Half-day Discover Auckland City Sightseeing Tour
Description
Enjoyable, informative and a great day out... Explore Auckland with a more personalised experience. An exceptional value, we offer a very comprehensive tour covering all the best sights, with plenty of stops for photos. • Discover our sparkling harbour, stunning beaches, historic buildings, leafy parks, Victorian suburbs, and bustling shopping areas. • Enjoy fantastic views from the top of our volcanoes. • Travel over the Harbour Bridge for great views of our city. • Learn about Auckland, the geography, history, and our way of life. • Comfortable air-conditioned coach takes you to a greater variety of sights. • Easy morning, 4 hour tour. • Convenient downtown departure point or from our central pick-up locations.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Our main pick up point is alongside the Ferry Building on Queens Wharf. There's a pick-up & drop off area, that's the spot. Alternatively, we offer 4 central pick-up locations. Let us know where you are staying and we will advise the closest pick-up point. This is a very comprehensive tour and we pack a lot into the 3.5 to 4 hours. You will get a real feel for Auckland. It's geography, history, sights, and our way of life. This tour is family run, and the commentary is detailed, full of insights from a local perspective and delivered with humor.
We drive along the downtown waterfront area, past the Viaduct Harbour, which is one of Auckland top "going out" spots. Great selection of restaurants and bars. Lots of boats, and home to the America's Cup yachts, and Whale & Dolphin watching boats
The Wynyard Quarter has been transformed into an attractive waterfront restaurant area and is home to the Auckland Fish market. great place to revisit later for some Fish and Chips.
Westhaven Marina is the largest Marina in the Southern Hemisphere. We stop here for great photos of the Harbour, Harbour Bridge, and the Marina. Sometimes we see Bungy Jumpers leaping off the Harbour Bridge. Sorry., but Bungy Jumping is not included in the tour, but I can help you organise it.... There's also nice clean bathrooms here.
We travel over the Bridge to the North Shore, heading to Northcote Point.
We visit Shoal Bay in Northcote Point for arguably the best views of Auckland City from across the Harbour. Great place for photos.
Optional coffee stop. We don't stop on this tour for a formal Morning or Afternoon "Tea/Coffee" break as I prefer to show you as much of Auckland as possible. There's a couple of nice choices for takeaway drinks and snacks. Just bring them back to the bus. I have drink holders installed for this very reason.
Ponsonby is a Victorian/ Edwardian suburb full of lovely older buildings. Fantastic shopping, with that point of difference, and mostly privately owned shops. An extremely varied selection of stores, from fashion boutiques, gift shops, homewares, antiques, cafe's and restaurants. Well worth a re-visit after the tour.
Known as a "colourful' area in the past, it's making a come-back. The nightclubs, bars, and tattoo parlors are still here, but there's also an interesting selection of shops, and cafe's. Definitely worth a re-visit.
Fantastic elevated views of Auckland City from the summit of Mt Eden. It's a 5 - 10 minute walk from the parking lot to the Summit, but well worth the walk. There's bathrooms here.
We drive through the Auckland Domain ( Park) and past the Auckland Museum. You would at least 3-4 hours to visit the Museum, so we don't stop, but the Museum is well worth a visit. Excellent exhibit on Maori and Polynesian culture, and the daily Maori cultural performance is most enjoyable.
We drive through the Victorian suburb of Parnell, and past the Parnell Rose Gardens. If the flowers are in bloom we can stop for some photos.
We are now back on the waterfront, where we enjoy a picturesque drive past Ohaku Bay, Mission Bay, Kohimarama Beach, and on to Saint Heliers.
After Achilles Point we drive through the seaside village of Saint Heliers, and then back along the waterfront, to downtown Auckland.
Achilles Point in the suburb of Saint Heliers affords wonderful views out over the many islands in the Hauraki Gulf. There's also a nice view of Auckland City in the distance. Great photo stop.
We drive along the tree-lined Symonds St, past the University of Auckland, where we head into the downtown area. .
In the downtown city area, I'll point out the Auckland Art Gallery, and show you some of the smaller side streets, like High St, and O'Connell street where there are interesting shops.
Queen St is the main shopping street in Auckland. I point out many lovely heritage buildings, like the Auckland Town Hall & Civic Theater.
We conclude our tour back at the Ferry Building. Alternatively, if you are staying in the downtown area, I'm happy to drop you back at your hotel. This tour is delivered with a comprehensive commentary, not just about the places we visit, but also about the geography, history , and an insight into our way of life. There's' a few funny bits as well.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- A maximum of 18 people per booking
- There is some access to the bus, if you have a Walker or a Wheelchair, but these items must be folded. There is a small step. There are handles each side of the door to help.
- Strollers must be foldable.
- In consideration of other guests, if you are un-well, please do not participate on the tour. I will refund.
Reviews(1,232)
Our tour started at the Auckland Ferry terminal. Our guide, Jono, was punctual and quickly has us on the bus ready for the tour. Jono gave us a Māori greeting followed by an English translation. The tour took in Auckland city, North shore and Mt Eden. There were several planned stops for scenic photo opportunities and rest stops/toilets. Throughout the tour Jono remained professional and provided continual points of interest and history of Auckland. Overall this was a very well organised and enjoyable experience. Thank you team!
Great tour with a great guide/driver Paul. He was very informative and natural and very good with people. Very enjoyable.
This was a great way to get around Auckland. We went over the Harbour bridge and visited the coast line as well as Mount Eden. Our guide Paul was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot about the city and its origins. It was so much fun:
Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the city. He was also quite helpful in taking photos for us 🙂
Great value for money! Fabulous use of 4 hours! Passionate driver/guide. Highly recommended. The visit to the crater was a highlight. Quite a trek to the top but so worthwhile! Panoramic views of Auckland from the summit.
My husband and I loved Paul as our guide! Very knowledgeable, friendly, and always willing to take a photo for you. Thanks for showing us Auckland, Paul!
This was a great introduction to Auckland. Highly recommend doing it on your first day to get better acquainted with the city. John was a fantastic guide, and had lots of great recommendations.
Wow…just wow. I took the tour this morning, and it exceeded all my expectations of any previous tour I have done. Jono, our guide, has an incredible local knowledge and was telling us interesting facts for the whole journey. I found his ability to speak some Māori and explain the traditional links with all the places we visited particularly insightful. This tour takes you out of the CBD and into the suburbs; something you don’t get with the hop-on-hop-off buses. This really was the best way to get a sense of the “real Auckland”. We drove out to the harbour, Northshore, Mount Eden, and then along the coastline to beautiful little beaches at Mission Bay and St. Helier’s, (as well as lots of other places) Designated stops have been put on for photo opportunities and time to soak up the scenery. It was a lovely small group of 6 travellers, which made the van nice and spacious. I honestly cannot recommend this tour more highly, I feel this should be a must on your Auckland itinerary. I spent the whole tour dreaming of what lovely little suburb I’d like move to 😂.
Our guide was friendly, knowledgeable and interesting. We visited a variety of different areas and learned a lot about Auckland. Highly recommended!
Highly recommend tour if it's your first time in Auckland. Paul was great guide. Never a dull moment as he explains all the history behind the places that we went to. Lots of nice scenic stops for good photo memories.
