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Dunedin and Otago Peninsula: Larnach Castle and More
3.6
14 Ratings
Port Chalmers
Experience the best of Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula on this unique shore excursion. Explore Larnach Castle, Dunedin’s Chinese Garden, and the Otago Early Settlers Museum.
Experience the best of Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula on this unique shore excursion. Explore Larnach Castle, Dunedin’s Chinese Garden, and the Otago Early Settlers Museum.
Duration:
7 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Port Chalmers Wharf - 9:00 am - The tour will commence from Port Chalmers, offering a city sights tour of Dunedin. Participants will visit Otago University, Botanical Gardens, Historic Buildings, the ‘World’s Steepest Street’, and more, with ample opportunities for photography. Please be prepared by 8:45 am for a 9:00 am departure.
- **Larnach…
- Port Chalmers Wharf - 9:00 am - The tour will commence from Port Chalmers, offering a city sights tour of Dunedin. Participants will visit Otago University, Botanical Gardens, Historic Buildings, the ‘World’s Steepest Street’, and more, with ample opportunities for photography. Please be prepared by 8:45 am for a 9:00 am departure.
- Larnach Castle & Gardens - Arrive at Larnach Castle and step back in time with a guided tour of New Zealand’s only castle, constructed in 1871. Discover the intriguing, exciting, and tragic history of the castle while enjoying the magnificent splendor of a bygone era. The tour also includes the castle’s gardens, which are internationally significant and offer breathtaking views from this commanding vantage point on the Otago Peninsula. There will also be time for lunch (at own expense).
- Dunedin Chinese Garden - Depart Larnach Castle and return to Dunedin for a visit to Dunedin’s Chinese Garden. This authentic Chinese Garden serves as a fitting, permanent tribute to the Chinese people who arrived in Otago during the 1880s gold rush and stayed to establish some of the city’s businesses. The Chinese Garden was crafted by a team of artisans and craftsmen from Shanghai.
- Toitu Otago Settlers Museum - After exploring the gardens, there will be time to visit the Otago Early Settlers Museum. The museum’s collection of over 100,000 items highlights the character, culture, technology, art, fashion, and transport of the Otago Province from before European Settlement to the present. Finally, return to the cruise ship before its departure from port.
What's Included
- Local guide
- Driver/guide
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Port pickup and drop-off
- Local guide
- Driver/guide
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Port pickup and drop-off
What's Not Included
- Food & Drinks
- Lunch
- Gratuities
- Food & Drinks
- Lunch
- Gratuities
Additional Information
A unique opportunity to experience the very best Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula has to offer. This shore excursion combines sightseeing of Dunedin City and the Otago Peninsula with a guided tour of the stunning Larnach Castle and its grounds. Also included is Dunedin’s Chinese Gardens: an authentic Chinese Garden crafted by a team of artisans and…
A unique opportunity to experience the very best Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula has to offer. This shore excursion combines sightseeing of Dunedin City and the Otago Peninsula with a guided tour of the stunning Larnach Castle and its grounds. Also included is Dunedin’s Chinese Gardens: an authentic Chinese Garden crafted by a team of artisans and craftsman from Dunedin’s sister city of Shanghai. Adjacent to the gardens, explore the Otago Early Settlers Museum with emphasis on the early settlement of Otago.
- Minimum number of 10 Adults required for tour to operate
Location
Port Chalmers
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
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
3.6
(14 Ratings)
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Dineshbabu_s
Apr 8, 2024
Great experience, Above and beyond - Amazing experience, the guide and driver was fantastic, gave a great information on Dunedin and showed us the town around very well, took the time to shows places additionally to the intenary, we had some additional request to stop in few shops, Where the guide and driver went above and beyond to cater to everyone’s preference, Will choose them once again if given the opportunity,
Review provided by Viator
Darri_g
Mar 17, 2024
Informative and Entertaining - A great tour of Dunedin and the Larnach Castle. Our tour guide, Kim, was very knowledgeable and gave us a fun and entertaining tour of the castle with lots of stories and history of the house and family. Would highly recommend this tour!
Review provided by Viator
Trip62120800890
Mar 2, 2024
Great time at Dunedin - Warren from Leisure Tours was awesome!
