Wellington

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Martinborough Foodie Half Day Tour

Name: Martinborough Foodie Half Day Tour
Brand: Zozo Travel Limited
SKU: 47417P16
Price: 104.10 USD
Rating: 4.5 (71 reviews)

Badge of ExcellenceWellington, New Zealand

5 hours
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Take a break from the city and spend the day in Martinborough, one of the finest food and drink destinations in the North Island. Enjoy the views as you leave Wellington and cross the Remutaka Ranges into the Wairarapa region. Visit a cheese factory, a chocolatier, and a winery, tasting some of the finest local produce as you go. Spend some free time in Martinborough at the end, sampling more food if you wish.

Cheese, chocolate, and wine samples are included
An easy way to explore beyond Wellington if you’re short on time
Foodies won’t want to miss this tour to a top culinary region
Transfers from hotels or a designated meeting point are provided

What's Included

Snacks
Alcoholic Beverages

Lunch

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Meeting point

Wellington isite Visitor Information Centre
111 Wakefield Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
Tour departs from the Tour Pick Up Zone opposite and/ or in front of the Amora Hotel next to the Wellington i-SITE. Please be advised your pickup time may vary if you wish to be picked up at a specific destination, please confirm it with Zozo Travel at least 24 hours before departure.

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

10:00 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Pickup details

Zozo Travel will provide a pick up time for all hotel pick ups. Please wait in the lobby or outside your hotel for pick up by your driver guide at the designated time. Your driver guide will pick up cruise terminal passengers at the terminal with Zozo Travel signage with you guests names. Please make yourself known to your driver guide.

What To Expect

C'est Cheese

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Schoc Chocolates

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Moy Hall Vineyard

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 11 travelers

Operated by Zozo Travel Limited

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
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

71 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 71 reviews

Not worth it

Mark_G, Mar 2024

Was long beautiful drive through mountains, however the wine tasting was not good, had to pay for your own food. The chocolate tasting was at separate location and was some odd horrible chocolate flavors. Last the cheese tasting was also at separate third site with no wine. Driver didn’t stop for pics of scenery, and only talked to the passenger in front seat.

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Disappointed to hear that your experience with us was not deemed worth it or up to the usual standard of reviews we have come to expect. I appreciate the feedback around the attentiveness of the driver guide to the whole group and this has been discussed. Going forward we will make a better effort to engage with the whole group on a more consistent basis. Sometimes this can be impacted by how communicative individual guests are with our staff who may dominate the the conversations but we need do need to make sure that everyone gets attention, not just the chatty ones! It seems a lot of the remaining issues were around a lack of awareness around what you expected from the tour. As mentioned in the review and the tour description the tour visits three different foodie locations where the cheese, chocolate and wine are produced on site. The chocolate stop includes a guessing game with a blind pre-prepared tasting of 12 bars that intentionally covers a wide range of flavours as you would expect from a foodie tour. This may include coffee and sea salt, lime chilli, curry and poppadoms and other exciting chocolate combinations in milk, dark and white options. There is also the chance to try many other flavours at the completion of the blind tasting. This is generally a highlight of the tour for guests but perhaps doesn't suit people with conservative or unadventurous tastes. The shared cheese platter is served at the cafe associated with the boutique cheese factory and in many cases is the only place to get the cheeses made on site. Whilst I acknowledge cheese and wine are a great combo this is not a licensed premise so wine is not available nor is was there any suggestions that there would be. The wine tasting I suppose is always subject to personal tastes but is highly respected and well reviewed by most. Regarding food there, certainly the meal is clearly listed as optional and at guests expense both in the tour description and by the driver guide for the tour. I'm not sure where that confusion has arisen for you. The tour does include stops at the Remutaka Summit and views of Martinborough subject to weather and timing.

Yummy!

Barbara_F, Mar 2024

Fun day & tastings. Simon was the perfect guide. Recomended for cruise passengers who want to do something else…

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Thanks for taking the time to leave your feedback, Barbara. Great to hear you enjoyed the half day out with Simon! Cheers.

Relaxed tastings in the Martinborough area.

