We meet you at the Port Chalmers Cruise Ship Terminal for the 'Larnach Castle & Dunedin City Highlights Tour' Stops include: -Dunedin Railway Station (most photographed building in NZ) -Baldwin Street (world's steepest street) -Otago University (NZ's oldest University) -Signal Hill Lookout -Heritage Buildings Plus more After the 'City Highlights Tour' we drop you off at the Octagon in the City Centre. You will have 1 hour of free time for lunch & shopping. Meridian Shopping Mall is 2 blocks away with a Food Court. After lunch we depart on the journey up to the Castle. We take in the magnificent views of the peninsula and make a quick stop at a lookout for a great photo opportunity. On arrival we take you on a guided tour of the Castle with time afterwards to do some of your own exploring or check out the award-winning gardens. You also have the option to visit the Ballroom Cafe for refreshments. ($48 NZD Larnach Castle/Gardens entry fee is included in our tour price) No hidden fees.
Amazing photo opportunity at our first stop.
A brief stop to view the Clocktower and other heritage buildings.
A magnificent overlook of Dunedin City and the Pacific Ocean. Antartica is only 2700kms away from here.
You have time to walk to the top of the steepest street in the world. (Or you can take photos and view from the bottom of the Street). We stop here for approx. 15 mins.
We stop for lunch & shopping at the Octagon halfway through the Tour. This is free time in the City Centre before we head up to Larnach Castle in the afternoon.
On arrival we take you on a guided tour of the Castle with time afterwards to do some of you own exploring or check out the award-winning gardens. You also have the option to visit the Ballroom Cafe for refreshments. ($48 Castle/Gardens entry fee included).
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Larnach Castle & Dunedin City Highlights Tour (Shore Excursion) lasts about 6 hours. The itinerary has 6 stops.
Prices start at $120 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.
The meeting point is Every passenger enters the Cruise ship terminal when they disembark. We meet you here. Look for your guide holding a "Discover Dunedin Tours" sign. Information staff are also on hand to assist. Hotel pickup is not part of this experience.
The experience is available in EN.
It is a small-group experience with a maximum of 18 participants.
Yes, bookings are confirmed instantly.
Travellers rate it 5.0 out of 5 across 83 reviews on Viator and Tripadvisor; it is run by Discover Dunedin Tours.
Reviews collected by Viator and Tripadvisor
It was a very good itinerary with key tourist spots. The driver-guide Tim was knowledgable, friendly and good in time management. The Larnach Castle & gardens worth the visit, the Railway Station and Octogon University were beautiful buildings. If we could have more time at Octagon to browse around would be even better.
Tim was a great host, driver and guide. He explained many interesting facts about Dunedin, past and present, through the eyes of his Scottish heritage. We could appreciate the characteristic architecture of dark volcanic basalt and light sandstone on numerous handsome buildings. We had time to walk up and down Baldwin Street, the world's steepest street, and have a leisurely lunch in the town centre. In the afternoon, Tim guided us around the Scottish Larnach Castle and explained its history, with time for afternoon tea and scones! All in all, a very informative day in Dunedin, that we highly recommend. Thank you, Tim!
Love small group tours like this compared to “shore excursions” offered by cruise companies. So easy to meet our guide in the cruise terminal. Tim had the cleanest van of all Viator tours I’ve taken over the years. I wish every company would clean their windows as good as these were! We saw all the sites on the agenda and had plenty of time. We were shown where to take great photos from too!🏆 I love a guide who loves his city and has passion for the area. It truly shined throughout! Great job!!! Lunch suggestions were spot on too. The castle tour was the best. No spending 30 minutes looking at brush strokes of a painting. We were walked through the rooms with interesting tidbits. Stories were good, the facts were shared then we had time to explore on our own while our guide made himself 100% available. Perfect! 6.5 hour tour got us back to the ship an hour before gangway up. Excellent Day!
Very informative. Lots of history. Whole day was great There just the right number of stops. He was very helpful with my wife’s walker.
A really varied and comprehensive tour in comfortable surroundings led by our friendly and extremely knowledgeable tour guide Tim. I heartily recommend this tour.
We had a wonderful day exploring the sights of Dunedin, with Larnach Castle being a definite highlight. Our tour guides, Tim and Joe, were friendly, professional, and extremely knowledgeable—nothing was ever too much trouble for them. There were only 15 people on our tour, which was a great group size and made the experience feel more personal and relaxed. The tour was very reasonably priced and included entry to Larnach Castle, which added great value to the experience. As we were visiting via cruise ship, we especially appreciated how well the tour was timed—we returned with plenty of time to spare. The six hours flew by, and we felt incredibly fortunate to see so much of Dunedin in such a short time. It was a fantastic experience from start to finish. We will definitely be back and cannot recommend this tour highly enough!
Tim was a great tour guide! It was clearly marked about where to meet and what was expected. The castle was great, the history of the family so interesting. Just make sure to wear good shoes if you climb the hill!
I was with my young adult son. We loved it! The tour guide was super knowledgeable and very hospitable. The stop on Baldwin Street and the Castle were definite highlights of the tour. We would definitely recommend this tour to anyone visiting Dunedin.
Outstanding tour ofthe city Octagon, university and the castle. Our driver/guide(and owner of the company) was timely, friendly and informative. Smaller coach allowed us to see things not available to large coaches. Highly recommended.
The pre trip communication was clear and precise. We met right where we disembarked from the ship which was convenient. Tim was extremely knowledgeable and shared stories of the history of Dunedin in an engaging manner. The Tour day was well organized and the small 15 passenger van was a delightful way to hop on and off and view the sites . The train station, the steepest road along with downtown and castle all were able to be visited . We had time to explore downtown and to take tea in the castle ballroom/outside garden. The tour of the castle was narrated by Tim and he had such in-depth and interesting way to share details of the palace from origins to family drama to historical significance of the furnishings and building .
| Tour | Duration | Rating | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larnach Castle & Dunedin City Highlights Tour (Shore Excursion) | 6 hours | 5.0 (83) | $120 | |
 Iconic Shore Excursion: Iconic Larnach Castle Tour | 6 hours | 4.9 (111) | $101 | View |
 Dunedin Shore Excursion City Sightseeing & Tour of Larnach Castle | 7 hours | 4.1 (70) | $112 | View |
 Otago Peninsula & Larnach Castle Shore Excursion | 6 hours | 4.4 (49) | $166 | View |
 Larnach Castle Tour & Wildlife Cruise (Dunedin Shore Excursion) | 6 hours | 4.9 (30) | $112 | View |
 Dunedin Shore Excursion - Sightseeing, Larnach Castle, Chinese Garden & Museum | 7 hours | — | $123 | View |
 Larnach Castle and Gardens Admission Ticket | 2–4 hours | 4.4 (336) | $29 | View |