Comments on: New Zealand’s Backpacker Buses

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:12:03 +0000

Very helpful post as I play my trip to NZ. Guessing I’ll be there at least a month, and potentially many more. I’m currently leaning toward getting a cheap car and selling it when I’m done – but may give Stray a shot when I start (You’re making me feel old by having 27+ as your top age bracket ).

Steve

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:34:00 +0000

I am heading to New Zealand tomorrow and really considering buying a stray pass. The one I am looking at works out at around the same price as going by intercity and goes to far more convenient destinations – Abel Tasman for example. The only drawback I can see at the moment is that the likes of stray don’t run everyday from each destination whereas the public buses do.

By: Ramsey

Ramsey — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:08:50 +0000

Attomic doesn’t compare to stray or kiwi, its a point to point bus and you would miss out on all the cool little extra’s and discounted activities. got to compare apples with apples

By: AdventureRob

AdventureRob — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:24:19 +0000

Nice review Matt, whilst I’m giving New Zealand a miss in my first trip around the world I’ll go there another time and probably with kiwi travel while I’m still young!

By: NomadicMatt

NomadicMatt — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:46:43 +0000

There were only so many buses I could take in my short time while I was there. Taking the intercity (which I did) and reviewing it here wouldn’t fit as this post is just about backpacker buses. i would have liked to take Magic but there wasn’t enough time.

By: becs

becs — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:22:18 +0000

I wish you had time to review Magic in comparison to Stray and Kiwi as well (and even Intercity, even though it’s not a ‘backpacker bus’ but a good alternative to all three, especially to go where you want, when you want instead of always sticking to a certain route).

Both Stray and Kiwi were started by the same person while Magic is (apparently) totally different then those two. I am (was) a loyal Stray-er but it would have been nice to read about something other then what everyone uses.

A reason to return!

By: Sofia

Sofia — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:14:03 +0000

We felt that travelling with Intercity gave more flexibility to choose where, when, for how long and in what direction you want to travel.
We also found it being the cheapest option.

We bought 50 hours of travelling (and had used up all of it exactely as we were about to leave) and could then travel wherever we liked, back and forth, completely how we wanted. With most of the other bus companies you could only travel in one direction, which meant that you would miss out of many places you would have liked to see depending on where you started off.

By: Kickass Adventuring with Kids

Kickass Adventuring with Kids — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:47:43 +0000

Sounds like a great way to meet fellow travelers, and, given what the demographics seem to be on these buses, a great way to have fun and meet people you’d normally never be around. Sounds like a great opportunity for a nice mix of culture and party, especially for the younger travelers. New Zealand is high on our list for travel – I just get a sense the people are fantastic and the local is perfect for adventure.

By: Shannon Smith

Shannon Smith — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:13:50 +0000

Atomic are only really a shuttle service or “point to point” where as the above one a what would be know as jump on jump off. I the above ones are offering a full experience rather than just transport. Companies like atomic, intercity and naked bus are just transport… good and cheap for the independent traveler

By: Garrett

Garrett — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:40:39 +0000

No mention of Atomic Travel? Did you get the chance to review them? From my experience, they were the cheapest and tended to have more frequent schedules.