Testimonials for New Zealand tours & holidays

Well-organized trip where each of the motel bookings went smoothly. We were a bit disappointed that Europcar charged us for roadside assistance when we later found that this should have been included. The vehicle upgrade, however, was welcome. The motel quality ranged from good to excellent, with 858 George in Dunedin being the best. There were many highlights but our favourite city was Queenstown with the excellent shopping, great restaurants and selection of activities. TSS Earnslaw the top pick. Would we recommend your business? We already have and you have a referred booking from us and we are looking at doing a second trip ourselves with you next year. Thanks again for a wonderful holiday.

It was a fantastic trip, and we really enjoyed ourselves. Instructions provided were very clear and no hiccups with any of the bookings and the arrangements, and no issues with the app. Chelsea was really proactive (good follow ups and early emails about items like eTAs, NZTDs and such formalities), and very responsive to various requests - thank you especially for the work with Kiwi Rail for my daughter's birthday, she was thrilled when she saw the special decorations and the welcome they laid out for her.

We really enjoyed the trip and having all the bookings in place and planning done for us was great. The app was brilliant. As for the trip itself, I would have preferred to fly to Milford sound from Queenstown for the day rather than drive there and back again. Staying 2 nights in Te Anau wasn’t a highlight. That would be my recommendation to anyone wanting to visit Milford sound.

One of the best vacation we have had. The entire program for 15 days was very well planned with excellent hotel choises. Road trip enabled us to touch and feel entire country and its natural beauty. Thank you Carly Baker for making one of the most travel of our life.

Louise constructed a wonderful tour for us. She was a real pleasure to have as our advisor: friendly, efficient, knowledgeable. And most helpful when part of our tour route needed to be amended because of the closure of the west coast highway. Not only at the time finding and booking different accommodation but providing us with a letter to support our insurance claim. Thank you so much Louise!!😊.

We had the trip of a lifetime thanks to the support of Chelsea and the team at New Zealand Self Drive Tours. Even though we initially made contact over two years before we finally travelled Chelsea stayed in touch and was ready to help as soon as we were able to make the trip happen. All the way through the process of building the itinerary Chelsea was super patient and knowledgeable, creating multiple versions of our trip until we landed on the final configuration. She was very responsive and quick to get back to us throughout the process with any questions/changes etc. We were really happy with the final logistical structure of our itinerary and Chelsea was able to adjust and fine tune throughout as we went back and forth on locations places to visit. All of the information we received was exactly what we needed for our trip. The app is great, there are regular emails at the right time helping us understand things we needed to know such as immigration specifics, general and local advice and just a whole bunch of useful stuff to get us ready. The experience in country was flawless. Despite many moving parts, every single booking and reservation and pick up and drop off happened exactly as it was meant to. It was totally perfect. It really allowed us to relax and just enjoy the trip. Chelsea was able to quickly resolve an issue with timings for one of the activities for our trip which we spotted in country - we felt really reassured that she was so attentive and available. The only piece of constructive feedback I had, and I need to take some responsibility for this too, is around the activity options we were initially booked on. Right at the start of the process, over two years ago, I had shared with Chelsea that we had a preference for premium experiences and accommodation. In hindsight, for the activities, we would have preferred to know all of the versions each vendor had so we could choose our preference. As it turned out we didn’t clock it until we reached NZ that some of our vendors offered versions of the activity that we would have preferred to the one we were booked on. This could have been a premium option, or smaller groups, longer duration or better seating etc…it varied. The great thing was that when we did realise, Chelsea was able to fix it so we got on to the preferred option. In the end, of the four activities where we could have chosen a more premium option we feel we only missed out on one (and it was still a good activity!). I take my share of the responsibility too as I was very thorough checking our accommodation but I didn’t audit our activities in the same way. It by no means takes away from everything I said at the start of my review. And it changes nothing about how we feel about Chelsea’s help, our experience and our memories which are all wonderful! THANK YOU! And we will be back!

In one word: FANTASTIC. We had a wonderful time. The organisation was perfect and we didn`t miss anything. It would have been great if we had some more time. Maybe next year. Again, thank you very much for your performance.

Everything went extremely well and flowed unbelievably smoothly. From our first communications with Ella when organising our holiday, confirming our itinerary and arriving at the airport on our last day, what an experience. It was stress and worry free from the start, the three drivers who provided our transfers from/to the airport and hotels were very friendly, helpful and knowledgeable pointing out areas of interest and things to do along the way. Everywhere we went we found people extremely helpful and friendly, and the scenery was just outstanding, what a beautiful country to self drive around, it is so easy to get anywhere. I think the only improvement we could have made would have been to stay in each hotel for three nights instead of two, but maybe next time. Thank you Ella for doing such a great job with our itinerary and identifying some interesting things to see or do along our way, very much appreciated. We have no reservations about recommending your company to family and friends as it was so nice to have everything properly arranged and fall perfectly into place, well done to all involved.

My time in New Zealand was fantastic. I loved every bit of my trip, the itinerary Chelsea organized for me was terrific. The drive enabled me to see plenty of the beautiful scenery your country has to offer. Also the attractions i went to were great. My initial interest was Hobbiton & that tour was everything I hoped it to be. But I really want to make a special mention of the tour at the National Kiwi Hatchery. I learned so much about the kiwi & the guide who took us through was so informative. It was the highlight of my time in New Zealand.

This was a great trip with a well considered itinerary. We particularly enjoyed our stays at Arcadia Lodge (Russell) and the Fable @ Auckland. Support from Louise when weather impacted planned activities was timely and appreciated. A highlight was the progressive wine tasting dinner at Napier.