Fully guided rail-and-coach journeys through Aotearoa New Zealand’s grandest landscapes — named in honour of Sir Edmund Hillary, and paced for travellers who like their adventure comfortable.
World Travel Awards
NZ’s Leading Tour Operator 2022 · 2023 · 2024 · 2025· 2022–2025
Trustpilot
Rated “Excellent” by our guests
Pounamu Tourism Group
100% New Zealand owned & operated100% NZ owned & operated
Choose Your Journey
Choose your South Island journey.
All standard journeys start and end in Christchurch. The Pinnacle Tour departs Christchurch and finishes in Blenheim, with the flight to Auckland included.
Spring / Summer 2026–27
Signature Journey
14-Day Spring/Summer Tour
14 days
· 13 nights
From NZ$8,995
pp twin share
Sep 2026 – Apr 2027
Our signature journey: Milford Sound, Aoraki Mt Cook, Queenstown and the Coastal Pacific across fourteen carefully paced days.
The Southern Alps under snow — alpine rail, Tekapo’s star-filled skies, Queenstown in its winter coat. Every 2026 departure has now sold — the 2027 Winter Edition is booking now.
Our ultra-premium expedition, hosted end to end by Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund — the mountains, the stories, and the family who lived them. Departs Christchurch; finishes in Blenheim with the flight to Auckland included.
Includes the “Famous 4” rail adventures · Fiordland flights & Milford cruise
Every journey’s brochure is free
— request it on the journey page and it arrives by email straight away.
Why Travel With Us
Award-winning care.
Our journeys are designed for travellers who want to see everything without rushing anything — and never want to worry about the details.
Guided, at a gentle pace
Professional tour leaders and drivers on every day of the journey. Well-paced days, time to look, and never a forced march.
4-star-plus hotels, every night
From The Hermitage beneath Aoraki Mt Cook to lakefront Queenstown — hand-picked hotels, matched to each place.
Rail, coach & meals included
All rail journeys, luxury coach travel, breakfasts and most other meals — with inclusions and optional extras clearly set out before you travel.
Friendly, personal touring
The crew know your name — and quietly make sure everyone is looked after, every day of the journey.
The Seasons
The seasons change everything.
The same mountains, twice transformed. Choose the season that calls you — every journey above runs in one of them.
September – April
Spring & Summer
Long golden evenings, turquoise lakes, waterfalls at full song in Milford Sound — and the high country green from the carriage window. Our 11 and 14-day tours run right through the warm months.
June – September
Winter Edition
The Southern Alps under deep snow, crackling fires in high-country hotels, and some of the clearest night skies on Earth over Tekapo. Quieter, cosier, utterly spectacular — our 12-day Winter Editions.
And one January like no other:
the Pinnacle Tour travels with Peter Hillary for a single summer departure — see the Pinnacle Tour.
The “Super 6”
The rail adventures at the heart of it all
The complete set of the South Island’s celebrated rail experiences — scheduled services, heritage steam, and The Mainlander, an exclusive charter no other tour carries.
1
TranzAlpine
Coast to coast across the Southern Alps via Arthur’s Pass — one of the world’s great train journeys.
2
Kingston Flyer
Heritage steam at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu — polished brass and mountain air.
3
The Mainlander
Exclusive to the Sir Edmund Hillary Explorer — the deep south rail sectors no other tour reaches.
4
Taieri Gorge
River gorges, ten tunnels and the Wingatui Viaduct — great railway engineering.
5
Coastal Pacific
The Pacific at your window from Christchurch to Blenheim — whale country and Marlborough vines.
6
Weka Pass Railway
Vintage carriages through the limestone country of North Canterbury.
Which trains ride on which tour?
The 14-day Spring/Summer tours include the complete “Super 6”; our 11-day, Winter and Pinnacle journeys each carry their own hand-picked rail set — every itinerary spells it out.
The Name We Travel Under
Named for the greatest explorer of them all
Sir Edmund Hillary epitomised the New Zealand spirit of adventure, and he is our inspiration in planning your experience of a lifetime. This journey carries his name with his family’s blessing — and carries his spirit through the mountains, glaciers and high country he knew best.
You’ll cross the Southern Alps he trained in, stand beneath Aoraki Mt Cook where his climbing life began, and hear the story told where it happened — not from a guidebook, but from the people closest to it.
At Aoraki Mt Cook, a member of the Hillary family
personally joins the tour for an evening at the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre.
“Adventure for the sake of a dream, for the pleasure of searching.”
— Sir Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Hillary, 1960. One of the first two people to stand on Everest’s summit — a mountaineer whose skills were forged in New Zealand’s Southern Alps.
The Explorer, In Motion
See the journey move.
Steam, steel and the South Island rolling past the window — a quiet minute in the company of the Explorer.
“Recommended for anybody — especially for the 50+ crowd. Our trip was truly the best of our lives.”
It was one of the best run tours I have ever been on — and I have been on quite a few! We will be recommending it to others.Canberra, Australia April 2023 tour
A trip of a lifetime, encompassing our love of trains. The tour was professionally put together, with excellent tour guides.New South Wales, Australia October 2023 tour
Everything — the hotels, the food and the places we visited — was a great experience. I would, and have, recommended it to family and friends.Victoria, Australia October 2022 tour
Room to breathe
Panoramic carriages, open-air viewing decks, and nowhere you have to be.Together out there
Real guests, real glaciers — and a crew quietly making it all easy.Lake Tekapo at sunrise
The Church of the Good Shepherd, within one of the world’s largest International Dark Sky Reserves.The TSS Earnslaw
A 1912 coal-fired steamship, still working Lake Wakatipu — with a gourmet BBQ meal at Walter Peak High Country Farm.
