Port Chalmers 2026 Calendar of Events

Booking was easy and when we decided to change direction and timing, Rachael was easy to contact and very obliging. A very professional and personalised service all round. The trip was interesting and informative with great views of the harbour and surrounds. We would highly recommend Port to port water taxis. Will definitely be using again.

Rachel was superb! She went out of her way to get me across the harbour even though as I was the only passenger she didn't strictly have to! Really interesting commentary on the short hop between Port Chalmers and Portobello. Loading the bike was a piece of cake! Overall a really great service done with a smile!!

What a fantastic little cruise! An absolute pleasure to have such an amazingly knowledgeable local operator proudly show us her 'home'. The pride Rachel takes in her work is genuine and her enthusiasm is infectious. Thank you so much!

Had a great experience n this tour + the penguin extension. Rob was great and so knowledgeable. Had plenty of time at each place and wasn’t rushed. The boat operators and guide at penguin centre were all very knowledgeable and focused on giving a great experience. Highly recommend

Amazing close up encounters with several albatross species! Rachel was a great and knowledgeable guide. Perfect little trip all around.

My wife and I went on this excursion after docking from Princess cruises at Dunedin, New Zealand. We were picked up right at the cruise port and proceeded to a van with 5 others. a nice small group. we toured through Dunedin and our guide was excellent. Her son joined us and we heard of his bagpiping. Turns out his brother also bagpipes and is the principal bagpiper for Larnoch Castle. The area was beautiful and we learned of the history of the area and Larnoch. We even had a chance to meet Margaret Barker, the owner of the castle. A very interesting tour that was made even better by the excellent guide and her son.

We had an excellent time travelling around Dunedin with our guide Arlene. She was very experienced and explained the history of every place we visited. Pam and I enjoyed the day very much and had some laughs along the way with Arlene's humour. We would highly recommend the tour to our family and friends. Andrew

We did the Castle to Cruise Tour - and what a treat! David was an amazing driver / guide for the Otago peninsula and the Larnach Castle, and the crew on the cruise was great too. So many bird sightings and we saw a couple of very playful sea lions, a very special treat. The guides were very knowledgeable, and the sites are all amazing. Highly recommend

With excursions provided by cruise companies at times being (a) expensive and (b) limited I was determined to make the most of our time in New Zealand and in particular this last port of call. After all Dunedin is also known as little Scotland!It initially looked as if my desire to identify an all day tour which took in both city and country highlights with a wildlife experience thrown in would be thwarted as the company I initially approached were not running tours or were available the day we visited. However it was recommended that I contact Fantail Tours. This would appear to have been the proverbial ill wind as I cannot imagine that another tour or company could have bettered our experience. That is not to say that everything was perfect so shall we get that elephant in the room out of the way first? (Ignore the next bit if a bit of a moan is not your thing). Timings. For any cruise passenger the main concern will be getting back to a ship in time for embarkation particularly as in this instance when it is the last port of call with two days at sea before reaching Sydney. It only dawned on me 48 hours before reaching Dunedin that the tour was due to finish at 3.30 pm and passenger embarkation was to be at 4.30 pm. Okay there is always some leeway however it is not ideal. I therefore contacted Fantail and received a prompt reply assuming me that we would get back to the ship in time. Suitably reassured we turned up at the port meeting point with the tour due to leave at 9.30 am. And we waited. Other tour companies came and went and still we waited, albeit not too long but it was relevant given what happened later. When our guide Teresa arrived she dealt with formalities but probably rightly would not leave until her colleagues turned up to deal with their passengers. Gold star ensuring there were no outstanding issues. However it meant our 9.30 departure was missed. From then on everything lived up to expectations (see below) until we headed back to the ship. Expected return time of 3.30 pm came and went. We returned to the ship at 4.20 pm. In effect 10 minutes to spare. It had transpired during the course of the day that instead of two roads being available one was closed with the resultant knock on. Yes, there were a couple of tour buses behind us; yes the ship probably would not have sailed for another hour; yes the ship would have been aware of the traffic issues but the fact remains it was a really tight return time and it could have gone so wrong. This could have been avoided if the guides had turned up and left earlier. I contacted Fantail on my return raising these points and I received a very satisfactory reply. Another gold star.You know what though it was a really good excursion and was the perfect way to end the port section of our cruise. Our guide Teresa was just so good. For a start she did try to keep our merry band on time. 5 minutes late back from a stop then we had 5 minutes less at another stop. She was so friendly, fun, knowledgeable and informative. That makes such a difference when you are spending 6 hours or so with someone. A true joy to be around.The tour itself is not to be missed given literally the area it covers. We saw so much: vantage point over Dunedin; visit to the steepest road in the world;Dunedin University; walk through botanic gardens - fascinating; quick city centre stop for a bite to eat/souvenir shop; tour of Otago Peninsula; visit to penguins or albatross then finally the so impressive old station. For me the cherry on the cake was the visit to the Royal Albatross reserve. Only four of us made this stop with the rest of our group settling for the penguin option. My only encounter so as to speak with albatross had been the Samuel Coleridge poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner so thought it would be interesting to learn more. I was so glad I chose that option as the time we spent at the reserve was so very worth it. After an initial talk you are taken to the hide. Our guide Lydia said she could speak forever about this fascinating bird and that was abundantly clear. This in itself made the tour so very worth it. It was certainly a not to be missed experience.I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Fantail Tours for your dayin Dunedin. As I have said before it is so easy to accept praise when things are going well but the mark of a good customer provider is when things have not gone so well they can be acknowledged and where appropriate acted upon.I wish Asta and all her team at Fantail all the best and every success. They do deserve it

This tour, owned, operated and skippered by Rachel, was an absolute pleasure. Rachel's commentary was to the point and never overly effusive. She was expert at recognising birds both at a distance and on the wing, which is not to say that we didn't see birds and seals close up. If you're going out on the harbour I really recommend this tour.

Amazing tour. Russ was incredibly knowledgeable and took us all over Dunedin. Photo stops and stunning views. A must do if you're in Dunedin!

Such a special experience - highly recommend! So many different things to see with incredible local knowledge from super friendly guide & owner, Rachel. I’m sure every trip would be different & uniquely amazing in its own right due to the nature of the wildlife and environment.

We landed in Port Chalmers from our cruise with nothing planned for our day in Dunedin and were very grateful the port side information desk was able to secure us places on the Exploring New Zealand Garden and City tour. Tour guide, Craig, was a hoot and entertained us the whole day as he showed us around his beautiful city. This tour is excellent value, informative and lots of fun.

It was a very good itinerary with key tourist spots. The driver-guide Tim was knowledgable, friendly and good in time management. The Larnach Castle & gardens worth the visit, the Railway Station and Octogon University were beautiful buildings. If we could have more time at Octagon to browse around would be even better.

Craig was an absolute star! If you’re on a cruise ship in Dunedin for the day please book this tour. The cruise ships charge exorbitant prices but this local independent company offers great value and a really good look around the area. The town is small but the places Craig took us to with his local knowledge and stories were very entertaining. Going it alone in Dunedin we would have missed such a lot. Thank you so much xx

It was a lot of activity for one day. Teresa showed us all the fun highlights - local grocery and steepest road and stopped at all the beautiful view points along the way. The albatross chicks were fuzzy- sitting on their nests waiting for the adult birds to bring them food.