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Akaroa Shore Excursion: Banks Peninsula, Christchurch City Tour and Willowbank Wildlife Reserve

Akaroa, New Zealand

6 hours
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

This Akaroa shore excursion takes you on a scenic journey into Christchurch via the Banks Peninsula with a visit to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. Your tour of the ‘Garden City’ includes a stroll through the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and a look at earthquake recovery efforts in the city center. You’ll find exotic critters such as wallabies, gibbons and lemurs at the wildlife reserve, and meet the elusive but iconic kiwi, New Zealand’s national bird.

Banks Peninsula, Christchurch tour and Willowbank Wildlife Reserve from Akaroa port
Enjoy a scenic trip along the Akaroa Highway with its stunning scenery
Take a walk through the Chistchurch Botanic Gardens
See the sights of central Christchurch and the rebuilding process from the 2011 earthquake
Admire the elusive kiwi bird at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve
Learn about the breeding programs at the wildlife reserve

What's Included

Port pickup and drop-off
Local guide
Covered by Viator’s worry-free policy: guaranteed on-time return to your ship

Food and drinks

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

The Britomart Cannon
Akaroa 7520, New Zealand
From the Main Wharf in Akaroa, head down to the end where you will see the Akaroa I-Site and a small park on the right-hand side. Next to the Canon statue, a representative will be waiting for you. Please arrive by 10.15am for a 10.30am departure.

Start time

10:30 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

While your ship is in port in Akaroa, enjoy a shore excursion into Christchurch. After port pickup, travel by coach through the Banks Peninsula via the Akaroa Highway. After the drive, you’ll arrive in Christchurch for a guided tour of CBD highlights, including picturesque buildings and reconstruction efforts following the 2011 earthquake.

Take a walk through the lovely Christchurch Botanic Gardens and learn about the extensive collection of botanical treasures. Follow up your visit with a wildlife encounter at the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, home to several dozen native and exotic animal species — from monkeys and llamas to lemurs and wallabies. Get a look at New Zealand’s national bird, including North Island brown and South Island spotted kiwis, and learn about Willowbank’s kiwi breeding program.

After your tour, relax on the return drive through the Canterbury Plains to Akaroa Harbour, with drop-off at the cruise terminal.

Worry-free Shore Excursion:We will ensure your timely return to the Akaroa port for this activity. In the rare event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.

Akaroa Village Inn (Pass By)

Christchurch Botanic Gardens

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Cathedral Square (Pass By)

Willowbank Wildlife Reserve

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Banks Peninsula (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
At time of booking, cruise ship passengers must provide the following information: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Infants must sit on laps

Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Most travelers can participate
Please note that activity times and schedules can be slightly amended depending on your cruise ships timetable.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 50 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 6 days in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 6 full days before the experience’s start time.
Any changes made less than 6 full days before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
For a 50% refund, you must cancel 2–6 full days before the experience’s start time.

If you cancel less than 2 full days before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 2 full days before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Reviews

4.0

24 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 24 reviews

Fantastic LOTR Excursion!

Jim_B, Jan 2023

360 views of Harbour and city! Walking tour of outer shire movie sites. WETA visit. Best tour guide ever!

Response from Host, Jan 2023

Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, its much appreciated. however your review may be for another tour that you did as you re reviewing an Akaroa shore excurison not a LOTR tour?

A terrific tour of Christchurch and environs.

jeffrey_b, Dec 2020

Absolutely the best tour we had in New Zealand. Our guide was friendly and very knowledgeable. We were taken places the large buses would miss;. All in all a terrific excursion. Well worth it!

Response from Host, Dec 2020

Thank you for taking the time to submit your review. Pleased to learn you had a great day and enjoyed your excursion. I do hope you get the opportunity to visit us again in the not too distant future.

Kinda Disappointed - Not to our expectations

Steven, Mar 2020

Very long ride to and from. We did not think there was much to see in Christchurch. The Wildlife Reserve was not up to our expectations - did get to see 1 Kiwi Bird - very dark and hard to see.

