Home > Auckland > Bay of Islands Day Tour from Auckland
USD $166.00
Bay of Islands Day Tour from Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand
Explore the Bay of Islands on a full day trip from Auckland and discover the historic sites of Waitangi and Russell. You’ll visit the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, ferry from Paihia to Russell, New Zealand's first permanent European settlement and sea port, and take an informative tour with a local guide. Before returning to Auckland, enjoy free time to check out Russell’s bustling shops, cafes and museums at your leisure.
After pickup from your centrally-located Auckland hotel or the Sky City coach terminal, you’ll travel by comfortable air-conditioned coach approximately three hours to Paihia, the jumping off point for touring the Bay of Islands. Relax as you motor along the scenic route and avail yourself of free on board WIFI.
When you arrive in Paihia, you’ll head to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds for a guided tour of this historical site, where in 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi–considered the founding document of the nation–was signed by 43 Maori chiefs and the British Crown. You’ll visit the Waitangi Treaty House, built in 1832 as a private home and now a museum with informational displays, including a copy of the treaty. Nearby you'll find an elaborately decorated Maori meeting house and a large waka (war canoe) with photographs depicting its construction from gigantic logs.
After visiting Waitingi, you’ll take a short ferry ride to Russell for a 1-hour coach tour of this charming town with a wild past. Find out why Russell was once known as the 'Hellhole of the Pacific' and see historical highlights including the Pompallier Mission, Christ Church, and New Zealand’s oldest pub. From the top of Flagstaff Hill, you’ll get panoramic views over the bay and learn about the historical controversy surrounding the flagstaff in the 1840s.
You’ll have free time to spend at your leisure when the guided tour concludes in Russell. Relax in town and explore Russell’s cafes, shops, waterfront, museum and art galleries featuring Maori artists. After a scenic and informative full-day tour, you’ll reboard your coach and be returned to Auckland.
The coach driver, Shelly, was amazing. The guide at the treaty signing memorial was excellent. I would not recommend the Russell mini tour. It was just a person pointing out houses and saying how much they cost.
Review by: jain.ram.b, March 2018
Good tour. Not too happy with the way they kept us waiting so they can accommodate passengers from other trips who wanted to caome back to Auckland. Probably not going with this company.
Review by: Mariana M, March 2018
El lugar es lindo, pero te ofrecfen tour en español y después no es así, por lo cual no entendí absolutamente nada, si hubiera sabido, no lo cotnrataba.
Review by: Narelle F, January 2018
This was a great way to have a glimpse of the Bay of Island when you have limited time in New Zealand, it takes a whole day but really worthwhile and very informative.
Review by: ihepa2, January 2018
Loved this tour! Paihia is so beautiful. I want to go back and stay there for a few days. Our driver, Ben, was funny, engaging and very knowledgeable. The entire tour was so well choreographed. It was an easy and nice flow and we didn't feel rushed and could just enjoy the locale. Book this tour!
Review by: Yeritza S, January 2018
This tour is long a lot of driving and only one hour to enjoy the beach so it only if you gonna stay a couple days over the island
Review by: Debbie C, January 2018
It was a long day, over 3 hrs to get there. Was a 12 hr day. I had been there before, by car, and I wanted my husband to see it. We had great weather. Went over to Russell on the ferry, which was nice. I don't remember of guide's name, he was also the bus driver. He was very good._br/_ All in all a good tour
Review by: Bernane S, January 2018
Russell is my favorite island. Amazed how friendly people were.
Review by: Monica D, December 2017
A wonderful day. An experienced, knowledgeable driver. A good variety of activities.
Review by: nef.hawkins, December 2017
This was a great trip! The guide was great, the stops were fantastic, and Everywhere was just beautiful. A long day, but worth it. Also, the lunch option is a great way to go.
Review by: Jack S, December 2017
Very scenic
Review by: Rumneet G, December 2017
This was great tour, our tour guide Rachael was really knowledgeable and kept us entertained during the long journey to the bay of islands.
Review by: Mrs R W, November 2017
This tour was amazing!
Review by: Martha B, November 2017
Comfortable bus, although we miss having a pocket for our guide book and a tablet for our tea/coffee cup! Knowledgeable and pleasant driver, Polite and attentive. Although it is a long drive, the scenery along the way makes it worthwhile. As we cannot plan the weather well in advance, we chose the Russell Tour, not the cruise. It proved to be the right choice because those who were on the cruise had a miserable time. Pouring rain throughout!. We did not see much of the islands, but our time in Russell was most pleasant!. Was it worth 12 hours of driving from Auckland? Some will say yes, some will say no...It depends on what one is looking for...
