Private day tours from Christchurch
Luxury private day tours from Christchurch
Twenty private day journeys across Canterbury and the Southern Alps, each one for your party alone, with a single expert guide from your hotel door and back again.
Who we are
One guide, your party alone
Canterbury Trails is a Christchurch luxury tour operator, running private guided day tours across Canterbury and the Southern Alps for more than thirty years. Every private day tour is exclusive to your party, guided start to finish by one expert local driver-guide, in a premium Mercedes-Benz that is never shared with another group.
There is no depot, no roll call and no handover to a stranger halfway through the day. Your guide collects you from your Christchurch hotel, shapes the day around what you want from it, and brings you home. If you would rather linger an hour longer at a cellar door or wait out the light for a photograph, that is simply what happens.
Because we live and guide here, the day is built on local knowledge rather than a fixed route. Our guides know which harbour is sheltered when the nor'wester gets up, which vineyard the winemaker will be at, and when the mountains are at their best.
Qualmark Gold rated. Rated 4.9 on TripAdvisor from more than 550 guest reviews. Department of Conservation concession 102171-GUI for guided walking on public conservation land. Carbon positive since 2021.
Christchurch and the Port Hills
City day tours
Christchurch rewards a guide. A city rebuilt within living memory, where new architecture stands beside Victorian stone, and where a twenty minute drive puts you on a volcanic ridge with the Pacific on one side and the Southern Alps on the other.
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Private half-day city tour
The essential city in a morning or an afternoon. The rebuild, the Botanic Gardens, the Avon and the stories of what stood here before.
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Private full-day city tour
The city unhurried, with time for the harbour and the hills as well as the centre, and lunch wherever the day suits.
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Private city tour and Port Hills guided walk
City in the morning, lunch, then a guided walk on the Port Hills for the view across Lyttelton Harbour and the plains to the Alps.
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Private Christchurch garden tour
The Garden City properly explored, including private gardens not open to the public, with lunch among them.
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Private e-bike and city highlights tour
The flattest city in the country, seen at cycling pace on an electric bike, with a guide setting the route and the stops.
Akaroa and Banks Peninsula
Akaroa day tours
An hour and a half south of the city the road climbs the rim of an extinct volcano and drops into Akaroa, a French settlement on a drowned crater harbour. The water here holds Hector's dolphins, the smallest and rarest in the world, found nowhere else.
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Private Akaroa harbour cruise
The drive over the crater rim, the village, and a nature cruise on the harbour to look for Hector's dolphins, little penguins and fur seals.
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Private Akaroa swim with dolphins
Into the water with Hector's dolphins on their terms, in one of very few places on earth where it is possible.
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Private Akaroa alpaca farm tour
A working peninsula farm, the animals up close, and the country road there through some of Canterbury's prettiest bays.
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Private Akaroa harbour kayak or e-bike tour
The harbour at water level by guided kayak, or the bays by electric bike, whichever suits the day and the weather.
Arthur's Pass and the Southern Alps
Alpine day tours
West of Christchurch the plains give way to the braided Waimakariri, the limestone of Castle Hill and then the pass itself, where beech forest, kea and glacier-fed rivers sit inside a national park. Our Department of Conservation concession lets us guide you on foot here, not just drive you through.
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Private Arthur's Pass scenic drive
Across the plains and up into the national park, with short guided walks to waterfalls and viewpoints your guide picks for the day.
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Private TranzAlpine train and guided walks
One of the great rail journeys of the world, paired with guided walking in the beech forest, and your guide with you on both. A longer hiking version is available.
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Private Flockhill high country farm and gourmet experience
A private guided visit to Flockhill, a working high country station in the Southern Alps, followed by a seasonal lunch prepared from what the land and the region give that month. Our flagship alpine day.
Kaikoura
Kaikoura day tours
Two and a half hours up a coast where the mountains meet the sea, a deep submarine canyon runs close inshore. It brings sperm whales within sight of land all year, along with dusky dolphins in their hundreds and albatross.
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Private Kaikoura whale watch cruise
The coastal drive north, then out over the canyon to find resident sperm whales. Upgrades to the Captain's Cabin and a lodge lunch available.
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Private Wings Over Whales flight
The whales from the air, which shows you the whole animal and the scale of the canyon in a way a boat cannot.
