we were looked after extremely well. The tour guide Paul was full of knowledge and a great organiser. As for the bus driver, he was an extremely good driver, we felt safe the whole time, as the roads have a lot of bad bends in them coming down the mountains. The bus driver Bernaud was very knowledgable, knows South Island and also some of the north like the back of his hand. The places we visited were amazing and the hotels/motels were on a whole very good.
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5
07/03/2015
This whole tour, right from the beginning of booking to the end of the tour, was so well organised. The logistics of Relaxing Journeys and Grand Pacific, is amazingly excellent! Our tour consultant, the coach captain and the the tour guide extended their services with professionalism, diplomacy, patience and utmost courtesy. I like to give my thanks to the whole team who provided services beyond their duties. I would highly recommend my friends to these travel tours.
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5
25/02/2015
Fantastic trip. The itinerary was varied and interesting. Our driver and tour leader were totally professional and everything went like clockwork.
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4
15/02/2014
We had a great time the scenery was fantastic. We stopped at so many places of interest we lost track. The food in the hotels was great and plentiful. Everyone particularity liked \'happy hour\'. The coach was very clean and the coach captain was very informative and a very careful driver. The only down side was that a couple of the hotels weren\'t up to scratch, we have advised Grand Pacific of these but there was another at Franz Josef that was 10+++/10. We found that the staff in all the hotels were really helpful. We would have liked to stay in some of the towns longer but time didn\'t allow. The people that were with us were all really great and we all got on well.
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5
14/11/2013
We loved the tour. Would like to have joined it the first day for the city tour. Did not meet everyone until dinner the first night. The hotels were very good, and clean with laundry facilities, which was nice. A couple of the hotels need to upgrade the bathrooms but it was still clean. Loved the Franz Josef beds and Queenstown views of the Lake from the room. Steve our driver was very informative and helpful. The coach was great. We saw a lot more than expected. We were very lucky with the weather it stayed clear and sunny until we came back to Christchurch. We would have liked to have more evening activities or info on where we could go as we did not know the area\'s or nightlife. The last night dinner was a good idea but the entertainment was a little dated. We would have liked to have been able to dance. Had a great holiday thanks.
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5
28/04/2013
It was with some trepidation that my husband and I decided to go on a coach tour. We were in NZ for our daughters wedding and were looking to either drive ourselves around or to take the step and to join a coach tour. I am so glad we chose the coach tour. We had a fantastic time. The others on board were friendly and happy, the driver/tour guide was fantastic. Alex made the trip. He was so informative and happy and cracked the best jokes. The tour was out of this world we saw places we would never have found by ourselves and experienced wonderful things. I thoroughly recommend this tour to anyone. We had people of all ages on the trip, the tour catered for all. Thanks Relaxing Journeys and Grand Pacific for a wonderful holiday.
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5
11/04/2013
I had a wonderful holiday touring the South Island. The Grand Pacific driver Russell was excellent, very informative, funny and entertaining. Everyone on the coach got on really well together and the tour excursions were great. The weather was the only thing that was a little disappointing as it curtailed some of the activities.
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4
02/12/2012
We enjoyed the experience very much. The one drawback was the very early starts. We thought a later start to the day and a later dinner at the hotels would have improved the \'Tour Pace\'. The hotels were excellent, the food was good and the coach and driver were great, we had just the one problem with the timings.
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5
27/10/2012
The tour took us where we wanted to go, and the coach was remarkably comfortable. Our Driver Guide (Chris Hanam) was amazing - 1000 out of ten. Only downside was that Chris wasn\'t at the farewell dinner, maybe he wasn\'t invited, maybe he wanted to be with his partner. I hope it was his own choice not to join us.
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4
28/02/2012
We had a wonderful trip to New Zealand\'s South Island. Our tour director/driver Peter Nolan was excellent very informative and gave us a great insight into the country. The hotels overall were good except our one in Twizel was cancelled for some reason & we were transferred to Omarama, the hotel there was not good. I would definately recommend your company to friends as a very efficient service was provided. We particularily liked the farewell dinner in the Sudima hotel at Christchurch Airport.
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5
15/02/2012
I was very impressed with the tour and particularly our guide, Warren, who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the island and its features. This was my first tour, on my own, and I found the experience very satisfying. Beginning in Twizel was a wonderful start as the owners practically treated me as family. I met many great people, some of whom I will keep in touch with. Being the only Canadian on that particular tour gave me a chance to absorb more of other cultures than if I had been with other Canucks. I will be back. Not in the immediate future but in a couple of years. The only downer of the trip was the New Zealand flights as the airline didn\'t seem to know that there were flights directly from Aukland to Nelson, where I visited relatives before the tour. I was flown from Auckland to Christchurch to Wellington to Nelson - a bit more flying than was necessary you will agree. Although flying on ANZ is a far better way to go than our Air Canada I\'m ashamed to say. The hotels where we were booked were quite satisfactory and the final one in Christchurch was a quaint change - I really felt that I was in England. Thank you for your efforts on my behalf and I will gladly recommend you to anyone who might like to travel in New Zealand.
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5
26/03/2009
A thoroughly enjoyable experience. This was our first coach tour and we were very impressed by the efficient organisation from the moment we were met at the airport and throughout the whole ten days. The coach captain, Mike, was very knowledgeable, humorous and friendly - a real asset to the tour company. Most of the hotels were well appointed and provided excellent meals. The only real exception to this was the Heartland Hotel Cotswold where the food and service was much below the standard of the rest. We can only have great praise for the arrangements for the tour at quite short notice. All of our e-mail contacts were answered promptly and the pre-tour information was very helpful. Thank you to everyone involved.
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10 Day South Island Spectacular
Premium Coach Tour
Tour Code: GPSI10
From (NZD) $4069 per person
Save (NZD) $201 per person
Departures: May 2018 to May 2019
Rating:
20 reviews (4.6/5)

This tour offers unbeatable value and provides an excellent coverage of the spectacular South Island of New Zealand. It provides an excellent range of... Read More

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Itinerary Map
10 Day South Island Spectacular
Regions Visited
Christchurch Franz Josef Queenstown Te Anau Milford Sound Dunedin Omarama
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