Bay of Islands Day Tour from Auckland

Auckland, New Zealand

Tour the Bay of Islands on a full-day trip from Auckland. You'll see spectacular rural and coastal scenery en route, visit historic Waitangi, cruise from Paihia and have free time to enjoy the cafes, museums and shops of Russell, New Zealand's early capital.

Your day trip starts with a scenic drive from Auckland to visit the Waitangi Treaty House and grounds, and see a traditional Maori meeting house and a huge waka (war canoe). Next you'll board the Bay Belle ferry to cruise from Paihia to historic Russell, a lovely town that retains the charm of its early whaling port days.

At Russell, you'll join a fascinating mini-tour of the area with a local guide. After the tour you'll have free time to wander and enjoy the cafes, museums and craft shops along the waterfront. You'll also have free time to explore the arcades and shops in Paihia before reboarding your coach back to Auckland.

USD $152.54

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Carl B	April 2012
The door-to-door service was great. I chose to do the Russell highlights tour. If I could do this excursion again, I would opt for a boat tour around the bay, maybe dolphin watching.

Review by: Virginia F	April 2012
Dave, the driver, coordinator, information specialist was excellent. The sites more than met our expectations. The tour of Treaty House and grounds was excellent as well. It was informative and answered several questions from previous days in Museums in Wellington and Auckland. The bus was reasonabley comfortable (It is hard to sit for a long time) and the breaks along the way were most appreciated.

Review by: Valerie H	March 2012
Excellent day out - comprehensive and lively commentary - varied programme - action packed no time wasted. Good value

Review by: Lorraine W	March 2012
We had an excellent day in the Bay of Islands. The Tour was very well organised and the driver was very helpful and informative.

Review by: nell	March 2012
Excellent. Only problem was there was no time for lunch until about 3 pm. Maybe lunch break couldbe schedules before the mini Russell tour/

Review by: Noel G	January 2012
We had a great day. Saw lots of amazing things. The driver was a very informative tour guide and obviously loved his job and country.

Review by: Harish c	December 2011
If people plan to travel NZ during the Summer season , I would highly recommend Bay of Islands.Such a beautiful place and you can do several activities in one place,you have to stay minimum two nights to go around the area.Thanks to Viator and Great Sights for Organizing the tour.

Review by: Howard K	November 2011
Booking ahead for tours was the best plan. It allowed us to see as much as possible in a short time. Arriving in a country not knowing where to go and see wastes time and money. Also booking in advance saves money as there is often a deal on reserving a place on a tour or hop-on-hop-off bus in advance of the tour date._br/_ Very happy with Viator's booking service and reservation process. Went straight onto the tour with our names already noted on reservation lists of the operator._br/_ Cheer H K.

Review by: Ron	November 2011
tour was alrigth

Review by: Marianna T	November 2011
Great day ,very enjoyable ,the tour guide on the day very organised.. The Bay of Islands would highly recommend.

Review by: Kathleen M	November 2011
Excellent trip,bus driver extremely informative and helpful,very knowledgeable,Thank You

Review by: Vicki M	August 2011
A lot of driving for a short time there. Lunch was a problem as there was no time to get anything and the tour in Russell ran over so missed the boat and arrived back too late to eat or get anything worth while.

Review by: Sally-Anne A	June 2011
Big day out! The countryside on the way to the Bay is wonderful. Luxury coach...great commentary. Treaty house was informative and the guide was very knowledgeable. Not much time to spend at the Bay of Islands though. Russell is a lovely place, but you only really get enough time (about an hour) to do the tour and then you need to hop back on the ferry to get back to the meeting point. There was time to look around at Paiha - which is a nice little village with interesting stores to look through.

Review by: Sanjaykumar G	May 2011
little bit boring tour and too much to travel by bus.

Review by: Karen S	May 2011
Peter our guide and driver was EXCELLENT. He provided an informative and humorous commentary and was the best guide we have ever had. Despite wet and windy weather the trip was a success, largely due to Peter.

Review by: Don	March 2011
Too far for the schedule. No time was allowed for lunch or shopping at Russel.

Review by: Helen W	February 2011
Great trip to see the sights from Auckland to the Bay of Islands and take in the historic town of Russel. Very well organised and run, with informative commentary throughout the day. Time for free activity too on the day trip, and highly recommended for anybody not wishing to miss this lovely area, but who has only limited time available.

Review by: David W	January 2011
Very good trip and well organised but the fantastic scenery was marred by torrential rain. In better weather, it wouls have been quite magical.

