Once Upon a Trip

Great breakfast and good location

It may be ok if you have young kids as it is unique. As an older couple, it was very dated and needed some attention.

Food was great, room was comfortable and scenery spectacular.

The room was comfortable and had everything we needed. Good location. The only problem was the highway traffic noise at night.

Loved this place. So unique and wonderful breakfasts!

Very unique accommodation. Our rooms were nice and we appreciated the use of the large kitchen. Quiet with beautiful scenery

This was one of our favourite accommodations. The renovation work and history behind it is beautiful. The best laid-out bathroom of all of our stays. Breakfast next door was great.

A pretty basic hotel room. The scenery was beautiful but getting around the village and finding parking with all of the tourists was a little crazy. But couldn't have asked for a better location

Having a hotel room that looks right out onto the lake was wonderful. Comfortable room and good breakfast provided. Good location.

Room was nice and breakfast was ok. The hosts are a little 'intense', but nice enough. Parking was a bit of an issue.

An amazing ride. The electric bikes were a must for us...we couldn't have done it without them.

A truly unique experience. Our guides were fun and appreciated the warm drinks and food during the tour. The only down side was not being able to take your own pictures. They took some and you could buy them at the end, but let's say that photography is not their forte. :-)

The trail itself was ok. Unfortunately a lot of the little artisan galleries along the trail were closed which would have made things more interesting. A great little coffee shop and good restaurants though.

We were not exactly sure how this was supposed to work. We told the guide that we preferred to spend more time hiking than on the boat. He was excellent and pointed out some options that would work for us and it turned out to be a wonderful day. Great people running this and a small boat so you're not crammed into a big boat with a lot of other people.

Partly our fault. We had read the description of a different tour with a similar name. We thought we would be going on a tour of a sheep farm with a sheep shearing demonstration, etc. that included lunch and wine and all of the trimmings. This tour consisted of riding in a large touring van (4WD description was slightly misleading) for 7 hours, mostly on gravel roads, with short stops to point out trees and livestock. There was no sheep farm tour, no 4WD like we were expecting (Jeep or ATV), lunch consisted of half a sandwich with a piece of banana bread that we ate in a lawn chair at the side of a road beside a settling pond. The guide was nice and did his best to pass on his local knowledge but I think even he was bored. Perhaps if you were in your 80's, this may have been enough but for us, it was a complete waste of a day.

Loved this! The scenery was beautiful, the guide was informative and there was just enough easy and hard biking to make it interesting.

We lucked out in the fact that it was a beautiful sunny day after a rainstorm the day before. So there was still water in the waterfalls but clear skies so that you could see for miles. Enjoyed the catamarans (although it got a little long towards the end) and everything was run VERY smoothly. Good guides. Loved it.

Very well located in the city, allowing for short walks to nearby activities and areas. The accommodations were solid, as was the food. The rooftop bar area was also really cool.

The front desk person was very friendly and the accommodations were great. The area was quiet and was only a short drive/walk to the center of town.

The accommodations were great; the bed was a little uncomfortable.

The accommodations were great overall. The room was larger than the rest of the ones we had on our trip. Parking was somewhat difficult and driving to/from was a little stressful due to traffic.

The room accommodations were solid overall; parking was offsite and a short walk, but had a fee each time you left and came back.

The room was cozy and had one of the larger bathrooms compared to other hotels on our trip. The location was fantastic, with a great restaurant right downstairs.

The room was excellent, as were the views from the restaurant overlooking the water and mountains. The breakfast provided was the best we had on our entire trip.

This experience seemed great for those interested in aspects of movie making. However, the movies they use for the tour are 3 different "unreleased (made for this)" movies, which was a little disappointing. The tour itself was well done.

I would consider this experience necessary for anyone that hasn't done it. It was incredible. The guides were excellent and personable, and enriched the experience further.

Hobbiton was exactly what I hoped it would be; the views were beautiful, the tour was excellent, and it was surreal to get to explore and experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Maori cultural experience; the individuals leading each part of it did a great job of providing history and information about the culture.

