Highlights
- Taieri Gorge Railway tour and city sightseeing combo shore excursion
- Journey through magnificent scenery on a train trip along the Taieri River Gorge
- Tour central Dunedin and learn about its history on a double-decker bus tour
- See Otago University, the Botanical Gardens, stately homes and other historic buildings
- Covered by Viator’s worry-free policy: guaranteed on-time return to your ship
Useful Information
Taieri Gorge Railway Tour
New Zealand’s longest tourist railway, the Taieri Gorge Railway takes you on a four-hour journey from Dunedin to Pukerangi, a distance of 28 miles (45 km). Traveling in a historic wooden train carriage, you’ll follow the course of the Taieri River, passing through almost a dozen tunnels and climbing the edge of the steep-sided Taieri Gorge.
You’ll also cross century-old wrought-iron viaducts with magnificent views of the surrounding countryside, and enjoy several photo stops to capture the spectacular panoramas.
Returning to Dunedin, enjoy a stop for lunch (own expense) before boarding a double-decker bus for a scenic city sightseeing tour at 2:15pm.
While listening to informative onboard commentary detailing the city’s history, travel past Otago University, New Zealand’s first university, and see how the scenically hilly city surrounds a volcanic bay, looking onto the Otago Peninsula. Plus, visit the world's steepest street!
Your sightseeing tour also takes in the city's neo-Gothic churches, town hall, opulent theaters, imposing banks and other 19th-century buildings. Then admire the beautifully landscaped trees and plants of the Dunedin Botanical Gardens before being returned to the Dunedin Railway Station.
Worry-free Shore Excursion:
We will ensure your excursion ends with ample time for you to return to the Dunedin port for your ship’s departure. In the extremely unlikely event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.
Reviewed by Carmel W, April 2013
The trip was amazing. The staff at the train station and the bus/tour guide could not have been more helpful. We here amazed at how much trouble they went to in their endeavour to assist us and ensure that we were able to meet the bus to be part of the site seeing tour of Dunedin.
The only down side to the day was the fact that the train was over 30 minutes late leaving Dunedin and the train trip took another 30 minutes longer than scheduled.
This extra hour took up the 45 minutes gap that we should have had to get from the train station to the place where the bus trip was departing from.
The train staff rang ahead for us and the bus picked us up at the train station.
We felt very sorry for the other people on the bus who had a 20 minute delay while waiting for us to join them.
The bus driver was amazing and very knowledgeable of the city of Dunedin and we would recommend both parts of the tour.
Dunedin is a beautiful city.
Reviewed by Harold P, USA, February 2013
The train ride was excellent. We were concerned that we wouldn't have time to get to the train as our ship didn't dock until 8 and we were supposed to be at the train station at 9. We were ok with that, but we did not understand that we were to go back to the octogon to catch the city tour and no one else knew. We were late getting back on the train and thatput us late for the tour. So we didn't get the city sightseeing. The only recommendation for this tour is to make note on the ticket that we need to return to the octogon for the city sights.
