Our Customer Reviews

Was a great way to travel round New Zealand and meet loads of lovely people along the way

I was travelling to New Zealand on my own and so glad I chose to do the kiwi experience! It was very well organised and met so many people!

I had an awful lot of planning to do to link up with my girlfriend who was already traveling on your “the whole kit and caboodle” pass we were to meet up in queenstown New Zealand and then travel north along the east coast hitting various stops along the way! After talking to yourself, the travel agent and my girlfriend we figured out I only really needed “the super funky” which saved me money and then from landing and having to amend the route because we wanted extra days in places we’re easy the emails were quick, the drivers were fun and knowledgeable literally I could go on lol overall I throughly enjoyed myself and would definitely use you again :-)

The place you see, the people you meet along the way, it’s the perfect way to see the best of what New Zealand has to offer!

Enjoyed the trip around NZ, beautiful country and made some great friends!! Martin was a great driver and was always happy to help out people on the bus (as long as they listened!) Did not enjoy Westport and Lake Manipua. Deep South was a waste of time by the time we got to each part (Dunedin and Invercargill) and we didn’t even stay in Invercargill.

I had a good experience traveling around NZ for three months with Kiwi Experience. I purchased the Whole Kit & Caboodle package and thought it was a great value for a solo traveler. The drivers were great; super friendly and helpful and everyone added their own flair to the bus ride. The WiFi on the buses isn't great but that's okay. Being that I had three months in NZ, I spent a lot of time off the bus spending extra time in different places which I really enjoyed. Personally I would have gotten sick of being with the same group the entire time and I think if you go with just the "minimum time" required for the trip, you will miss out on so much and you won't really get to experience New Zealand for what it is. If you can, definitely plan as much extra time as you can and I recommend hopping off the bus and going on your own adventures often. Also, take the time to look ahead and plan out your stops at least a little bit. Find out the best hikes and adventures in each area and plan to take advantage of that. I often met people on the bus who had no idea about some of the most well-known NZ stops simply because they didn't spend anytime planning. Don't do that. I would also recommend staying at different hostels some of the time as well. There are much better hostels than what Kiwi books a lot of the time and it helps you meet different people as well. Overall Kiwi is great if you want to meet people, have a stress-free experience and see all of the NZ highlights.

I did the funky chicken tour and it was worth every penny! Not only do you get to see the wonders of NZ but you do it with some amazing backpackers who end up being friends for life! I was lucky enough to have Simon as my bus driver and I can tell you with confidence that I’ve never laughed so hard, even at 7 am when I’m super hungover! I would recommend the Kiwi Ex to everyone and anyone!!

We’ve had a lovely month in NZ with Kiwi, lovely drivers - especially Toddy!!! Very knowledgable and helpful with any questions we had etc, great way to meet people on the bus, super easy to book activities and accommodation through the drivers.

Really just depends on the buses you get, as a slightly older than 18yo it was difficult sometimes to find a mix of people on the bus that wanted to do more than drink. The days were long for no reason sometimes but it was nice to have everything sorted. I HATED Lake Manhpua and how they trapped us there and forced us to stay at the nasty and overpriced hostel there. Base Wanaka was quite possibly THE most disgusting hostel I have ever stayed at in my entire life. And this wasn’t a true “hop on hop off” pass as even in off season it was impossible to get scheduled for buses.

I bought this several months ago and had booked in advance all my spots prior. However everytime I made a friend we got seperated because your bus schedule was terrible. You advertise as flexible while in fact its the furthest thing from that! You guys took away buses that were very clearly needed!