Dunedin Shore Excursion City Sightseeing & Tour of Larnach Castle
Port Chalmers, New Zealand
- 7 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
What's Included
- Dunedin sightseeing tour
- Professional guide
- Worry-free Shore Excursion Guarantee
- Port pickup and drop-off
- Admission and Guided Tour of Larnach Castle
- Food and drinks
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Port Chalmers, Dunedin, New Zealand
The tour will depart from the Visitors' Building on the ship's wharf at 9AM. The Driver / Guide will meet you inside by the Private Tours area. Look out for our sign "Welcome LEISURE TOURS" Please arrive 15 minutes prior to your tour departure
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
Otago Peninsula (Pass By)
1
Dunedin Railways
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Larnach Castle & Gardens
2 hours • Admission Ticket Included
3
Dunedin
2 hours • Admission Ticket Free
Dunedin Railways (Pass By)
Dunedin Botanic Garden (Pass By)
University of Otago (Pass By)
Baldwin Street - World's Steepest Street! (Pass By)
Port Chalmers Wharf (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Infant seats available
- Most travelers can participate
- Should your cruise ship timetable be indicating that you will be berthing in Dunedin (Port Chalmers) at 9am or later, this does not preclude you from booking these tour options. The timetable may be altered to align, if possible, with the cruise ships arrival time
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 30 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 6 days in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.1
based on 70 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Leslie_A, Mar 2026
We liked the tour but the schedule was off. We had too much extra time at the castle and not enough time in town to eat and browse. We stopped at the NZ Train Station before anything was even open.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thank you for your review and comments. Much of the timings are governed by when the ship arrives and departs. Many times we do not know until the day = we try and keep tour timing flexible to cover all eventualities.
Samuel_H, Mar 2026
Very knowledgeable guide. Free time can be a little more but understand why it was short. Shout out to Albert!
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Great review and appreciate your comments. Its a challenge making a tour comprehensive and meeting the timeframes of the ship. Always a challenge.
Vincent_P, Feb 2026
A well organised tour by the activity provider, Leisure Tours. Constant communication prior to arrival providing directions to our meeting point and instructions to identify our tour guide upon disembarkation from our ship.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Excellent review - and it shows that we understand our business and your needs well. Combining together to make all things work.
Shirlee_A, Jan 2026
Tour cancelled 24 hrs in advance by operator, very disappointed. We had to scramble to find another tour operator. We later learned other Viator tours did operate. We located a non Viator tour and was very pleased. Poor performance on the part of the tour operator.
Response from Host, Jan 2026
Thanks for your review.
We do not cancel tours lightly but when we don't have enough numbers we refund the money and encourage clients to book directly with the railway.
George_D, Nov 2025
The was originally scheduled for 9:00am departure
However, the tour operator gave specific instructions to meet at 9:45am for 10:00am departure. We arrived early at 9:10am only to find the tour left without us.
Response from Host, Nov 2025
Sorry to hear you missed your tour despite us messaging you. The instructions were sent regarding the 8.45am meeting and all other members of your group were there. We have made some changes to ensure this is more clear for future passengers.
jeffrey_B, Dec 2020
Dunedin is a must see and this tour was perfect. A knowledgeable guide and plent of time to walk this fascinating community before ambling back to our ship. Well worth the time!
Response from Host, Dec 2020
Pleased to learn that your shore excursion of Dunedin was perfect. I do hope you have the opportunity to visit us again at some time in the future.
Kelvin_G, Feb 2020
Learnt about the history of Dunedin went to many places. The driver was excellent and local knowledge
Response from Host, Mar 2020
Thanks for the great review of your Dunedin Sightseeing with Olveston House and for praising your driver/guide who was with you on the day of travel. I'll be sure to pass on your kind words. I hope you get to return to Dunedin someday soon!
GSLANZ47, Feb 2020
With the exception of the tour of the Olveston House, Dunedin is rather lacking in anything else of significance. The house is a marvel, steeped in fascinating history and preserved in its architecture and furnishings, a tribute to the volunteers. Dunedin does have a train station that is unique for the size of the city but other than that there's not a lot to see. A tour of the house and then off to the environs would had made it a better day.
Response from Host, Feb 2020
Thank you for taking the time to submit your review. We are sorry to hear that you found the city of Dunedin somewhat disappointing. Most customers find Dunedin an interesting city with character and charm, however, all reviews are subjective with many different opinions concerning the same matter. We trust you will enjoy the remainder of your cruise and the ports that you visit.