The staff was wonderful and the entire experience was amazing. Getting to see such a beautiful part of nature combined with the ziplines was awesome.

I loved getting to walk through and learn more about the geothermal areas; it was absolutely beautiful.

The trees themselves were awesome to see up close and the set ups for the walkways and decorations were really cool.

Fantastic! As a huge Lord of the Rings fan, this is a must. The store (Weta Cave) has awesome displays and a great selection of items to purchase. The staff were super helpful and the tour was perfect.

I would consider this a "must-do" for any fan of The Lord of the Rings movies. The drive is a bit long (about 2 hours from Christchurch), but the scenery and the tour guide made it feel like nothing. The actual experience of seeing and getting to walk up Mt Sunday and be in the spots from The Two Towers was surreal.

The experience itself is awesome; the guides provide you with information about the stars and planets, and have telescopes to view some of the celestial bodies, followed by time in the hot pool.

The surrounding area and the lake/glaciers themselves are stunning. I highly recommend this activity.

This is another activity I would consider a "must-do." The views from both the plane and the ship were incredible, providing a perspective of the area that just can't be experienced another way.

The experience itself was relaxing; your party is provided with a private hot tub with an awesome backdrop of a field and hills/mountain. They provide a drink and small snack.

This was a great way to see Queenstown from up high; the views were great.

Compared to the other Lord of the Rings related experiences we did on our trip, this was the least exciting. Some of that was due to the weather, as it changed what our tour got to see, while the rest was the overall experience. The guides provided some information about the scenes and surrounding area, but not nearly as much as other tours on our trip.

Fantastic location. Top notch customer service. Beautiful space. Attention to detail. We would stay there again in a heartbeat.

The singing, the hakas, the fellowship, the history were all very moving.

Jill was our guide, and what a lovely person she is. We had laughs and learned a lot about New Zealand's fantastic wine offerings. The half day was plenty -- we had just the right amount of sampling. Favourite part: the sheep grazing in a vineyard.

Walking in the quiet darkness with our red lights was such a feast for the senses. I loved the evening birdsong and glow worms.

This was one of those experiences that surpassed expectations. It was a full day, but I could have kept going. We learned about a whole other kind of life in New Zealand, the incredibly hard work running a sheep station. Mesopotamia has such unique historical significance. Our guide Wayne even had a book about it, which he kindly let us borrow for a night. What an incredible landscape, too.

Stunning, quiet, very personalized experience.

Fantastic opportunity for an evening of immersion in Māori culture. The experience is largely delivered by the younger members of a Māori family. Their pride and delight at sharing their culture is on display here. Supper is shared at the table with one of the family members followed by a delightful, full throated performance by these impressive young people.

Lovely hosts, quiet location, perfect for a family.

Clean, perfect location, great for family.

What a lovely lakeview apartment. Perfect location, lovely warm pool, great for families

makes transfer to the airport so incredibly easy. We had adjoining room for the kids.

This was a great suggestion from michelle, our boys (aged 10 and 12) loved this workshop.

Great for a family, we loved going to Hobbiton. Tour guide was great, experience was amazing.

We did the guided tour with Maori experience (definitely recommend adding this) along with the Hangi lunch. This was a perfect cultural tour for our family.

Great experience, the guides were amazing, the whole family enjoyed this experience. Photos included in price, not an added extra which was such a nice change.

As a family, again we all enjoyed this experience

This really was a great experience. You are able to get up close to the geothermal areas, more so than Te Puia. We would recommend this, it wasn't too far from rotorua and we had time to do all of the walks.

If you haven't been jet boating before, it is a great experience. was good to see huka falls from the river.

We just saw the glow worm caves. It was a lovely experience and we had a great guide. might have been good to see another cave also whilst there as they do some good packages.

This was one of our favorite tours - great skipper and a wonderful day out on the water and multiple stops at islands and beaches.

What a great way to end our 3 weeks in NZ. It was a beautiful overnight trip, lovely captain and staff.

We loved this tour because it took us into the backcountry with so many fascinating pieces of history and knowledge about family sheep farming and the amazing mountains and valleys that surround the sheep stations.