What To Expect

What‘s Included

Reviews

• Comfortable seats and...

  Lisa S,Mar 30, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  3.00

  Comfortable seats and great visibility from the train, but a long ride became longer with over 90 minutes worth of delays.

• Exceptional

  Paradise00750811147,Mar 27, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Wonderful, great host and unbelievable food

• Eat and drink your way south from Auckland to Wellington.

  Kenneth W,Mar 24, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  The food was excellent and just kept coming. Along with all the beverages they had to offer. Scenery was spectacular. The staff was incredibly attentive and made the 11 hours fly by. I would do it again tomorrow.

• Northern Explorer train trip from Auckland to Wellington - a must do for once in a lifetime

  agnuc,Mar 17, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  The experience was fantastic and the train itself is in great condition. The price was good as well. The travel time was long but it didn't feel that long. We were in the scenic seats and were definitely happy with the space. The scenery is absolutely stunning and it’s fantastic to be able to walk to the open carriage where you can get awesome photos. It’s a good way of walking around instead of sitting down the entire time. The seats and space were so comfortable. But I would also ensure to eat lunch during lunchtime or buy the sandwiches or crossiants early. This is my only recommendation - eat early or buy early. We went to buy lunch at 2pm as we didn’t want to miss the snow covered mountain which was amazing.. It was disappointing that only the hot heating up food was left. We didn’t eat and only had snacks as no muffins were left. For the amount of people on board there just wasn’t enough sandwiches and snacks available. We did bring our own snacks onboard. Plenty of ice cream but no cookies, muffins were left. It was unfortunate but we certainly enjoyed the whole experience and would highly recommend this trip to anyone. The age group were a mix of young and old as the train ride is not only for the elderly as its for everyone.

• S lovely way to see the...

  vanessa B,Mar 14, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  S lovely way to see the country . A very comfortable train and very clean. Easy to move around and very good facilities.

• Seat distribution poor

  KlausJosef v,Mar 12, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  2.00

  ... the seat at a table was simply bad due to the low legroom. There was no way to influence the choice of seat.

• A good experience

  Stuart B,Feb 27, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  Lovely scenery. Very friendly staff. A great way to view the central part of the North Island. Comfortable seats.

• Expendable

  Madruga6,Feb 23, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  2.00

  The first few hours there is nothing interesting to see, to eat you have to queue huge that in the end you warm up in the microwave what you have chosen, you take it and eat it in your car... the journey could last half, the train sometimes goes very slow unnecessarily.

  

• Ask for Dawn.

  FarAway35820811096,Jan 26, 2026

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  This was a fantastic trip. We upgraded to the plus class and it was worth it . They fed us the all the day. The food was just perfect. Almost too much. If you can get the lovely lady named Dawn to serve you ---- ask for her !!! . She deserves a promoton or a large raise. She lifted the whole trip for us and the whole group just loved her !!!!

• Not good customer support

  Wendy H,Jan 20, 2026

  - Review from Viator

  2.00

  From Auckland to Hamilton we rode buses then boarded the train in Hamilton. No notice that this was happening. This was not caused by weather but by a known maintenance on the Auckland line. We heard from other tourists that the entire route has been replaced with a bus and no partial refund which is inexcusable because the bus is much cheaper. The train part was lovely but not worth the uncertainty of not knowing what you will get until you arrive that morning.

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