Top Picton Historical Tours

If you're looking for an unforgettable nature experience, look no further than the Motuara Island Bird Sanctuary and Ship Cove Cruise from Picton. This tour takes you to one of New Zealand's rodent-free offshore sanctuaries, Motuara Island, where you'll see a variety of native birds in regenerating native bush. You'll also cruise to Meretoto / Ship Cove, a beautiful sheltered cove that was once a favorite spot of Captain James Cook. Compared with a traditional mail boat cruise, this tour offers more time seeing wildlife and less time parked on shore.

Take in a slice of rustic Marlborough living on this mail boat cruise of Tōtaranui / Queen Charlotte Sound. Life in the sounds is remote, and this tour offers the chance to share in the excitement of mail day. Enjoy a free morning in Picton before spending your afternoon cruising past isolated bays, with a unique route on offer each day. Ask your skipper about the history of the Queen Charlotte Sound, and benefit from their help spotting the wildlife that frequent these waterways.

Discover the natural beauty and fresh seafood of the Marlborough Sounds on an afternoon cruise from Picton. Travel by luxury catamaran through the sheltered waters of Queen Charlotte Sound. Taste fresh, locally farmed salmon and Greenshell mussels on board, pairing them with a glass of local wine if you like (own expense). Learn about marine farming in the sounds, and admire the views of otherwise hard-to-reach places.

Drive Marlborough yourself, with a GPS audio guide that plays automatically as you go. Your booking unlocks the whole region in the free Wine Trails app: pick your date and starting point — most people begin in Blenheim or straight off the Picton ferry, though you can start anywhere and the GPS will pick you up — choose the cellar doors you want, and the app builds your personal route with turn-by-turn narration. 85 narrated stories cover 48 cellar doors and the valleys between them: as you cross the Wairau plain you'll hear how this was sheep country until 1973, when Montana Wines pushed seventy-five thousand vine cuttings into stony ground every expert had written off as too cold, too windy and too far south for serious wine. No group, no schedule, no guide — pause for a long lunch, replay anything, and the audio keeps working when the signal drops. You'll need a car and a designated driver; tastings are booked and paid directly with the wineries.

On your cruise ship stopover in Picton, make sure not to miss any of the top spots in the Marlborough wine region by booking this hop-on hop-off bus tour. Eliminate the hassle of navigating between top attractions around Blenheim, including numerous wineries, beer gardens, the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre, and more. See what you want and skip the rest, and spend as much time at each location as you’d like.

Download a vibrantly-narrated mp3 audio guide combined with a map detailing the area of your tour. Enjoy a cultural self-guided audio tour of the serene seaside area of Picton. This tour will take you on a historical journey where you will learn about Picton’s Māori past and see sights such as the ancient Whaling Harpoon and postcard perfect Picton foreshore.