Review by: Edwin J, October 2017
Really nice!
Review by: Mitsy L, October 2017
It is a bit of a ride from Auckland to the Bay of Islands - however our wonderful bus driver/ tour guide kept our attention with his dry humor and excellent storytelling skills about the land and the various groups who have touched it over time. There is a wonderful new museum displaying the changes to the land made by the first people of the Pacific Islands great cultural perspective and the side by side impact of the Europeans and their view of land and the people. We spent time across the bay in Russell as well.
Review by: Tracey R, August 2017
Great trip, long day. The Bay of Islands was beautiful. Commentary on bus trip was good.
Review by: Stephen P, July 2017
The visit to the Waitangi Treaty site was great - would have enjoyed more time at this location. The entire of Bay of Islands area is beautiful and well worth the visit
Review by: E M w, June 2017
Lovely place to visit but long coach journey and felt a little too rushed from the treaty grounds. Guide was very friendly and knowledgeable .Lunch left a lot to be desired so was disappointed at this.
Review by: Julie C, June 2017
What an amazing day we had. Would recommend this tour highly.
Review by: Susan T, May 2017
Bay of Islands is beautiful. The trip was wonderful in every respect. It was a long tour as it requires about 3 hrs each way to reach the Bay of Islands area. But Ben, our bus driver shared a nice commentary along the way and stopped for coffee and a restroom break at a nice bakery about half way on both outbound and return. Personally, I would recommend that visitors should consider traveling to Bay of Islands, then staying there for one or two nights and booking a return trip later. There is much to do at Bay of Islands and if you go only one day, then you have to choose. Most of our trip selected a harbor/ocean cruise to see dolphins and travel through Hole in the Rock. This is a bit chancy as dolphins do not always cooperate and a boat trip through the rock requires proper tide flows. We instead chose to visit Wakatangi Maori site beautiful harbor views and interesting NZ/Maori history and then take a short boat ride across the harbor to Russell. We took an excellent 1-hr tour around Russell. The bus was quite comfortable but the total 12 hour trip is long in any case. But overall, we were very satisfied. Outstanding weather, beautiful scenery, friendly attentive bus driver, comfortable bus.
Review by: Ruegen L, May 2017
very informative, beautiful setting and landscape. Only drawback is a relatively long busride... but then, we had a very knowledgeable driver and interesting discussions among the group
Review by: Michelle B, May 2017
We had a great full day trip to The Bay of Islands from Auckland with our driver/guide Ben. Ben had so much local knowledge but also had some fun facts, and if you like fishing, then Ben is your guy to talk everything fish with. Unfortunately on this tour, there was no wifi on the bus, but that was okay because Ben was easy to listen too, and we had a couple of stops along the way. The Waitangi Treaty was amazing, and Fuller do a wonderful job with their organization and ferries etc._br/_ The ferry across to Russell is a must, and if you can, you should do the guided mini bus tour with John. John was very informative, seemed to know everyone, and everyone seemed to know him. Russell has many shops and a few restaurants but without the tour, I think Russell would be just like any other town. You need to tour to know what all of the places were and the history behind them._br/_ It's a long day, but thank you Ben and John for your wonderful knowledge, and also the lovely talkative man at Waitangi sorry I can't remember his name for the great history lesson.
Review by: Alan F, April 2017
Excellent tour - very efficient excellent commentary - a thoroughly worthwhile day out
Review by: Michael D, March 2017
Failed to pick us up so taxi to the bus depot very long day weather was bad so on arrival in bay of islands most people were informed that they would not be able to do the boat trips that we had come for
Review by: Philippa B, March 2017
This may have been a long day but it provided a great flavour of what the Bay of Islands has to offer. The tour of the Waitangi Treaty Grounds was the perfect length and really interesting and the little tour around Russell was also a great introduction to the area. Our driver Rachel was always really clear about what we were doing and somehow managed to keep up an interesting commentary for the 3.5 hour journey there, telling some great stories in amongst lots of interesting facts. All-in-all, a very enjoyable day
Review by: James H, March 2017
My husband and I had a few days to spend in Auckland, and wanted to enjoy some sightseeing. This was a great choice! We enjoyed a full day of beautiful scenery, knowledgeable guides, and no worries about time details, all was welll explained. Just a note that the two tours we did book all start from downtown, which was a little challenging for us, since we stayed out by the airport. Taxi for two downtown was 35 though, and cheaper than a bus. I would do this again!
Review by: ANNA P, February 2017
Wonderful day.
Review by: Peter B, February 2017
Bit of a long journey, but worth it.
