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Kapiti Island is one of New Zealand's most visited places for bird watchers. It is blessed with an abundance of native and endangered species like Little Spotted Kiwi, Takahe, and the cheeky Kaka who have not survived so well on the mainland. This nature-inspired setting is the perfect place to experience New Zealand's native birds in their natural environment. Stay overnight and experience a night guided walk to see Kiwi and enjoy the warm hospitality of the Maori whanau (family) who live on the Island. Kapiti Island is just 40 minutes north of Wellington, New Zealand's capital city. Accommodation options include a unique Canopy Camping luxury tent and en suite nature cabins.
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We travelled from Wellington to Kapiti and were taken by boat to the South end of Kapiti Island in the morning. After a nature talk and description of the flora, fauna and Island history we chose our own walks and tracks and saw an amazing array of bird life sadly lacking on mainland NZ. In the afternoon we travelled to the North end where we stayed overnight in outdoor cabins and after an sumptuous meal including drinks, we went out in the dark on a kiwi spotting walk. We were luck enough to see a little spotted kiwi in it's natural habitat which was a highlight. Breakfast and lunch the next day were of the same high standard and it was also great to see the birdlife outside the window behaving naturally and unafraid. Congratulations to all the tour operators, the boat trips were well managed, the nature talks and especially the informative talks on the Islands' Maori history made it all come alive. The chef did an excellent job of every meal and no-one certainly went hungry as even between meals snacks and fruit were always available and the Manager was always on hand to ensure everything ran smoothly. A must do trip for all New Zealanders
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Date of stay: February 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
With a short boat ride, a limited number of vistors is allowed to enter the Kapiti Island’s nature reserve. Make sure to also book a short guided walk: you will be informed where to find the birds and you will enjoy the stay so much more. After the guided tour, you can explore the reserve on your own leisure; you can climb to the top and enjoy the view for there; or stay a bit lower between the trees and avoid the kaka’s eating picnic.
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Date of stay: March 2020Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We had the most fabulous stay on Kapiti Island, we ha visited the island before but this was the first time we had treated ourselves to an overnight stay. What a wonderful time we had.. beautiful walks, amazing birdlife, great food, excellent bed (and a hot water bottle) and super staff. The glamping was perfect. Perfectly situated cosy crispy clean sheets and plenty of duvets and blankets. Our 2 teenage kids had a wee cabin that was fabulous too. They loved the walks and the food. Thank you so much Kapiti Island and staff. Everyone should visit this place if they can.
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Date of stay: May 2022
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We enjoyed our our night glamping experience. Sleeping in the tent was a special experience.We even saw a kiwi at 11pm nearby to our tent. In the early morning we had numerous bird visitors making lovely photo opportunities. The hospitality and food was excellent. The main reason for visiting was the walking tracks and these were well maintained with clear signage and so many different vistas. You are paying for a high quality two day experience!
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Date of stay: March 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
An overnight stay on Kapiti Island has been one of our ambitions for quite a while, so we decided to treat ourselves to this on a recent trip to New Zealand. Our visit to Kapiti had to dove-tail with another activity we were planning nearby, so quite a bit of planning had to be undertaken to book accommodation for the night before our ferry to Kapiti and booking up our next activity with associated accommodation. We were due to drive to Paraparaumu the Monday morning to arrive in our chosen accommodation the day before our Kapiti trip. Bearing in mind our age, we had booked to stay in one of Kapiti Island's Glamping (glamorous camping) tents as they looked beautiful and had the benefit of their own private toilet. However this was not to be the case. it was sheer good fortune that we happened to log onto the internet Sunday evening where I found an email (sent that evening) informing us that our trip had to be cancelled due to the failure of the motor-boat. No effort was made to contact us by phone and we could easily have had a wasted trip to Paraparaumu.
Three options were offered: cancel our trip and have a full refund, pay an additional $110 each to go by helicopter (why should we pay extra when it was not our fault), or re-schedule to another date.
I was able to speak to someone at Kapiti that evening and was pleased that they could accommodate us the following Saturday in what was described as 'a cabin'. We were disappointed that a tent was not available but a cabin sounded ok. We were able to re-book our other related accommodation which was fortunate, otherwise we may have had to forfeit payments already made.
My husband is over 70 and of large stature and I am only a little younger. Imagine our disappointment when we found that the accommodation allocated to us consisted of 4 cramped bunk beds in one of four rooms comprising an accommodation block. A bunk bed is barely adequate for my husband whose head had to spill over onto my bunk. The Kapiti Island website describes this accommodation as a 'cabin' but it was not our idea of a cabin. We had imagined we were to be accommodated in one of the two wooden self-contained cabins. The mattresses smelled stale, were collapsed and barely fit for purpose and we had to make up our own beds using the old worn-out bedding provided. In fact we had to man-handle a heavy mattress from one of the top bunks and exchange it with one on a lower bunk which was un-usable. After a long hot walk earlier in the day, bending about and wrestling with these heavy mattresses was exhausting and I bumped my head twice in the limited space.
The 'Accommodation' section of the Kapiti Island Website promises "stunning views of native bush". NOT SO - our view was of a pile of scrap rusty metal and a huge empty plastic water tank. It would be SO easy to move this junk away out of view and it is simply not good enough bearing in mind we were paying $355 each for this experience.
We had been looking forward to our stay on Kapiti Island for weeks and the actual reality was a bitter disappointment. To make matters worse we hardly slept all night due to the mosquitos and heat An aerosol of insecticide would be helpful.
