Welcome to Jill Worrall Tours
Jill Worrall is an international tour operator and manager; a New Zealander who lives in Leeston in NZ’s South Island.
Since 2003 she has led more than 50 groups – close on 1000 people – over this time, to destinations all around the world. Jill’s travels have taken her from Patagonia in South America, Guatemala in Central America, Cuba in the Caribbean, across to India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, the five “Stans” of Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Iran, north, south and eastern Africa, and all across Europe from Ireland to Russia, Norway to Albania.
Her tours always attract a high proportion of return travellers – some people have explored the world with Jill more than 10 times!
Jill is also one of New Zealand’s most successful travel writers. She has been named New Zealand Travel Writer of the Year; has twice won the award for best newspaper travel article and has won two Qantas Media Awards (NZ most prestigious print media awards) for feature writer. She has won a wealth of other awards and her first travel book, A Blonde in the Bazaar, was runner-up best travel book published in New Zealand in 2005.
Her tours, operated as Jill Worrall Tours, from November 2018 onwards are run in conjunction with House of Travel, Riccarton, Christchurch.
House of Travel is New Zealand’s largest independently owned and operated travel agency, and I know that their extensive knowledge and expertise will help me, and you, create and enjoy the very best possible holiday and travel experiences.
A highly experienced travel consultant, Moray Johnson, has been appointed specifically to work with me on all my tours along with the involvement and expertise from the Riccarton owner-operators.
Moray will promptly and efficiently handle inquiries about the tours, bookings, flights and any requests you might have for pre or post-tour travel. To learn more about Moray click here
Jill is married and has two adult children (her daughter is a high school teacher and her son is a paramedic). She has a rather eclectic array of interests, from gardening and botany to steam trains; mosaic projects to off-beat museums. She has a special interest in the development projects operated by Save the Children New Zealand and the Aga Khan Development Network and still has plenty of the world she wants to see. She also would like to drive really big trucks.
Find out what travellers have to say about Jill’s tour click here
Feedback from Jill’s latest tour
“Why would you travel with anyone else but Jill Worrall?” Ann and Don
A wonderful trip. Full of interesting sights and great information. It is a part of the world I find particularly engaging and it did not disappoint. DW, Oman and UAE, Dec 2022
…. thank you very much for providing us with a wonderful experience touring Oman. It was certainly very different and it hit the spot to break our touring drought!
From our perspective it was an excellently organised and executed tour, very enjoyable. A real holiday with someone else, you!, doing all the hard work.” R&AS Oman Nov 2022
2023 & 2024 Tours
2023
Egypt and Jordan
Nov 3 – Nov 24, 2023
CONFIRMED DEPARTURE
TOUR NOW FULL!
2024
Scandinavia and the Northern Lights
Jan 28 to Feb 17, 2024
JUST ONE SINGLE OCCUPANCY PLACE
NOW AVAILABLE ON THIS TOUR
Vietnam and Cambodia
March 27 to April 15, 2024
TOUR FULL!
Central America Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama
May 2024
FULL TOUR ITINERARY READY NOW
Epic Eastern Canada
June 2024
FULL ITINERARY READY SOON
Zambia, Botswana and Namibia
September 2024
DETAILS AVAILABLE
LATER THIS YEAR
South India
November 2024
MORE INFO AVAILABLE
LATER THIS YEAR
Newsletters
Newsletter August 2023
Newsletter July 2023
Newsletter June 2023
Newsletter April May 2023
Newsletter March 2023
Newsletter Jan-Feb 2023
Newsletter December 2022
Newsletter August 2022
Newsletter July 2022
Newsletter June 2022
Newsletter April-May 2022
Newsletter March 2022
Newsletter February 2022
"Why would you travel with anyone else but Jill Worrall?" Ann and Don
“You dream up great journeys and make them real for us” DP
"I’ve just been travelling with Jill in the Adriatic and had an absolutely wonderful time." RS.
And now for 2024!
It’s a goody! I can promise you that. There are some real bucket-list tours on my schedule, and they will almost all certainly be one-off trips. Each tour is totally bespoke – we’ve gone to our chosen operators with my wish list, they and Moray have almost certainly torn their hair out trying to make them all work and here’s the result.
I am genuinely so excited to announce this programme!
I’m sure too that you are aware that for the foreseeable future, travel costs are not going to come down and in fact seem to still be going up. But we have done everything we can to keep prices down, but at the same time not compromising on itineraries and quality. We’re also very confident that our prices are competitive because we’ve researched that too. There could well be tours out there that look cheaper, but it pays to check the small print and especially what is and isn’t included and that’s not even taking into account the around-the-clock care from me while on tour and Moray’s awesome experience and efficiency with bookings and any extra travel arrangements you need.
What travellers say about Jill’s tours:
“Great trip Jill; Bring on the next one” JM, Central Otago and West Coast, 2021
“Every day a delight, thank you Jill. As always, above expectations.” JJ, Central Otago and West Coast, 2021
“My heartfelt gratitude for being such a wonderful tour guide. You are so knowledgeable and I have learned heaps about the places we visited.” SS, Central Otago and West Coast, 2021.
“Thanks Jill, great trip as always.” MD, The Deep South 2020
” I’ve loved this wonderful journey with you.” LW, The Deep South 2020
“You dream up great journeys and make them real for us.” DP, The Deep South. 2020
Thanks, Jill, for another wonderful adventure full of wonderful sights, fascinating history, incredible architecture, fabulous food, delicious wine and lots of fun and laughter! You are a real treasure … So many amazing memories. RH, Mediterranean Islands, Oct 2019
“It was a fabulous tour…it was a delight” K and A, Mongolia, 2019.
“What a great trip. Croatia exceeded expectations on all fronts. An awesome country. We both had a blast.” KW and DW, Croatia, 2019
“A big thank you again for taking us on yet another exquisite adventure.” MC, Croatia, 2019
“Thanks for organising such a wonderful trip to Iran. I had a truly fantastic time”, Iran, April 2018 – Susan
“What a great tour we had in Iran – I loved every day of it”, Iran, April 2018 – Leslie
“One of my favourite trips in my 13 years of travelling” – Iceland and the Faroes, Sept 2017 – Sue
“Jill is an exceptional leader and we felt very comfortable and happy being taken care of by her, knowing that the tour would happen as expected and any problems dealt with. We had a wonderful trip and the attention to detail was excellent. The local people were friendly, cheerful, happy to answer questions and sort things out with grace. What more could you wish for?”, Zambia and the Zambezi August 2017 – Graham Ingram-Monk
“An absolutely wonderful, amazing, thought-provoking tour. Jill is an amazing tour leader and her ability to take control to sort/fix in a crisis is breathtaking.” – North Korea, July 2017 – Liz
I had a fabulous trip to Cuba in April with Jill….Jill made it such fun – Philippa Sargent
“I don’t do group tours!” Well, that has been the case until now. Friends and previous travellers with Jill recommended if I was to travel then this was the woman I should travel with and I was not disappointed – Marg Palmer, Cuba 2017.
Jill is passionate about what she does and her enthusiasm is contagious. I am booked in a tour for next year already – Lisa Gullen, Central America 2017.
If it’s time for a new adventure I recommend packing your bags and travelling with Jill Worrall Tours. You will not be disappointed – Gaylene Marinkovic, Croatia Cruise and Walk 2017.