Shore Excursion: Local Tasting Tour from Tauranga

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Our accredited agent driver/guide will meet you at the port gate & escort you to the vehicle in which you will be travelling. The driver/guide will have your name on a placard.

   15 min

2. The Local Tasting Tour commences by visiting a boutique craft brewery, where the process of producing the natural beer, with no preservatives or additives, is explained & a range of beer is sampled.

   1 hAdmission included

3. We travel South to Rotorua. This Sate Highway follows the route which was originally a walking track for Maori between Tauranga & Rotorua.

   1 h

4. On arrival in Rotorua, we visit Volcanic Hills Winery, to have platters & a wine presentation & tasting. The Tasting Room at this venue sits at the top of the gondola at Skyline, Rotorua. During your visit you will be able to soak up the magnificent view overlooking Rotorua town & lake, while relaxing with a glass of wine & sumptuous platters. This will be an opportunity to sample excellent NZ wine, and to ask questions about NZ wine-styles & terroir.

   1.5 hAdmission included

5. We return to Mount Maunganui via a different route, so that clients get a scenic overview of the area. If time permits, a brief stop will be made at a kiwifruit orchard to explain the industry from planting to export.

   1 h

6. The tour returns to Tauranga for dessert & a cocktail (or a coffee if you prefer) at one of Tauranga's most popular restaurants, Salinity Restaurant & Bar, overlooking our beautiful harbour & marina.

   45 minAdmission included

7. We then return you to ship-side via what we claim is the best beach in the Southern Hemisphere.

   15 minAdmission included

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 80 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Showing reviews written in English.

• 5This was the best wine ...

  This was the best wine and tasting tour in all of New Zealand! Paul was a fantastic host. There was just the four of us, my husband, myself and a friend whom we met on this cruise. Paul drove us all over Tauranga and even around Roturuo. We had the best wine selections and the final stop was at Salinity, a marina restaurant near the cruise port. We had the best desert ever and I chose a very satisfying salted caramel martini as my drink. Paul entertained us for around 5 1/2 hours with informative stories about Tauranga and New Zealand. I highly recommend this tour as it was honestly the best tour of all our many New Zealand tours.

  Alice_HMarch 2026via Viator

• 5Enjoyed the tour

  Lovely tour. Started at Brewery with some nice local craft beers including a pale ale, IPA, and stout. Some had premixed drinks like a berry gin and tonic. A cider was also available. We then went to the gondola and transited with our group of 10 halfway up a mountain for beautiful view, some nice wine and a charcuterie platter. A neat stop at a kiwi orchard was a bonus. Paul had a lot of information to share and kept us entertained.

  adambZ4765XWFebruary 2026via Tripadvisor

• 5A lot to see in Tauranga

  A good overview of the area of Tauranga. Loved kiwi seeing. Wine tasting and waterfalls! Great tour guide

  Sheila_SFebruary 2026via Viator

• 5Great Local Tour with Tauranga Tasting Tours & Charters

  Paul, from Tauranga Tasting Tours & Charters, was our driver and guide. Our ship was a little late arriving so we communicated using the Viator app to provide our status. Paul was very accommodating. This was a private tour so it was just my husband and me. The car was new and very comfortable. The tour was exactly as described in the Viator description. There was a large selection of beer, cider and gin for the first tasting so we were able to select what we each liked. The tasting room had a view of the brewing equipment and Paul walked us through the process. It was very interesting. The wine tasting was in a restaurant that is part of complex called Skyline Rotorua which also provides activities such as a zip-line, mountain biking and luge rides. There were great views of the valley from the restaurant and from the gondola on the way up and down. We tasted several good wines from the Volcanic Hills winery (note that, as described in the tour, this is a tasting, not a visit to the winery or vineyards). We were lucky to be there when the owner was there and enjoyed visiting with him and gaining his perspective of the wine industry. Our favourite wine was the rosé and we bought a couple of bottles. The charcuterie board that we shared was very tasty, especially the chutney! It complemented the wines very well Our last stop was at a marina for a cocktail and dessert. It was a pretty spot, not far from our ship. Along the way, Paul provided information about New Zealand industries and culture. We made a few short stops to see a beautiful beach, a kiwi plantation, and a lovely waterfall where people were white water rafting. We enjoyed this tour very much. We also felt it was good value as it included the tasting fees, drinks and food, and the gondola ride. We definitely recommend this tour with Tauranga Tasting Tours & Charters.

  Sherry ADecember 2025via Tripadvisor

• 5Great Tour with Tauranga Tasting Tours & Charters

  Paul, from Tauranga Tasting Tours & Charters, was our driver and guide. Our ship was a little late arriving so we communicated using the Viator app to provide our status. Paul was very accommodating. This was a private tour so it was just my husband and me. The car was new and very comfortable. The tour was exactly as described in the Viator description. There was a large selection of beer, cider and gin for the first tasting so we were able to select what we each liked. The tasting room had a view of the brewing equipment and Paul walked us through the process. It was very interesting. The wine tasting was in a restaurant that is part of complex called Skyline Rotorua which also provides activities such as a zip-line, mountain biking and luge rides. There were great views of the valley from the restaurant and from the gondola on the way up and down. We tasted several good wines from the Volcanic Hills winery (note that, as described in the tour, this is a tasting, not a visit to the winery or vineyards). We were lucky to be there when the owner was there and enjoyed visiting with him and gaining his perspective of the wine industry. Our favourite wine was the rosé and we bought a couple of bottles. The charcuterie board that we shared was very tasty, especially the chutney! It complemented the wines very well Our last stop was at a marina for a cocktail and dessert. It was a pretty spot, not far from our ship. Along the way, Paul provided information about New Zealand industries and culture. We made a few short stops to see a beautiful beach, a kiwi plantation, and a lovely waterfall where people were white water rafting. We enjoyed this tour very much. We also felt it was good value as it included the tasting fees, drinks and food, and the gondola ride. We definitely recommend this tour with Tauranga Tasting Tours & Charters.

  Sherry_ADecember 2025via Viator

• 5Not to be missed!

  Excellent tour. Paul is very knowledgable about wine and the area - he made us feel welcome and went above and beyond to make the tour fun and interesting. Would highly recommend,

  323jptDecember 2025via Tripadvisor

Know before you go

How it compares in Tauranga

• Its from-price is close to the median of the 34 day trips we list in Tauranga.
• Its length is typical for the group.
• By number of reviews it ranks 8 of 34.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Tauranga

Tauranga is a harbour city on New Zealand's Bay of Plenty, with kiwifruit orchards and the volcanic cone of Mauao at Mount Maunganui.

Tauranga lies on a large sheltered harbour on the Bay of Plenty, on the north-east coast of New Zealand's North Island, with a major port across the water. The Strand, the downtown waterfront, has cafés and parks, and The Elms, a mission station founded in 1838, is a preserved colonial house and garden.

Top-ranked sights in Tauranga: Waimarino Adventure Park.

See all 89 experiences in Tauranga