An excellent tour, which is probably not reflected in the ‘pretty good’ categories below. They do not take in to account how beautiful the scenery is, nor the actual content of the tour. Would absolutely recommend.
Wonderful trip. Having Raewynn as guide made it extra special – as did having Cole as our driver for North Island – they make a class team. Re tour pace: maybe one or two more ‘two-night’ stays -but then that might mean missing something out or longer coach journeys – neither of which would be great.
The itinerary, tour inclusions and optional activities were all excellent. The coach drivers and tour guide were very professional and gave excellent service. Thank you.
Loved our holiday. New Zealand is a beautiful country with lots to see and do for the outdoors kind of person. Will definitely be back to spend a bit more time next time. Loved it!!
Trip was excellent and the team was great to work with. Only a few minor hiccups that were quickly resolved. Given I was traveling alone I probably should have left a few more open days to explore and mix in some more adventure trips. Also would’ve been good to schedule more opportunities to heli-hike on the glacier (mine was cancelled due to weather). I highly recommend Relaxing Journeys!
Our honeymoon was truly unforgettable! Mani made the planning and payment process incredibly simple, even when I changed my mind on a few things more than once, and Relaxing Journeys as a whole was super helpful the couple of times we called them during the actual trip. Even the after-hours helpline was friendly and accommodating (Traveler tip: look into a pre-paid phone once you land. It was cheap and came in handy more than a few times during the trip). The trip itself was amazing! New Zealand is such a breathtaking country, it’s a place everyone should visit at least once! On top of the pre-arranged destinations that Relaxing Journeys listed in the itinerary, they also provided worth-while destinations to see along our drives that really filled out the trip. We only had to reach out to Relaxing Journeys twice during the trip: once to confirm a shuttle that was picking us up from our hotel in Rotorua (it was one of our first nights and we weren’t adjusted to the cadence of the trip quite yet) and a second time to add on a pick-up shuttle to Milford Sound from Queenstown, (which I definitely recommend for those doing the self drive tour as it gives the person doing the driving a bit of a rest on more long and difficult roads). Both times, we were greeted by friendly and helpful agents that took care of our needs and questions with ease. Even after completing our initial itinerary, Mani had given us a heads up about a road closure on one of our drives and had given us the option to continue with the ferry from North Island to South Island and an extended detour to Christchurch, making for a very long travel day, or a flight that would shorten our day by about 8 hours. We upgraded to the flight from Wellington to Christchurch, Mani asked a few simple questions, and before long had returned with an email saying the flight and second rental car was booked. I literally only had to say yes to the flight and provide some information directly to Mani, and he did everything else from there. It was incredibly easy. From the time we landed to the time we left, Relaxing Journeys really had everything covered. The desk where we picked up our rental car had a hefty zippered-packet ready and waiting for us that contained all of our travel documents, vouchers for accommodations and other recommendations all ready to go. We were able to get in the car and simply go. I cannot recommend them enough! Thank you for a truly unforgettable experience!
Everything worked like clockwork. Excellent vehicle, accommodation, hosts, itinerary, information provided and of course THE WEATHER!!!
A great insight into South Island New Zealand, however, some days felt a bit rushed particularly when long driving distances were involved. Some of these were unfortunately unavoidable due to road closures. This tour has made us think about returning to South Island & going to just 1 or 2 places that we really liked in order to stay longer & explore the area more in depth as we felt we only skimmed the surface of your wonderful country.
The choice for the accommodation was excellent, with the exception of Lake Tekapo Lodge. The driving instructions and ease of organising activities was excellent as well. The lower rating I have provided comes from the inclusion of three 5 hour drives during the trip. These were quite long and tiring, which meant by the time we go to our destination we did not feel we had enough time to relax.
Marie from Relaxing Journeys was extremely helpful and super to deal with. The trip was planned to perfection and ran like clockwork.
Relaxing Journeys took a list of what we wanted to see and put together an itinerary for us that worked great. We drove thru the North Island and flew to the South Island and back. Relaxing Journeys arranged the rental cars with GPS and flights between the islands. The travel went smoothly. Our vacation was the last 2 weeks of September and there were no crowds except on the ski slopes. The weather was pleasant requiring light jackets and, only when we were on the ski slopes, were we chilly. We experienced multiple short intervals of rain on both the north and south islands, but our waterproof jackets allowed us to carry on.
Absolutely the most wonderful trip we have enjoyed with so much jammed into one day. We would seriously love to do this or another one of the Sounds.