Private Custom day tours from Christchurch 

Bring your Christchurch visit to life with a private custom tour with your own personal tour guide. 

Enjoy a relaxing day out, seeing some of New Zealand's best scenery - while gaining understanding and insights into Christchurch, Canterbury and New Zealand in general.  Enjoy more roadside stops and photo opportunities, or take optional short walks.

If you are a nature or history lover, please tell your tour guide, who will help you to understand the plants, wildlife and landscape of the Christchurch and Canterbury region, as well as its rich Maori and European colonial history. 

'Terry is an exceptional guide.  We would recommend him and his tours to anyone.  He makes the entire journey relaxing and memorable.'   Angie, Melbourne

This was a great tour, it was a great mix of geology, history, culture and gave us a great feeling for how "kiwis" live.  This was a highlight of our time in New Zealand'  Jeanne, USA

Many of our visitors to Christchurch arrive on cruise ships at the port of Lyttelton, or at the town of Akaroa.  Personalised private shore excursions can be made to most of the destinations described below.  Please note that private tours ex-Akaroa cost somewhat more than the prices posted below. 

'Our tour guide, Terry, was very knowledgeable and accommodating.  The best part of our cruise!'
Mike and Charlene, Irvine, Ca  USA

'This was one of the best guided tours we have taken, a great knowledge of the city and surrounding area.  Most courteous and concerned for our interests.'
Dottie Green, USA

Click on these suggested private day tours from Christchurch, or just scroll down:

(Note - if you prefer non-exclusive small group tours, visit the Day Tours page)

• Christchurch City and surrounds
• Akaroa and Banks Peninsula
• Arthur's Pass and the Southern Alps
• Kaikoura
• Punakaiki and the West Coast

(1)  CHRISTCHURCH Tour

Christchurch has many charms.  Among them: 

• The delightful city centre, with its stone buildings (including the Arts Centre, Cathedral and museum), public gardens and the wandering Avon river;  
• The sandy beaches and estuary, set among headlands of volcanic rock; 
• Christchurch's historic port town of Lyttelton, a mix of working port town and trendy cafes; 
• The Port Hills, the eroding rim of an extinct volcano.  They have great views across Christchurch, but even more dramatic views in the other direction, across Lyttelton harbour.

See all of these things and learn about:

• The landscape formed by millions of years of volcanic eruptions and great floods rushing down from the Southern Alps. 
• The former primaeval forests and the strange animal inhabitants. 
• The many centuries of Maori habitation. 
• The settling of Christchurch and Canterbury by Europeans.  Beset by many challenges and enlivened by colourful personalities, they changed the landscape forever. 

The Inside Story's private custom day tour of Christchurch city and surrounds will open your eyes to this fascinating corner of New Zealand.

Note that you may also like to include attractions such as Christchurch's International Antarctic Centre (with its new live penguin enclosure) on your tour.

Indicative prices (7 hour tour):

Central Christchurch private walking tours are also available, from $40 per hour for 1 to 4 people (divide by number of people for a per person rate).  Minimum of two hours.  For larger groups, please enquire for rates.

Click here to enquire about a private custom Christchurch tour

(2)  AKAROA and BANKS PENINSULA Tour

Many people who have explored elsewhere in New Zealand's South Island are surprised by the beauty of Banks Peninsula.  Long-extinct basaltic volcanoes have eroded away, leaving a network of high craggy hills, deep valleys and long, lonely bays which were the scene of some of Canterbury's earliest and most eventful Maori and European settlement.

A day spent gently meandering around Banks Peninsula gives you time to:

• Visit a beautiful remote bay for a waterfront picnic.
• Spend time strolling around Akaroa, founded by the French, and one of New Zealand's most charming seaside towns.
• Optionally take an Akaroa Harbour nature cruise with a good chance of viewing rare Hector's dolphins.
  Alternatively take a relaxing hands-on sailing cruise on a 14-metre 'A-Class' yacht. 
• Visit a remnant of the great forests that once covered the peninsula.

Indicative prices (8 hour tour):

Prices do not include optional harbour cruise.

Click here to enquire about a private custom Akaroa tour

 
(3)  ARTHUR'S PASS and SOUTHERN ALPS Tour

Arthur's Pass National Park is in the heart of the best mountain scenery accessible on a day tour from Christchurch.

The Southern Alps are New Zealand's greatest mountain range;  it is a dynamic mountain chain with snow-clad peaks, mountain streams, broad shingly rivers and wide alpine basins dotted with subalpine lakes. 

The Inside Story will show you the visible effects of rapid mountain uplift and ice age glaciations.  Learn about the secrets of the indigenous 'southern beech' forest and the expansive tussock grasslands, and the early human history in an often hostile landscape.  You have a good chance of seeing the kea, New Zealand's mischievous mountain parrot.

Incorporating an optional one-way ride on the renowned TranzAlpine train through the Waimakariri River gorge to Arthur's Pass will give you a rewarding round trip.

Indicative prices (9-10 hour tour):

Prices do not include optional train ride.

(4)  KAIKOURA Tour

The small town of Kaikoura, sandwiched between sea and mountains, is pretty to visit in its own right.   However its true wonders lie offshore, in the waters that lie over the southern end of the deep Hikurangi Trench.  The nutrient-laden waters support a myriad of life:  fish, seals, dolphins, sea birds and mighty sperm whales.

This is the only place in New Zealand where you can go whale-watching.   Alternatively take a sea bird tour to get close to large albatrosses, mollymawks, petrels and shearwaters.  Active visitors may like to go swimming with dolphins or seals - on a good day, this is absolutely memorable.

Kaikoura is a two and a half hours drive north from Christchurch, and is within easy reach on a one day tour.  On the way, you pass through the Waipara wine region, the rolling hills of north Canterbury and finally the beautiful coastal drive that hugs the rocky shoreline south of Kaikoura.

Indicative prices (10-11 hour tour):

Prices do not include whale watching and other cruises.

Click here to enquire about a private custom day tour to Kaikoura

(5)  WEST COAST and PUNAKAIKI Tour

The patterned limestone rock formations at Punakaiki are pounded by waves off the Tasman Sea, causing blowholes and surge pools.  This is one of the West Coast's top attractions, and worth seeing in rough weather!

This is a long but rewarding day, traversing the South Island from east to west, and back again.  We drive through the mountain scenery of Arthur's Pass (see Arthur's Pass tour above), and descend to the lush rainforests of the West Coast.  The last section of the journey is one of New Zealand's most dramatic coastal highways.

Indicative prices (12-13 hour tour):

Click here to enquire about a private custom Punakaiki tour

Other suggestions

Take a tour to the pretty sub-alpine village of  Hanmer Springs for a dip in the hot springs and short forest walks (minimum 6 hours);  or take a wine tour at some of Canterbury’s wineries (minimum 4 hours).  

If you want to get among New Zealand's highest mountains, and view the fascinating milky blue lakes of the central South Island's MacKenzie Basin, then a one day tour from Christchurch to Mt Cook (and return) is possible - you should allow 12 hours at least for the tour.  

Click here to enquire about any custom day tour.

Custom hiking day tours

For hikers wanting to explore the best of the South Island's mountains, including the Southern Alps, we recommend Christchurch-based Hiking New Zealand for private hiking tours.  They can arrange personal day tours and multi-day tours.