Review by: Catherine J	November 2010
This proved a rewarding day - the Driver/guide was knowledgeable and had a light touch with the information. The guide at the Treaty Grounds, too, was knowledgeable and passionate about sharing her heritage with the group and the mini-tour of Russell was interesting. In all, a not to be missed experience

Review by: Mario B	November 2010
I enjoyed my tour, it was long but I had the opportunity to see a lot and the driver was knowledgeable and gave a lot of explanations. I suggest to include a lunch in Bay of Island.

Review by: Susan S, United States of America	June 2010
It was a very good experience! The scenery out to the islands was absolutely breathtaking!! I visited a small fishing town and wish I could have spent more time there tho. Overall, it was nice.

Review by: Eric R, Australia	April 2010
Well organised, tour guide is informative. Not a lot to see in Paihia itself so you need to organise your own side tours to visit the islands and surrounds before heading back.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	March 2010
Due to very poor weather, high winds and heavy rain due to cyclone over the island of Tonga that had taken place over a week prior to our excursion, it wasn't much fun walking around.

Review by: Jane F, United Kingdom	January 2010
Great trip

Review by: Michael B, United Kingdom	January 2010
Well organised and efficiently executed tour which packed in the sights and Maori history. If anything, the day wasn't long enough!

Review by: MICHAEL B	January 2010
Well organised and efficiently executed tour which packed in the sights and Maori history. If anything, the day wasn't long enough!

Review by: Frances A, Australia	October 2009
As a single woman traveling by herself, I found this a fantastic day trip, great value for money, wonderful bus driver that was knowledgeable about different areas, and some interesting facts to share with people on the bus. I wouldn't have seen all this if I had hired a car by myself, and wouldn't have got all of this info. Definitely would recommend this tour to anyone. And the fact that they picked me up and dropped me off at my hotel was a bonus, I liked the fact that they had an info letter for me at check in, never had that with another company before!

Review by: Sharon V, United Kingdom	October 2009
A brilliant, excellent driver and guide very helpful and friendly. The boat trip was super and we went through the hole.

Review by: Robert M, United States of America	March 2009
Wish I could've stayed overnight. Will know for the next trip.

Review by: Carol D, Australia	February 2009
The phone number to confirm was incorrect, and it took 3 mobile calls to find the correct one. In fact, a rival bus company suggested the right number to ring. As it happened, we did need to ring because our details assured us we were to be picked up at our hotel, but the new bus company did not pick up from our hotel. The confusion made the tour beginning rather stressful.

Review by: Leilani L, Australia	February 2009
Worth the trip, Russell was very pretty.

Review by: LEILANI L	February 2009
Worth the trip, Russell was very pretty.

Review by: Dewi P, Australia	January 2009
It was great trip with nice view. But we didn't actually have time for lunch. It is recommended to buy your own lunch at the cafe when we stopped for morning tea on the way to Bay of Islands.

Review by: John Z, Thailand	December 2008
Superb day at the Bay of Islands with an extremely knowledgeable and excellent driver, look forward to booking future tours with Viator.

Review by: Anonymous, Australia	December 2008
While the tour itself was very interesting, I would not recommend using Viator to book it. It turns out that the tour is actually run by two different groups: one handles the coach trip and another the ferry ride in the Bay of Islands. My friend and I tried to organise for pickup from our hotel in Auckland on the morning of the tour but were given a massive run-around. The number provided on our Viator docket was for one company, who said that they had no idea about the particular trip we were talking about. We then spent a very long time on the phone to another number provided to us by the lady at the first company - eventually she said that she had to call Australia to confirm the details of our trip and to organise for us to be picked up at our hotel. The hotel pickup did not run smoothly either, with a cab having to be sent twice as the first driver could not find our hotel! My advice would be to see if you can book this trip or a similar one directly through an actual tour company rather than going through a third party.

Review by: Susan F	December 2008
Tour was rushed due to the distance from Auckland, but good.

Review by: Kirstyn M	July 2008
I enjoyed this tour. It was another one day but a good way to see the countryside. I thoroughly enjoyed the tours of the Treaty House and Russell and learnt a lot. The weather wasn't great but this would probably be a wonderful tour in summer.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	September 2007
Excellent!

Review by: Ralph S, Netherlands	March 2007
Our driver was just great! Knows a lot about the region, has got a great sense of humour that, with the great sights, made it fabulous!

Review by: Anonymous	August 2006
Pleased we did this trip to the Bay of Islands & experienced some of NZ history.

Review by: Robin M, Australia	July 2006
The bus driver was one of the highlights of our trip. He was fun, informative and made each kilometer pass with interest. We had mixed weather but nothing detracted from the beauty of this area of New Zealand. We had never been on a bus tour before but now we will do more and more.