Our Customer Reviews

Kiwi Experience is a great opportunity to travel the country and meet lots of new people. The bus drivers are always very cheerful and entertaining. You can book all accommodations and activities during the drives with discounts so theres no need to worry about anything in advance. Résumé: Relaxing travel, not always the best hostels but nonetheless a good time in total!

I have just got back from a 6 week trip with Kiwi Experience! I went during September & October, I would recommend going at this time because I enjoyed the luxury of more flexible bus booking and less people, (much busier afterwards so I'd recommend booking all/majority of buses ahead) however due to weather at this time (always unpredictable!) some activities couldn't go ahead. Every season has its advantages so research before going to ensure you can do your chosen ones, and if not give youself time to stay a few days for the possibility of them going ahead a day or so later! The bus drivers were great, really informative and organised. All the activities were fantastic, if on a budget, don't think you have to do every single one, I would research before and pick the main ones to do on your budget, the free walks in every place are so worth doing! It really is up to you to make your trip, don't sit on the bus or go with the majority. Overall I had a great experience. I would recommend 4+ weeks. Shoutout to drivers Bods and Gina who were the most entertaining, informative and fun drivers!

If you are like me, like to travel but you might not always have time or energi to plan. I had a few weeks left before it waws time for me to leave Australia and go back home after a year away. I had also an open ticket to nz. SO i checked with happy travels if they had any ideas what i could do for a few days. They put me on the bus for a few days to see the north island. It was so worth it. good prices, nice people and amazing adventures.

I was recommended this by multiple friends I had met travelling and so glad I booked it. I met a fab group of people and had the most amazing experience. This is not just a bus to get you from A to B; you stop off along the way for short walks and epic views. Most drivers are really friendly and informative and are able to answer pretty much anything! Shout out to Arias, best driver we had! If you want to see everything NZ has to offer but not sure how to get around this is the bus for you. Everything got ticked off my bucket list - the most unreal experience!

Me and my girlfriend wanted an easy way to se most of New Zeeland and chose the kiwi experience, and we are so glad we did! It was more entertaining even educational then we thought!

I did the Tiki pass over about a 4 week period in September/October and it was a great trip.

I booked the bus one month before my trip and everything went perfectly. Even if I changed the bus because I stayed where longer, I could easily make changes. The Kiwibus is more suitable for young people and parties

Had a great time with Dave and Simon. They were so honest and helpful and they made Kiwi Experience the best way to explore New Zealand.

This trip with kiwi experience was excellent for me and my boyfriend. Great memories.

I've travelled in other countries using organised bus tours so that I have more energy to do activities rather than being tired from driving. The difference with Kiwi Experience is that pretty much everyone has a different schedule. I had limited time from work so had to try do a bus with the "minimum days" which meant I had the same driver every day (except to Milford Sound which was an add-on trip). My driver Lisa was amazing, from her little quizes, catchy phrases ("Cruising for a non-bruising" + "Wakey wakey eggs + bakey" + "Jingle bells" spring to mind immediately) and insightful commentary on the places we visited as well as tips for good food and activities based on my individual needs. I am 31 so felt perhaps I was too old for this tour and a rival firm was recommended to me by friends, however they were more expensive and the dates didn't work for what I wanted to see. I am glad I chose Kiwi Ex because the age difference wasn't too noticable and there were others older than me too. I hung out with an 18 year old most of the trip and a 53 year old, age doesn't matter when travelling, personalities do. I am pretty open to having fun and so joined in most of the nights entertainment for at least a few beers, but didn't go at it as I perhaps would have done when I was 18-25 but still had a laugh, including dressing up for the famous dress up night in Lake Mahinapua. Using Kiwi Ex meant we got cheaper prices at several places, overall I would guess it saved me about $100-150 vs. if I had booked it myself. I also enjoyed I could just sign up and the driver booked the accomodation which made things slightly easier. The only negatives I can think of compared to other trips were: 1) If you join the bus 'late' often groups have already formed which can be difficult to bond with, this is purely down to the people you get on the bus and how 'out there' you put yourself. On other trips you are lumped together for the entire duration so this doesn't really exist there. The plus side to this negative is that if you do have time, you can just skip that bus and join the next one, though I understand in peak season it can be difficult to guarantee you make the next bus! 2) There's a lot of food stops etc. this is great if you are on a tight budget as you can save some money but if you are on a limited timescale, it's actually eating into your time seeing places. e.g. the drives themselves are a maximum of 3 hours a time between stops, if those stops were just toilet breaks then you'd end up with probably 1-2 hours extra per place. 3) Lots of people all getting off the bus at the same place meant lots of varied checkin processes. I feel Kiwi Ex could work with the hostels they pair with to streamline this process. The world is going digital, feels like Kiwi Ex and the hostels hasn't twigged to that yet and writing your name and passport number on bits of paper becomes a daily time consuming ritual before you can actually dump your bags in a room.