Private Martinborough Foodie Delights Tour From Wellington

Our experience today was AMAZING!! There are not enough stars on here to rate this experience! The food, the wine, chocolates, honey, cheeses, olive oils and coffee were divine and its so heartening to see the passion these families have in their craft and in their day to day lives. The stories we shared and our amazing guide Tom just made the experience even more special. Thank you Tom and your lovely queen Jill for making this possible for my parents and I AND for the gifts! We absolutely LOVE them!! An experience of a lifetime I shall say. Most definately recommend this experince 1000%. We would do it again in a heartbeat! Kia orana e kia manuia. With love, from Mangaia, Cook Islands.

We organized a private day tour with Tom, from Wellington through the Martinborough wine region. Tom was friendly, informative and a great guide. We visited 4 wineries, had a delicious lunch, and were delivered back to our accommodation feeling very satisfied. A thoroughly enjoyable day!

Our outstanding guide, Tom, excelled in sharing his knowledge and artisan friendships through majestic summer scenery.. learning wine secrets, tasting superb cheeses, dunking more olive oil flavors than we knew, spotting the Queen and witnessing the births of her worker bees 🐝.

Our guide, Dean, did an outstanding job telling us about our stops. He was knowledgeable and congenital. We learned so much and tasted such delicious food and wines. The tour was well worth the price!

Meeting owners of small local businesses, who were so passionate about their products was priceless. Tour was organized in the way that we experienced so much in one day, but never felt rushed. Honey, wine, olive oil, cheese, chocolate, ice cream - most delicious tour we ever had! We liked that Dean participated in every activity with us and shared lunch with us. It really felt like group of three friends, instead of guide and a couple, where the tour guide usually waits in the car. Introduction video from Tom prior the tour was a nice personal touch! Crossed ways with Tom several times during the day and it was wonderful! Dean offer us some tips and recommendations for places we will be visiting next, so we are well equipped to continue exploring beautiful New Zealand! What a memorable day! Thank you Kaewa Tours.

Martinborough Foodie Delight was an awesome, fantastic, informative day out with our tour guide Janice! We were looking forward to the day and it was above our expectations! Janice pointed out so many extra areas of interest during the day and explained everything so thoroughly….it was a lot more than we expected. We truly felt spoiled by the end of the day which as much as it was a full exciting day…it was over too soon. As a local business Tom from the beginning with his friendly welcoming emails and thank you for supporting a local business really added that personal touch. We just received an email with which totally explained and reviewed exactly what saw and and did that day…a day we will remember for a very very long time. As retired dairy farmers from Canada, supporting local is always number 1 too us. THANK YOU AGAIN JANICE!!!! What a great day we had …you made us feel like family 🥰

Our private tour with Kaewa Tours from Wellington to Martinborough was truly unforgettable! The real highlight, though, was Tom himself. There are tour guides and tour operators, and then there’s Tom and Kaewa Tours. Tom feels more like a friend showing his visiting relatives around his hometown than a traditional tour guide. His humor, knowledge, and dedication to making every tour memorable are why I couldn’t recommend Kaewa Tours highly enough!

My husband and Ispent a wonderful day with Tom Collier. After picking us up at our hotel in Wellington, we began our drive over the mountains into Martinborough, stopping first at the Rimutaka Memorial which commemorates 60,000 New Zealand troops who made the crossing between 1915 and 1919. We then visited Poppie's Winery, enjoying some fine wines and a delicious lunch. On to Greytown Honey where we donned our beekeeping suits and learned all about harvesting honey. We were able to taste their several different levels of manuka honeys. We then drove into Greytown and stopped at Schoc Chocolates, tasting too many (!) of their 60 different flavors. On the way back into Wellington, Tom made an unscheduled stop to one of the filming sites of the Lord of the Rings movies, where we were able to take a short hike and walk off some of the day's many delights. I would highly recommend this tour for anyone looking to sample some of New Zealand's finest offerings. Thanks Tom!!!

