New Zealand Private Tours — Local services in South Island

We spent 20 days in New Zealand, covering both the North and South islands. It was the trip of a lifetime, a 35-year-delayed honeymoon that we had been saving up for during all that time.

New Zealand completely lived up to its moniker, "God's Own Country," with views so stunning (esp near Queenstown) that my friends accused me of using AI to create my posted photos. Our tour was designed as one with different private drivers at each hub city (Queenstown, Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington, Auckland), driving us to all activities nearby and then to the next city, where we were handed off to a new driver. The handful of different drivers allowed us to see New Zealand from a variety of Kiwi perspectives. We learned more about how the Maori and Anglo had managed to merge their very different cultures in day-to-day transactions, schooling, legal systems, and more, than we ever would have, just reading a tour book. One of our drivers was a bit actor in New Zealand's film industry, another had worked in various food and wine capacities, another was a pair of retired schoolteachers, another was a young man who had finished schooling in New Zealand not too long ago...it was all fascinating. We felt privileged to experience a slice of the "real" New Zealand through their eyes.

We had given Kathy at New Zealand Private Tours a long list of places we wanted to make sure to see, a blend of outdoorsy and cultural stops. We are also foodies, and the flexibility of planning our own itinerary allowed us to check out some signature restaurants along the way as well - though those arrangements, we made ourselves.

This was a complex trip with activities ranging from the outdoorsy (rafting, jet-boating, kayaking, hiking, forest walks) to the cultural (museums, Maori cultural shows, sci fi/fantasy special effects studios, Hobbiton, city tours, and more). The trip had many moving parts, and I was amazed and grateful that, over 20 days of 1-3 activities a day, and transportation to each on top of that, nothing fell through the cracks. That was insanely good planning. Kudos to Kathy. Everything started on time; every driver showed up when they were supposed to; all the tickets were on the New Zealand Touring app. I panicked a lot before getting to NZ, because the itinerary doesn't start off as polished as it ends up (many tickets and arrangements cannot be purchased months beforehand), but once in New Zealand, everything fell neatly into place. And I do so appreciate Kathy's being instantly available for the two minor adjustments we had to...

I would give Kathy Hansen more stars if it were possible! It was October 2019 when I contacted Kathy from New Zealand Private Tours to help organize our 2 weeks in New Zealand over Christmas and New Years 2019. She was one of four agencies I reached out to online. The other three gave me a quick and an unconditional "it's too late, everything is already booked over the holidays" answer, but not Kathy. Not only was she willing to help me, she was eager and extremely responsive! I felt so lucky! She and I communicated very efficiently by email. I told her exactly what I was looking for, and she was able to tell me how much time things would take, what we could and couldn't combine, what was doable without a guide, made suggestions for places and things I hadn't considered, and in the end prepared an itinerary for us that was unbelievably great. My family couldn't believe that it all went off like clockwork. On the South Island, she organized a very competent driver/guide who was ours for our whole time there. It was great being able to create a relationship with someone over the few days, and this fellow was even willing to stay two nights Te Anau while we explored that area, with him providing transportation as needed. She had great contacts on the North Island and was able to arrange for the same thing to occur with the driver/guide. Her services included everything from obtaining entrance fees (some with specific entrance times), to meal reservations, to coordinating the driving times to make sure everything was doable in the time allotted. I'm sure she did a lot more behind the scenes that I can't even imagine. She also made sure we knew of NZ's entry visa requirement and the NZeTA. A week before our departure, she contacted me to make sure all was in order and that I had everything I needed; she called my cell the afternoon we arrived in Queenstown to make sure we arrived safely and answer any questions we might have, and she met us on the afternoon of our last full day on the South Island to greet us face to face and thank me for doing business with her. I have used other companies to organize private tours in Iceland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and France, and Kathy stands at the top of this list for her personalized service, can-do approach, friendliness, and professionalism. It was clear that her top priority was ensuring that we had the best vacation possible in her beautiful country. I would highly recommend Kathy Hansen of NZ...

It was our family’s dream and top of my father’s bucket list to visit New Zealand. We had talked about visiting several years ago, but Covid dashed those plans. We started to plan again a year ago and my father in San Francisco researched online for private tours. He found Kathy and New Zealand Private Tours. She worked with us for several months to plan an itinerary that would be suitable for three generations - active octogenarians, adventurous middle agers and energetic grade schoolers.

We spent 17 days traversing the North and South Islands witnessing the unbelievable natural beauty of this incredible country. The itinerary included staples like Hobbiton, and the glow worm caves - but we went to a privately run cave that is only open to small private tours. We did Zorbing, stayed in the gorgeous and exclusive Treetops Lodge, stayed overnight onboard the Fiordland Jewel in Milford Sound, flew around the glaciers and Mount Cook in a private plane, and had a behind the scenes Penguin tour at the International Antarctic Centre. We loved the Te Papa Museum in Wellington. Our apartment-like hotels were perfect for a family of 8 - with spacious rooms and plenty of beds for everyone.

In each city, we had a private coach with a friendly and knowledgeable local driver to take us around to all the sights. Everything worked seamlessly, from checking-in to our hotels, to catching the planes, and showing up at the various activities. We always had our passes/tickets on hand in the extremely useful New Zealand travel app. We used the app for everything and we always knew where we were going next and what time we were meeting our driver because everything was meticulously planned out for us. When the small plane flight back from Milford Sound was canceled due to bad weather, Kathy made sure that the driver was on call to drive us back to Queenstown. We never felt rushed and always had plenty of time to see and appreciate things because our itinerary was logically scheduled.

Thank you, Kathy for making our dreams come true and creating an unforgettable holiday for all of us!

Michael, Ginger, Edie, Eric, and Jen California, Hong...