Magnificent New Zealand: North & South Island in 11 Days

Eleven days is enough to take both islands seriously. This itinerary starts on the North Island with Hobbiton and Rotorua's geothermal parks, then crosses to the South Island by domestic flight for the TranzAlpine train, the West Coast glaciers, Queenstown, Milford Sound, and the return journey through Aoraki Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo to Christchurch. The sequencing is deliberate. Hobbiton earns its place not as a theme park diversion but as one of the most precisely maintained film sets in the world — the Matamata farm that Peter Jackson's team selected in 1998 and rebuilt permanently for The Hobbit trilogy. Rotorua gets a full day across two contrasting geothermal parks, Wai-O-Tapu and Waimangu, followed by Te Po at Te Puia — a Māori cultural evening with buffet dinner and a haka performance on the geyser terrace. The TranzAlpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth is one of the few scenic rail journeys in New Zealand that genuinely warrants the word: 224 kilometres through the Canterbury Plains, up into the Southern Alps via the Waimakariri Gorge, and through the Otira tunnel to the West Coast. The domestic flight from Rotorua to Christchurch on day four is not included and must be booked independently. Everything else on the itinerary is covered. This is a tour for you if you want a single departure that covers both islands properly — not a summary, but enough time at each stop to understand what makes New Zealand's landscape unlike anywhere you have been before.

• ◆Hobbiton Movie Set — The Shire as permanently rebuilt for the Hobbit trilogy
• ◆Rotorua — Wai-O-Tapu, Waimangu, and a Māori cultural evening at Te Puia
• ◆TranzAlpine train — Christchurch to Greymouth through the Southern Alps
• ◆Franz Josef — West Coast glacier country at low altitude
• ◆Milford Sound — fiord cruise with lunch, 12-hour day from Queenstown
• ◆Aoraki Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo — the Mackenzie Basin on the return north

Day-by-Day