Louise_L, Mar 2024

An excellent tour to do on a rainy day! The cheese tasting was excellent. Wine and lunch very good, but we'd always like more wine! Chocolate tasting unique. Our driver very knowledgeable and friendly. Recommended for a tour that's not too long. If it is a full tour, the van may be a little cosy, but we had only 8 on our trip which meant we had space and comfort.

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Thanks for taking the time to leave your feedback Louise. It was my pleasure to show you around the wonderful little foodie spots of the region. Cheers.

Great day out.

Jane_L, Feb 2024

What a fantastic day! Our guide Simon was very knowledgeable and engaging. The drive to the winery was spectacular and lunch at Moy Hall was first class. The chocolate tasting was unique and it was hard to decide what to choose. Finishing off with a cheese tasting ended an excellent tour.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thanks Jane. Great to hear the foodie day out was such a success!

An awful lot of driving...

Karen_B, Feb 2024

An awful lot of driving and very little tasting. Has to buy our own lunch and had not choice where to go. Not worth it.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Sorry to hear your tour with us was not up to a 5 star experience. Yes, the Martinborough wine region is just over an hour out of Wellington with a scenic drive over the Remutaka Range complete with sightseeing stop at the Summit. This is included in the tour description and is generally enjoyed by guests. Our three foodie stops in the region are then 10-15 minutes apart from each and include cheese (five cheeses), 12 different chocolates and a wine stop (4 wines). Lunch is available at guests' for those that want it at the winery. We do have a full Martinborough Winery and Foodie Tour that includes lunch and more comprehensive stops at each location but of course with an added expense.

Fun tour but bus was small

Clint_V, Feb 2024

We enjoyed the tour very much. The driver Phil was very informative and spoke very loudly & clearly even though he did not have any amplified speaker. The chocolate blind tasting and the cheese sampling were very enjoyable. Even though we don’t drink white wine we enjoyed the tasting and the gnocchi was delicious! Our only complaint was that the bus was very small and since we got stuck on the back row my legs were aching for the hour plus to/from our destination. The driver kept the air on us but with the winding mountain roads car sickness could be an issue for some.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thanks for taking the time to leave your feedback Clint. All fair comments. In this particular instance you were in a smaller 12 seat van as our larger Mercedes Sprinter tour van was off the road having the faulty AC repaired so I can understand and appreciate that issue for you. Often we can replace like for like but with late notice on a cruise day the smaller van was my only option.

Worth the money

Tammy_F, Feb 2024

Wonderful trip. Lunch at Moy Hall was delightful. Cheese shop was so quaint and yummy. Ending the day at the chocolate shop was perfect.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thanks for the feedback, Tammy. Glad the tour was so enjoyable.

Martinborough food and wine tasting

Richard, Feb 2024

Our tour group was sat around a long rectangular table and provided samples of many cheeses to taste, along with various cheese crakers. There was plenty to go around for our group. A brief talk was given by the owner about each cheese. The shop had shelves full of all kinds of cheeses. The chocolate shop provided a small sample of each chocolate that they make. Must have sampled over ten. Hot favourite was the rose petal chocolate. Two samples provided were very bitter which caused a lot of amuzement. Final stop wine tasting and lunch (extra not included) at Moy Hall wines. A lovely vineyard with great views. Wine and the food was very good. Given five wines to sample.

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thanks Richard for the great review. Very detailed! Much appreciated.

Fabulous day - cheese, chocolate and wine with fabulous friends.

Tamara_H, Feb 2024

Was another fantastic tour - enjoyed the whole trip. Cheese, chocolate and wine, what more do you need to ask for? Our tour guide Michael was amazing (Zozo Travel), extremely knowledgeable and was just an all-round lovely person - small group of around 10 people, which made the experience so much more personalised. Had so many laughs throughout the day and probably a little too much wine, but that's what holidays are for....

Response from Host, Feb 2024

Thanks for the wonderful feedback. I've passed your kind words on to Mike who is delighted. Cheers!

Great tour. Phil had...

Susan_W, Jan 2024

Great tour. Phil had great knowledge of the places that he took us and built a good rapport with everyone in the group.

