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Alpine Stargazing Experience - Lake Tekapo

4.5
112
Silver River™ Stargazing is Lake Tekapo’s leading small group stargazing tour! Explore the stars with large telescopes, small groups & awesome guides allow us to wow you with full views of the southern night sky!

Silver River™ Stargazing is Lake Tekapo’s leading small group stargazing tour! Explore the stars with large telescopes, small groups & awesome guides allow us to wow you with full views of the southern night sky!

Highlights

  • Amazing 360° degree views of the night sky
  • Learn to navigate the night sky using our iconic Southern Cross
  • Look at stars, nebula, star clusters and many other celestial objects up close using the telescope
  • Explore the Milky Way and spot satellites and amazing shooting stars!
  • Small tour groups ensure a personalised experience

Are you ready to have your mind blown? Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Come and discover the wonders of the night sky on our 75 minute experience; including at least 60 mins under the stars with one of our epic guides. We use powerful 14” telescopes for awesome views of various deep space objects and special astro-lasers for easy naked-eye viewing of important stars and constellations.

At the end of your journey through our night sky, your guide will take a photo of your individual groups under the stars (Weather Dependent), capturing that picture-perfect moment. And our gift to you!Within 48 hours we will upload your photo onto our public Flickr website and then email you a link to download your digital copy of your photo so you can share with your family and friends, and of course on social media.

But wait, we’re not done. The perks of our tours keep on coming! We cap our tours at 10 people so our ratio of telescopes to guests is tin, one of the lowest in the Tekapo region. Meaning, everyone will have plenty of time on the telescopes and plenty of opportunities to ask our guide questions. Our stargazing locations are super dark, with some of the lowest light pollution in Tekapo. We’re pretty pumped to run our tours from within the gold rated Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, some of the darkest skies on the entire planet.

Our Stargazing Tour Includes:

  • Complimentary transport to / from the Silver River Stargazing office in Tekapo to the stargazing site located just minutes away from Lake Tekapo Township
  • Use of our toasty warm down jackets
  • A guided tour of the night sky
  • Use of our14”modern telescopes
  • Small group tours
  • Little to no light pollution
  • Vast 360° views of the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve
  • A photo taken under the stars for you to share with a digital link made available.
Adult $99.00
Child $69.00 (3 - 15 years old)
Family $299.00 (2 Adults + 2 Children)

What's included

  • Transport to / from the Silver River™ Stargazing locations (this does not include transport from your accommodation)
  • A 75 minute fully guided tour of the night sky
  • Warm down jackets are available for use
  • Experienced star guide
  • Group photo taken under the stars
  • Use of our powerful 14inch Telescopes

Duration

  • Allow approx. 75 minutes for this experience.

Location

  • 12 Rapuwai Lane
  • Lake Tekapo
  • 7999

Restrictions

  • Minimum age: 3
  • If your child requires a car seat, please ensure you bring this with you for their safety..

Child Friendly

  • This experience welcomes families with children.

Bad Weather Refunds

  • If your experience is cancelled by the operator (because of the bad weather, safety concerns, unscheduled maintenance etc) you will be entitled to a full refund.

Notes

  • Some of our tours start after midnight. Please check that you are booking for the correct date.

    The Operator has a limit of 1 infant per tour and they must be booked onto the earliest departure of the night, please contact the operator directly for a booking that includes an infant to check availability.

    All children under 16 years of age must be accompanied by a responsible adult who is at least 16 years old.

    Terms & Conditions:Any cancellations made within 24 hours of your tours scheduled departure time will not be eligible for a refund. Bookings can be rescheduled any time up until 24 hours before the scheduled departure time of your tour.

Available Bookings from 18 Dec to 31 Dec 2024

All prices are shown in NZD ($)

Change Dates
Wed 18 Dec
Thu 19 Dec
Fri 20 Dec
Sat 21 Dec
Sun 22 Dec
Mon 23 Dec
Tue 24 Dec
Wed 25 Dec
Thu 26 Dec
Fri 27 Dec
Sat 28 Dec
Sun 29 Dec
Mon 30 Dec
Tue 31 Dec

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$69.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$69.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$69.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$59.20 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$79.20 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$69.00
  • Family$299.00

Authenticated Reviews & PhotosAll of our reviews are from people who have booked and paid for this activity thru Bookme

Authenticated Reviews & PhotosAll of our reviews are from people who have booked and paid for this activity thru Bookme

4.5

112 reviews

Showing all 112 authenticated Bookme reviews

Yanjun Liu from China wrote on 23 January 2019

professional guide

很好,全是干货,尤其适合有一定天文知识储备的游客。中文向导助理帮我向不懂英文的妈妈解释的非常耐心周到,感谢。

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From Alpine Stargazing Experience - Lake Tekapo

Hi Yanjun Liu, thank you for taking the time to give Silver River Stargazing a review. We are very pleased you enjoyed your tour & we hope to see you again in the future! Kind Regards Lake Tekapo Farm Tours

eunicel2 from Malaysia wrote on 28 August 2024

Incredible and breathtaking experience !

Silver River Stargazing at Lake Tekapo was an incredible experience! Wilson provided a great explanation of the night sky, making it easy to understand and appreciate the stars above. We were lucky enough to have a night full of stars, which made the experience even more magical. The highlight for me was seeing Saturn through the telescope—it was absolutely breathtaking! I highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Lake Tekapo. Photo taken by iphone 14 pro.

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Sem Vanderwerf from Netherlands wrote on 22 October 2023

Canceled tour

The tour was canceled because of to many clouds. They called me half an hour before I have to be there. And they explained really nicely why. And if I want to do it tomorrow again or a refund. Nice people

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caicai from China wrote on 20 November 2023

Not very well

简单介绍和用天文望远镜观察了木星土星月亮南十字星麦哲伦星,然后云层越来越厚,提前终止了活动。其实天气并不适合观星,觉得结尾比较仓促。英语不太好的人建议直接定中文观星团,介绍人虽然发音很纯正,但理解起来有一点费劲对于非天文爱好者来说,现场手机不允许亮屏影响观查,所以无法实时翻译。

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Martin from Sweden wrote on 13 March 2020

Wish there was more time in the telescope

I wish it was more of looking into the telescope. You only got to look at 5 different spots in the sky and around 10 seconds each spot (didn't ask if we could see more). Tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly, but not a great public speaker. He was quite often hard to hear.

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