Silver Fern Holidays Traveller Reviews

It was a whistlestop tour of North and South Islands over a three week period. we started in Auckland and headed to Wellington va Waitomo and the Tongariro Alpine crossing (unfortunately cancelled due to poor weather conditions). We crossed the Cook Strait to Picton and did the Queen Charlotte track, then headed down the West coast to Queenstown via Hokitika, Franz-Josef and Wanaka. At Queenstown we visited Milford Sound by helicopter, went bungy-jumping and did a wine tour. The final part of the holiday was a 5 day loop to Tutukaka and Bay of Islands for dicing and sightseeing.

We gave Silver Fern an outline itinerary and asked them to make the arrangements. They were really helpful and spent some time working around various bottlenecks re hotel accommodation. We got pretty much what we asked for and the trip was smooth and problem-free which added significantly to our enjoyment of the holiday.

We had an 18 day holiday travelling around the North and South Islands organised through SilverFern holidays. We were greeted at Auckland airport on arrival and transferred to our hotel and met with our tour guide the following morning who accompanied us for our tour of the North Island and then met another tour guide on arrival at Picton in the South Island for the rest of the tour. Both guides were local and very knowledgeable. At the end of the tour we were transferred back to the airport by a limousine service. Everything went to plan as expected. New Zealand is a beautiful country and we saw all the highlights during the tour.

Silver Fern Holidays specialise in tours around New Zealand. I selected one of their longer tours. They do offer to arrange your flights but I did this myself.

We went to NZ for just over 5 weeks to sees family and do a Silver Ferns organised tour for 18 days.

Silver Ferns planned and organised our tour trip in advance and provided a day by day plan. Accommodation was excellent with B&B included. Car hire was good.

We have recently returned from touring the South and North islands having booked a Silver Fern tailor-made self drive tour of 42 days. We would recommend the 3 day stopover that we did in Singapore on the way out. There is a lot to see and do there and it is also a good opportunity to deal with some of the jet lag. New Zealand did not disappoint. We flew into Christchurch and spent a few days acclimatising and exploring the city before collecting our hire car and heading to majestic Mount Cook (via the beautiful Lake Tekapo). We would recommend the Glacier Boat cruise at Mount Cook. From Mount Cook, we headed to Queenstown and the obligatory jet boat ride (The Skippers Canyon tour was amazing) and then Te Anau for our pre-booked day excursion to Milford Sound. Milford Sound in the rain (the only rainy day that we had) was stunning, with waterfalls everywhere. From Te Anau we headed to Wanaka (and that tree) and then on to Fox Glacier. We then moved on to Hokitika for a stay at what turned out to be our favourite guest house (Teichelmanns B&B) and our delightful hosts, Frances and Brian. Very special! The trip up the west coast from Teichelmanns to the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki was well worth it. John at Silver Fern had recommended the Tranz Alpine train journey across the South Island which meant dropping the hire car in Greymouth and collecting another hire car on our arrival back in Christchurch. This all went well and without any hassle and is is definitely worth doing. Who doesn’t love a scenic rail journey! After overnighting in Christchurch, we headed up to Kaikoura for a pre-booked Whale Watch tour. Whale Watch Kaikoura were excellent and we were lucky enough to see a Sperm Whale on the trip. Our last few days in the South Island were spent based in Nelson with a day excursion to Abel Tasman National Park. A really special place. The Sails Motel in Nelson was lovely too. From Nelson, we headed over to the North Island on the Ferry for a few days in Wellington which has a great selection of restaurants and bars. The Library (bar) was a favourite with live jazz on the night we were there. Wellington to Napier for a wine tour with Grape Escapes and then on to Tongariro NP. If you like a challenging hike then Tongariro is the place! The next stop was Rotorua and a trip out to Waimangu Volcanic Valley. Another very special experience. If you are a fan of swinging through the trees at a great height then Rotorua Canopy Tours is a must! We then had a wonderful couple of relaxing days on the Coromandel Peninsula before finishing our holiday staying with friends in Auckland. All in all, a very memorable holiday.

After speaking at length with John Lightwood on the phone at the start of planning our holiday, we were convinced that with his in-depth knowledge and obvious love of the country, Silver Fern would be the perfect choice to organise our holiday to New Zealand. John was more than happy to work with us on adapting one of their existing Tailor-made holiday packages to suit our exact needs for the 6 week trip. All of the pre-booked excursions went exactly to plan with no hiccups. We were given a very detailed itinerary along with plenty of ideas for additional excursions etc. When we experienced a very minor hotel issue in week 4, John resolved it for us immediately. We have wanted to go to New Zealand for a very long time. John Lightwood and the team at Silver Fern didn’t disappoint in organising the perfect trip for us. It really was the trip of a lifetime and we would have no hesitation in recommending them.

We toured the north and south islands of New Zealand over 29 days in November 2025. We followed an itinerary agreed in a very useful face to face meeting with Silver Fern. The arrangements all ran very well and the choice of venues and activities proposed by Silver Fern was excellent.

Silver Fern gives personal service in the UK and also provides contacts in case of need in NZ. John Lightwood clearly loves the country and has visited many times so his insight was really appreciated in getting the most out of our time in the country., both in our initial meeting and the many follow up calls and emails leading up to travel We would recommend Silver Fern to anyone planning a NZ trip.

The hotels and guesthouses were generally fantastic. The planning and the incremental tours Silver Fern included - Abel Tasman NP, whale watching in Kaikoura; The Māori evening in Rotorua; the TranzAlpine; Milford Sound cruise; and the Rotorua Thermal Wonderland – were all exceptional. The itinerary worked very well including the return from Te Anau to Mount Cook so that we finished on a high before returning to Christchurch. The Skotel in Tongariro wasn't great (5/10), and we would recommend asking for a bigger room in Hermitage Mount Cook (the hotel is fantastic but many of the rooms are very small).

