Auckland Explorer Bus
Auckland Explorer Bus
3.5
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
About
See Auckland's top attractions with a 24 or 48 hour bus pass and hop on and off where you want. All passes include a free Devonport ferry ticket! Visit attractions including Kelly Tarlton's, the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Sky Tower.
Auckland Central, New Zealand

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Tours and Tickets by Auckland Explorer Bus
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.

3.5
710 reviews
Excellent
225
Very good
243
Average
115
Poor
65
Terrible
62

V4273OHdavidl
Seattle, WA28 contributions
Feb 2020
We appreciated the organized, efficient way to see the city in a relatively short time. It’s a fun city to visit. Staff and drivers were very helpful and friendly. Our primary negative experience was the lengthy delays at a couple stops, especially the one common stop with the red and blue routes at the Auckland Museum.
Written February 14, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kia Ora V4273OHdavidl! Thank you for taking the time to write us a review and for choosing to see the best of Auckland with us. We're glad you enjoyed it and we hope to see you on board again soon! All the best for your future travels, Jerome and the team at Auckland Explorer Bus
Written February 14, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

CLCCalifornia
Los Angeles47 contributions
Feb 2020
Auckland is a spead out city. The explorer bus is a convenient way to visit the different neighborhoods and experience various attractions in one day. Very friendly drivers, good recorded commentary, and clean buses.
Written February 20, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kia Ora CLCCalifornia, Thank you so much for choosing to hop on our bus to see the best that Auckland has to offer! We hope to see you on board again soon. All the best for your future travels, Jerome and the team at Auckland Explorer Bus
Written February 20, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Nancy T
Melbourne, Australia136 contributions
Jan 2015 • Couples
Auckland is a beautiful city and we saw a lot of it with the Explorer Hop On Hop Off bus. $45 for an all day pass with 15 stops. The city is beautifully set out and you won’t run out of things to see. There is the red and blue circles with interchanges at Auckland Museum that covers the highlights of Auckland city and outer areas. The bus stops are Red every 30 minutes and Blue every 60 minutes so you need to time it right to get back on board. A bus stop information sheet provided was a good guide on what to see and do.
Written January 13, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

CazCD
West Yorkshire, UK29 contributions
Mar 2020
We decided to use a hop on hop off bus to maximise what we could see in a day visit to Auckland. And it worked great, buses had some taped commentary giving useful information about the area as we went along. Unlimited stops and there seemed to be plenty of the yellow buses. Recommended.
Written March 9, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kia Ora CazCD, Thank you so much for choosing to hop on our bus to see the best that Auckland has to offer! We hope to see you onboard again soon. All the best for your future travels, Jerome and the team at Auckland Explorer Bus
Written March 10, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

ScorpionCommander
San Luis Obispo, CA32 contributions
Jul 2018 • Solo
If you want to visit all the sights in Auckland, this is the tour for you. Great price for transportation and includes a ferry to Davenport. Buy the two days pass so you can do everything, it starts up early but if you want to sleep in and then arrive you may want to go more than one day. The entries to the various sites can get pricey, but you can pick and choose what you want to do and when. I very much enjoyed the drive and the top deck has a window you can see out of and up tot he skyline. Great views and audio commentary explaining the culture and different sites that you will see. Including the stops and driving through town.
Written July 26, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Mulligan12
Florida38 contributions
Jan 2012 • Friends
We were in Auckland for about 24 hours and wanted to see the city highlights at the least expense. Since we didn't have a car and were staying at a hotel near the airport we also needed transportaion into the city center and knew taxi fees would be high. Then we saw an ad for the Auckland Explorer Bus which advertised exactly what we were looking for. They promised to pick up and drop off at Auckland area hotels and allows the passengers to jump on and off at their leisure. We bought the $40 day pass and it was money SO well spent. Included in the $40 was our hotel pick up and drop off. A round trip taxi ride into the city center would have been much more than this amount! The company sent a bus to pick up my husband and I which arrived promptly at the designated time of 8:30am. We were then driven to the Auckland museum where we could either tour or continue with the bus travel. We spent 8 hours having a fantastic time visiting the highlights of Auckland with absolutely no worries in regards to transportation. The bus was always on time to pick us up to our next destination and at the end of our day we had a very relaxing bus ride back to the front door of our hotel. The Auckland Explorer Bus is simply the BEST value for money and provides all the essential transportation needs for visiting the city. Highly, highly recommend!
Written February 18, 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Travel_tings01
Vancouver, Canada1 contribution
Apr 2019 • Family
I’ve sent an email to the touring company about a week ago highlighting our disturbing interaction with one of the drivers, and have yet to receive a response. Please see the interaction below:

At around 1 pm at the Sky Tower stop on Monday, I was standing around the desk reading the map to note the points of interest, and JP approached me to ask if I wanted the map in my language. I was very taken aback as I was very much born in an English speaking country and have never had that assumption made on me. We did not interact with him prior and so there would have been very little basis for the question. It would have been appreciated if he asked how I was doing to try and gauge my English speaking abilities if he was trying to be helpful.

