Travel the length of New Zealand’s two islands, experiencing a spectacular range of landscapes and natural wonders, sampling wines and encountering wildlife, and discovering the many facets of Kiwi culture—from the traditions of the Maori to the flourishing creativity of its urban centers.

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Starting at: $9,174 * Price includes special offer * Includes airfare, taxes & all fees Make a Reservation Ask Us A Question or Call 855-330-1542

Landscape of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu

Typical New Zealand landscape with sheep farm

Wines of New Zealand. Credit: Chris McLennan/Tourism New Zealand

The city of Auckland. Credit: Tourism New Zealand

Maori artist working on traditional carving. Credit: Eric Lindberg/Tourism New Zealand

Fence with traditional Maori design

Traditional Maori meeting house

Maori woman with traditional tattoos. Credit: James Heremaia/Tourism New Zealand

Rotorua's Te Puia. Credit: Eric Lindberg/Tourism New Zealand

Spouting geysers, Rotorua. Credit: Chris McLennan/Tourism New Zealand

Geothermal area, Rotorua. Credit: Tourism New Zealand

The New Zealand Kiwi

Tasting cafe in Wellington. Credit: Tourism New Zealand

The Rose Garden at the Botanical Gardens, Christchurch

Looking out over Queenstown. Credit: Chris Sisarich/Tourism New Zealand

View of the dramatic Doubtful Sound

View of Doubtful Sound

Waterfalls in Fiordland National Park

Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu, and the Remarkables

The excitement of the Shotover Jet, near Queenstown. Credit: Tourism New Zealand

Journey Through New Zealand

From Auckland to Queenstown

16 days from $9,174 | includes airfare, taxes and all fees

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Tour Details

TOUR BROCHURE

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JOURNEYS DISPATCHES

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Accommodations

* Click on hotel name to visit hotel web-site.

Grand Millennium Auckland

Auckland, New Zealand

The Grand Millennium Auckland sits in the heart of Auckland’s central business district, just a few blocks from Waitemata Harbour and a few minutes’ walk to the High Street shopping district and SkyCity casino. The bright, contemporary hotel features a soaring, light-filled lobby area, two restaurants and a bar; fitness center with indoor pool, steam room, and gym; complimentary Wi-Fi internet access; and laundry and dry cleaning services (for a fee). Air-conditioned guest rooms have private bath with hair dryer, coffee- and tea-making facilities, minibar, TV, and phone.

Millennium Hotel Rotorua

Rotorua, New Zealand

Located just steps from Lake Rotorua and a short walk from the city center, the Millennium Hotel Rotorua offers an ideal home base from which to explore this vibrant small city. Amenities of this 227-room hotel include a restaurant, bar, pool, fitness center, spa, laundry and dry cleaning service (for a fee), and complimentary Wi-Fi internet access. Air-conditioned guest rooms feature private bath with hair dryer, coffee- and tea-making facilities, minibar, TV, and phone.

Scenic Hotel Te Pania

Napier, New Zealand

Hawkes Bay is one of the first places in the world to see the light each day, and Scenic Hotel Te Pania in Napier enjoys a premium waterfront location on Marine Parade. The hotel's slender curved form echoes the shape of the bay, and guests enjoy sweeping views out over the water. A fresh, contemporary style hotel, Scenic Hotel Te Pania is just a short stroll from Napier's main art deco style street.

Mövenpick Hotel Wellington (Formally known as Grand Mercure Wellington)

Wellington, New Zealand

Conveniently located in New Zealand’s capital city, the Movenpick Wellington stands just a few blocks from the shops and restaurants of the bohemian Cuba Quarter. Hotel amenities include a restaurant with an open kitchen, bar, swimming pool, sauna, gym, laundry facilities (for a fee), weekday dry-cleaning services (for a fee), and complimentary Wi-Fi internet access. Each of the 114 air-conditioned guest rooms has private bath with hair dryer, in-room safe, ironing facilities, TV, phone, tea- and coffee-making facilities, and minibar.

