Auckland Tours of the City
The two Auckland Visitor Centres (tel: (09) 363 7182) provide leaflets giving details of the many marked trails around the city. These include heritage walks that visit historic buildings in the city's various suburbs, as well as nature walks near the city and way out in the ‘back-blocks' (more remote areas).
Auckland City Walks (tel: 0800 300 100; website: www.aucklandwalks.co.nz) runs guided walking tours of the city centre, departing daily at 1000 from the Harbour Information Centre, 99 Quay Street.
Bus Tours
The Explorer Bus (tel: 0800 439 756; website: www.explorerbus.co.nz) links many of the visitor attractions in central Auckland. The bus leaves from the ferry terminal every 30 minutes, 0900-1600 (mid Oct-mid Apr) and hourly, 1000-1600 (mid Apr-mid Oct). As it is a hop-on hop-off experience, the tour takes as long as it takes. At the Auckland Museum, there is an additional summer satellite link that takes passengers on to more outlying attractions, including the Auckland Zoo and the Auckland Art Gallery.
Several companies offer city tours, which last half a day and include hotel pick-up and drop-off. Companies include Claud 9 Tours (tel: (09) 818 2562; website: www.claud9tours.com) and Great Sights (tel: (09) 583 5790 or 0800 744 487; website: www.greatsights.co.nz). North West Auckland (tel: (09) 630 1540; website: www.winetrailtours.co.nz) runs half-day winery tours that include sightseeing, while Bush and Beach offers wilderness and adventure tours (tel: (09) 837 4130; website www.bushandbeach.co.nz) with downtown pick-up included.
Boat Tours
Tours of Auckland harbour are available through Fullers (tel: (09) 367 9111; website: www.fullers.co.nz). The most popular tours are the 90-minute to two-hour ‘Harbour Cruises', departing 1030 and 1330. Most call in at Devonport and sail across to Rangitoto Island in the Hauraki Gulf, while some also visit Kelly Tarlton's.
For the tourist in search of exhilaration there are NZL 40 and NZ 41, two ex-America's Cup racers (tel: 0800 724 569) offering cruises of two hours, and three-hour races on the more sedate Pride of Auckland (tel: (09) 373 4557) which cruises gently. A coffee cruise, a luncheon cruise and a dinner cruise are all available.
Alternatively, visitors could try a cruise on the Soren Larsen (tel: (09) 817 8799; website: www.sorenlarsen.co.nz), a Danish Baltic trader made of oak and built in 1949. Tours take three to four hours, and include lunch. Departures are from opposite the Ferry Building and DOC office, on the weekend (mid November to mid February).
Tours of Auckland
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