Marvelous Highlights Tour of New Zealand’s South Island

Zicasso’s travel agent did an excellent job planning this trip. We loved New Zealand.

If we were to do it over, we would probably reduce the hours on buses and vans by perhaps flying, for example, from Christchurch to Queenstown.

We loved our Māori cultural evening and the Redwoods evening light show in Rotorua.

We wondered why we were collected at 8am and driven to the airport in Rotorua, where we ended up spending over six hours at the airport, leaving little time to spend in Christchurch that day. It did not make any sense to us.

We loved Queenstown and the accommodation at our hotel in Queenstown. Queenstown was the highlight of our trip. Unfortunately, and beyond anyone's control, our kayaking trip was cut short due to windy weather and we were unable to do the glacier heli-hike in Franz Josef, also due to weather conditions, leaving us with a lot of time in a much less desirable town and our worst accommodation for nearly two days.

The rail adventure was superb.

Zicasso’s trip planner did an excellent job. Communication and the quality of the experiences were everything we'd expected and more, especially in New Zealand. The accommodations were first rate; the highlight was the lodge in Queenstown. The guides and drivers were professional and knowledgeable, especially those in Queenstown and Auckland. We loved the dedicated website for reference, as well as the detailed booklet and maps for both countries. 

For future itineraries, I would add another day in Queenstown and a full day in Christchurch. If days were limited, I would recommend one less day in Auckland and/or skipping the drive/train from Franz Josef. 

The only complication was the day we spent 10 hours going to and coming from Milford Sound.  I recommend doing Milford Sound by plane/helicopter from Queenstown, which would also permit seeing the glaciers/southern alps from the air. The only things we missed were the zoo in Auckland and the Blue Mountain day tour in Sydney. Next trip!

It was great working with Zicasso's travel specialist, and the traveling was great, getting around to all the places. Below are the events that were cancelled on us due to the weather:

Tranz Alpine train ride - Scenic Plus to Greymouth, staying in the Rainforest Retreat, Franz Josef Twin Glacier, Kayak, and walk tour, Milford Sound/Fjordland. That's not the travel specialist's fault, but I would never go to New Zealand in October, ever again. All the roads were closed, and we ended up taking a taxi cab from Christchurch to Queenstown, and that was a rough trip due to the high winds. We should have started in Australia instead of starting in Aukland, New Zealand. That's from my experience.

Our trip was spectacular and magical! My adult son (who was comfortable driving there) and I traveled to New Zealand from November 8 through November 23, 2025. When planning, I purchased the Lonely Planet book to help me decide locations. Since we were mainly interested in nature, we focused on the bountiful nature of South New Zealand. I then looked for a local company that could work with me and sent them the many places mentioned as the most beautiful places inaccessible on large tours. They worked with us every step of the way to find out-of-the-way, beautiful places and learning experiences.

Their itinerary even gave a lot of information about favorite things to do on our own in each area, in between our excursions. Each excursion was extraordinary—beautiful, fun, informative, and very well managed by the local guides. Since we went in their late spring, the flowers everywhere were in full bloom and most spectacular. We would rate the tour operator with a 10 out of 5!

The itinerary was awesome! We had a few snafus with hotel reservations, but they were quickly resolved. The tours were perfect and all private, with excellent guides. The pace made good use of the time we had and maximized seeing the most locations in our time frame. The hotels were beautiful (especially the one in Queenstown, WOW!) and the rooms were perfect for our needs (kitchens and laundry). It was so great having everything pre-booked and guided, as it allowed us to relax and enjoy the trip and not worry about logistics. It was a trip of a lifetime.

I would highly recommend this Zicasso travel agency! When traveling so far away, it made such a difference to have everything coordinated by a professional. I have had many people ask how we managed to do so much with the time we had. Now, I don't think I can travel any other way.

New Zealand is a magnificent country and Zicasso's tour operator did a magnificent job of giving us the best of what we wanted.