Afternoon Piha Beach and Rainforest Tour from Auckland
Description
Explore and admire Auckland's largest regional park, the Waitakere Ranges, on this 5 hour afternoon eco-tour. The perfect way to get out of the city and enjoy the nature on Auckland's door step. You'll be picked up from your centrally located Auckland hotel before traveling 30-minutes west to the Waitakere Ranges. From here travel further west to enjoy a walk in the rainforest before visiting the beautiful Piha Beach for a walk on the soft black sand. Afternoon refreshments are provided along with full commentary from our driver guides.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Enjoy amazing views and hear about the history of the Waitakere Ranges at the first stop on this tour. The visitors centre is also home to some traditional Māori carvings and your guide will talk about them and explain their significance for the area.
Enjoy a easy walk through the rainforest of the Waitakere Ranges (The walk is currently located at the Arataki Visitor Centre).
Walk along the black sand beach of Piha Beach (30 minutes) & time for afternoon tea refreshments
Enjoy a half day tour with Bush and Beach - During the afternoon we also include a New Zealand style afternoon tea including biscuits (cookies), manuka honey and tea and coffee or juice. As well as keeping you entertained and informed our guides make sure you have plenty of opportunities to ask questions and make sure there are lots of photo opportunities. We have been running tours in this area for over 40 years so you will be being looked after by the local experts. (Please note this information is limited due to the locations not being available to be added on this platform)
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Pick ups from inner city Auckland hotels are between 12 - 12.25pm. You MUST contact us to arrange a specific pick up time for your location as the tour departs the city at 12.30pm. The above list does not include all pick up hotel locations - Pick up is included from most inner city Auckland accommodation - please advise where you are staying and we can give you a pick up time or meeting location. Return point: Returns to original departure point at 5:30pm
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately with comfortable walking shoes
- The tour is suitable for all ages and abilities
- Although lunch is not included, the tour does stop at a local bakery if you wished to purchase something at your own cost.
- This tour is not walker/wheelchair accessible, due to the paths taken on the walks.
Reviews(904)
Great tour with a very knowledge and insightful guide, especially with wild-life and native history, accompanied with some welcomed humor. The tour started with a brief snack stop before arriving at a welcome center for the Waitakere range. Here our guide gave us a brief tour and knowledge of the area before giving us brief free time for photos and exploration. Afterwards, we split into 2 groups for a hiking tour, where our guide gave very detailed information on every plant spotted, as well as wildlife including multiple Kereru sightings. We then met up together and drove to Piha beach, where we got an opportunity to take a "side entrance" to the end of the beach and walk towards Lion's Rock. Great photo opportunities and "free time" to enjoy the beach while walking back. Afterwards, treats and drinks were provided before the drive back. When we first arrived the beautiful viewpoint unfortunately had no parking, but our guide and driver gave us the 2nd opportunity on the way back to stop and get probably the best experience/views of the tour. Overall, a very worthwhile half-day trip outside of Auckland.
Highly recommend this tour for bush and beach life. Our guide Ayla was fantastic at explaining views, trees, plants and the beautiful biodiversity. There were spectacular views and walks through the bush and on the beach. Snacks and tea are also provided. Don’t hesitate to take this tour - it’s a special day.
Lovely experience! Great tour guides! I enjoyed the walk through the tropical forest and the beach..
Incredible experience with very experienced and knowledgeable guides (Kevin and Ian). My whole family thoroughly enjoyed the tour.
Immensely enjoyed walk through rain forest and stops along coast especially piha beach saw a number of amazing birds as well as amazing coastlines. Guide was very knowledgeable .Look forward to going back.
It was fabulous! We had no idea what to expect and have not done many guided tours but both the tour guides were fantastic. It was a perfect tour we stopped for meat pies which were great and enjoyed the beach, rain forest walk and all the views. The guides are knowledgeable without boring too with too much information. 10/10!
Thank you so much for your review and comments relating to our guides, we are delighted you enjoyed your trip out to the west coast of Auckland :).
Great afternoon trip. Beautiful scenery, easy walking. Extra fun was seeing the large eels under the bridge after our rain forest hike!
We are so pleased you enjoyed your trip out to the west coast of Auckland,! Thank you for your review.
This is a good way to spend an afternoon. Beautiful forest walk and a grand finale at the black sands of Piha Beach. Don't miss this. Great tour guide provided a couple of bonus stops.
Thank you for your review, we are pleased you enjoyed the scenery and had a pleasant afternoon.
The guides and drivers were very kind and I was relieved even if I didn't speak English. If you want to see the best scenery that you can't see in Japan, please join us!
Thank you for taking the time to drop a review. We are so pleased you enjoyed this Auckland (New Zealand) experience :)!
Definitely bring decent walking/hiking shoes and a good camera. Mary was amazing! So nice, informative and very sweet. The tour guide makes the biggest impact on the tourist(s).
Thank you for dropping a review and we appreciate the comments made on behalf of Mairi - your Tour Guide!