The sightseeing was great because Nathan knows the area well. He took us to world’s steepest street, lookout points, beach front, city centre, Lamarch castle, Chinese Garden. We had lunch in the city and Nathan gave us plenty of time to enjoy the spots and take photos.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Robb_w
Feb 29, 2024
A few glitches, but totally pleased - I had several emails from Viator telling me to look for iconic tours, Fantail Tours, Good Company Tours and finally Liesure tours. This was a wee bit disconcerting and confusing. Leisure tours never appeared up on the big bulletin board at departure time or who to meet. The kind people at the big meeting hall picked up on this and gathered us all together. Most of the tours had already left, and finally our Brian came with the Johnson’s bus, and had all the information. I wasn’t too upset, because I just gotten off a tour in the city of Auckland. That was absolutely fantastic so I tried to calm the rest of the people down and say no it’s it’ll be all right something will happen.
The rest of the tour was fabulous. There’s not much to do or see in Dunedin, but definitely the castle and the grounds around it were worth the wait. I had four tours booked with Viator for this cruise. The one at Akaroa was cancelled by Holland America lines 2 days before we got there because of winds. The cancellation policy dictated that I get nothing back so I was out $100-ish for something that was not my fault and we heard afterwards that the winds died down, and we could’ve gone, I also know some people that got their money refunded but I was refused.
Those are the only two problems I had and I have 1 more booked at Hobart for
March 7
I am spending a week in Sydney after the cruise and will definely book a few tours with Viator. What happened, due to whatever. Were unfortunate, but The guides that you subcontracted out were Wonderful.
I’m sure the small glitches will be ironed out And I will recommend Viator to anyone that asks.
See you in Sydney
Review provided by Viator
Alex_g
Feb 1, 2024
Did not get what was promissed. - Tour operator re assign us to different company whose tour was focused on visiting CAstle. Our Guid was amaizing, he showed us a lot and his son performed sctish dance. We visited the longest streert, but missed Chinise Guarden and Museum.
Biggest issue was that our tour started later than scheduled and there were no sign or representative of original provider. Thank you local people on the port terminal who called around for us and helpd to find replacement operator..
Day went well, so I would recommend to book tour with different operator.
Review provided by Viator
Barbara_k
Feb 6, 2026
Alberto was fabulous and... - Alberto was fabulous and explained in detail. The castle and grounds were magnificent. The reason for the poor rating is that the company had us booked on the wrong tour (a train tour) and 2 of the 3 highlights of the tour we did book were not available today. Very disappointed.
Review provided by Viator
Jfacciolla1
Mar 18, 2024
No tour guide as stated - Unfortunately, the tour we were on did not have a tour guide, as stated on the tour overview.
Tafe, the bus, driver was very kind and also stressed out that he didn’t know where to meet the group of 29 in the terminal, he wasn’t able to give us any commentary, and they did not provide him with a mic. We were dropped off at the attractions, but we didn’t get the other half of the tour, which was the commentary information about our attractions in the city.
I requested a partial refund, but I was denied.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ghebe
Feb 26, 2024
Bad tour information - The information on meeting time and company wasn’t accurate. It was very confusing. The guide was great but hard to find him.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jill_f
Mar 10, 2024
No tour guide - This was a very stressful and uncomfortable tour. We arrived at the meeting Point on time and there was no one to meet us. We called the office four times because there was no representative holding a sign for our tour. Over 20 minutes later, we saw a gentleman arrive holding a sign but not standing in the assigned area and looking very confused. It turns out the tour guide did not show up for the tour, so the bus driver was instructed to find 29 of us, and then drive us to the attractions. There was no commentary, no city highlights, no city facts, just a very nice bus driver. He did make a few comments when he could, but only the first few rows could hear him, since they did not equipped him with a speaker. Taft was very nice and did try his best.
Review provided by Viator
Chihpin_l
Mar 17, 2024
This was the worst tour I... - This was the worst tour I have ever had. We didn't have the tour guide, only had bus driver and he didn't really know how run this trip. We have already paid all the admission tickets but the driver didn't have any idea about this. Also, he didn't finish all the itneraries. We didn't go to Toitu Otago Settlers Museum but we have already paid the admission Ticket. Our trip should have 7 hours long (from 9:30am to 4:30pm) but he came to pick us up at 10:05am and ended the tour at 4:05pm.
I request the reimbursement for the admission tickets we paid.
Review provided by Viator
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