I joined kiwi on their North Island Revive small group tour, and it was absolutely the best experience ever. Tourguide Tina is just the best. It's safe to say everyone could use a little bit of Tina in their life. She went up and beyond for us, and made us into a family from day one. Kiwi is such a nice way to experience the country. The included parts a so much, and the add ons just top off your trip. I felt like I had a month of experience just in 10 days. Meeting the Mãuri culture, and camping out in River Valley are once in a lifetime experiences. Couldn't have wished for a better way to experience the North Island. Kiwi rocks!

I did the South and Sound Hop on Hop off tour and really enjoyed it. Nice way to see a lot of the country and enjoy the stunning scenery whilst also connecting with new people. This way of travelling is suitable for those who want the safety net of a group, yet the hop on hop off feature allows for plenty of flexibility if one were to spontaneously change plans. Additionally, the drivers were very friendly knowledgeable, and quite likeable. A special shoutout to Mahn for being incredibly kind and helpful. Lastly, the only downside of this tour were the stops in Westport as well as Lake Mahinapua which took place consecutively and could not really be skipped. Neither of these places have much to offer in terms of scenery or things to do, especially Lake Mahinapua. Speaking for others who were on my bus we did not really enjoy these two locations, nor did we understand why they were included as stops. Other than that, I loved this trip and would recommend Kiwi Experience :)

Literally THE most amazing time - ideal for solo travellers and met the most amazing people. TINA was the most incredible tour guide and driver- a real superwoman and the kindest soul you’ll ever meet- couldn’t do enough for us. Unbelievable experience and would do it again in a heartbeat

First time solo traveling and I am so glad I chose this experience. Kiwi Experience was amazing, 11 Day tour around the Northern Island. Our wonderful driver/tour guide Tina, made our trip so unforgettable. She went above and beyond to make it a memorable time in NZ, going out of her own way to make us all feel welcomed, happy, included and beyond excited for every day that came. Tina and the wonderful people I met on this tour, made this trip feel like a home away from home. The experiences you get to enjoy and do are unbelievable and are something you don't want to miss out on. Having many options to choose from with the added things and the inclusions are just as mind-blowing good as the added ones. I so badly want to bring my family and friends on this tour and go on it again myself. Though I will highly and I mean highly wish to only have Tina as my driver. Thank you so much Kiwi Experience, the amazing people I met and the wonderful worlds best driver/tour guide ever Tina, for giving me a very unforgettable, beautiful holiday.

This trip was 100% worth the money if you’re looking for a stress free travel. My friend and I did the northern highlights tour and we loved every minute!! shoutout to Fraser our brilliant bus driver that made our experience unforgettable!

Was an amazing way to explore the South Island of New Zealand, my driver/tour guide, Mahn put so much effort in to give every passenger a good time, organising gatherings at each main stop to help everyone to get to know one another. Always being available to help in any way he can even for passengers that were no longer travelling on his bus, such a kind and genuine guy. Would highly recommend that every kiwi passenger travels with Mahn even if it ends up just being for one day, will definitely help lift your mood, and make any solo travellers at ease.

Best ever solo trip!! The whole trip was great and run like a well oiled machine. Shout out to Ricky the bus driver who was absolutely amazing and made the trip more fun with his ‘sweet as’ facts and insights on where to go in each of the different towns we drove or walked through . Highly recommend for anyone wanting to travel but not do it on their own.

Just finished my small group tour with Kiwi Experience and had an amazing amazing time! It was so nice to have everything planned already, especially being new to solo travel. Everywhere we went was beautiful and every optional activity I booked was absolutely worth it. The trip was jam packed but we still had a good amount of downtime. Big kudos to our driver Ricky for making the experience that much better. Highly recommend!

Just finished the hop on, hop off tour of the South Island and loved it as a group of 3. Our driver Lightening was super friendly and super chatty every bus ride we had there would be new bus games or ‘fun facts’. Loved the scenic lookouts and the uphill walks to break the day up and the bakery trips. Great way to travel the South Island in NZ and met so many new people on the bus. Also loved all the hats that our driver showcased. We were also introduced to NZ delicacies such as chocolate milk, hundred and thousands and most importantly Squiggles. I would highly recommend this trip, it was decent.

The admin crew aren't that great but we had a brilliant driver Tawh. He was reliable, very informative and accompanied us on many hikes and walks. I was on his bus from Auckland all the way to Christchurch and was in reliable hands. A great driver and tour guide.

I did the GOAT tour with the kiwi experience in Nov/Dec and can honestly say that I had the most incredible experience. As a new solo traveller this was a fantastic experience way to meet new people at the same time as getting stuck in with adventures. Tina our bus driver and tour leader was phenomenal throughout and honestly made the experience 100x better, going above and beyond whenever she could to make sure our time was the best. This tour is great at merging the nature, excitement and culture of New Zealand and Tina also added her experience and expertise to add a special flavour to all of this with her commentary around the islands. Being able to stay in the Mauri village in Rotorua was also a once in a lifetime opportunity I will never forget. The activities allowed amazing opportunities like hiking on a glacier or floating on a ring watching glowworms. However these could at times be a little expensive so make sure to look and plan beforehand to budget what you need. Also be aware that weather is a big factor in whether some of these go ahead, which is obviously not the fault of the company - however if this became an issue Tina was right there finding alternatives or making sure refunds etc were organised. And to be fair very few activities were limited by weather. I would 100% book again in future! Thank you Tina for making this an incredible time.

