To ask about G Adventures tours abroad - has anyone ever done one of these and would you recommend?

[KiwiInTraining]

I’m planning a trip to New Zealand early next year, and have been looking into bus tours I can do while I’m there. One of the options that came up is G Adventures tours, who also do tours in other countries

I’ve read the tour reviews on the tour group’s own site, and they seem pretty good and basically what I’m looking for. The only slight downside is that the add-on activities are very expensive (although I guess that is to be expected!)

Just thought I’d also ask on here before I book, to see if anyone has any experience on going on a G Adventures tour, and how you found it?

Thanks!

I did Kilimanjaro with G Adventures and thought they were great.

I did Peru and really enjoyed it, although the itinerary was a bit frantic. The guides were really knowledgeable and accommodation/transport was of a good standard.

I did g adventures in china. It was good. Mostly younger crowd. Exodus tours are also good. I did bike riding in Croatia. Typically more older crowd

I did Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos with G Adventures. The tour guides varied from really good to absolutely brilliant and in Asia at least are invaluable. Not sure I’d use them for something like New Zealand though. Have you looked at kiwi bus?

Yeah I only use them for places it's to difficult (like china - difficult to buy train tickets/ find the right train ). Or, places that might not feel safe as a female traveller. I also did Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. They are good for that. New Zealand I would just do the hopper bus. Downsides of tours is limited choices I.e can't stay somewhere as long as you want/ make up your own itinerary.

For NZ I would suggest Stray is a much better choice, and I've travelled with G Adventures (and Intrepid as they were once merged). Stray does hop on hop off so if there is somewhere you love you can stay an extra day or two. Kiwi experience does similar but it's a younger more party crowd. The stray itineraries are brilliant, and I've been to NZ twice since but without going with them the first time wouldn't have seen so much of the cool stuff. Absolutely better value for money (and you can cater to your budget for activities/ room types of you want to do dorms/ privates/ mix it every other night and pretty much all overnights have cooking facilities or do a fiver into to cooking pot and family style dinner).