New Zealand Hiking Tours

Australia. Our travel planner and this travel company turned our ideas for this trip into a wondrous adventure!! Working with our planner was fun, easy, and totally enjoyable even before the trip began! She offered hotel and activity alternatives, listened intently to our preferences, and made all the booking an absolute breeze!! Knowing our planner was available (in the background) during our entire trip was an added bonus when we experienced a hotel booking hiccup along the way. We contacted our planner with the issue (on a Friday evening while she was walking her dog on the beach!!), she went to work immediately to resolve it, stayed in touch with us via text messages and calls, and fixed the issue without hesitation. My wife and I were relieved and impressed with the integrity and professionalism with which the planner worked.Regarding the trip itself, New Zealand is a gorgeous country with so many outstanding places to see. The travel company offered us a great mix of independent travel coupled with the right amount of "pre-booked tours and activities" to immerse us in the New Zealand culture. Whether it was biking the farm country around Napier, boating around Abel Tasman National Park or hiking the trails of Punakaiki and Wanaka the trip exceeded our expectations. When our tour of Milford Sound was cancelled due to weather related road closures, our planner quickly rebooked us on a trip to Doubtful Sound giving us the opportunity to still experience the beauty and tranquility of Fiordland National Park.Sydney is an amazing city with an outstanding transit system. Book a Blue Mountains tour to see the countryside but don't miss out on exploring all that Sydney has to offer beyond the Opera House (the tour of the Opera House should be on everybody's list; a great take!). Manly Beach, the coastal walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach, Spice Alley for dinner, and the Sydney Fish Market are all not to be missed. 

on this trip. Everything went as planned and it was an absolutely incredible journey, very glad I did it. The hotels all treated me like I was their most important person, and the venues and tours that I went on were, in a word, amazing!Absolutely would recommend Zicasso as a travel service for New Zealand. A little pricey, but they sure delivered! I had to contact their office in New Zealand twice and they were exceptionally helpful. 

My trip was a 3+ week solo exploration of New Zealand.  During the planning process, the planner asked good questions to establish what I wanted from my tour and her attention to detail was evident while my tour progressed.  Every accommodation and day tour she set up went off without a hitch and matched or exceeded my expectations.  The only surprise was the coronovirus scare and its impact on my return flights, but my trip planner kept me informed of developments and I made it home without incident. I highly recommend this tour company.

opportunity came to go I decided a travel agent was needed. After interviewing 3, the trip planner at this travel team was top of my list. She did not disappoint and I can’t wait to go back to beautiful New Zealand and it’s wonderful people! Our 17 day vacation included both North and South Islands and because we chose to not drive included a lot of transportation details. Shelley was able to schedule shuttles, airplanes, motor coaches and boats for our adventures. With only a couple of hiccups (very minor which were easily taken care of) we were professionally transported from place to place. The hotels chosen for us were very nice, in great locations for access to restaurants and activities and all were accommodating for early/late check-in/outs. There is so much more to see of New Zealand, I need to go back! 

to our initial requests for planning our trip to New Zealand, and his follow through was perfect!  