Response from Host, Mar 2020

Thank you for taking the time to submit your review. We appreciate your feedback and acknowledge that all reviews are subjective. I am sorry that the excursion did not meet your expectations which is surprising given all of the other great reviews for this excursion.

Nice ride, nice refuge, too shallow.

stephenemeeks, Feb 2020

The drive was very informative and good, but the tour of the refuge, even by the staff manager was disappointing.

Response from Host, Feb 2020

Thank you for taking the time to submit your review. It is great to hear that you enjoyed the tour and the commentary into and through Christchurch City. It would appear that you liked the wildlife reserve but were disappointed with the guided tour of the reserve , for this I apologise and have past your comments onto the reserve.

Banks Peninsula and Christchurch tour

nanciemoran1, Feb 2020

My husband and I enjoyed this excursion. Rob, our tour director, was very informative and we learned lots about the surrounding area and Christchurch. Although a 90 minute drive from Akaroa, it was worth it. The scenery along the way was lovely. The city tour was interesting, the botanical gardens were nice and the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve was not to be missed. We now have a better understanding of New Zealand's unique geography and biodiversity.

Response from Host, Feb 2020

Thanks for the awesome review! I'm really pleased that you a lovely time on your shore excursion, and it's great that you now have a better understanding and appreciation of our unique geography and biodiversity thanks to this tour. I'm also happy that your driver/guide did a great job in informing you about this part of New Zealand. I'll be sure to pass your kind words on to Rob when I next speak to him. Thanks again and I hope you return to New Zealand someday soon!

A great zoo experience Time crunch otherwise

Charles M, Dec 2018

Beautiful trip from ship port Akaroa to Christchurch But consumes a lot of the time of the tour. The Willowbank zoo was excellent and the guide, Matt, was phenomenally informative about NZ wildlife. But just too short a time for other features, the museum and garden.

Christchurch was some what...

Terry S, Feb 2018

Christchurch was some what disappointing because on the ongoing earthquake repairs. Willow bank was informative and fun. Actually saw a Kiwi bird eating in the dark.

We enjoyed our trek to Christchurch...

netter75, Jan 2018

We enjoyed our trek to Christchurch, it was a bit of a drive but our driver kept talking about the area and entertaining us the whole way. Willow bank would have been interesting but our tour guide there did our hour long tour in about 20 minutes....The countryside was beautiful, and it was interesting to see how Christchurch has recouperated after the earthquake, it seems to be a vibrant city....would have liked a little more time there. Akaroa was stunning in the sunshine.

It was fantastic. The only draw back...

Ying Jen C, Dec 2017

It was fantastic. The only draw back was that the Kiwi Bird could not really be seen in the total darkness, even under flushlight from the guide.

willowbank wildlife reserve...

bruce b, Nov 2017

willowbank wildlife reserve amazing..you get to see the kiwi in a nocturnal setting. first hand look at the rebuilding process in Christchurch atfer the earthquake

This tour was a mixed bag. The...

JF_D, Jan 2017

This tour was a mixed bag. The countryside on the drive from Akaroa to and from Christchurch was beautiful. Seeing the devastation caused by the 2011 earthquake was both sad and fascinating and at Willowbank we actually got to see a live Kiwi. Unfortunately, the tour operator left a lot to be desired. When we started out, our driver/tour guide did not know what the tour was supposed to include. We had to educate him by reading him a printout of the tour. Then our bus broke down on the return trip to Akaroa. The driver ultimately got the bus going again but we weren't sure that we'd get back before the ship sailed without us. We were all very nervous about missing our ship for half of the return trip and only got back to the ship 1 minute before the all aboard deadline.

Definitely saw some beautiful...

Tracey H, Jan 2017

Definitely saw some beautiful country from Akaroa to Christchurch. Very rushed day but got to see a taste. Very dissappointed in not really seeing a Kiwi in the wildlife reserve as they do hide but we were guaranteed to see one but only saw a fury ball way up in the corner. Did enjoy the personal tour around the wildlife reserve.

LOVED The wildlife preserve! VERY...