While the rush to profile may have been inappropriate to most people, I understood that maybe it was an honest oversight...

It was the next interaction with the very same driver that was so grossly out of hand that I disembarked the bus with my grandmother and sister.

Prior to onboarding the tour bus, my grandmother had purchased a smoothie for herself. As we were entering the bus, my grandmother asked JP verbatim: “hi, is it okay if I bring my smoothie on the bus?” Bear in mind that if the driver had made it clear that drinks were not allowed on the bus, we would have been fine to dispose of it. Instead, he responded: “yes, but only if we make a deal. If you spill it, you clean out the entire bus.” My grandmother was startled by the joke, if that’s what it was, and responded: “haha, yes ok I’ll be very careful”, and started to head towards the stairs, to WHICH he responded: “no come back love, I’m very serious. If you spill it, you’ll get on your hands and knees and scrub the bus clean”.

We left the bus. I don’t need to go on about how devastatingly inappropriate that comment was or how that made us feel. My grandmother is 75 years old.

These subsequent interactions were incredibly disturbing and effectively had me question whether I had selected a credible touring company with which to experience the city.
Written April 21, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kia Ora Travel_tings01, Firstly, I am very very sorry you, your mother and your sister had to experience this with our driver. As the driver is the face of our company and brand we are much better than that and on this occasion has let us down. This is not usual nor represents Explorer Bus and InterCity in any form. If you can, may I please ask for some information regarding this incident so I can better assist you - what was the date of travel? I will pass on this review to our services team. Once again, sorry that if we let you down. All the best for your future travels from Max and the team at Explorer Bus
Written July 4, 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

jkwolf24
Park Ridge, IL53 contributions
Nov 2018 • Couples
My husband and I did the hop-on-hop-off bus as our first adventure in Auckland. It helps you get the lay of the land, while taking you to some key spots! We got off at: Bastion Point Lookout (walked to Mission Bay - cute area!), Parnell Rose Garden, Wintergardens, Mt Eden (hiked to the top - great view!), and Parnell Village. The commentary given in bus is interesting to listen too and you learn a lot! We then took the ferry to Devonport. The ferry ticket is included in the price of the hop-on-hop-off ticket. Great first day!
Written November 20, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kent S
Los Angeles, CA259 contributions
Jan 2019 • Couples
If you have limited time in this city of would like a convenient way to get around Auckland to see the highlights, the Auckland Hop-on Hop -off tours are excellent. Be aware there are at least two competing companies which I reviewed prior to deciding and be sure to go onn the Yellow or Blue buses and NOT the Red buses. The Explorer Bus meet at various areas of Downtown Auckland. There are two distinct routes--Red which travels along the harbor, Sky Tower, Aquarium, Parnell Rose Garden, Eden Park and meets at the Auckland Military Museum, where you can switch to get on the Blue line to explore the outer areas of Auckland and stop at the Zoo or Museum of Transportation. If you purchase an Auckland Pass online before arriving, it enables you to enter 6 major attractions at a significant discount. If you only go to 4 of the 6, you will save money. The bus drivers are very friendly and knowledgeable and will often stop for photos at various sites in Auckland. The pass is good for 24 hours, so if you start midday, you can continue again the next morning.
Written January 27, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kia ora Kent S, Thank you so much for your positive review and the thorough information you've left for others considering using our service. All the best for your future travels, Amanda and the team at Explorer Bus
Written February 3, 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

David J
Calgary, Canada72 contributions
Apr 2017 • Couples
We decided to do the hop-on, hop-off tour on April 1st and I guess the joke was on us!! Stranded at Mt. Eden stop for 48 minutes waiting for the next bus was typical of the day we had with this company. The busses start running at 9:30am and finish at 3:30pm!! I've never seen this before in any other city....the tours end in the middle of the afternoon?? There is barely enough time to "hop-off" and spend time somewhere. Some of the drivers of the busses were very aggressive (cutting off other vehicles, honking horns, going up and over sidewalks and verbally yelling at other drivers). The commentary on the busses is OK (it's an automatic GPS guided system)
however on one bus they didn't have that and all we did was drive the last 3 stops on the red line with no commentary!!

At the end of the trip I told the "logistics manager" who happened to be at the last stop that I thought they needed to focus more on customer service and he just went off on me like there was no tomorrow. He said and I quote, "I get people like you complaining to me everyday about nothing little things and you make a mountain out of nothing"! I asked myself well if he gets complaints "everyday" then maybe they should re-evaluate their operation instead of yelling at their customers. This guy wasn't going to listen and told me that he was "looking forward to my email". Not going to give him the satisfaction. The whole experience was unbelievable.

There was no value here and realistically with some easy planning you could save a lot of money by just using the public bus system to get to the main sites. Very fast and easy. My wife and I have been on at least a dozen hop-on , hop-off bus tours throughout the world and most are very good, however this one was a complete joke. Auckland deserves much better!!
Written April 4, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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