Review by: David P, February 2017
Our only complaint was with the weather of that day, we had light rain and leaden skies and sea. But we especially enjoyed the Council House, the Maori guide was incredibly knowledgeable, the history extremely enlightening, the war canoes most impressive. The lunch that was provided was perfect. Russell was most interesting and we had a great guide there. We got shopping in, too! The sun did come out on the way back to Auckland. Our driver on the long runs back and forth was informative and took breaks from talking at times so we felt a good balance was held. We'd do it again on a nicer day!
Review by: Terrence J P, February 2017
A great day visiting the birthplace of New Zealand. The Bay of Islands is picturesque.
Review by: Madonna M, February 2017
Fantastic day only thing I would have done is stayed over night to have extra time to have a look around. Great tour if you are on limited time. Long day however the bus trip was very comfortable and plenty of time to rest.
Review by: laizcampos, January 2017
The place is totally worth the visit!! The driver was great!!!
Review by: Lesley B, January 2017
Excellent driver and tour guides. Very informative. Lovely place to visit and so glad we made it part of our trip
Review by: Getbusytraveling, January 2017
Beautiful tour. Highly recommend
Review by: Tess H, November 2016
Such an enjoyable trip! Rachel was great, funny and so accommodating! Highly recommend!
Review by: Mherm70205, October 2016
GREAT GUIDE AND GOING ON RUSSELL TOUR WAS FANTASTIC.
Review by: irenetpete, September 2016
Pretty good, just be aware that there is another option of doing a dolphin cruise/hole in rock boat tour. If you want to do that you'll have to pay a lot more, it was worth it, but wish there had been 2 options listed on viator. If you book directly through the company I guess you can do that, but I definitely did not see a way to do it on this website. Our guide Rachel was fantastic!
Review by: Betti-ellen W, September 2016
We would have preferred to do the Rock tour once we knew it existed. Even the bus driver tried to talk us out of this tour. The treaty ground visit was too short and you couldn't see the cultural show. The ferry ride over to the island was nice, as well as the shuttle. However, it wasn't worth the 4 hour ride each way.
Review by: Jamie C, September 2016
This was a bit far from Auckland 4 hours, but the driver was super-nice. He warned us of potential bad weather, but by the time we got there, it wasn't too horrible. The guided historical tour of the treaty areas was very fascinating and well-timed the waka was no kidding huge. I also enjoyed the ferry ride over to the peninsula. And since I was the only one who selected a tour of the town of Russell, I had the guide to myself a VERY friendly ol' chap who lived there permanently and had a ton of fun stories/local knowledge.
Review by: Danielle V, August 2016
Long drive but bay of islands is really nice, we had nice weather, saw a lot of dolphins and sealions.
Review by: Jennifer G, August 2016
Ben was a great tour guide who shared authentic experiences as a New Zealander. He also has a great sense of humor. He let the tour very precisely, giving passengers the time they needed to see things, yet keeping us to schedule. I personally enjoyed the Bay of Islands tour, with the added bonus of seeing the island of Russell. It is a long day, but the bus is comfortable, and is a great way to see things if your time is short.
Review by: Molly D, July 2016
Our guide/driver made the trip organized and entertaining! Beautiful area to visit, strongly recommend if you only have one day to spend in the Bay of Islands.
Review by: djnightside, July 2016
The tour went off without a hitch. The ferry ride was nice and the mini tour was very informative. I was the only one on the tour, so it was even more personalized. The tour was about 30 minutes, so it left plenty of time to walk around the fishing village and explore.
Review by: Adrienne R, June 2016
Having just completed a 10 day tour of the Southern Island and part of the Northern Island, finishing in Auckland, we regreted we hadn't continued our tour up to the Bay of Islands, so we were delighted to find this tour. it was a long bus tour with an early start 7.30am but was very scenic and included a tea stop and comfort break. The included visit to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds was very educational and the traditional Maori meeting house was beautiful.. Then we got the ferry across to Russell, an early European settlement where we had a very nice tour of the island followed by a swim and picnic lunch. We had some delicious ice-cream from one of the local creameries before getting the ferry back to Paihia for the return bus home. It was a long day out but very worth it. We arrived back into Auckland around 8pm.
Review by: Vikram N, April 2016
Good tour and nice way to spend a day
Review by: Sotheary M, April 2016
The trip to and from the Bay of Islands was a long ride, but it was definitely worth it. This place is so beautiful and definitely a must see. I would recommend the tour that includes overnight stay because there is so much to do in this area.
Review by: Catherine P, April 2016
Long journey but comfortable and the driver was great. The treaty ground talk was especially interesting the guide explained the history really well.
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