Small group tour guests in the Southern Alps

Choosing the best New Zealand Coach Tour

Choosing the best way to travel for a once-in-a-lifetime New Zealand vacation can be a difficult decision. Coach touring is a fantastic option, but there are a myriad of coach companies and tour group sizes available. Use our helpful guide to compare coach tours to help you decide what type of tour may best suit your needs.

Itinerary: Flexibility is key

The days of travellers being packed onto coaches and shipped off to well-worn tourist locations in New Zealand is becoming a thing of the past. Small group coach tours give visitors the chance to experience the best of New Zealand’s diverse landscapes, venturing into areas a little less travelled, with a group of under 20 people who are all there for the same reason.

Larger group coach tours – often numbering 40 to 50 people – need to keep to a tight schedule and are not as flexible. There is nothing worse than arriving on an untouched beach only to be hurried back onto your coach in time for the next stop.

A quality New Zealand coach tour will offer plenty of flexibility, stopping for decent amounts of time at each destination. A slower pace allows travellers to throw their shoes off and walk along the water’s edge, meet the local wildlife, take time to take photos and relax.

Travelling in a small group gives travellers the chance to experience unique places that larger group tours cannot access. From a little-known cave illuminated by the lights of hundreds of glowworms in the North Island to enjoying a leisurely kayak in a pretty lagoon you have all to yourself, getting off the beaten track allows you to experience the real New Zealand – not only the tourist spots. Larger group coach tours often don’t this because their coaches often cannot access these spots.

Moatrek bus parked by a wharf overlooking Rangitoto

Food and Wine: A real taste of New Zealand

New Zealand might be a relatively new country, but its reputation for producing some of the best food and wine in the world is widely recognised. Tasting delights from garden, land and sea is essential to the New Zealand experience.

Ensure that your coach tour incorporates the very best of New Zealand’s food and wine elements. Are there options to taste New Zealand delicacies, or does the itinerary include private lunches with local kiwi hosts? Make sure the tour you select offers plenty of opportunities for unique culinary experiences, kiwi-style.

No trip to New Zealand is complete without sipping a pinot noir in Central Otago or a sauvignon blanc in Marlborough – both world-famous wine-producing regions. Consider whether your coach tour includes visits to vineyards and wine tasting experiences.

Food and Wine in New Zealand

Group size: Smaller is better

There is a saying that great things come in small packages, and for a small group tour of New Zealand this definitely rings true. As mentioned above, there is flexibility afforded with a smaller coach tour that large tours simply do not offer.

When travelling in a smaller group it’s more likely you’ll be travelling with people who enjoy the same interests – so you know you can share once-in-a-lifetime experiences like swimming with dolphins, wine-tasting in an award-winning winery or sharing vacation stories over a home cooked meal with newfound friends.

And of course, the way you travel is important. Look for a company that offers coaches that have been purpose-built for touring. Plenty of leg room, large picture windows and reclining seats are a must.

Small group touring in NZ

Your guide: Look for experience and passion

The best person to enhance your New Zealand experience is an experienced guide, showcasing off-the-beaten-track destinations to travellers and listening to what they really want from a holiday. Who better to take you on a journey than real kiwis who are passionate about their country, who know the lay of the land and are proud to showcase New Zealand’s unique and diverse culture?

Make sure you ask about your guide’s experience and expertise when researching and comparing tour companies.

A knowledgeable and friendly guide who takes the time to get to know their guests can create and enhance experiences that travellers never even knew existed.

Your guide in New Zealand

Why choose MoaTrek New Zealand Small Group Tours?

If you are looking for a coach tour of New Zealand with one of the best and most insightful small tour companies in the country then look no further. With 18 people or less, MoaTrek’s small group tours allow travellers to enjoy an intimate experience of New Zealand in the company of like-minded people. Over 45 years of tour experience and a reputation for excellence makes us one of the most trusted and popular New Zealand small group touring companies. Modern coaches, knowledgeable New Zealand guides and carefully crafted itineraries showcasing secret corners of New Zealand make a tour with MoaTrek one of the best ways to bring your kiwi vacation to life.

Find out more about a small group tour with MoaTrek here or contact us now – we would love to hear from you!

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