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Thanks for kind words and feedback and for taking the time to leave your thoughts.

Fun Foodie Tour!

Nancy_A, Jan 2024

Good food and drinks. Would have liked a little more information about the wines with lunch. Chocolate and cheese was very good.

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Thanks for taking the time to leave your review Nancy and your suggestions have been noted. Glad you enjoyed the tour. Cheers!

Worth doing

Lauren_E, Jan 2024

Cheese and chocolate visit was good, we stopped and had lunch (at our own expense) at martinborough hotel with the friendly tour guide and the food was lovely. Only negative was the person “hosting” us at the winery… she openly said she wasn’t expecting us and was abrupt. Just so you know you aren’t allowed to take the wine outside to enjoy the view of the vineyard

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Sorry to hear that you didn't have a 5 star experience with us! I've not managed to match your name to any of our recent bookings so I'm struggling to sort out where you had this interaction. Certainly we book all our initial winery visits in on this tour but perhaps you opted for a 2nd optional winery stop? Regardless, this is not the kind of hosting experience we'd like you to have nor is it something that's common for our guests to experience. Feel free to contact me directly at Zozo Travel with more information if you'd like.

Great

Paul_M, Dec 2023

Great day!! Great wine - Great food - Great tour Great tour guide!!!! The van ride was comfortable and the guide was extremely knowledgeable about the history of the different locations we visited and drove past

Response from Host, Dec 2023

Thanks Paul. It was a pleasure to host you both. It was an enjoyable day out hosting a fun and engaged group. Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts.

Day of Wine, Cheese and Chocolate

Sebastian_B, Dec 2023

We loved getting to hear about the area during the drive and our wonderful time at each stop on the tour. Our guide really helped make each part memorable and fun. As a couple from Wisconsin, USA which is known for cheese/dairy products, we loved our experience at C'Est cheese. Our guide did a wonderful job picking the winery we went to which not only had amazing wine but also beautiful views. Schoc chocolate had a wonderful variety of chocolate in our tasting and we definitely found some new favorites.

Response from Host, Dec 2023

Thanks for the wonderful feedback and as always happy to host!

Half day Foodie Tour great!!

Frances_L, Oct 2023

Luncheon with Aaron was delightful. Chocolate was best and Brie cheese was outstanding. Coming from Wisconsin cheese land in US made stiff competition!

Response from Host, Oct 2023

Great to hear you enjoyed the foodie day out and that we managed to impress! Cheers.

Awesome tour highly recommend

Kylie_B, Sep 2023

Great tour. Phil was knowledgeable & very accommodating. Nice range of experiences and leisurely pace. Next time we’ll do the full day option, which sounds sensational.

Response from Host, Sep 2023

Thanks for the great review and of course welcome back any time for the full day version!

Wonderful tour!! Aaron...

RandiAnn_R, Jul 2023

Wonderful tour!! Aaron was the best guide. Full of insight and culinary knowledge. As a native of New Zealand we learned so much.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Great to hear Randi-Ann and thanks for the positive feedback. I'll pass you feedback onto Aaron who will be stoked. Cheers!

Wonderful day out!

Kimberley_B, Jul 2023

My partner and I had a wonderful time on this tour. Perfect way to fill in a day exploring places I've never been before. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the areas we went and about the products we tried.

Response from Host, Jul 2023

Thanks Kimberley, glad you enjoyed the (half) day out. It was a pleasure to have you both onboard!

Great wee day trip

Lana_T, Jun 2023

Wonderful day out. Cheese shop is an amazing wee find, beautiful cheeses Chocolate shop was the best stop for me hehe, gorgeous chocolate Winery was lovely, beautiful lunch had with the wine. Phil gave a great lot of info on the way, history of Wellington areas, about our stops, about the tastings. Great day out!!

Response from Host, Jun 2023

Thanks for the wonderful review and for choosing Zozo Travel. Much apprecaited!

all good

Jo_a, May 2023

great driver/ tour guide and excellent tour, the driver/tour guide was great though out the whole tour

Response from Host, May 2023

Thanks for the feedback, Jo. Glad you enjoyed the day.

Likely to Sell Out