came up with an awesome itinerary for 6 weeks to New Zealand and Australia.  You name it we were going to do it.  This truly was an itinerary with planes, trains & automobiles.  Let's not forget to include boats, helicopter, camel and kayak.  We had such a variety of things planned including wine tasting in both NZ and Australia.  I can't say enough good things about our travel company!!!  In the planning stages they even spoke to us about where and when to go as far as seasons and which way to go whether it be Australia first or NZ. As it turned out, the recommendation to go to New Zealand first was perfect. We were saved the experience of Australia for only a few weeks and maybe being stuck there!  No stone was left unturned, even when the fires occurred in Australia.  Our impact was going to be minimal.We left the US on March 9th for NZ arriving on the 11th.  No problems with Covid-19, we continued on with our itinerary.  Sailing in the harbor in Auckland, wine tasting on a beautiful little island outside of Auckland.  On to Queenstown which is delightful and Milford Sound for an overnight on a ship.  Absolutely beautiful.  Glad we did this vs a day trip or boat ride.  We flew back to Queenstown, which I'd recommend because you have a great overview of the mountains.  Breathtaking!!  Picked up a rental car and drove to Franz Josef to climb the glacier.  We're an older couple, but this was an incredible, first-time experience! My husband still marvels! We took a train to Christchurch which is still suffering the after effects of the 2011 earthquake.  Again a train up the Pacific Coast which is beautiful to Nelson.  Kayaking, hiking and a catamaran in the Tasman Sea.  What scenery!!  Up to Rotorua for more fun.  Well this is where the wheels starting coming off of our fun.  Things got cancelled because of Covid-19 and the ever changing environment of new shut downs and what the government was asking of people and vacationers.  Starting on the 15th of March our travel agent was continually in contact with us about Covid-19 and how our itinerary was going to be impacted.  She made alternative suggestions, we made the decision to extend in NZ.  As our trip went along, things kept changing....  NZ decided to shut down on March 25 midnight.  Our new flight home was March 29, then March 27.  She worked with us so closely and was so helpful she actually got us a flight home on March 25.  While we were having fun and enjoying ourselves, this company was working for us behind the scenes.  You can't ask for more than that!!  By the way, we came home and quarantined.  To date, we're healthy.

and full of discovery.  The overall trip planning and execution was exceptional, and the pre-trip planning with the trip planner was well done.  On several occasions we utilized the in-country contacts to make adjustments to our reservations, and the New Zealand team provided outstanding response time and service. 

my husband Paul and I have ever worked with, especially since the lady we worked with was our travel planner.  She was a dream travel consultant:  knowledgeable, efficient, prompt and, above all, patient.  She was meticulous with our planning of our 3 week trip to New Zealand.  She made sure we "hit" many of New Zealand's highlights, arranging for transportation, group tours, personal tours, drivers where needed, and hotels as well as more intimate B & Bs which we had requested.  This travel team made what a good trip into a great trip.

They were able to create a trip tailored to our needs and preferences. All the hotels and lodgings were great. Overall, they were very attentive, helpful and detailed. We will definitely recommend them to anybody who is traveling to New Zealand. 

and I think I can safely say, we all had the most wonderful experience. New Zealand is a stunningly beautiful country and the people are so laid back but welcoming and knowledgeable. This travel company arranged the most perfect trip! Not only did we see all the main attractions, we also stayed at out-of-the-way places so we experienced parts of New Zealand that most tour groups never even get close to. Would highly recommend the travel planner and this company to organize any individual or group's trip to New Zealand! Every hotel, every tour guide, every pick up and drop off, ever flight went flawlessly. Hats off to this travel company!

designer at this travel company (US) and the travel specialist at a local tour company (NZ contact) did a fantastic job!  Our itinerary was just what we wanted with wonderful options that we thoroughly enjoyed - small group tours, amazing hotels, rental cars - that all went off like clockwork.  However, it's when things go wrong that you really find out how good your travel agents are.  Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the travel designer had to deal with last minute flights cancellations, but she was able to re-book us back to the US and our daughter back to Australia - a real wizard!  That lowered our stress level immensely.  Responsive and efficient, even half way around the world.  The travel specialist kept us informed about what was happening on the ground - even contacting us at our remote resort (no cell service)!  This travel company and the local tour company booked our 2013 trip to Australia (first time I used Zicasso.com) and I'm glad that I used them for our second trip!  No hesitation to use them again in the future!

to New Zealand and Australia for the last 5 years.  Our travel designer with this travel agency finally helped us make it happen this past February 2020.  She took into consideration our needs, interest, activities we like, vegetarian meal needs and planned a 16 day trip for us.  The final Itinerary was very well organized and detailed, it included description and website connection to  air line details, hotel to airport transfers, hotels at each locations, all the tours and activities we were schedule to do.  It also included all additional activities we planned  ourselves ( we had at the last minute added 2 night stay in Fiji, and we had booked our own international flight.)  Their agency App, helped my group so much on a daily base to know what we were doing and where we were going.  Our travel designer being a local Australian, made it easy for us to call her anytime we had questions or concerns, which she took care of immediately.  My group all agreed that we will use the designers's services again for future tours to other countries.Thank You travel designer for making such a Memorable trip to New Zealand and AustraliaK. Group