5Day/4Nights Great Southern Circle

Too rushed, take extra time, the travel days are too long You do get to see everything but only for 10 or 20 mins, then back on the bus. If you have limited time pick one or two places and see them properly.

On this tour we were able to see all the highlights of the area in a short time. The organization was top.

Most horrible accommodation in Queenstown arranged by trip advisor for 3 nights 7th,8th,9th February room #1404 Copthorne Hotel & Resort Queenstown Lakefront under Millinium hotels Room was not cleaned Carpet was dirty with visible dust and layer of dust was visible under the bed Tea cattle provided was not clean Tea Cups provided were not clean When I complained to front desk they didn’t care for 2 nights and said Hotel was full My wife suffered from an Asthma attack and is still coughing 2-3 weeks after returning home On 3rd day I sent an long e mail to your office and after talking to manager Bella I was shifted to a better room.I will not even put my Dog in such a dirty room and inhale the dust and then we were put into a Dormitory room in Franz Joseph on 10th night I was told that is the best I could get I was very unhappy cheated by Viator

Long bus trips very tiring. Little time at some stops. Would not do again. I would take trains or fly

A must do tour was very well planned good hotels and best way to see South Island. We really loved it

Having limited time, I booked the four-day version of this tour (the same as the five-day, but without the full day in Queenstown) to get a sense of some of the natural highlights of South Island, and it certainly achieved that. It is important to note that this is not itself a self-contained tour, but a package made up of separate bookings for the various buses, hotels, taxis, etc. I made the booking with Leisure Tours about six months ahead of my visit, and the administration seemed very efficient with prompt responses to any queries. The detailed itinerary was issued (and my credit card charged) only about one week before the start of the trip. Personally, I would quite like to have the itinerary a little earlier, but the sequence of events was made very clear. The step-by-step itinerary involved a number of elements and there seemed to be plenty of scope for things to go wrong, but, in practice, everything worked really smoothly. It would have been possible to arrange the various components of the package myself, but going through Leisure Tours was much less hassle and had the advantage of a central point of contact. Recommended.

Sights covered specially the day trip to and from Milford are breathtaking. Truly, NZ is so beautiful and worth seeing. Thankful this was made possible without any hassle by Viator. The arrangements made for hotel, transfers and sights were worth it. Enjoyed both stays in Copthorne Hotel, Queenstown Lakeview and Legacy Te Waonue. Wud like to commend Paulie, coach driver of Real NZ to Milford. Aside from his jolly personality, he was able to manage such a big group by being very systematic n organized. Every person is aware of the time to get back to the bus because he holds a placard clearly stating the time. This addresses the issue of some misunderstanding what driver says due to NZ accent. It’s really a challenge for someone coming from another country and first time hearing the accent. Another driver to be commended is John of Great Sights. Our trip to Plymouth to catch the TranzAlpine train was relaxing . He was approachable and friendly. Overall, tour was excellent and would highly recommend to my friends and relatives.

Brilliant tour! It was well organised from start to finish. All the drivers were friendly, informative and were very safe as some of the roads are quite tricky. All the accommodation we stayed in was superb. Best of all , however, was the amazing tour itself and the scenery we managed to see whilst on the coach or at the many spectacular stops we made along the way. Loved it!¡!!!

The description is misleading. This is not a “tour”. They book you onto one excursion provided by another operator to Milford Sound (and provided the wrong pick-up location and time as well as getting the name of the operator wrong) and the vast majority of the time you spend sat on inter-city coaches, so imagine 12 hour days sat on a coach for 4 days, the other day you have to plan yourself. This is how you get to see the landmarks they have listed. The “guided commentary” is just the coach driver and it’s a gamble whether or not you’ll get one that provides information about what you’re seeing out of the windows. You do not get to see the Franz Josef or Fox glaciers. By the time you get to Franz Josef town it is dusk without appropriate time to hike safely or go to the viewing platform and the next day you leave at 7am. The stops the coaches do provide seem random and you spend time at places like a salmon farm for breakfast (so bad luck if you’re a vegetarian). Other places that are actual viewpoints with scenery and landscape worth looking at are 5-10 minute stops max. To top it off our pre-paid taxi that was supposed to pick us up at the end of the 5-day journey didn’t show so we had to arrange alternative transport and effectively pay twice. We contacted Leisure Tours during our trip to communicate how disappointed we were and were told that management would be in contact after the conclusion of the trip. We’re now 6 days post-conclusion and have not heard anything. Awful customer service, and a complete joke of a “tour”. Don’t waste your time or money- you could book this all by yourself and cut out the middle man.

Ideal for getting to know the highlights of the South Island in a short time. The schedules for the individual travel days were perfectly organized. The bus drivers were friendly, helpful, courteous and always on time.