Highly recommend Kaewa Tours! We were visiting the area for the first time from the US and needed a private driver. Tom setup a Zoom to meet us live and review our needs. He setup a customized daily itinerary for the family ensuring that we got to our destinations timely and incorporated several tours along the way. He was prompt, flexible, professional, knowledgeable, knew everyone and most importantly had a great sense of humor. He became just an extension of our family. We thoroughly enjoyed New Zealand and were lucky enough to have Tom guiding us.

My husband and I had the pleasure of a free lance Kaewa Tour and we jumped at the opportunity. I have had the pleasure of a Foodie Tour in the past with my best friend and this time I took my husband. We stayed in Martinborough at another good friends business (exquisite) and this allowed for multiple local wine tours, a visit to the Honey Farm, Olive farm and a gin tasting. I noted there was a few companies doing similar jobs around the town that were offering a good (driver service) which had me feeling like I chose the best in the region. Tom and Jill were amazing hosts that were with us each step of the way. Incredibly well known and loved by all staff of all businesses we visited and we got some pretty good purchase deals along the way due to these established relationships. Absolute next level service, don't book anyone else. These guys are your one stop shop for local knowledge, care and engagement. Loved the whole weekend and we will be back again. Third time is the ultimate charm right? 😁

The day tour was jam packed. Went to a cheese place poppies winery chocolate factory and juno olives. Tom was a great tour guide. Highly recomend tgx for the very thoughtful gift Tom

Had a wonderful time exploring Martinborough and the wonderful food and wine, followed by an Olive Producer with a great tasting of foods made by her flavored Olive Oil then the going to a Beekeeper's Honey production where I learned all about the making of honey. I highly recommended going on any of Kaewa Tours

What a fabulous tour to do. It was a hit from the beginning to the end. The knowledge that Tom as on Wellington and surrounds is fantastic. He adapted the tour to suit our needs and to cover places we had missed and nothing was too much trouble. I would be more than happy to recommend Tom if you are heading to Wellington.

I honestly don't know where to begin, except at the beginning. Months before we arrived, Tom Collier, the owner of Kaewa Tours, confirmed our trip with us via email; and not just a written message, but a personalized video! When the day came for our tour, Tom met us precisely on time at our hotel. After a quick safety briefing (which was most appreciated), we began our drive over the mountains and into Martinborough. And what a fantastic drive! While in Wellington, Tom pointed out various points of interest (such as Parliament and Matiu Somes Island), and all during the trip, it was like being with a friend who was happy to show off his country. Our first stop was to Olivo, where Tom handed us to his friend John Meehan, the owner, who showed off his beautiful olive tree grove. He was incredibly informative in describing how he and his wife started growing olive trees in this area and then was kind enough to share many of the olive oils they created (who knew vanilla infused olive oil could taste so good?!? Made me want ice cream!). We then headed to Poppies Winery, a true highlight of our entire time in NZ. After tasting some truly excellent wines, we share a magnificent lunch plate and drank wines while sitting next to the grape fields. An epic experience. After lunch, it was off to Greytown Honey, to learn all about beekeeping, collecting honey, and, best of all, tasting it! First time trying Manuka Honey and, boy do I get it now. Fantastic! On the way back to Wellington, we stopped by the Kaitoke Regional Park, which was so incredibly peaceful and beautiful. It's also where the scenes for Rivendell were filmed for the LOTR trilogy! Lastly, we took some extra time and capped off the day with a pint at Fortune Favours, a local craft brewery with some very, very good beers. A day or two after our tour, Tom emailed me a link to all of the pictures that he took during our tour--knowing he was memorializing our day allowed us to truly engage with our guides and just enjoy each experience. And many of these pictures we will treasure. We cannot recommend a day with Tom enough. Wherever he may take you, it will, I assure you, be a great and memorable day. We certainly will be sure to book another trip with Tom whenever we are able to revisit Windy Welly. Thanks again, Tom.

