Mt Cook & Lake Tekapo Small Group Tour from Christchurch

Overview

Available languages

English

Mt Cook & Lake Tekapo Tour. This small group, fully-guided day trip combines all of the key highlights in the area with the famous Lake Tekapo, Mt Cook National Park and Tasman Glacier as key highlights. Led by our famously passionate tour guides, notorious for bringing your journey to life by sharing their stories and rich background knowledge and run in modern, comfortable minibuses packed with extras ensuring your comfort and safety.

Description

Highlights:

Lake Tekapo
Church of the Good Shepard
Mt Cook & Aoraki National Park
Tasman Glacier, Lake Pukaki

Itinerary:

Christchurch - Your tour starts in the stunning city of Christchurch. As we drive out of the city your guide will not only set the scene for your adventurous day but also point out and guide you past some of the area’s top highlights.

Canterbury Plains – Departing Christchurch we then make our way through the impressive Canterbury plains with plenty of amazing New Zealand farmland and countryside to see along the way!

Fairlie Bakehouse (10 mins) - A Classic New Zealand farming town hidden away in Mackenzie. Fairlie goes through some stunning colour changes especially come Autum, this is truly one of the best locations to sit and relax with one of their world-famous meat Pies from the Bakehouse. And this stop is also where we will pick up your lunch to keep you full of energy for the rest of the day.

Lake Tekapo (5mins) – We head towards the famous blue lakes of Lake Tekapo but to get there first we must go through some impressive alpine passes with amazing views. As we come over the hill to Tekapo you will be stunned by amazing view of the lake.

Church of the Good Shepherd (10 mins) – Once in the township of Tekapo you will have time to explore the very popular Church of the Good Shepherd, see the Mackenzie Sheep dog and get those Instagram worth shots of Lake Tekapo before we continue to Mt Cook.

Lake Pukaki (10 mins) – Turning west we begin to enter the Aoraki National Park and Lake Pukaki begins to emerge in front of us. Lake Pukaki is one of the bluest lakes you will ever see and is stunningly framed by the backdrop of Aoraki/Mt Cook and the Southern Alps. We stop for some amazing photos and to just marvel at the sight that we are beholding. It’s not hard to see why many Lord of the Rings scene were filmed nearby and we will point them out for you.

Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park (2 - 2.5 hours) – Arriving at Mt Cook Village, weather depending, we should get some amazing shots of the mountain itself. At 3724m, Aoraki/Mt Cook is New Zealand’s highest peak, however, the mountain can be viewed without any acclimatisation whatsoever from the village which is just 750m above sea level.

While in the national park you have 2.5 hours free time to enjoy free walks/hikes or one of the extra optional activities. Some of our recommendations include: Kea Point or Tasman Glacier Walk, Scenic flights (see the region from the air and land on the Tasman Glacier) or Mt Cook Visitor Centre & Hermitage Hotel. Whatever you decide to do we will pick you up and drop you off where you need to go and make sure you are well looked after.

Christchurch – Unfortunately after an amazing day of sightseeing it is time to return to Christchurch. Please note additional stops are taken into considerations for toilet breaks.

Please note: the Hooker Valley Track is currently CLOSED while the Department of Conservation works on replacing one of the swing bridges. This is expected to be complete in Autumn 2026 so the track will be inaccessible to the public until then.

Cancellation Policy

Terms: Tours will only run if at least 5 people have booked on the tour, we reserves the right to alter the tour due to weather or operational needs.

A full refund will be issued for cancellations made a minimum of 10 days prior to the scheduled departure time.

What‘s Included

Small Group

Fully Guided Tour

Picnic Lunch

Meeting points

Select a meeting point

Options

Reviews

4.76

148 reviews

125

Fabulous alpine experience
peterbK4368YD,,Feb 2, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
Five stars to Willem, our outstanding tour guide who provided us with a wonderful travel experience to Mt Cook via Lake Tekapo. His commentary was on point, interesting and informative. The stops were thoughtfully timed and spaced to allow for breakfast, lunch and snack opportunities. Needless to say the lake, glacier and alpine views were absolutely stunning and rival anything my wife an I have seen in 50 years of travel. A highlight of the trip was climbing the hill at Mt Cook to view the Tasman glacier. The long day flew by thanks to the friendly international ambience facilitated by our unflappable guide. As we approached Christ Church on the evening return trip, our guide played the relevant national anthems for our group. As each anthem finished, the group broke into enthusiastic applause. Such a nice finish to a beautiful day! Thank you Willem for safe travel on the highways, for your terrific sense of humour and for answering all of our questions. To our fellow travellers, we wish you bon voyage and May our paths cross again soon!
It’s a long day trip and...
SuHnin H,,Feb 1, 2026
- Review from Viator
4.00
It’s a long day trip and a bit of driving. good to visit once to Mt Cook. Beautiful scenery all the way.. it would be great if we were given more than 5 mins at Lake Pukaki and better lunch (rather than Egg sandwich)
Exploring the magic of Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo
536dilekt,,Jan 31, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
The tour was excellent. The team was very professional. Everything went smoothly. The Mt. Cook and LakeTekapo was amazing. Thank you very much! Highly recommended!
Long day but packed wirh info and experiences and vistas of Canterbury Plains, lakes and mountains. Very i formative guide about
Trail37558825307,,Jan 29, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
This was a 12 hour day so be aware. However it was full of interesting information and scenic stops. Fabulous snacks and fresh produce provided for lunch. The only suggestion is that more hotels could be included in the pick up locations depending on the clientele
Breathtaking views
SARFRAZ P,,Jan 28, 2026
- Review from Viator
5.00
Had a wonderful time. Scenic views. The tour company representative was courteous and knowlegable. Fine experience.
Drive in the countryside
krystens2026,,Jan 15, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
2.00
Scenery whilst driving was amazing and driver (many thanks to him) had a thorough knowledge of geology of area which appeared to be a major focus of the trip however trip left little time to complete the hike at mount cook destination as was advertised as we were picking up and dropping off other guests leaving and joining bus along the way -majority of the trip was the travel to get to Mt Cook, and once there only had a quick window to go for a short walk- bus seating was quite narrow and squashed in - was more of a sedentary informative trip as opposed to getting out and about So probably not as adventurous as what I thought by reading the kiwi journeys advertised details of trip
This trip requires a clear day.
Jane N,,Jan 15, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
3.00
Bad weather put a damper on the experience, literally and figuratively. I'm sure the mountain and the glacier would have looked spectacular, had they been visible.
Great Experience
Venture227800,,Jan 12, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
Very good guide and driver - Rosie. She was passionate and probably so far the best tour guide we had in our 2wks in Newzealand. She was punctual and flexible. She was able to provide us lots of information about NZ. Definitely worth going for if you don;t mind long day like 12-13 hours.
Amazing Views, Great Tour Guide
wilimenac,,Jan 9, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00
I had a great time on this tour. Our guide Mike was extremely attentive, professional and kind. For a full day 13 hour tour, he drove and provided tour commentary along the way, managed pick up and drop offs for the various passengers in our group, handled lunch distribution, and a few rest stops along the way. The sightseeing at Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo was amazing to say the least. Picturesque, the air quality fabulous. The whole tour kept to the schedule, very on point. Thank you for taking us on a great experience.
Had a great time on this...
Billie C,,Jan 9, 2026
- Review from Viator
5.00
Had a great time on this full day tour. Mike our guide was excellent, he was kind and gave the best commentary while driving all day. Pick up/Drop off was quite convenient. The tour sites were amazing to see, and our guide made it easy for us to sightsee in each location.