Rydges Latimer Square

Christchurch, New Zealand

The Rydges Latimer Christchurch sits directly adjacent to Christchurch’s central Latimer Square. Amenities of the 138-room hotel include a restaurant and bar/lounge, laundry and dry cleaning service (for a fee), fitness center, and sauna. Air-conditioned guest rooms have private bath with hair dryer, complimentary Wi-Fi internet access, in-room safe, tea- and coffee-making facilities, minibar, ironing facilities, TV, and phone.

Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

Situated on the edge of Westland Tai Poutini National Park, Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier is located just a few minutes from the glacier from which it takes its name. Hotel amenities include a restaurant, bar, self-serve laundry (for a fee), full spa with massage services (for a fee, located a two-minute walk from the hotel), hot tub, and complimentary Wi-Fi internet access. Guest rooms have private bath with hair dryer, tea- and coffee-making facilities, TV, and phone.

The Millennium Hotel Queenstown

Queenstown, New Zealand

The Millennium Hotel Queenstown sits on a hill in Queenstown, just minutes away from the town’s central shopping district. Amenities include a restaurant, bar, fitness center, sauna, spa, and WiFi internet access (for a fee). Each of the 220 air-conditioned guest rooms has private bath with hair dryer, minibar, safe, tea- and coffee-making facilities, TV, and phone.

Activity Level

Expectations: This Classic Land Journey will feature long touring days, many full-day excursions, and a full and active itinerary with a faster pace and longer distances. Some tours may have activities with higher intensity and more active choices/options. Excursions require standing and walking for extended periods of time, sometimes over difficult terrain (cobblestones, city hills, stairs without handrails, limited or no access to elevators, muddy/slippery walking/hiking trails), and walking to city centers where coaches are prohibited. Specific excursions may feature hiking, use of local transportation including trains, internal flights, motorcoaches, and boats, extended overnight train travel. Some days may require early morning departures and later evening returns. Travelers may be in remote and/or rugged regions and may be touring at higher altitudes with steep ascents/descents. There are several afternoons at leisure as well as a full free day in Queenstown. More active options are possible on some excursions (such as moderate hiking, swimming, snorkeling, canoeing, bicycling, rafting, or kayaking), though another choice may be offered for an alternate skill level.

Appropriate for: Travelers who are physically fit, lead active lives, are comfortable participating in long days of activities, and expect some physical exertion.

Reading List

Highly Recommended

Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story

By: Thompson, Christina

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DK Eyewitness New Zealand (Travel Guide)

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The Maori: The History and Legacy of New Zealand’s Indigenous People

By: Charles River Editors

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New Zealand - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

By: McNamee, Lyn

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Beginner's Maori (Beginner's (Foreign Language))

By: K. T. Harawira

The Beginner's Series is designed to meet the bilingual needs of the traveling businessperson, tourist, and student. These language lessons cover such common situations as: passing through customs, checking into a hotel, placing phone calls, going to the post office, and extending and accepting invitations. First learn about the country's history and culture, acquaint yourself with social customs, restaurant practices, and transportation systems. Then learn basic language skills, including vocabulary, grammar, and useful phrases that will have you communicating with natives and moving about feeely. Clear, easy to use, and insightful, the Beginner's Series will introduce you to the languages of the world.

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Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies: New Zealand and the United States