We did the Martinborough Full Day Food & Wine Tour a few days ago, and we are still buzzing! It was such a great day out! our favourite thing was seeing the Bee's at Greytown Honey! Tom was an excellent guide and made the day just perfect for us. His attention to detail and all the little "extras" definately did not go unnoticed. We highly recommend a Kaewa Tour to anyone wanting to explore the beautiful region.

We had a very special day with Tom in the Martinborough area. The chocolate shop had dozens of different combinations of flavors. Who would of thought of Ghost Pepper Chocolate? (My favorite was the ginger.) The beekeeper and honey production stop is an inspiration to all small businesses. Such passion and knowledge. To top it off, we visited Poppies vineyard. The passion for wines and the warmth we felt with their hospitality made this the most enjoyable tasting ever for me. Thank you, Tom, for sharing your relationships with these wonderful people in this amazing part of the world. Cheers! Eric

This tour far exceeded our expectations! We loved getting suited up and seeing the way the hive works up close. Wine, lunch and olive experiences were also exceptional but the bees stole the show! Thanks so much to our guide Jill and to Greytown Honey.

Tom has himself listed on here as taxi/shuttle service, but in fact he's a driver/tour guide, and the best one we've ever met, at that! Tom is a creator of memories, and as he took us to the vineyard, apiary, and fromagerie, he pointed out heaps of interesting and historic sites. He works with you, your interests and is great at expanding the booked tour to include things he knows about that may be of interest to you. He seems to know pretty much everything about Wellington and The North Island, and my wife and I had such an amazing initial tour with him, that we immediately booked a second, different tour with him later during our stay. If you talk to Tom, I'm sure he will find you a tour to make your holiday memorable and fun, at a very sensible price!

We had a fabulous day with Tom. Would highly recommend. From learning about bees and potting your own honey , fabulous lunch at a vineyard, to an olive Grove with cheese tasting. Something for everyone

Absolutely incredible experience!! We went on the Foodie Delights Tour and the whole day was nothing short of perfect. The beekeeping experience was my highlight, learned so much from the wonderful team at Greytown Honey, lunch and wine tasting at Poppy's was extraordinary, wandering through olive groves learning the process from Olive to Bottle at Olivo, topped off with cheese tasting at C'est Cheese Featherston. A full-day culinary experience with all the various tastings, great for those who want more than the wine experience. I can't give enough praise to our host Tom, who was exceptional; he was there with fascinating local info, a real genuine person who was respectful and professional, and also gave us space to enjoy without feeling like we were in a hurry. Kaewa tours go above and beyond what we expected with the extra touches like bottled water, photos of the whole day experience, and a gift. Love their ethos of choosing local family-run businesses, which made the tour a real Kiwi experience. Thanks so much Tom and Kaewa Tours, we recommend to everyone!!

ABSOLUTELY the best decision we made for our long awaited BEST FRIEND GETAWAY!! Naomi from Dunedin myself from Palmerston North and the last time we got together for a holiday or catch up on our own was 4 years ago. We were excited to embark on a tour as we have never done this in NZ, you kind of take for granted what is around you. Tom was nothing short of phenomenal. From the time he collected us at our hotel he was incredibly courteous and friendly and we immediately felt comfortable. We headed off to Martinborough on the Foodie Delights Tour with Tom sharing some amazing little points of interest and history along the way. We set out to visit four hand picked experiences in the region by Kaewa Tours and it is evident from the time we arrive that Tom is highly respected by all of his hosts. To be honest I felt we had our moneys worth at our first stop and we had three more to go. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Kaewa Tours, their professionalism engagement and actions throughout the day go far and beyond what we expected. We will be coming back for more so I look forward to the next one.😁

Tom our tour guide was fantastic. Very flexible and went the extra mile with grace and consideration. The whole family loved the beekeeper and olive grove experiences. Thoroughly recommend this tour for my fellow Aussies wanting to get a feel for the beautiful country around Wellington NZ.