Best of New Zealand: North Island & South Island

Welcome to Auckland, the most populous metropolis of New Zealand!

Meet your driver at the airport and take a private transfer to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours to relax or explore the city independently. We recommend checking out the Auckland Museum for a glimpse into the nation's storied past and the colorful landscape of this country.

Our destination today is Rotorua, about 220 km away from Auckland. For film fans, the original Hobbiton Movie Set on the Way is unmissable.

Nestling on the southern shore of Lake Rotorua, the industrial city is also a popular travel destination for its rich geothermal resources and exotic Maori culture. After arrival, check into your hotel and treat yourself to a therapeutic spa or a natural hot spring bath.

This morning, take a two-hour drive to Waitomo for a magical caving experience. Visit the tourist center and choose an organized guided tour to explore different levels of the caves network, discover peculiar stalactites and stalagmites, and boat on the underground Waitomo River to view the Arachnocampa luminosa, a kind of glow-worm endemic to New Zealand, shinning on the grotto roof.

After the tour, continue with another two-hour land journey to Taupo, a beautiful town located on the northeast corner of Lake Taupo.

Heading forward south, you will be in Wellington in five hours. Explore the city for the remainder of the day. Being the capital of New Zealand, the small and compact city combines the sophistication of a big city. Here, you will find anything a capital city should have: museums, theatres, galleries, restaurants, cafés, and bars.

Join local passengers and their cars, trucks, and even rail wagons taking a ferry daily sailing across the Cook Strait to South Island. After a 3.5-hour scenic cruise, disembark in Picton and continue with a half-hour drive to Blenheim, the most populous city in the Marlborough Region, the heart of New Zealand's wine industry. En route, you may enjoy fine winery dining at the world-famous Cloudy Bay Estate.

Move on with a 1.5-hour drive to Kaikoura, a charming coastal town with an advantaged talent for marine mammal observation.

Here, you will have enough flexibility to go on a whale-watching boat or a fishing charter to catch crayfish and blue cod. Kaikoura literally means "to eat crayfish", so don't miss the BBQ crayfish at a roadside restaurant when you are here.

A 2.5-hour drive will take you north further to Christchurch. Blending historic elegance perfectly with local culture, it's reputed as the most British city outside of England.

After arrival, explore this Garden City with your driver guide. Stroll around its lush gardens or along the Avon River fringed with shady trees to soak up its laidback air, or immerse yourself in the Canterbury Museum to browse the lives of the earliest Maori and European immigrants.

About 230km northwest of Christchurch, Lake Tekapo is part of the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, which protects pristine skies free from light pollution, showcasing an immensely beautiful natural phenomenon that is beyond words.

Today, with a three-hour scenic drive, you are able to enjoy the milky-turquoise lake and its surroundings, its picturesque day and dazzling night. For dinner, we recommend the Dark Sky Dinner with floor-to-ceiling views.

It's a free day at your disposal.

Billing itself as the world's adventure capital, Queenstown has many to fill out your day. The adventurous ones may up their heartbeat with an alpine heliskiing, zip linings, or a bungy jumping; food lovers will like to explore its fine vineyards, diverse bars, and top-ranking restaurants; movie fans will happy to linger on its epic film locations.

Time to bid farewell to New Zealand! Have some leisure time until you are transferred to the airport for your homebound flight.