See Auckland’s major sights and attractions with a hop-on hop-off city bus tour. Perfect for first-time visitors to Auckland, it’s a great way to explore the city. Complete with English audio commentary, the bus tour takes about an hour to complete. Enjoy the flexibility of a 1-day or 2-day pass, and hop off at key points, such as Parnell Village, Auckland Museum or the Sky Tower, at your leisure.

Create your own sightseeing itinerary
Stay on the bus for the loop or hop off to visit Auckland attractions
Listen to informative commentary on board
Bus ticket valid for one or two days

What's Included

Hop-on hop-off tour
Informative commentary
GST (Goods and Services Tax)

Food and drinks

Meeting And Pickup

Start time

12:00 AM

Ticket redemption points

1 Queen Street, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010, New Zealand

Hobson Street & Victoria Street West, Hobson St & Victoria St W, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010, New Zealand

What To Expect

Start your Auckland hop-on hop-off bus tour at Downtown Auckland. You can create your own sightseeing itinerary with a flexible ticket, valid for one or two days. Listen to interesting audio commentary during the entire loop. Buses depart regularly throughout the day on a seasonal schedule.

If you’d like, hop on and off throughout the day to explore Auckland on your own or visit top attractions. Discover New Zealand history at the Auckland Museum, meet King and Gentoo penguins at Kelly Tarlton's SEA LIFE Aquarium, and soak up the city skyline from the Sky Tower, to name a few.

Red Tour

9 Stops

6 Points of Interest

Duration: 1 day

Operating Schedule: The first bus departs at 9:00 am and the last bus departs at 4.00 pm - departing every 30min

23 Customs Street East

SkyCity Auckland

Corner Hobson Street & Victoria Street West

Auckland Art Gallery

359 Broadway

Westfield Newmarket

Auckland Museum

Holy Trinity Cathedral

279 Parnell Road

Parnell Village

Hapimana Street

Bastion Point Lookout

23 Tamaki Drive

Sea Life Kelly Tarltons

Points of interest passed by on this route

Sky Tower

Auckland Museum

Hauraki Gulf

Holy Trinity Cathedral

Bastion Point

Princes Wharf

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
A child fares apply for ages 5 to 14 years (children aged 0-4 travel free
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible

Service animals allowed
Near public transportation
Most travelers can participate

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Traveler Tips

With only one day in port, the Hop On Hop Off Bus is the only way to maximise what you see in a limited time.

Bus stops easily visible with a regular timetable for you to pick up where you left off.

Reviews

4.0

712 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

Showing 1-10 of 712 reviews

Auckland in a day

Timothy_C, Mar 2023

Great way to get a flavor of Auckland. Make sure you get off and visit the museum. Plan on spending st least two hours.

No reduction in price when two stops could not be included.

Carol_H, Mar 2023

The sound system on the bus was terrible - loud and crackly inside. Two stops were unattainable due to the recent cyclone/heavy rains (Feb 2023) but I was not offered a deduction. I booked online for a 48 hour ticket, (after the roads were damaged), which was unnecessary as two stops weren't included. 24 hour ticket would have been sufficient. Too much money for too little product.

Efficient way to see Auckland

Rodney_S, Mar 2023

The stories and prompt times for pickup and drop off!! Please let me out of this review. I have no more to say

Very convenient and a...

Michael_A, Mar 2023

Very convenient and a great way to explore Auckland when you’re on a cruise and only have 1 day to see what’s around. Highly recommended

A lovely way to explore Auckland

Jennifer_H, Mar 2023

The views of the city were fantastic, but the museum was a highlight for me. I recommend spending a couple of hours there. The Holy Trinity Cathedral and associated St Mary’s Church were also lovely.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Kia Ora Jennifer! We are happy that our service helped you to explore the city:)

Unfriendly CSR/ Fun@HOHOT

carolyn_m, Mar 2023

I hope the middle aged lady ( by the pier) would be more friendly than sounded irritated bec we're asking where we can pick up the ticket since we bought it on line. Had a hard time understanding bec she's in a hurry even though there is no customer aside from us. She should have just told us " pls go at the 1st bus stop, 2 blocks from here corner near the stop light,there's an employee there to help you for on line tickets" instead of saying " there's a desk there accross the street".guess what? across the street is a huge plaza and no desk for hop on hop off. Luckily we have common sense to go to the 1st stop instead. She needs to retire or get re-train. Anyway,we still enjoy our trip and have fun!

Total disappointment

Bipasha_C, Mar 2023

It was a total rip-off. They overcharged for the tickets and did not visit the places advertised on the flyer.

