Spend SGD$2,500 for 14 days trip to North & South Island (New Zealand)

A quick summary of the travel expenses per pax incurred on a 14 Days Trip to North & South Island.

International Air Fare: SGD$950 (Royal Brunei Airline; Singapore- Brunei -Auckland- Brunei-  Singapore)

Domestic Air Fare: SGD$130  (Air New Zealand)

Supermarket Grocery/ Food: SGD$180 

Accommodation: SGD$272

Car Rental (includes Diesel Tax, car insurance, vehicle & passenger ferry tickets from North to South Island): SGD$634 

Petrol : SGD$97

Miscellaneous: SGD$200

Total Damage: SGD$ 2,463 

Air Fare:

When it comes to flying into New Zealand, one need to bear in mind that due to geographical positioning of New Zealand located in the one of the most Southern Hemisphere in the world, airfares usually to New Zealand can be pricey. Thus, getting a good airfare is essential to cost savings. Never plan your trip especially so for air fares to New Zealand at short notice.

International Segment (E.g. Singapore to New Zealand)

Airlines usually offer sales and discounts by e-mail; you can also sign up for fare alerts. Below is an email promo usually received from Air New Zealand for advance booking (usually is 4 months away from your intended date of travel).

However, one of the budget way to travel to New Zealand is via Australia.  The only set back is that there would be some transit hours to spend in Australia airport. For Singaporeans, one need not require transit visa to Australia. However, if your nationality require Visa to enter Australia, do ensure you have a transit visa or you’ll be turned back. And if you are asking if you need a transit visa, you can check out at this website.

Flying from Singapore, a good choice would be to enjoy the budget carrier promotions such as Scoot, JetStar Asia and fly into Sydney or Perth Airport. From there, you can connect to Auckland via Virgin Australia, JetStar etc.

Personally, I flew from Singapore to Auckland by Royal Brunei Airline. Yes, that’s right, they fly into Auckland from their hub (Bandar Seri Begawan).  It was a good promotional offer I got it at SGD$950 return fare all-in. In addition, I got a free city tour in Brunei as the flight arrive into Brunei around 2.20pm. With the flight departing to Auckland leaving at only 10pm, one can get free city tour. Please send in a request to Brunei Airways or get your agent to do so before arriving , reason being they will then expect you to join the tour and not leave without you. When at Brunei Airport, look for the free transit tour desk.

Note: You can use Singapore Dollars when one spend in Brunei downtown. So you need not change into their currency. Added point to travel via Royal Brunei Airline if the fare is attractive!

Domestic Segment (E.g. Queenstown to Auckland) 

Air Fare from South to North Island can cost as low as SGD$89 which is usually found on Jetstar website . At time, Air NZ does offer crazy domestic flight promotions, no harm to check on their website too!

It is always cheaper to buy international airfare with the arrival city and departure city being the same. As such, I would need to fly out from Auckland back to my home country. I had paid SGD$130 (all-in) for the 1 hour 20 mins flight for 20kg baggage allowance and a bit of luxury.

Transportation / Car Rental :

When in New Zealand, the best way to explore this country is to do your own driving in the country. With the road conditions and the polite driving culture in New Zealand, you will fall in love with the roads there very soon. Just to sidetrack a bit, below is some useful pointer when driving in New Zealand.

One can get very good car rental discount online via the different car rental companies.

You can find the major car rental companies list in Australia and New Zealand in my other blog post here .

Good saver tip:

1) Book online with car rental companies months in advance (Preferably 3 months advance)

2) Choose the deal that allows you to pick up the car from North Island (Auckland Airport when you land) and drops it off at South Island (e.g. Queenstown Airport). Car rental companies will offer you lower rental rates if you help them to transport the car from one place to another. ( At time, the car rental offers such deals)

3) Grab coupons on car rental website such as below to save on fuel, transport costs.

4) To further save on car rental, most companies offers free rental discount if you booked a minimum number of days. And most often, you need more than 10 days of car rental to travel from North to South Island. So you are qualify to enjoy such discounts!

And because I believe caring is sharing. Below is the current promo code used by Avis Car Rental to allow one to rent an Avis car for 12 days or more and get 2 days free. 

Simply use coupon number TPNA041 in your reservation at Avis Car Rental Website.

5) Cut out coupons when you arrive at Airport. Below are some of the tourist brochures that was collected. You can cut out some coupons to enjoy even more savings! 

6) And if you need Free Maps in advance to plan for your trip, I had enter my home address and it was delivered to me in hard copy at no cost! I registered my interest on the Top 10 Holiday Park New Zealand website.  Alternatively, see below:

However, do note that not all places can be driven by car/camper van. Perfect example would be the Northern most tip of New Zealand, North Bay (90 Mile Beach).  Reason being part of the tour includes driving along the beach. And you can only do that with their special bus.

Therefore, advance booking is highly recommended for the 1 day tour package that costs only SGD$45 (includes lunch).

Trick to save: Book early and get committed to the date! The more confirmed tour members they have, the higher the package fare it will be. And the tour is worth it as includes activities such as Sand Toboggan.

 Accommodation Cost 

This constitutes to a huge portion to a holiday trip as well. However, if you have already rent a camper van for your trip in New Zealand, it mean you have saved up a huge proportion on hotels. You can sleep in the camper van :

In New Zealand, it is mostly call Holiday Park. Camper vans can be parked in the vicinity for a small fee.

Alternatively, to cut down on costs, one can purchase Golden Chain Motel Pass which gives one convenience to book motels in each city by dialing the toll free number. If you intend to stay in mostly motels throughout and not in camper van, then this would be one of the better accommodation pass to consider.

Discount Vouchers: 

If you are the last minute planner or simply just redeem discount on the spot, look out for the many Visitor Centers  found commonly in throughout New Zealand.

In there, many such brochures can be found with discount vouchers to be used in major tourist attractions to enjoy more savings. Use it!

If you can’t get enough information on New Zealand, you can always click on more other posts on New Zealand such as What types of Adventure activities to do in New Zealand  and New Zealand (North Island) Road Trip .

Categories: Oceania Region