A fantastic day in Martinborough wine country. Our guide Andrew was outstanding; very knowledgeable of the area and its history, and the people, making the experience once in a lifetime. Thank you Andrew! We would highly recommend this tour.

A wonderful mix of city scapes and coastal views with accompanying stories and includes interesting stops.

Our guide, Steve, was great. Car was comfortable and clean. We went to about 5 wineries, so there was a lot of wine! Also good commentary on the Martinborough region. Would recommend. Private tour is slightly more expensive than a group tour, but good value for money.

Solid tour guide who loved to take pictures of our 8 person group. However, he didn’t wear a headset microphone so tour members in back of rental van couldn’t hear him as we drove. Also, tour guide should have used large pictures of the actual movie scene at sites where sets were torn down - a tour member pulled up movie scenes on his phone so we all could see what was there. Great lunch spot chosen by guide!

Fantastic day! Andrew was an excellent tour guide. The wine tastings were great and lunch exceptional! Would highly recommend this tour!

We just explored Wellington on a half day tour with John of Capital Personalized Schools . In a few short hours he took us around this fascinating city in which he has spent most of his life. We saw interesting sites such as Weta Cave in which Lord of the Rings characters were crafted, rode the Wellongton cable car, and strolled in the Wellington Botanical Gardens. Tour well recommended.

Andrew was great- he took us to 3 breweries and gave us a beautiful drive around Wellington and all around the coast. Very knowledgeable about Wellington and New Zealand and the island bay.

My family and I had a great day with lunch and great wines. Andrew was a very knowledgeable and helpful. We happily recommend this tour.

Very informative. Got many choices of where we wanted to go and what to see. Our guide was very friendly and had a very good time. Only down side was size of car. The back seat was very cramped for 3 adults on a tour that took an Hour+ just to get from Welllington. Only good to say beyond that.

We had a great time with Andrew on our Wellington Brewery tour. There was just the 2 of us with Andrew and he took us to 3 breweries. He was always up for a chat; was very informative about his hometown and the beers we were trying. He also took us around the waterfront, describing its history, a quick stop at Weta Workshop and then up to Mt Victoria for the view. we thoroughly recommend Andrew at Capital Personalised Tours for this private craft beer tour.

My wife and I are visiting our daughter in Auckland. We have taken a number of wine tours (as well as bird tours) and have always had only the nicest things to say. We were excited to go on this tour because of the reputation of Martinborough for fine Pinots. Sadly, this tour disappoints. First, let me say that Andrew, our guide, was knowledgeable, attentive, funny and a real pleasure. He was the best! The “Whole Day Tour” fell flat. The first winery was fine, if a bit ordinary. There were 4 or 5 Pinots to sample (Pinots are the main reason to come to this area). We bought a case and shipped to our daughter in Auckland. The second winery, Poppies, let us down badly. Not a single Pinot to try. All sold out! Why would the tour company continue to use a place with no Pinots? They knew full well there were no Pinots but kept them on the roster? If you like white wines and sweet wines, it would be tops. In fairness they actually did have one Pinot (in an impressive presentation wooden box for ~$160 IIRC) which we were allowed a sip. Lunch there was a lovely cold tray of meats and cheeses and many other things. It was enjoyable but honestly, a cold plate was a bit disappointing on a $181 (USD) per person wine tour. The last stop was was a winery where the owner was pouring small samples after loudly announcing “5 tastings are $10!” The tiny tasting room was crowded, not a single place to sit. Literally, no chairs, not just no available chairs, no chairs. Curt descriptions of the wines along with an hurried atmosphere and I could not get out of there quick enough! It was the worst of the bunch. So, in summary, we had a great guide but the wineries picked for this high dollar tour were way below par. This is the first negative review I have ever written but I think folks should know what to expect before spending a fair amount of money for a below par experience.

I had the great pleasure of taking a personalized half-day tour of Wellington CBD with John as my guide, and I had an absolutely wonderful time! He was very knowledgeable of the city sites and its detailed and fascinating history, and stories peppered with his delightful humor and friendly demeanor. The itinerary included many of the best spots in Wellington such as Mt. Victoria, Cable Car, Parliament, the Weta Workshop and Stone Street Studios, with beautiful drives in between through the windy roads and along the seaside. This was my third visit to NZ, and still learned so much on this tour, including some of the area's best places to eat and delve into the deliciously diverse cuisine of NZ. John went above and beyond to ensure I had a full and enjoyable VIP experience, and also drove me and my partner back to our home base, which saved us a long trip on the train. I highly recommend Capital Personalised Tours and will certainly book other tours with them in the future. Thank you so very much John!

We did a private full-day LOTR tour, to include a visit to Wētā Workshop (separate review for that, also recommended). We were fortunate to have Selwyn as our guide for the day and really appreciate his in depth knowledge of the city and surroundings - especially where and how to avoid traffic! He was able to squeeze in a couple additional stops, and helped us get some outstanding photos at each location. For lunch, his choice of the Chocolate Fish was perfect. Food was great, and it’s a very fun local spot - that also had a good story. We visited a number of filming locations before and after the Wētā tour. Selwyn also provided a great recommendation for dinner near our hotel, as well as an all important post dinner ice cream stop. We had a lovely day in all respects and we are very happy to have been connected with Capital Personalised Tours and with Selwyn.

We enjoyed this tour with another couple (very nice Aussie's) guided by Andrew. This trip was way more than expected. Andrew stopped at several Lord of The Rings filming sites including Helm's Deep (a quarry) and provided a LTR tour book to review. We made several scenic overlook stops. Andrew was able to add historical personal references from family history of ANZACs and had a notebook of copies of newspaper clippings relevant to the story. Then we visited three outstanding wineries and ate at Poppie's with a fine charcuterie board including pork belly and our favorite wine choice. We stopped to enjoy a coffee at a local coffee shop and then ventured into an award winning chocolatier that offered samples. The chocolate lemongrass was our favorite. Then on our way back Andrew offered to drive us into Wellington for a quick view of the city and then back to the cruise ship on time. This was a wonderful tour and highly recommended. Kudos to Andrew.

We had a wonderful day in Wellington. Our guide, Steve, was excellent and showed us around the LOTR film sites, giving us ample time for photos and to look around. Steve was very informative and we had great discussions about New Zealand and more. We had a lovely lunch at Chocolate Fish, tour at WETA workshop, and driving tour around Wellington. Would highly recommend the private tour!