Hop on hop off Auckland

William_K, Mar 2023

The two main attractions that we booked the trips for were not available and we were not told of this until we arrived to get on the bus. The drivers were good and gave descriptions of the high lights along the route.

Good way to get a view of the city

Maddison_K, Mar 2023

I used the hop-on hop-off tour to get my bearings for the city of Auckland. It was a great low-energy way to see an overview of everything. I did the full loop early in the day so that I could go back and visit some of my favourite stops later in the afternoon.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Good morning! We appreciate your time posting the review and happy you made the most of our service :)

A good experience.

Neil_M, Mar 2023

Despite not being able to do the complete tour due to weather conditions this was an enjoyable experience which varied slightly from the last time we did it 2017. The stops were appropriate and the commentary was informative and friendly.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Kia Ora Neil! Great that you enjoyed the trip and our service:)

Good way to see a few Auckland highlights

carol_g, Mar 2023

We had only one day in Auckland and could not reserve another tour due to time constraints. We decided to try the Hop on/Hop off bus and were glad we did. We were able to get around the city and see some highlights at our own pace. The drivers were very friendly and helpful. The only complaint is finding the redemption center to begin our experience. Even with GPS we had difficulty finding the location and that location was closed and we were directed to another stand a block away. Once we found a redemption center it was easy to navigate.

Trip in NZ 2023

Apanchanok_K, Mar 2023

It was good experience. Nice statfs & helpful. I would recommend this tour. Went to different places.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Hi there! We appreciated you taking time to review our service and we are happy you enjoyed your tour:)

Very disappointed!!

Sue_D, Mar 2023

Pick up location difficult to locate and after searching and locating the pickup point, it was not in use on the route. Limited time in Auckland so we chose not to waste any more time searching for another location. Would love a refund for a tour not taken!!!

Excellent overview of Auckland

RichardA_T, Feb 2023

This was a great way to see the highlights of Auckland. Sadly the route was shortened due to two locations being closed following a tropical cyclone passage. Nevertheless, the shortened route still gave a great overview. Because of the shortened route bus frequency was a bit more than advertised making it even easier to stop at locations, make a visit, and find a bus in short order when ready to move on to the next locations.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Kia Ora Richard! Thank you for posting your review. We are happy to hear that you still enjoyed the tour regardless the route been shortened. It was an issue that the company did not have any control over it.

It turned out to be an expensive way to get around town should have just used the free Auckland shuttle bus.

Geoff_C, Feb 2023

Not much just a recording that added very little. In other locations hop on hop offs have had live people that really added color plus three stops were taken off with no price reduction.

Boring and two locations were not included because of previous flooding. Worst Hoop-on, Hoop-off tour we have taken.

Thomas_E, Feb 2023

There were no memorable experiences. This was an overpriced tour. and we not recommend it to our friends.

Auckland bus

Karen_D, Feb 2023

The onetime performance and friendly employees . It was an enjoyable way to get a first look at Auckland.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Hi Karen! We are happy to hear that our Hop-on Hop-off was worth it for you:)

Auckland Hop-on/Hop-Off

Lorelei_R, Feb 2023

We got lost looking for the first stop of the Hop-On/Hop-Off Bus. Our GPS told us we were at the spot but we couldn't find an ANZ bank there. So we asked around and the people we asked didn't know where the ANZ bank was. We just kept on walking and fortunately we found the stop. The guide at the stop was very helpful. We only stopped at 2 stops and hoped to be able to see Auckland from this bus but we were disappointed as the stops at Bastion Point and the stop after that were not accessible due to the recent storms. We were refunded some of the money for that inconvenience.

A memorable city tour

Balkis_A, Feb 2023

The hop-on hop-off tour really saved us a lot of time since our trip is very limited.We managed to see many places of Auckland City within a short period. The most interesting place is the war memorial.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

Hi Balkis! We appreciate your time to review our service and we are also happy that you enjoyed it:)

Hard to get started

Sarah_W, Feb 2023

The Explorer Bus itself was nice and informative. Unfortunately while we were in Auckland they were still experiencing issues with flooding so we weren’t able to go across the harbor to the Aquarium. We had a VERY difficult time finding where to pick up out tickets after ordering them. The address given in Viator instructions is to a very large shopping mall. We walked up and down trying to find a Explorer Bus representative or location. I ended up asking at another 3rd party seller where I should be going. They were very helpful and explained that Explorer Bus puts out a little “desk” that a person stands at in the public walking area adjacent to the address given. When I finally located the desk after nearly an hour since I started looking there was a sign on it saying if the desk was unattended go to the first stop for the bus to collect your tickets. It was extremely frustrating.

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