LeliaAnn_B, Dec 2016

LOVED The wildlife preserve! VERY interesting.Would highly recommend it! Not much to see in Christchurch except empty lots were buildings had been razed as a result of the earthquake 5 yrs ago. One stop, however, was a church that had severe damage as a result of the quake and left for viewing by the tourists. We did have a brief stop at the Maori museum in Christchurch were able to take a rushed tour there. wished we could have spent more time there. While the scenery on the way there was fantastic new Zealand is a gorgeous country!, the area around Christchurch was flat and rather monotonous. Our driver did a good job of pointing out various things along the way, IE kiwi fruit growing, vineyards, sheep and cattle grazing and other facts about New Zealand.

In my opinion this tour provider...

pteach, Apr 2016

In my opinion this tour provider should not ever be used again Our first van was 20 years old and broke down 5-10 minutes after leaving port.and developed a leak which the driver and manager denied. First, they found a bus to pick us up and take us to our first stop, a garden where we were given 15 minutes to see the garden and go to the rest rooms. At Willowbank, we had an abbreviated tour according to their guide. We eventually returned to the original van, which smelled from whatever leaked.

I was very disappointed in this...

Sandra, Mar 2016

I was very disappointed in this trip. We started out in Akaroa with a drive to Christchurch. I was under the impression that we would have a guide to give us interesting info about the area. We did not have a guide, we had a driver. Our driver was very nice and polite, but he was a driver and did not provide tour guide services. This should have been advertised as transportation service to the Christchuch area. The drive through the Banks Peninsula was pretty, but that was all it was, a drive with pretty views, no guide service. We arrived at Christchurch where our driver dropped us off for 30 minutes at the Botanical Gardens. These gardens were pretty, but not worth the time it took to get there. We then had a drive through Christchurch which was a huge waste of time and not very interesting. This drive consisted of driving through the business area and looking at the buildings under construction. A waste of time. We then headed to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. I highly recommend this reserve. Unfortunately because so much time was wasted at the botanical gardens and the drive though the business district, we had minimal time at the wildlife reserve. We had a guide assigned to our group who was excellent but this part of the tour only lasted 45 minutes and he only took us through a small portion of the park. I asked the guide why the tour was so short and he explained that for him to show us the park it would take 2 to 2 1/2 hours. After this short tour we had one hour left before heading back to Akaroa and were given the choice to have lunch at the café or walk around independently to see the rest of the park. I chose to walk around the rest of the park and quickly bought a bite to eat at the café to eat on the bus. I felt extremely rushed. The Wildlife Reserve was very interesting. This tour would have been much better if we had skipped Christchuch and visited the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve and had a guided tour through it.

I would highly recommend the...

David B, Feb 2016

I would highly recommend the Willowbank Willdlife Reserve but not the first part of the tour. Our tour driver wasn't good. He was boring. More time should have been spent at the Wildlife Reserve

This was a very informative and...

Jennifer P, Feb 2016

This was a very informative and interesting tour. There was a bit of confusion as to which bus was going where at Akaroa but all sorted out at The Museum first stop. The tour around Christchurch was very informative. The Willowbank Wildlife Reserve was well worth a visit and as our group of 5 was the only group going here we had a guide from The Reserve just for us. Our guide was excellent. Our return trip to Akaroa was eventful when we had a double tyre blowout. We were about 20 minutes from Akaroa at this time so our driver phoned another driver in Akaroa and arranged for him to come and pick us up in his bus. We arrived in Akaroa later than expected but still ahead of the last cruise organised bus. Although not required it was reassuring to know if we were not back in time we would be taken to next port.

Excellent tour. Really enjoyed the...

Jill M, Dec 2015

Excellent tour. Really enjoyed the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve and admittance to reserve was hassle free.

Very good tour and excellent driver who...

john_g, Nov 2015

Very good tour and excellent driver who went out of his way to please us.

Our driver made the day with his...

Yolanda S, Mar 2015

Our driver made the day with his enthusiasm and personal knowledge of the area. Enjoyed seeing Christ Church with him. His explanations and tour areas were very good. The guide in the Reserve was also very good. You could tell he loved his work and loved showing the animals in the Reserve. He even called them by name!