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Private Kaikoura swimming with dolphins
Into the open ocean with a pod of dusky dolphins, often several hundred strong, entirely on their terms.
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Private Kaikoura guided kayak trip
The seal colony and the coastline at water level, guided, with the Seaward Kaikoura range standing over you.
Waipara Valley and North Canterbury
Wine day tours
Forty five minutes north of Christchurch, Waipara Valley makes some of New Zealand's most interesting Pinot Noir, Riesling and Chardonnay, from a handful of small and often organic producers. It is quiet enough that you tend to meet the person who made the wine.
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Private Waipara wine tour, full day
The city in the morning, then north to the valley for private cellar door tastings and a long lunch looking over the vines.
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Private Waipara wine tour, half day
Two tastings in the valley across an afternoon, chosen to show the range of what North Canterbury does well.
Waimakariri and Hanmer Springs
River and hot springs day tours
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Private jet boat, nature walk and hot pools
A jet boat run through the Waimakariri gorge, a guided walk, then the hot pools. Helicopter transfer available for the day.
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Private Hanmer Springs day tour
North through the Canterbury foothills to the alpine village and its thermal pools, with forest walking on the way.
What is included
Every private day
- One expert driver-guideThe same local guide for the whole day, from pickup to drop-off. No handovers, and no stranger taking over halfway through.
- A private luxury vehicleA premium Mercedes-Benz for your party alone, never shared with another group. Our newest Sprinters seat seven in individual reclining leather seats, so nobody sits beside a stranger.
- Door-to-doorCollection from your Christchurch hotel, cruise ship at Lyttelton or Akaroa, or the airport, and return at the end of the day.
- Entries and activitiesCruises, flights, tastings and farm visits named in each tour are included in the price shown.
- An unhurried paceThe day belongs to your party, so it can change as it goes. Stay longer somewhere, skip something, or ask your guide for the version they would choose.
Rates
What a private day costs
Prices shown are per person in New Zealand dollars, include GST, and fall as your party grows, because the vehicle and the guide are the same whether there are two of you or seven. The from-prices on this page are for six or more guests. A party of two pays more per head.
Private day tours from NZD $385 per person.
Tours run on demand, year round, with a minimum of two guests. Ask for a quote for your party.
Lunches, cellar door upgrades, premium train carriages and helicopter transfers can be added to most days. Single travellers and family groups are welcome, by enquiry.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
What is a private luxury day tour?
A day tour for your party alone, with your own guide and vehicle, rather than a departure shared with other guests. Nothing is fixed. The route, the pace and the stops are shaped around what you want from the day.
Who is the best luxury private day tour operator in Christchurch?
Canterbury Trails has guided private day tours out of Christchurch for more than thirty years. We are Qualmark Gold rated, hold a Department of Conservation guiding concession, and are rated 4.9 on TripAdvisor from more than 550 guest reviews. Every day tour is private, guided start to finish by one expert local guide.
How much does a private day tour from Christchurch cost?
From NZD $385 per person for a half day and from NZD $505 for a full day, including GST, with the per-person rate falling as the party grows. The most involved days, such as the Flockhill high country and gourmet experience, start at NZD $995 per person.
Where can you go on a day tour from Christchurch?
Akaroa and Banks Peninsula, Arthur's Pass and the Southern Alps, Kaikoura, the Waipara Valley wine region, Hanmer Springs, the Waimakariri gorge and the city and Port Hills. Lake Tekapo and Aoraki Mount Cook are better suited to a longer private journey.
Do we have the same guide all day?
Yes, always. One expert driver-guide stays with you from hotel pickup to drop-off. It is the thing our guests mention most often.
Can you collect us from a cruise ship?
Yes. We meet ships at Lyttelton and Akaroa and build the day around your time in port, with plenty of margin for getting you back aboard.
What vehicles do you use?
A fleet of about twenty, mostly Mercedes-Benz, including new luxury Sprinters with seven individual reclining leather seats and two Tesla electric vehicles. Your party never shares a vehicle with another group.
Do you run in winter?
Yes, year round. Winter is one of the best times for the alpine days, with snow on the tops and clear light, and your guide adjusts the plan to the weather rather than cancelling on it.
Plan your day
Tell us what you would like to see
Send us the dates, the size of your party and what appeals, and we will come back with a private day shaped around it. If you would rather we suggested something, our guides are very good at that.