I have just finished the Grand Kiwi Tour and it was an amazing experience. This is largely due to our tour guide Tina. She single handedly made every effort to make the trip excellent for myself and everyone else on the tour. At any opportunity Tina would go out of her way to help and assist all of us, meeting any of our needs. Tina also went above and beyond to make sure we could complete all our chosen activities, even when some were cancelled last minute due to weather etc. Tina made every effort to make the experience as best it could and myself and all others included cannot say enough good words about her. Alongside this, Tina's upbeat happy attitude rubbed off on all of us and created a great atmosphere, even when he had long travel days and early mornings. Thank you again to Tina for making this trip truly memorable, it is really appreciated!

I did the GOAT tour, which is the 24 day tour through both islands, from 16.10-08.1124. First of all big shoutout to Tina, our driver! She was the only woman (so far) working as a driver at Kiwi E and Māori, so she was able to teach us many words and share her wisdom and stories with us. Also she was just super sweet and helpful, so big thanks to her! I guess a tour really depends on the driver and Tina definitely elevated ours as the mood was always good thanks to her happy attitude. Planning/organisation wise the tour went pretty smoothly, although sometimes changes to the itinerary were made so things could get a little bit confusing and I sometimes lost track of where we were going. However one could always ask Tina and in the end we did get more or less everything the itinerary promised and didn’t miss out on anything except if the weather wasn’t playing along or once when the horse trek in River Valley wasn’t possible because the horses where still on vacation for a few more days (I guess seasonal things like that are good to be aware of upfront). I was aware that the tour is probably called a ‘small group tour’ for a reason but I still didn’t expect our group to only consist of 19 people and we were two tours combined in one bus as well. As Kiwi E has the reputation of a ‘party bus’ I didn’t expect being on a very small bus (not one of the big travel busses) with two groups consisting of 19 people (four men, 15 women, 90percent British girls in their 20s). Consequently once the shorter 21day tour was over we were only 6 people left on the bus for 3 more days. In those days we mainly just drove around, the only actual activity being the waterpark in Hanmer Spring, which was pretty cool. However I didn’t expect that when I decided to spend a few hundred dollars more for the longest tour. I would recommend anyone to stick with the 21 day tour, as you don’t miss out on anything if you don’t do the GOAT. I don’t know if it was because it was outside of the main season that we were such a small group but just don’t expect a big party bus. Maybe for that the hop-on hop-off bus might be better. The accommodation was sometimes really really nice, sometimes a bit mediocre but all in all better than I expected! The pre-ordered breakfasts were really tasty but the continental breakfast we got most days wasn’t that awesome, just bread & jam essentially. Also I’m vegan and therefore got like 3 really good breakfasts but for two days I’m still waiting for a refund as there wasn’t anything vegan and many days I just ate toast with jam. The included activities were pretty cool and Tina always made sure to show us the most of every place, let us have proper lunch breaks ( meaning time to buy something at a bakery or supermarket and eat it) and many toilet breaks. Also we had loooots of stops for photos or walks along the way so it never felt like we only spent days on the bus. Ofcause you only spent about one night in most places which isn’t really enough to see anything of the town but the tour was pretty good to get a general impression of the country and get lots of cool activities done without too much own planning. All in all I would recommend the Kiwi Experience as long as you have realistic expectations.

It was a brilliant tour, mainly down to our amazing tour guide Tina! It was so so much fun. I did the 19 day north and south small group tour which was very very good. Most of the included activities are very good and it’s so easy doing the small group tours as everything is organised for you and if you have any issues your tour guide will sort it! Tina was incredible the whole trip, rearranging activities for us, fitting in everything we wanted to do and being just being great the whole time. Her wealth of knowledge and number of contacts, especially in North island, made the trip incredible for us even though there were only 4 of us on the tour. We met some of the other tour guides like Cowboy and Ricky and they were brilliant as well, although I think some are definitely better than others and that obviously does determine how smooth your trip is, the ones we met were brilliant. I think it is very important to note that all of the things I enjoyed the most were the optional extras such as swimming with dolphins, black water labyrinth experience, heli hike etc. These activities are set on the free days so if you don’t do them it does leave you with lots of spare time, and even if you currently think you won’t do them, when you’re there trust me you will. This means that the trip is quite a bit more expensive than it first seems so bear that in mind (they’re so worth it though). It’s also important to note that to book these activities with Kiwi Experience is (slightly in some cases, a lot more in others) more expensive than their base cost but this does mean your guide will sort everything and it’s a lot more convenient. Unfortunately for my tour, we were placed in a 4 person group (with 2 of them being an older couple who didn’t want to get involved as much) when it should have been over 15 people. I don’t think this is common but it did definitely change the type of trip - it might be worth checking how many people sign up if you decide to book. It did mean we got upgrades on all our accomodation but we did miss out on nights out and the ‘group’ atmosphere. I definitely think KiwiE is one of the best tours to go with as they have a lot of contacts and seem to be highly respected out of the tours that run in NZ by most people that live there. The main issues we had were when activities were cancelled and there were issues sorting getting money back (they don’t love refunding even when it’s obvious a refund is due) and trying to arrange extra things that weren’t in the itinerary but I guess that’s the point of going with a large company. I think they would definitely benefit from listening more to the drivers when deciding itineraries and rearranging things but we still had a great time regardless. I would definitely book again with them if given the choice!!

Booked a spontaneous 12 day visit to NZ following a month in Oz and Kiwi experience did not disappoint. Ricky (our guide and driver) exceeded expectations. A very informative, fun and knowledgeable guide who made the experience so much better. Very sad to have left NZ but I’ll definitely be back on a Kiwi tour in the future, would love to see Wanaka added onto the itinerary!