Our disappointment was made worse by hearing a fellow guest comment that her Glamping tent was prepared "as if for a Queen" (no need for them to wrestle with ancient smelly mattresses as their bed was made up with beautiful fresh bed linen).
We conveyed our dissatisfaction and disappointment to a member of staff since, in the circumstances we felt some financial compensation would have been an appropriate gesture. We were told our comments would be passed on but we heard nothing further. Had we known how unsatisfactory this alternative accommodation was, we would have chosen a full refund instead.
It is also disappointing that our subsequent email to Kapiti Island outlining our disappointment and requesting their comments was ignored. This is not the way to generate goodwill.
However, on the positive side, nothing can detract from the beauty of Kapiti Island and the beautiful walks that are available. Also the food provided was delicious.
It is such a shame that the poor quality of the bedding and sleeping arrangements over-shadowed everything else. It makes no sense that the cost of luxurious Glamping is the same as the cost of staying in a cramped bunk block. I raised this query with a member of staff who responded that they will shortly be increasing the cost of Glamping. I would suggest that they also, as a matter of urgency, upgrade the mattresses and bedding provided elsewhere. We have stayed in countless back-packer premises (so we do not expect frills and flounces) but our experience on Kapiti Island was the worst accommodation we have had anywhere (and the most expensive)
DEFINITELY CHECK TO ENSURE YOU ARE NOT IN ONE OF THE TWO REAR FACING BUNK ROOMS THAT OVERLOOK THE RUSTY METAL AND EMPTY WATER TANK!!
The reason I gave three stars in this review is due to the actual nature experience, the guided tours and the delicious food - had it been down to accommodation only it would have scored zero.
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Date of stay: February 2016
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Â Ensure you are not allocated one of the two rear facing bunk rooms overlooking rusty metal and...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed overnight at the lodge in one of the the tents. It was at the back of the property overlooking native bush and near wetlands in a very private location away from the other tents and cabins. The tent was well-equipped with plenty of blankets and solar-powered lights. The bed and sheets were amazingly comfortable (although it helps that we did several hours of walking up steep tracks earlier in the day). Although the evening was cool, we didn't need the extra blankets.
The tent had its own composting loo a few metres away. We brought a torch to find our way, which was handy. It was a joy in the morning to hear the birds singing and to be able to lie in bed and watch birds flying in the bush and around the hills. There are two shared showers for all the guests - you have to wash quickly as there is only so much hot water to go around.
The meals were great, and a pre-dinner wine / beer / juice was provided. We learnt a lot from our hosts about Kapiti Island. We also met the kuia who set up this family business 25 years ago.
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Date of stay: October 2020
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Â The tents are made for couples.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Lovely team taking you through another beauty of NZ. Fantastic birds and sceneries as well as great overnight stay with lovely people and food! Must be done if you are in the area and want to explore an untouched natural reserve.
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Date of stay: December 2019Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We recently visited Kapiti island as a little romantic getaway. In part this happened but really this trip had a feeling that you were in a very special place and it was all about the birdlife. We stayed in one of their amazing tents tucked under the hillside and right amoungst the birdlife. It was a fantastic location and beautifully done, the only problem was we didn't get any time in it other than sleeping. We arrived on the island at 4pm then due to the weather thought we should go for a walk before dinner. Dinner at 7pm got back from the walk just in time then straight after dinner we were out kiwi spotting (absolutely fantastic experience), but when we got back to the main building we wanted a hot drink before bed and were told someone was sleeping in there!!!. We were told we had breakfast at 8am and had to be out of our tent by 8.30! We weren't meant to go back to the mainland till 3pm... If it is a romantic getaway surely sleeping in a little bit should be part of it? We had no time to lie in bed and listen and watch the birds which could have really made our whole trip experience. Also to make us more annoyed we were told the chef was off paua diving!!! We decided to go back on the early boat as sitting in the lounge area or redoing the same walk didn't appeal, if we had been able to get up later it would have made all the difference. Generally for the price I think the facilities are poor. Bathrooms weren't clean, the lounge area had great views but the couch and furniture had seen better days. I feel this is an amazing place and there are heaps of foreign tourist visiting surely it should be at a better standard. On a brighter note the staff were lovely particularly our guide, he is their real asset. In summary a few fix ups and this could be world class. 1. Fix the bathroom facilities (upgrade and keep clean). 2. Make the dinning/lounge area more in fitting with the price. 3. Be flexible with vacating rooms usually practise is 10am 3. Dinning times should be more flexible. 4.a small point but have wine appropriate for the area or better quality ( people are here for the whole experience wine shouldn't be cheap).
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Date of stay: February 2015Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from John B, Owner at Kapiti Island Nature Tours
Responded 25 Feb 2015
Hi Kerry, Thanks for your comments and suggestions- we will act on all of your recommendations. I'm disappointed you were not totally satisfied with your experience with us, and we do appreciate all of your comments. It seems that it's easy to continue doing the things we have always done assuming that we are on track- your comments will ensure we review all of the issues raised-and they will be rectified quickly.. We would be happy for you to come back to the Island next summer - on one of our Daytours- as our guests. We will be in touch regarding this.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Wellington, New Zealand2 contributions1 helpful vote
Kia ora, yes we can absolutely arrange transport to and from Wellington if needed - we can add return shuttle transport to any of the tours we offer.
There are also trains which run from Wellington City out to Paraparaumu - with a connecting bus or short taxi ride from the station out to the beach.
There are more places to choose from in the Kapiti Coast area.
LOCATION
New ZealandNorth IslandGreater WellingtonKapiti Coast
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