About Thrifty Tours New Zealand

Just wanted to let you know we had a wonderful holiday. Everything went smoothly and was so easy. Very impressed with the private charter from Queenstown to Franz Josef to Greymouth. Richard our driver was friendly, gave us great advice, information and was a good driver too. All our other private transfers were punctual, friendly, professional and made us feel welcome. We also used Liz from Christchurch Touring to take us back to the airport on Monday morning. The coach tour to Milford Sound was wonderful - another excellent driver and tour guide. We drove through snow for about an hour between Queenstown and Te Anau! Scenery so lovely with hills and surroundings blanketed in snow. Milford Sound cruise was fun and although it was raining we still loved every minute. All the accommodation was of a high standard too. We certainly made some wonderful memories. Thanks for all you did to make our holiday so memorable.

Thank you for your excellent arrangements. It made my solo travel so much easier. The train journey was awesome, and the shuttles were super - on time expecting me. Although, the Intercity bus that took us from Franz Josef to Queenstown had no proper heating despite the cold and wet weather. Forget the inconvenience, the driver had to stop several times to wipe the foggy windows, which was not very safe to continue driving.

Thank you to Christina Brockie and Thrifty Tours for doing such a great job organising my South Island tour. The service I received was very professional and helpful. With Covid-19 impacting transport services, my trip would've been stressful to plan out, so I'm glad I let Thrifty take care of it for me. I'd happily use Thrifty again!

Louise had been exceptional making this tour work during this difficult time, with a lot of activities unachievable due to floods, works of natures and what have you. She must have waved her magic wand and booked me in to the places I have on my bucket list! My first time in South Island as a domestic tourist had been amazing and now I finally understand why overseas tourists save up to come here!

What a week it ended up being, with the COVID situation rapidly escalating the week of travel and each day bringing fresh news updates that brought lots of uncertainty to our plans! We were really thankful we had engaged Thrifty Tours to help us plan the travel - we initially had thought of planning it ourselves to save on costs. But as it turned out, engaging Thrifty Tours not only took a load off our minds during planning, being able to easily customise our plans without a lot of research on our side. The company also turned out to be an invaluable help during the trip when plans had to be changed last minute and eventually cancelled due to the COVID situation. It really helped to have them on board to help sort out the changes/cancellations/refunds so we could focus on finding our way home. Thank you for that, appreciate the good service!

Thank you so much for all your help. Our south island tour was simply the most wonderful experience, and we had 7 days of seeing the most outstanding scenery, and visiting some beautiful places, the south island of New Zealand is simply breathtaking. Everything was organised to perfection on our tour, thanks again to you - we never had to wait for any pickups, all staff we came into contact with were always friendly & courteous & coach drivers obliging, funny, enjoyed a chat & were all very careful drivers. The coaches on all the routes were very comfortable & all stops en route supplied lovely food & snacks. All accommodation booked by you was lovely & comfortable, the Rainforest Lodge at Fox Glacier was out of this world, stunning rooms set in the most beautiful New Zealand scenery & dinner in the restaurant that night there was great. The TSS Earnslaw trip was wonderful, a must for anyone to do, the BBQ lunch sumptuous & mouth-watering meats served up, the best beef & lamb we have tasted in a long while! The excursion to Milford Sounds breathtaking, what an amazing & serene place, took my breath away from the beauty of it all. Our lunch at the Hermitage another highlight, superb & it was a beautiful day that we were there so we got stunning views of Mt Cook. Accommodation at the Heartland was fabulous, my sister & I sat on our balcony with a nice glass of New Zealand wine overlooking the lake & The Remarkables, I will remember that moment for a long time, weather again nice & sunny during our stay there. Queenstown is a lovely place, vibrant & buzzing. I did the Gondola ride, worth every penny, loved it. TranzAlpine train journey from Greymouth to Christchurch amazing, very comfortable, and well worth the ride, stunning views from the huge windows. Thank you again, Louise, for all your help, patience & guidance & I would not hesitate to recommend Thrifty Tours to any of my friends here in the UK wanting to see the spectacular South Island of New Zealand in style.

Just to confirm that - after two re-bookings :) - arrived safely and (surprisingly) without delay back in Zurich. I had a very good experience with the trips you booked for me, many thanks again. I have very much appreciated the quality of the information you provided to me, the speed you answered to me, and, in general, your professionalism - really enjoyed being advised by you. All trips were done also professionally, with clear customer focus, and practically without any significant delays. Very knowledgeable guides, fantastic places, a very good experience all in all. I will certainly return at some point in the future, New Zealand is a great country...

It was great! Thank you for everything, especially for the hotel (Grand Millennium Auckland) we stayed in for our last two nights, it was a real treat :) I had previously read some comments on the internet where people had complained that they had to find their own way to the different tours or the guides on those tours were not good enough or the picnic lunches on the tours were not good enough... It was definitely not the case for us! We were picked up from the hotel and dropped off where we wanted, the guides were very helpful in every possible way (they were very informative and also did everything to keep us safe and happy), and the picnic lunches were some of the best food we had in NZ :))

We had a wonderful experience! Our accommodations were clean, up-to-date and comfortable. And all our transfers were seamless. We did have some confusion in Franz Josef as to our pick-up point, but we figured it out. The drivers were very informative and willing and able to adjust to the unique conditions that we encountered along the way. We were able to make all our stops - including Milford Sound - thanks to the road crews working overtime to get the roads open. We were blessed with good weather during our time in NZ (except for the last day while travelling in the bus - and then the sun came out for our view of the Franz Josef Glacier!) We were happy with our meals too. Everything seemed to go as planned! Thank you for all your help. This was a trip of a lifetime for us. And despite the Coronavirus starting to shut countries down, we were able to return to the USA without mishap.

Great way to travel around New Zealand, especially for someone who has never been there and doesn't have a lot of time for research. The tours and hotels booked were excellent. The Thrifty Tours app is incredibly useful. My consultant Emma was extremely helpful and responsive.