Kaikōura’s second wildlife signature. Bookable here as a full-day tour from Christchurch that includes the swim. The swim on its own, booked in Kaikōura, is not listed on the platforms this site compares.
The short answer
Yes, you can swim with wild dusky dolphins in Kaikōura; on this site it is bookable as a full-day tour from Christchurch that includes the swim with wetsuit and snorkel equipment. Swimmers must be at least 8 years old and confident in open water, and children under 3 are not allowed on the dolphin boats.
If you would rather stay on deck, a day tour from Christchurch with a dolphin-watching trip of about 4 hours has no swim. No operator offers swimming with the whales.
Pick a day, or the first and last day you are in Kaikōura or Christchurch. We check the booking calendar of every trip on this page and show which boat, flight or day tour still has seats.
Duration: 12 h
At sea or in the air: 4 h
Kaikōura’s second wildlife signature, after the sperm whales, is its dusky dolphins: acrobatic, curious, and present year-round in pods that can run into the hundreds. A local operator, Dolphin Encounter, runs in-water swims with the wild pods as well as watch-only trips, and it has done so for decades.
The swim on its own, booked in Kaikōura, is not listed on either of the booking platforms whose live prices this site shows. What is listed, on Viator, is a full-day tour from Christchurch by Leisure Tours that includes the swim: hotel pickup, the drive up the coast, the swim with wetsuit and snorkel equipment, the fur seal colony and lunch. That is the first card below. The second is a different product: a day tour from Christchurch by Cheeky Kea Tours with a dolphin-watching trip. You stay on board, there is no swim. After the cards: how the swim works, what the swim day tour asks of you, and which bookable whale trips show you the dolphins from above the water.
The Kaikōura trips on this page side by side, each with the same facts. Open a card for the full details.
A full day from Christchurch built around the swim: hotel pickup, the dolphin swim in Kaikōura with wetsuit and snorkel equipment, the fur seal colony and lunch. About 12 hours, at most 16 guests.
A full day from Christchurch built around the dusky dolphin swim: hotel pickup in the morning, the drive north to Kaikōura, the swim with a wild pod (wetsuit and snorkel equipment provided), plus lunch, a stop at the fur seal colony and the drive back the same evening.
Worth knowing: swimmers must be at least 8 years old, and children under 3 are not allowed on the dolphin boats. The swim takes place in open water, so you should be a confident swimmer. If the dolphin boats do not sail once the tour has started, only the unused portion of the tour is refunded.
Hotel pickup in Christchurch, start time 7:00 am.
Details as listed by the operator on the booking platform; check the product page for changes before you book.
A day tour from Christchurch by Cheeky Kea Tours with a dolphin trip of about 4 hours with Dolphin Encounter Kaikōura, to watch the pods from the boat. The listing does not include a swim, and there is no whale watching on this day. Only a few reviews so far.
About 10 hours from Christchurch with pickup, the coast road and a dolphin trip of about 4 hours with Dolphin Encounter Kaikōura, watching from the boat with no swim. Lunch included; not for babies under 1.
A full day from Christchurch built around the dolphins rather than the whales: the drive up the coast with a break in Cheviot and the road over the Hundalee Hills, a dolphin trip of about 4 hours with Dolphin Encounter Kaikōura in the afternoon, and short photo stops at Gore Bay and Cathedral Cliffs on the way back. You travel in a small group in a Mercedes Sprinter or similar; lunch, bottled water and snacks are included.
Worth knowing: this is dolphin watching from the boat. The listing does not include a swim, and there is no whale watching cruise on this day. The operator states that the day is purely for the dolphins, with no time for extra walks or shopping. If you are prone to seasickness, the listing advises bringing anti-nausea tablets.
Pickup at hotels and set points in Christchurch, including airport hotels; drop-off at the same points.
Details as listed by the operator on the booking platform; check the product page for changes before you book.
The swim puts you in a wetsuit in open water near a wild pod. The dolphins are not fed, not penned and not trained, so the encounter runs on their curiosity. The local operator also carries watch-only passengers on the same boats, which is the option for anyone who wants the pod without the cold-water swim. A day tour from Christchurch by Cheeky Kea Tours includes such a dolphin-watching trip (second card above); the watch-only trip on its own, booked in Kaikōura, is not listed here. At the time of our research it ran more departures in summer (including an early-morning slot) and fewer in winter; the dolphins themselves are around all year.
The bookable dolphin days from Christchurch are different products. Leisure Tours (booked on Viator) puts you in the water: wetsuit and snorkel equipment, a minimum age of 8 for swimmers, about 12 hours in total, free cancellation up to 6 days before. Cheeky Kea Tours keeps you on board: a dolphin trip of about 4 hours to watch the pods, about 10 hours in total, lunch included, not suitable for babies under 1, free cancellation up to 24 hours before. Neither includes a whale watching cruise. If you are prone to seasickness, the Cheeky Kea listing advises bringing anti-nausea tablets.
It is a long day: pickup from Christchurch hotels at 7:00 am, a drive of more than two hours each way, and the swim in the middle of the day. Swimmers must be at least 8 years old, children under 3 are not allowed on the dolphin boats, and the tour listing asks for confident swimmers, because you are in open sea, not in a sheltered bay. It is not suitable for wheelchair users or for anyone with heart problems or other serious medical conditions.
The dolphin boats go out weather and sea permitting, and the coach leaves Christchurch before that call is made. If the boats do not sail once the tour has started, only the unused portion of the tour is refunded. The long day around it is not. Free cancellation ends 6 days before the tour, earlier than on the whale trips on this site, so check your plans before that point.
