New Zealand

If the North and South Islands that comprise New Zealand were any more beautiful it would be necessary to invent new superlatives to describe them. Yet guests who join Great Rail Journeys in order to explore 'God's own country' on an escorted rail tour will soon realise improving upon New Zealand's film-star looks is an impossibility.

Dense rainforests, cascading waterfalls, mirror-like lakes, breathtaking mountains and paradisiacal beaches are merely the appetisers for the wonders that New Zealand offers. These and a wealth of fascinating towns and cities, the indigenous Maori culture, exotic wildlife and the country's cuisine add up to an unforgettable rail holiday.

When you join Great Rail Journeys for an escorted rail tour of New Zealand you can be sure of two things: firstly that you are in for an exciting and pleasureable adventure of a lifetime and, secondly, that you're obtaining exceptional value for money. Since all flights, rail, coach and ferry travel, hotel accommodation, an itinerary filled with wonderful guided tours and sightseeing visits and a selection of meals are already included in the cost of your New Zealand train holiday, all you'll need is your spending money.

Located approximately 1,500 kilometres east of Australia in the South Pacific Ocean, New Zealand is roughly equivalent in size to Great Britain yet has only around four million inhabitants. The Māori people were first to inhabit the islands, around a thousand years ago. The seventeenth-century Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, after whom Tasmania is named, was the first European to sight New Zealand, but the British were the first to colonise the islands after they were mapped by Captain James Cook in 1769. The legacy of these European visitors remains in some of New Zealand's place names and a wealth of colonial architecture.