Larry C, Dec 2019
Our guide (driver) was on time. Very knowledgeable about the history of Dunedin. Very friendly. Highly recommend.
Response from Host, Dec 2019
Thanks for the great review and recommendation, Larry. I'm really pleased you had a nice time on your shore excursion to Dunedin and Olveston House. We hope you join us for another excursion at some point in the future!
Susan_M, Dec 2018
Very enjoyable excursion, our driver provided plenty of interesting facts about various locations and showed us many interesting places. Olveston House is a beautiful building with awell organised tour of the building.
John W, Mar 2018
This was a good tour with an expert guide. Olverston House was very good.
Margaret J, Mar 2018
Highly recommend this tour especially Olveston House. Driver was experienced and informative.
Only complaint we left ship at 9.15am and returned early afternoon. However, we had no opportunity anywhere to purchase refreshments. Thankfully got back on board in time for high tea.
Stephen A, Feb 2018
The guide was fantastic. There was a major delay getting off the ship and the buses were kept waiting for us. The small group, with only 18 on the minibus was also Olveston House was well worth the visit and we enjoyed lunch and our free time in Dunedin, as well as the introductory tour of the City.
LeslieClive_M, Jan 2018
Tracey our tour guide was welcoming, friendly and informative. We enjoyed seeing the highlights of Dunedin and Olveston House was very interesting - we really liked the tour of the house and hearing about its history. We would recommend this tour.
Navidreza M, Jan 2018
The guide was informative and friendly. The places we visited were very nice. The tour started on time and we were dropped off on time to get back on the cruise ship. would recommend this tour
Bruce E, Apr 2017
Driver was efficient picking us up and giving us information as we drove into Dunedin. Olveston House was excellent. Disappointed that we could not take pictures inside the house, but the furnishings were amazing and the guide was very good.
We had free time in the city centre - visited the art museum and the Anglican and Presbyterian churches - very interesting and imposing buildings.
The Dunedin Railway station was good. Only drawback was that all the tourist buses were parked in front of the building with the result that we could not get good pictures!
The sightseeing tour was essentially a two-hour bus ride. I wished we could have gotten off the bus from time to time to see some of the local highlights. However, if you only have a short time, this is one way of getting an overview.
tina w, Mar 2017
Olveston house is definitely one to see on your visit here it is totally in tack and the tour really interesting. It was good to have some time in town before the highlight tour a great tour..
Rhonda H, Feb 2017
Dunedin - what a town - we will be back! The excursion undertaken was one of the highlights to New Zealand, it was value for money, not rushed and our driver 'Richard' was exceptionally knowledgeable and conveyed it in a way that everyone could understand he must have been a radio announcer in a previous life. we would recommend this excursion to any traveller.
George C, Feb 2017
Things were disorganised at the port as we were brusquely sorted into groups. We were taken to Olveston for an excellent one hour guided tour. This is an amazing place. This tour can be taken independently for 20 nz. We were taken into the town centre at 10.45 and told to be at the station by 14.00. This is too long to hang around in Dunedin even with lunch. When we went to the station at 1350 Richard told ùs we would have a long wait for people to join us from another tour They arrived about 1420 but lack of organisation led to two people getting on the wrong bus and another 20 minutes hanging around. We were treated throughout in an offhand manner and Richard clearly wanted to be somewhere else? We took several tours on our time in New Zealand and this was by far the worst. No doubt Viator business will keep the Good Tour company afloat but they need to give themselves a shake and treat cruise passengers better.
Robert_F, Feb 2017
Booked a coach tour for two elderly ladies. Got picked up from our cruise boat by one bus then rushed through investing house. We didn't even get to see outside in the garden. One of their interests. Then a different driver picked us up and dropped us off on the Shopping Centre for four very long hours. A feet and ankle swelling experience for the feeble old dears. Who had to walk a fair way back to the train station. Our next driver didn't really want to take us on our haha 2hour tour this consisted of a drive around the outskirts of Dunedin, the look out and the way back to the ship. Very expensive taxi ride really. Olvesten house was worth the visit. Pity they rushed us off. Not recommended at all
Arthur_R, Jan 2017
One of the worst organised tours that we have had the misfortune to be on. Mainly because after we were taken to Olveston House from Port Chalmers and had a look round that, which was fine, we got onto a coach provided by the company and were then told by the driver that we were going to be dumped in the centre of Dunedin and abandoned for half a day, ie three and a half hours. We were told to hang around Dunedin from 1100 till 1430 when we had to make our own way to Dunedin Train Station and look for our sightseeing coach. This was totally unacceptable behaviour by the tour company and at no stage was it explained in the tour details or even by the driver who first picked us up from the ship that we would be dumped by the tour company in the middle of the tour for half a day working day. If we had known in advance we would never have even dreamt of booking this tour.