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Fairness and Freedom compares the history of two open societies--New Zealand and the United States--with much in common. Both have democratic polities, mixed-enterprise economies, individuated societies, pluralist cultures, and a deep concern for human rights and the rule of law. But all of these elements take different forms, because constellations of value are far apart. The dream of living free is America's Polaris; fairness and natural justice are New Zealand's Southern Cross. Fischer asks why these similar countries went different ways. Both were founded by English-speaking colonists, but at different times and with disparate purposes. They lived in the first and second British Empires, which operated in very different ways. Indians and Maori were important agents of change, but to different ends. On the American frontier and in New Zealand's Bush, material possibilities and moral choices were not the same. Fischer takes the same comparative approach to parallel processes of nation-building and immigration, women's rights and racial wrongs, reform causes and conservative responses, war-fighting and peace-making, and global engagement in our own time--with similar results. On another level, this book expands Fischer's past work on liberty and freedom. It is the first book to be published on the history of fairness. And it also poses new questions in the old tradition of history and moral philosophy. Is it possible to be both fair and free? In a vast array of evidence, Fischer finds that the strengths of these great values are needed to correct their weaknesses. As many societies seek to become more open--never twice in the same way, an understanding of our differences is the only path to peace.

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Maori Tattooing (Dover Pictorial Archives)

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A River Rules My Kitchen

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Slipping into Paradise: Why I Live in New Zealand

By: Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

In the tradition of Under the Tuscan Sun and A Year in Provence, here is Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson’s ode to his personal paradise–his adopted home, New Zealand. After living in California, why did Masson settle– out of all the places on earth–in such a faraway land? It turns out that while visiting a beautiful sandy beach just fifteen minutes from bustling Auckland, Masson and his family were utterly seduced by the exotic locale. There was little deliberation. This place, surrounded by lush forest on a bay dotted with volcanic islands, would be their new home.Masson takes readers on a remarkable journey to another world, as he and his family “slip into” the paradise that is New Zealand. For anyone who has ever dreamed of finding utopia, Masson reveals a country where neighbors talk to one another and provide a sense of real community–rarely, outside of the big cities, locking their doors–and where politics are as mellow as the weather. New Zealand is also a land of spectacular scenery, made even more famous for being the shooting location for the Lord of the Rings films. The flora is plentiful. Mangroves, banana plants, papaya trees, and more than ten thousand species of ferns grow wild and freely. The fauna is benign. There are no snakes, tarantulas, or scorpions. Children can walk to school barefoot without a care– there is nothing to sting them, bite them, or give them a rash. In the blue waters near the lush coastline, dolphins and orcas abound. While describing his love affair with the country and his affinity for its citizens, Masson reflects on the meaning of home, the importance of acting on intuition, and what happens when we lose our connection to the place we live in. Responding to an impulse, Masson reveals, he realized a dream.Featuring a its glossary of phrases used by New Zealanders and important Maori words, as well as the author’s recommended travel itinerary, Slipping into Paradise is ideal for anyone planning a visit to this exquisite land. Full of photographs, delightful anecdotes, and little-known facts (jogging, for example, was invented in New Zealand), Slipping into Paradise is also a book for those who fantasize about dramatically changing their lives–and who imagine something better for themselves. Jeffrey Masson’s message: New Zealand awaits.From the Hardcover edition.

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Travel Insurance

For the convenience of our travelers, Smithsonian Journeys includes a basic medical expense and evacuation plan through Trip Mate, a Generali Global Assistance & Insurance Services brand, at no additional charge. This plan provides post-departure Medical and Dental coverage of $250,000 per person and Emergency Assistance and Transportation coverage of $1,000,000 per person (U.S. Residents Only). Note: For full details regarding these coverages please review the following Plan Documents here.

In addition, we recommend that travelers purchase a travel protection plan to help protect their travel investment from unforeseen events such as cancellation due to illness, flight delays due to adverse weather, baggage loss, and more. For your convenience, Smithsonian Journeys offers an optional Travel Protection Plan administered by Trip Mate, a Generali Global Assistance & Insurance Services brand. For those interested, optional "Cancel for Any Reason" coverage is available for an additional charge. Note: Certain eligibility requirements apply and Cancel for Any Reason coverage is not available to New York residents. For full details regarding this coverage please review the following Plan Documents here.

To learn more about the Travel Protection Plan, you may visit https://www.generalipartner.com/smithsonianjourneys or call the administrator, Trip Mate, a Generali Global Assistance & Insurance Services brand at (866) 501-3252.