When your cruise ship docks in Dunedin, take a trip through the spectacular scenery surrounding the Taieri River on board the Taieri Gorge Railway. Travel through tunnels and over viaducts on this train-lover’s shore excursion, and then see Dunedin’s top sights before returning to the Dunedin port. This is one of the most popular shore excursions in New Zealand and has been awarded the TripAdvisors Travellers Choice Award.
At 8.45am the coach departs the Dunedin Port and takes you to the Dunedin Railway Station. Please be there at 8.30am for a 8.45am departure.
At 9.30am, depart Dunedin by train on the Taieri Gorge Railway. You will travel through the spectacular Taieri Gorge to Pukerangi, across wrought iron viaducts and through tunnels carved by hand more than 100 years ago. This is one of the great train journeys of a bygone era. Throughout this round trip journey, there will be numerous stops to afford you some magnificent photo opportunities. You will return to Dunedin Railway Station around 2.00 pm
2.30 pm Returning from your 4.5 Taieri Gorge Rail experience you will rejoin your coach at Dunedin Railway Station for your 2 hours Dunedin Highlights / Sightseeing Tour departing from the Dunedin Railway Satation.
The sightseeing tour will take in the highlights of central Dunedin City, including the Octagon and several historic sites.
See the St Clair beach and esplanade
Check out New Zealand’s first botanical garden.
Take in the ‘dress circle’ of Dunedin’s original homes of the wealthy settlers and travel up the world’s steepest street to a lookout overlooking the city, University campus and out to the Peninsula high road for some spectacular harbour, rural and ocean views.
See some great views of the New Zealand famous and historic Otago University, before returning to Port Chalmers and your cruise ship around 4 / 4.30 pm
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Dunedin Shore Excursion: Taieri Gorge Railway & City Sightseeing lasts about 7h 30min. The itinerary has 8 stops.
Prices start at $166 per person for this Dunedin and The Otago Peninsula experience, booked through Viator with the price shown before checkout. There is 1 booking option, so the final price depends on the option you choose.
Yes. Cancel at least 1 day before the start for a full refund. Later cancellations are non-refundable.
Yes, pickup is offered.
The experience is available in EN.
It is a small-group experience with a maximum of 40 participants.
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
Wheelchair accessible Transportation options are wheelchair accessible Collapsible wheelchairs with removable wheels can be accommodated providing the passenger is accompanied by someone who can assist them board and disembark
Yes, bookings are confirmed instantly.
Travellers rate it 4.2 out of 5 across 309 reviews on Viator and Tripadvisor; it is run by Leisure Tours.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
In the beginning was ok. As time went by was getting toooo long. Scenery was a lot of farmland and not so good sights.
So sorry the train ride did not live up to your expectations. It is an historic ride through a gorge and normally gets rave reviews.
The train was well prepared and a great example of equipment built many years ago. Unfortunately the trip was too long, over 5 hours. Seating had limited leg room making the journey uncomfortable. Scenery was good, however it was the same the entire journey. The city tour afterwards was useless. Too short and no opportunity to explore.
Thanks for your comments which are noted. We will try and make some changes to make it more fulfilling.
Excellent journey and history of the rail line well worth the money,staff very efficient and tour guide for leisure tours Alberto very good even though it looked like he had just got up when he picked us up
Great review of the excursion and great review of Alberto. Although it sounds like a haircut could be in his future!
This tour was well worth the time and expense. Our ship was late coming in, but the guide waited patiently for us at the wharf. We were driven to the train and took a scenic two hour ride through some of New Zealand's most beautiful scenery.. There is food and beverage available for purchase on the train. Afterwards, our guide Alberto and our driver Warren brought us around the town of Dunedin and showed us some interesting sites on the way back to our ship. My partner and I would definitely recommend this tour.
Great review thank you - and thank you for highlighting Alberto and Warren. The Taieri Gorge Train is a real treat.
Vicator canceled the tour. I rebooted with the railroad and it was great. Now to see if I get my money back.
Thanks for your review. We do not cancel tours lightly but when we don't have enough numbers we refund the money and encourage clients to book directly with the railway.
Wonderful scenery but the train journey time is too much, and practically this tour is a train ride.
Thank you for your review.
This should be a round-trip train tour. However we only experienced a single trip due to the late arrival of the tour guide and the driver.
I was made aware of this as this was happening and a list of contributing events including unscheduled roadworks created big delays. We have liaised with the local authorities to ensure this does not reoccur. My apologies.
During a cruise stop in beautiful Dunedin we chose to take the train up to the Taieri Gorge. We were picked up near the ship and taken to the magnificent Victorian-era train station where we boarded our vintage train. Our adventure took us through part of Dunedin and then up to the mountains and Taieri Gorge. Our train ride was so fun and with amazing views of the gorge. We were able to purchase sandwiches in the dining car and restrooms were available. After winding through the gorge for approximately an hour and a half we reached the top of the mountain where we were given about forty minutes to enjoy the views and wander through a small mountain faire with vendors and music. We then re-boarded the train and enjoyed the ride back to Dunedin where we met up with our bus driver/tour guide who took us for a fun and informative tour around the city before taking us back to our ship. We had a great time and highly recommend this excursion-especially if you love vintage trains!
Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed review of your Taieri Gorge Railway and Dunedin Sightseeing Tour from Port Chalmers. I'm really pleased you had such a wonderful day with us on your shore excursion, and felt compelled enough to provide an excellent overview of what you experienced. This tour has been one of the most popular shore excursions we have operated over the past few years and it's great to see more and more people sending in their reviews. With any luck, that momentum will continue well into 2021! Thanks again and I hope you get to return to Dunedin and see the Taieri Gorge again soon!
First of all, the scenery is gorgeous! But what they don’t tell you is that you see the exact same thing going back as you are in the same seats. You also have to pay for a light lunch. If you have difficulty with steps you will have a difficult time getting on and off the train. Please keep this in mind. The tour of the city was informative. It’s a pretty long day.
Thank you for the positive review, Gary. I'm happy you enjoyed (for the most part) your Taieri Gorge Railway and Sightseeing Tour from Port Chalmers. Regarding some of your comments, I would just like to address that had you read the full itinerary of your tour you would know that it's not misleading at all. Firstly, we make it clear that the railway tour is a return journey and that food and drinks are not included and at own expense. Also, the departure and return times (along with the tour duration) are also stated on your itinerary.
Dunedin is an excellent location and the Railway and Gorge were well worth it. Great rail journey and some amazing views.
Thanks for the great review Daryl. It's great to hear you had an amazing time on your Taieri Gorge Railway Journey and City Sightseeing Tour. I hope you get to return to Dunedin again soon!
| Tour | Duration | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunedin Shore Excursion: Taieri Gorge Railway & City Sightseeing | 7h 30min | 4.2 (309) | $166 | |
 Taieri Gorge Scenic Railway Journey from Dunedin | 5 hours | 4.5 (985) | $97 | View |
 Dunedin to Queenstown 1-Way Day Tour with Taieri Gorge Railway | 9 hours | 4.9 (15) | $172 | View |
 Dunedin Shore Excursion City Sightseeing & Tour of Larnach Castle | 7 hours | 4.1 (70) | $112 | View |
 Queenstown to Dunedin with Taieri Gorge Train One-Way Tour | 10 hours | 4.9 (18) | $171 | View |
 Dunedin Shore Excursion - Sightseeing, Larnach Castle, Chinese Garden & Museum | 7 hours | — | $123 | View |
 Dunedin Shore Excursion: Small-Group Tour of Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula | 3h 30min | 4.6 (286) | $91 | View |