Not only were we just dumped but it was a Sunday and pouring with rain all day and there was absolutely nothing to do in Dunedin. We hadn't even had a city tour first so we could orientate ourselves in the city. Not that we could have done anything anyway as it was so wet and a Sunday so very little open. I did complain to the driver who picked us up from Olveston House but he clearly couldn't care less and just said that it was nothing to do with him.
The driver said we could spend the time on the Internet as there was a free connection at the Octagon but that wasn't true as although some people could connect the system was clearly incapable of coping with the huge number of people trying to connect. So we had to go to a cafe and incur additional expense in order to get an Internet connection.
After the huge wait we eventually found our new driver at the Station and did our tour of the Otago peninsula etc. However there was thick fog so hardly anything could be seen - though I accept that the fog was not the company's fault. However, they should have had some sort of a standby plan for such situations. So that part of the tour was largely a wash-out not helped by a not very friendly driver.
We were then taken back to the ship as planned but to add final insult to injury the driver dropped us and around half the passengers at the terminal and we were then expected to walk a couple of hundred metres to our ship in the still pouring rain, getting completely soaked. However we saw that our driver took the remaining passengers who were from the other ship directly to the gangway for their ship so none of those passengers got wet! However we saw other coaches took passengers directly to our ship so it was quite obvious that our driver was just being difficult and rude.
When in the cafe I did send an email to the local company organising our tour and buses but up to now I have had absolutely no response or even acknowledgement from them. The whole day was nearly completely useless and the way the local company handled the whole tour was a disaster. It was also extraordinarily bad customer service and reminded me of the 70's and 80's with a frequently bad attitude from staff in the travel industry and very poor levels of customer service. An extremely unhappy and annoying and frustrating day for us. I would certainly suggest that you never utilise this sub-contractor again.
Susan_B, Jan 2017
Olveston House was wonderful, a beautiful home bought to life by our great guide! The city tour was extensive and very informative. We saw so much of Dunedin. The spare time, approximately 4 hours in the city was great for us as we wanted to do some shopping and take a look at the Station. Our driver was very informative and personalised the drive around the city. Great day out.
stevet1003, Apr 2016
We enjoyed visiting the Olveston House with its history and furnishings intact from the 1900's. Sort of a smallish Downton Abbey! We then had a few hours in downtown Dunedin to wonder about and eat lunch before resuming our city tour. We had some excellent viewpoints from the hills about Dunedin to see the city and the countryside. We had a very nice day there!
Nettie, Apr 2016
Well organised and punctual. Gave us a real insight to Dunedin and it's surrounds
John H, Mar 2016
Loved Olveston House and the surrounding sights. Well done.
DonnaW, Mar 2016
An excellent tour of the Otego Peninsula and Olveston House. Great guide and timely sightseeing all around. A very hilly and scenic city. The railway station was beautiful. Time to walk all around the city was valued and enabled visiting sites instead of just driving by them. A very worthwhile tour!
Pauline B, Feb 2016
Well organised trip, plenty to see at Olveston House.Unfortunately weather was not kind so did not have much opportunity to view gardens or sight seeing but really pleased we booked the tour
John R, Feb 2016
A very interesting and well-presented tour. The highlights of Dunedin were covered, along with a one-hour guided tour to the fascinating Olveston House, which is still as it was when lived in during the 1930's. Not to be missed - a good value tour for an overview of this interesting city.
elvie, Feb 2016
enjoyed this tour thoroughly, learned a lot about Dunedin from a very informative guide.
R CRAIG A, Feb 2016
It was an outstanding way to experience Dunedin. I highly recommend the Olveston House Tour
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Dunedin Shore Excursion City Sightseeing & Tour of Larnach Castle
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