Dunedin & The Otago Peninsula

Top Dunedin & The Otago Peninsula activities

Dunedin & The Otago Peninsula trip ideas

Shore Excursion: Dunedin City, Otago Peninsula, Castle Gardens & Olveston Tour

Dunedin & The Otago Peninsula, New Zealand

Shore Excursion Dunedin City Highlights Coastal Train and Castle Garden

6 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Start at Port Chalmers to experience the pure beauty of Dunedin on a fantastic tour of rich heritage, spectacular scenery. You will experience memorable landscape of Otago Peninsula with amazing string of rugged beaches, bays on a Peninsula Drive via Highcliff Road to Larnach Castle. Your tour will include an entry to the garden only of the only castle of New Zealand - Larnach castle. You will stop at the world's steepest street, local lookout point to enjoy the views of city, peninsula and harbor, University of Otago - the oldest New Zeland university, Octagon, Dunedin Railway Station and internationally significant and the oldest botanic garden in New Zealand. In addition you will join a 1 hour guided tour of Olveston historic home. The tour is designed only for small groups, so you will enjoy flexibility and comfort in a small bus. Important: this tour includes entry to castle garden only, to enter the castle building there is an extra cost $NZD20.

What's Included

Driver/guide
Port pickup and drop-off
Round-trip shared transfer
Air-conditioned vehicle

Entrance fees to Castle building $NZD20
Lunch
Food and drinks

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup point

Port Chalmers

Start time

10:00 AM

Pickup details

Meet Fantail Tours at 9.30am at Port Chalmers cruise terminal, private tour waiting area, close to door 2

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Infant seats available
Stroller accessible

Most travelers can participate
There are stairs to access first floor at Olveston historic home.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 18 travelers

Cancellation Policy

This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.5

50 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 50 reviews

A Wonderful Tour!

Lesley_W, Mar 2024

Did this as a last minute shore excursion while on a cruise. It was a trip highlight! Teresa was so friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable. If you’re debating on a day trip in Dunedin, don’t hesitate to book this tour!

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Thank you for your feedback. We are very happy to hear your visit in Dunedin was so special. We will pass your lovely comments onto Teresa.

Great sites, good tour guide but some problems

Nicky_D, Mar 2024

Hoping off the cruise ship the pick up was right there. Stefan was our guide. Very informative about the history and culture. Gave us a great tour, but the bus they use is a rental so sitting in the back was very rough and the bus needs shocks. The audio was messed up for most of the tour because Stefan change the channel on his FM modulator and we had static for half the tour that we could hear. We continued to tell him that we couldn’t hear him and he would respond louder but then Get quiet again. If they had speakers in back of the bus it would have been very helpful. Instead of the sound coming from the front. The back had continuous road noise and rattling from the windows which made it tough for those in the back to not only hear but understand. When Stefan was on, again he was great!

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to hear your experience was not the best due to the vehicle. During some cruise ship days we are very busy and hire an extra or two vehicles to accommodate all our visitors but the quality of experience we offer to our visitors is very important so we will seriously reconsider our options on cruise ship days next season. Great to hear you enjoyed Steffan's guiding.

Steffan was a very informative guide. He was a very good driver, too, which is important when you’re dealing with hills.

DavidA_J, Mar 2024

Loved the world’s steepest street. Would’ve loved to have time to walk it. It was worth what we paid.

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Great to hear you enjoyed our tour with Steffan while visiting Dunedin. Sorry to hear there was not enough time to walk Baldwin Street. We normally do have time for walking it up and down for those who are keen on it. We will make sure our guides plan the so there is time for people to walk the world's steepest street.

If you like history

Jeff_C, Mar 2024

You will love the Olveston House. Donated by the daughter of the parents who built the mansion, it comes complete with all of the contents from the 19th century. I have never seen a linen press before. The castle gardens were beautiful. Didnt have time to go in the replicacated home, but the fish and chips were delicious.

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Thank you for your feedback. Glad to hear you enjoyed your visit of Olveston. It is a true gem, not to be missed.

Thanks to Fantail, we had an awesome and memorable day in Dunedin.