To answer the question behind the question: no Kaikōura operator offers swimming with the sperm whales. The in-water product is the dolphin swim; the whales are watched from boats, planes and helicopters. If your picture of Kaikōura is being in the water with a whale, adjust it now rather than at the counter.
Dusky dolphins turn up constantly in the reviews of the bookable whale watching trips, riding alongside the catamaran and in pods large enough to be spotted from the air. The whale watching cruise gives you the longest time on their water. The flights show you the scale of a big pod in a way the deck cannot. None of these puts you in the water, but if the dolphins are one wish among several, a whale trip will very likely deliver them as the supporting act. If you are starting from Christchurch and the whales matter more than the swim, the whale watching day tours are the route.
Sorted by number of reviews. Tap a column header to change the order.
| Photo | Tour | What's in it | Rating ↕ | Price ↕ | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Whale watching cruise (Whale Watch Kaikoura) | Catamaran cruise to the sperm whales · 3.5 h total, a good 2 h at sea | ★ 4.6 (3,972) | NZ$ 175 per person | Book now |
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Whale watching flight with commentary (Air Kaikoura) | Scenic flight with commentary, window seat guaranteed, max 7 · 30 min | ★ 4.6 (942) | NZ$ 198 per person | Book now |
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Whale watching flight (Wings Over Whales) | Scenic flight with commentary, window seat guaranteed, max 6 · 30 min | ★ 4.5 (216) | NZ$ 275 per person | Book now |
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Swim with dolphins day tour (Leisure Tours) | Day tour from Christchurch incl. dolphin swim, seal colony and lunch · about 12 h | ★ 4.5 (29) | NZ$ 499 per person | Book now |
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Dolphin watching day tour from Christchurch (Cheeky Kea Tours) | Van day trip incl. dolphin watching from the boat (about 4 h, no swim, no whales) and lunch · 10 h | ★ 4.3 (15) | NZ$ 389 per person | Book now |
Prices for the boat, plane and helicopter trips in this table come live from GetYourGuide or Viator, taxes and booking fees included. Age limits and weight rules are on each product page. The “What’s in it” column condenses each listing title; the product page has the full inclusions.
Real traveller reviews from GetYourGuide.
★ 4.3 (15 reviews)
“Our day tour to Kaikōura with dolphin encounter was fantastic! Our guide, Malcolm, was very super friendly, accomodating and extremely knowledgeable about the local area, he was an excellent guide. Our day was filled with lots of local wild life and breathtaking views, along the coast we got up close and personal with the seals. Followed by fish and chips for lunch. Then we had the dolphin tour which featured sightings of albatross and a huge pod of dolphins as far as the eye could see, they were super playful flipping and jumping and putting on a show for us. Would 100% recommend this tour with Cheeky Kea!”
“Paul was an amazing driver, entertaining us with interesting facts whenever we passed by something cool and brought us to get a closer look at seals along the way. We also got to see hundreds of dolphins!”
“We were lucky to be the only ones visiting the dolphins from Christchurch. It was a good experience as the timings to stop for breaks were according to our requests. The guide, Paul was engaging and enthusiastic in sharing about the country. Tanya was very helpful and sweet in accommodating to our last minute requests. Definitely worth going and it’s worth your time and money.”
“Lucky day to find all animals and lovely trips, driver is very nice guy help us all day.”
“Overall a great activity, seeing seals up close and seeing dolphins swimming and jumping was amazing. The fish and chips was also delicious.”
Only a few travellers have reviewed this tour so far, so read these as individual voices, not a track record. What they describe: friendly, well-informed guides, seals close up along the coast, and big, playful dolphin pods on the boat trip. Keep in mind that the day is built around watching the dolphins from the boat (it includes neither a swim nor a whale watching cruise).
Quotes taken from the GetYourGuide pages of the Kaikōura trips. Long reviews are shortened (marked with …), the wording is unchanged, and names are cut to first name and country.
Yes, as a full-day tour from Christchurch by Leisure Tours, booked on Viator: hotel pickup, the swim with wetsuit and snorkel equipment, the fur seal colony and lunch. The swim on its own, booked in Kaikōura, is not listed on the platforms this site compares, so it is not bookable here.
On the bookable day tour, swimmers must be at least 8 years old, and children under 3 are not allowed on the dolphin boats. You should also be a confident swimmer, because the swim takes place in open water.
No operator offers that. The in-water experience is the dusky dolphin swim; the sperm whales are watched from boats, planes and helicopters.
The dusky dolphins are present year-round. At the time of our research the local swim operator ran more departures in summer, including an early-morning slot, and fewer in winter.
On the swim day tour from Christchurch, the boats sail weather and sea permitting. If they do not sail once the tour has started, only the unused portion of the tour is refunded. Free cancellation is possible up to 6 days before the tour.
Very likely, though not guaranteed. Dusky dolphins appear constantly in reviews of the cruise and the flights, sometimes in very large pods. If dolphins are one wish among several, a bookable whale trip usually delivers them as the supporting act.
Yes, as part of a day tour: Cheeky Kea Tours runs a full day from Christchurch with a dolphin-watching trip of about 4 hours with Dolphin Encounter Kaikōura. There is no swim, and no whale watching on that day. The local swim operator also carries watch-only passengers on the same boats; that trip on its own, booked in Kaikōura, is not listed on the platforms this site compares, so you cannot book or compare it here.
Compare the dolphin day tours and the whale trips in one table.
See the comparison