How do you choose what tours and adventures to pay for on the South Island of New Zealand when there are so many epic things to see and do?! If we were rich, we would have done all of them! But let’s be real, none of us have an unlimited travel budget or unlimited travel time. We have done our fair share of exploring the South Island, almost 2 years of it to be exact, and these are what we found to be by far the best South Island paid experiences. They have all stayed in our hearts long after we finished the adventure, and they all gave us a greater connection to the country of Aotearoa. We think the best experiences you have on holidays are the ones that bring you closer to the place you are visiting, and these adventures certainly deliver!
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Franz Josef Glacier Adventure
Cost: $1,395 per person
Best For: A full day of adventure on the ice, connecting to the history and cultural significance of this magnificent glacier whilst experiencing its natural wonders in a small group.
We know the price tag for this one is pretty steep. We definitely didn’t book it on a whim. In fact, we spent a good year mulling over the cost. In the end, we decided we wanted to do one of the tours that take you onto the ice of this incredible glacier. If we were going to pay for a tour, why not make it the best one on offer? We are so incredibly glad we did decide to do this one.
That day lives rent-free in our memories and will continue to do so for the rest of our lives.
Words and pictures really don’t do justice to the magnificent beauty and sheer scale of this place. We spent an entire day traversing the ice from one side of the glacier to the other. We shared stories, learnt about the glacier and how it got its name Kā Roimata O Hine Hukatere, we climbed ice walls and abseiled down little crevasse. All the while admiring the many ice formations around us. Truly, it was an amazing day.
The Glacier Adventure Tour is an intimate group of up to 4 guests and one guide. You go off the beaten, or should I say carved, path and get away from the bigger groups quite quickly. You experience so much more of this frozen wonderland than on the other shorter tours. Honestly, we can’t recommend this enough. Once you go on the tour, you’ll see why we can’t keep quiet about it!
Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise
Cost: From $719 per person, per night (room dependant)
Best For: A relaxed adventure in style! Great for spotting wildlife and unwinding on the calm waters of the fiord.
If you think Piopiotahi Milford Sound is incredible, then just wait until you get out to Pātea Doubtful Sound. This is a pristine natural place that is so much more secluded and therefore more peaceful and untouched than Milford Sound. Spending a night out in this magestical place was rejuvenating.
You really get time to connect with nature on this cruise, floating on the water, kayaking, swimming and seeing so much more than you’d see on a day trip. We were so lucky to get to experience both sides of the sound. The dry side and the wet side. Our first day was dry and perfect for the kayaking and swimming we got to do. It rained overnight and most of our second day, which filled the surrounding mountains with an abundance of waterfalls and lent a mystical quality to our cruising that morning. We even got a close encounter with dolphins!
The tour is fully inclusive, with so much incredible food prepared by a chef on the boat. We stayed in the bunk room as a group of three on the Milford Wanderer boat. You don’t have your own toilet or shower with this room, which reduced the cost significantly. Most other guests stay in rooms with private showers and toilets so it wasn’t like we ever had to wait much to use facilities. The crew on the tour were so friendly and there is even a nature guide on board who shared stories of the sounds and the natural world around us. It was a trip that filled our cups right up!
Kaikōura Swimming With Dusky Dolphins
Cost: $240 per person
Best For: A once in a lifetime experience playing with dolphins on their own terms, completely in their natural habitat.
Hailed as a once in a lifetime experience, we just had to give it a go for ourselves. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! We had the best time, getting to swim with the world’s friendliest dolphins.
The best part about this tour is that it’s completely on the Dolphins own terms, if they didn’t want to swim with us, they wouldn’t. In fact, that did happen for a couple of our allocated drops in the water. We were, in fact, starting to think we wouldn’t get the chance to swim with them at all when we came across a little pod that really wanted to play! We swam in circles with them, dove with them, and just had the best time playing in the water. Big grins all around and an amazing experience! We then got the chance to view the dolphins from the boat and got to see some acrobatic flips and jumps too.
Kayak Abel Tasman
Cost: $110 per person for a day hire with R&R kayaks. You do have to have a minimum of 2 people for safety reasons.
Best For: Secluded beaches and a fun day out on the water.
This is one of the best ways to experience the Abel Tasman region if you ask us!
We had the time of our lives kayaking up the coast and out to Motuareronui (Adele Island) and Fisherman island. With the rental option, you have the entire day to yourself to use how you wish. All the kayak gear is included in the rental, you do however need to bring your own food, water, sunscreen, bathers and towel.
A quick safety briefing at the R&R kayak base, then the kayaks are popped onto a trailer, and you are driven down to the beach at Mārahau. From there, It’s up to you where you go! We kayaked up the coast, stopping in at Apple Tree Bay for a snack and then further up at Observation Beach for lunch. We had the beaches to ourselves, which was so cool!
After lunch, we kayaked out to the seal colony on Motuareronui island, circled around the back of the island and then out to Fisherman island where we beached the kayaks for another swim and of course a snack! It was a great day out on the water. Tour options are available too, but we love going at our own pace, so this was perfect for us. If you are less confident on the water (it is sea kayaking after all) then go with the tour option so you still get to experience the wonder of this place from the water.
Kiwi Spotting Tour on Rakiura (Stewart Island)
Cost: $130 per person with Beaks and Feathers
Best For: All abilities. Spot the national bird of New Zealand in the wild!
High up on everyone’s list when visiting Aotearoa, New Zealand is getting to see a Kiwi in the wild. Not an easy feat to achieve, given the birds are nocturnal and under threat in the wild. Conservation efforts are doing wonders at helping the kiwi, with some species classed as ‘recovering’. Sadly, though, some are still at a nationally critical level.
If you really do want to see a kiwi in the wild, one of the places with the highest chance of that happening is on Rakiura. There are fewer predators on the island and for that reason this particular species of Kiwi are thriving. We chose to do a tour with Beaks and Feathers as it’s run by locals. They also drive everyone home at the end of the tour, which was amazing as we had just been walking into town from our accommodation.
The tour itself was so good! We took a little while to spot a kiwi (they are wild animals and nothing is done to attract them to the tour) but once we did, we got to spend a good amount of time watching it feeding and wandering around. They are such incredible birds to look at! Our guide was a wealth of knowledge and gave us some great education on the birds too. Overall, it was a fantastic night under the stars, marvelling at the national bird of New Zealand.
Our Incredible List of South Island Paid Experiences
And there you have it! The five best paid experiences on the South Island of New Zealand. We think all five are worthy of being the number one paid experience on the South Island so we haven’t actually ranked them here. We think they all offer such different things that it’s hard to pit them against each other.
Push come to shove, though, our top two must do paid experiences on the South Island would have to be the Franz Josef Glacier Adventure Tour and the Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise. That’s why we put those two at the top of the article. We can’t really differentiate between the others, though, and definitely can’t choose a favourite from those two.
Even then, we fluctuate between wanting to add kayaking into the top two. Honestly, It’s just so hard to pick when they are all amazing in their own ways. You’ll just have to do the tours and find out for yourself!
Keen for more inspo? Be sure to check out:
- Navigating Aotearoa: Essential New Zealand Travel Apps and Websites
- Queenstown Must Do: A Different Side To The Adventure Paradise!
- 6 Steps for Eco Conscious Travel