Peirong_Y, Mar 2024

We group of 8 arrived in Dunedin via cruise ship. With only about 10 hours in this big and beautiful city, touring with locals is the best choice we made. This tour includes most of the highlights of Dunedin. Guide Stephan is a very charming senior. He is very knowledgeable and professional. He constantly explained the surroundings, history, culture and customs, and answered all of our questions. We love his pleasant, cheerful and humorous personalities. We leant so much and spent a very lovely and memorable day with Steffan. If you only have one day in Dunedin, this tour is highly highly recommended!

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Thank you for your feedback. We are delighted to hear how special your day was in Dunedin with Steffan. We will pass your lovely words onto Steffan.

Amazing city and guide!

Matthew_C, Mar 2024

Teresa was absolutely wonderful and knowledgeable! She took us to see so many amazing views and kept it entertaining!

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Thank you. Lovely to hear you had a wonderful time in Dunedin with Teresa, we will pass it onto her.

Dunedin

Mona_D, Mar 2024

Everything was wonderful-start to finish. Our guide Trii was awesome and multitalented and added such terrific details with each stop. She truly knows her topic. Each location we visited was worth the time.

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Thank you for your feedback. We are very happy to hear you enjoyed your time on our tour in Dunedin. We will pass your kind words onto Teresa.

Dunedin day trip

Leanne_M, Mar 2024

Asta was a very friendly and informative guide. The castle and botanical gardens were a highlight. We enjoyed our Dunedin visit 😊

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Thank you for your feedback. Great to hear you enjoyed your visit of Dunedin and especially the stroll at our unique Upper Botanic Garden and visit of the castle.

Packed with fun

kristin_b, Feb 2024

Ross our guide was lovely. We were all late getting off the boat and he was still able to fit all the things in. Absolutely great tour, got to see so much of Dunedin!

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thank you for your feedback. It is great to hear you enjoyed the tour with Ross. We will pass it on to him. Cruise ship schedule can be very dynamic and we always try to adjust accordingly and delay our tour departure if it is possible.

Great trip.

MichaelIgor_M, Feb 2024

Great trip with a very knowledgable guide. Picked up from ship and enjoyed the full day of activities. Definitely value for money that gave us so many memories and photo opportunities.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thank you for your feedback. Great to hear you enjoyed your day in Dunedin!

Asta was a fabulous...

Charlotte_S, Feb 2024

Asta was a fabulous guide. One of the best we’ve had. Provided fascinating insight to Dunedin. Highly recommend her tour.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thank you.

A true taste of Dunedin

Margaret_C, Jan 2024

Amazing history of area throughout the day- our tour guide, Hika was so informative about the various spots we traveled through and went out of her way to make sure we saw all that we could on our day trip. A wonderful experience

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Thank you. Very pleased to hear you had a great time on our tour with Heike. We will pass it onto her.

Almost missed

Dietmar_H, Jan 2024

Somehow I got confused with the excursions, so we missed the start. We contacted Stephan, our phantastic tourguide, who managed to pick us up on the way. So by the end we had a very enjoyable tour

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Thank you for your feedback. Sorry to hear you missed the start of the tour. Our tour guides meet cruise ship passengers holding a sign with Fantail Tours on it at Port Chalmers cruise terminal private tour area close to door 2. If you are a cruise ship passenger do not take the shuttle to town, we are picking everyone up at Port Chalmers. We are very lucky to have a friendly team of Dunedin Visitor centre at Port Chalmers cruise terminal. It is a good idea to ask one of their staff if you are not sure about anything.

Communication issues between provider and viator

wbaydeb, Mar 2023

We booked a tour in July 2022 for March 2023. We did not get the tour we booked. On arrival at Dunedin port the provider was not aware of booking or that there were two couples traveling together. Our names were not displayed on boards for pick up. My friend contacted the provider and advised them. They stated they were not aware of bookings or that we were traveling together. We were also advised that the coastal train was no longer available. No mention of a refund or alternative tour at that time. The board was updated after this call to include my friend and her partner who were placed in a vehicle that was not suitable for the number of passengers. We were approached to be taken with another tour that did not cover all our itinerary but would take us to Larnach Castle. The tour guide was very informative and provided historical and other details. We did not get to tour the historic house listed in original tour so paid to tour Larnach Castle itself. Our entry covered gardens only. We contacted viator on return and they requested a refund. The correspondence received from the provider Fantail tours was surprising given we had not received the tour we booked. They grudgingly agreed to provide a refund of the train portion we had paid. The tour guides in these circumstances did the best job they could under the circumstances but an apology from the owner or even an explanation of how this occurred and steps put in place to make sure it doesn’t happen to others would have been better.

