Wellington – Small Group Sightseeing Tour – Private

Join us on a private guided tour of Wellington with visits to some of the city’s best attractions including the Mount Victoria viewing point, Weta Cave, Wellington Cable Car, Parliament Grounds with viewing of the iconic ‘Beehive’, Old St Pauls Anglican Cathedral, and much more.

Join a small group sightseeing tour of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, on this shore excursion. This is a private tour for a maximum of 11 and a minimum of 2 people.

See beautiful Victorian buildings sit beside daring architectural designs. Your guide will take you on a tour of exploration with an interesting, entertaining and informative tour of a city nestled between a magnificent harbour and surrounded by a natural amphitheater of forest clad hills.

Highlights Include:

• Enter breathtaking Old St Paul’s Cathedral, crafted from fine New Zealand timber in the 1860’s. We will even cover the donation entry fee for you.

• Ride the iconic Wellington Cable Car. The views from the top are stunning! Your fare is included in the tour.

• Coast along Oriental Parade then enjoy 360-degree views of the city from atop Mt Victoria.

• Visit the grounds of Parliament and get a photo of The Beehive – home to the offices of our politicians and prime minister.

• Drive through ‘Wellywood’ where we stop at Weta Cave – home to the props department renowned for famous blockbuster movies including Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong and more. (Please note – unfortunately we don’t have time for the Weta Workshop tour).

• Get your photo taken with Gandalf at the Roxy Cinema, plus drive past the studios and green screen stages where many movies are made.

• Explore the rocky coastline of the Miramar Peninsula where you can enjoy scenic vistas of Wellington Harbour and Cook Strait

• On your return to Wellington city there will be the option to visit the national museum of New Zealand – Te Papa Tongarewa. Spend time exploring this amazing free museum – home to world class displays. Situated on the waterfront. Should you opt to be dropped at Te Papa you will need to make your own way back to the cruise ship.

Your tour will return you to the port of Wellington Harbour with plenty of time before your ship’s departure.

Tour Duration: 3 hours

Wellington is nestled around a sparkling bustling harbour with residential housing extending up the sides of green valley hills. Voted the most liveable city in the world in 2017 and 2018, you will not be disappointed with your tour of our lovely city.
This tour will delight you with breath-taking scenic views and photo opportunities, along with the fun of experiencing first-hand some of our favourite tourist attractions. You will be picked up from your meeting point and we will continue downtown past Te Papa and the QT hotel, seeing St Gerard’s church and monastery before we drive up to the top of Mount Victoria to see spectacular views of Wellington’s city and harbour. Have your cameras ready!

We now drive to Lyall Bay beach, pass Wellington airport and see some of the rugged coast line. On a clear day you may see some spectacular views of the South Island. We pass Barrett’s Reef, where on 10 April 1968 the roll on/roll off ferry Wahine hit the reef and capsized near Seatoun (just a short distance from the shoreline) during a hurricane resulting in 52 lives being lost.

It is time to drive to the Wellington sign on our way to Weta Studios on the Miramar Peninsula for your Lord of the Rings experience with a short visit to Weta Cave where you will have a chance to purchase Lord of the Rings memorabilia (for any Tolkein fans) and more photo opportunities. Continuing around the coastline, passing popular Oriental Bay before we venture through the different parts of the inner city ending up at the bottom of the iconic Wellington cable car (which first carried passengers in 1902).

After you have travelled to the top in the cable car and visited the quaint museum at that end, you will have more breath-taking panoramic views of the harbour and city. Then we drive pass the lovely Botanic Gardens and drive through the Lady Norwood Rose Garden, before seeing Parliament Buildings and its grounds and finally Old St Paul’s Cathedral – one of the world’s best examples of Gothic Revival architecture. An entry fee donation applies if you would like to visit inside.

More info

✅ Downtown entertainment area of Wellington
✅ Mt Victoria
✅ Rugged Coastline
✅ Weta Cave
✅ Cable Car
✅ Botanic Gardens
✅ Lady Norwood Rose Gardens
✅ Parliament Grounds
✅ Old St Paul’s (Donation entry fee applies)

Cruise Ship Passenger bookings: Your pick-up will be from the Port