Silver Fern had an amazingly in-depth knowledge of NZ. We would use them again if returning. The pre-trip meeting with John Lightwood was very helpful. Some extra sites such as Pancake rocks and Hokitika Gorge, which John recommended , were very well worth taking a diversion for.

This was a holiday which exceeded our (already high) expectations. John arranged an amazing tour for us with an excellent balance between “wow” and “chill” time. One week on North Island (Rotorua a particular highlight). 17 days on the South Island which was a constant delight. Too many highlights to name them all but Mount Cook, Fox Glacier, Abel Tasman and Lake Wanaka were absolute standouts. Holiday of a lifetime.

John was excellent. From the planning stages giving us interesting options to finalizing an ideal fly drive tour. Many useful tips. When a personal issue arose in NZ John acted swiftly to sort things out for us. We always felt John and team were “going the extra mile “. Hard to express how impressed we were with Silver Fern.

We organised a self drive holiday with Silver Fern, starting from Auckland and travelling to the Coromandel peninsula, Rotorua, Tongariro National Park and walked the Tongariro Alpine Crossing then heading down to Wellington and took a ferry to the South Island. From Picton we travelled to Nelson stayed at the Awaroa Lodge at the Abel Tasman National Park, drove the West Coast staying at Hokitika, Franz Joseph, Wanaka, Tea Anau, Milford Sound and stayed on a beautiful boat Navigator at Doubtful Sound overnight. From here travelled to Queenstown and then our final destination Mount Cook before Christchurch and our return journey. All our accommodation was recommended and booked and our specific activities so each day we had a clear plan and this enabled us to get the most out of each day. We travelled over 2,000 miles in 5 weeks knowing each day from our itinerary how many miles we needed to travel our booked accommodation was excellent and hosts very friendly and we had the most amazing time .

We had a couple of zoom calls with John at Silver Fern holidays back in January 2024 looking to gain some knowledge and an itinerary for a proposed self drive trip in January 2025. John has so much knowledge about New Zealand and listened to what our likes and dislikes were and provided an initial draft which we then read and amended accordingly based on the length of time we were travelling number of days in locations etc. John and his team booked out flights , accommodation, car and activities. At each step communication was very clear and helpful and any questions we had were answered promptly this helped us to have a trip of a lifetime and we would very much recommend John & the team to anyone who is thinking of travelling to New Zealand.

Having toured New Zealand once before we chose the Silver Fern Kauri tour because it included stops in places we hadn't visited last time and the route was reversed, North Island first then South Island. We were blessed with great travelling companions and the small group was ideal. The standard of accommodation was excellent throughout and conveniently situated so we could take advantage of the many bars and restaurants wherever we stopped. Being in a smaller coach we were able to travel the smaller less busy roads and also to see other sights of interest that were not on the agenda. The organised excursions were well planned and we were given a real insight into the Maori culture and the history of NZ in a passionate, yet light hearted manner. We particularly enjoyed Napier with its Art Deco buildings and Rotorua for the amazing thermal pools and geysers. But, for us, the cherry on the cake was the time spent in Wanaka. The lake and surrounding area are so beautiful we could easily have spent more time there. The Eco tour was a particular highlight and standing on the top of the little island you really felt on top of the world. Silver Fern organised extra days for us pre and post tour, so we could explore Auckland and its vibrant culture and then have time to relax in Christchurch before coming home. All the arrangements went off without a hitch.

A very knowledgeable driver/guide who went out of his way to make sure we had the best experience possible. The choice of excursions was varied and in most cases we would have liked to have done them all!

We did a 37 day holiday starting in Aukland. We had 3 nights in Aukland before picking up our hire car and hitting the road. We travelled north to the Coromandel which was stunning! One of the highlights of my holiday. We then travelled south and stopped off at Rotorua. Another highlight for us was Tongariro national park. Two nights in the very rustic Skotel Alpine lodge. We loved it! Amazing walks and scenery. We then continued on to Napier, a beautiful coastal resort. We also did a wine tour here. Next stop - Wellington. Quite a shock after being in peaceful places. A busy capital city. Two nights was enough. From there we took the scenic ferry to the South Island. A stunning boat trip. We had 2 nights in Nelson and spent a wonderful day in Abel Tasmin national park. From there we went to Blenheim and had a night in this charming town. Another highlight for us was our next stop : Kaikoura. Another beautiful coastal town where we went whale watching. We also went Kayaking which was an amazing experience. Next stop Christchurch, a beautiful city where it reminded us of Cambridge in the UK. We stayed in a lovely villa which we didn't want to leave! From there we took the transalpine train to Greymouth where we picked up our next car and drove to Hokitika. We travelled through Fox glacier where we did some spectacular walks and then on to Wanaka. Here we did some amazing bike rides, walks and enjoyed the lake. Next stop Queenstown, a town with plenty of life!! We did more cycling here, more walks and more stunning scenery. From there we went to Te Anau and the Milford Sound. Stunning!!! Scenery was unbelievable. Lots of walking. Next stop: Dunedin. My husband was keen to come here. We did the most spectacular cycling here. Hired bikes and off we went for the day. Very bike friendly. Finally, we had Christmas eve and Christmas day at Mount Cook. What a Christmas to remember! Just spectacular. Back to Christchurch and then off to Australia.

Our tour operator exceeded all our expectations. Everything went smoothly! There were no issues, which is quite amazing considering all we had planned. I cannot recommend enough.