Response from Host, Apr 2023

Thank you for your feedback, it is very important to us. We are sorry about the confusion. Unfortunately, you and your friends booked a different tour option, including a coastal train trip, a long time ago. This season train trips were not available to public at all and your booking was supposed to be cancelled or amended to a different tour option. Something has gone wrong with the communication between the online travel agent and us. We will make sure it doesn't happen again. We were pleased your friend called us and we were able to make last minute adjustments and have you and your friends on a slightly different tour option, including castle gardens. Please accept our apologies.

Shore excursion from cruise ship - day tour

Margaret_A, Mar 2023

We booked this tour for a shore excursion on our cruise. The tour itself was wonderful. Our guide Arlene was great. The lookout had a great view, saw the train station although they are working on it so it had hoarding around it, we saw the Octagon, then went for a lovely tour of Olveston house. Such a beautiful house and gift to dunedin. We then went to Lanarch Castle and walked around the gardens. REcommend the devonshire tea, the scones are huge. Then we toured the scenic Otago Peninsular. Just stunning scenery everywhere. The only reason I have not rated this higher was the confusion when I got to the wharf. Our friends (another couple) were also booked on this tour. When we got to the terminal our names were not on any board. I then rang the tour operator. Another 20 minutes later my name was added to the Arlene;s board. As this made Arlene's car full, our friends name was called out for a completely different tour. Without my call I beleive we would not have been on ANY tour and we had booked the same tour as this is what interested us as we were travelling together. I am not sure where the communication fell down between viator and the tour operator but it was not a great start to the day. and luckily I had global roaming to call. We did receive a small refund to compensate for the confusion but this aspect needs to be fixed. Both guides were not aware of the 4 of us until after I called the tour operator, and then they were called to add us to their lists. This needs to improve for the future. Otherwise the tour itself is fantastic.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Thank you for your feedback, it is very important to us. We are sorry about the confusion. Unfortunately, you and your friends booked a different tour option, including a coastal train trip, a long time ago. This season train trips were not available to public at all and your booking was supposed to be cancelled or amended to a different tour option. Something has gone wrong with the communication between the online travel agent and us. We will make sure it doesn't happen again. We were pleased you called us and we were able to make last minute adjustments and have you and your friends on a slightly different tour option, including castle gardens and Olveston guided tour. Please accept our apologies.

Dunedin

Lorie_C, Feb 2023

Good tour saw all the highlights of Dunedin. Nic drive around Otago peninsula. Driver was very knowledgeable

Response from Host, Feb 2023

Thank you for your feedback. We are happy to hear you enjoyed the tour with Fantail Tours.

I can’t compliment our...

Tracy_B, Jan 2023

I can’t compliment our guide Teresa enough. She was amazing. Her knowledge and passion for the area was amazing. Big thank you.

Response from Host, Jan 2023

Thank you for your feedback, it is very nice to hear you enjoyed Teresa's guiding. I will pass it on to her.

Exceptional tour

wittyjoflash, Nov 2022

The whole tour was exceptional. Asta was a fantastic guide. Would recommend this tour and others by Fantail Tours.

Response from Host, Dec 2022

Thank you!

Great time

Jon_H, Oct 2022

Great time, excellent tour guide. No train ride though, disappointed about that. The tour description said there would be a train ride.

Response from Host, Nov 2022

Thank you for your feedback, Jon. I am sorry to hear you were expecting the train ride. We have updated the tour itinerary and it is excluding the train ride. Due to train trips being unavailable to tour operators this season, we are offering a historic home Olveston guided tour instead. Our tour itinerary has been designed in a way so our visitors see as much of breathtaking scenery as possible taking various scenic routes, in fact you see much more scenery than you would see on a coastal train.

Great tour!

Ian_W, Oct 2022

Great guide. The tour is in an extremely hilly area, with narrow roads. Fantastic views can be seen in all directions. Worth the time and money!

Response from Host, Nov 2022

Thank you for your review. You are right, Dunedin has a very hilly landscape, which was created by a volcanic activity millions of years ago and breathtaking scenery everywhere you go. We are happy to hear you enjoyed your tour.