Embark on a small group stargazing tour with Silver River! Explore the stars with large telescopes, small groups & awesome guides allow us to wow you with full views of the southern night sky!

Embark on a small group stargazing tour with Silver River! 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 - 12 people so our ratio of telescopes to guests is 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 $79.00 (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.

    Maximum Capacity: 30 pax

    (Sessions will still be split into 2-3 smaller groups of around 10-12 pax each, but only one unified time should be displayed on the front end toprevent confusion. This has been mentioned in our activity description.)


    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 from31 Jan to 13 Feb 2026

All prices are shown inNZD ($)

Change Dates
Sat 31 Jan
Sun 1 Feb
Mon 2 Feb
Tue 3 Feb
Wed 4 Feb
Thu 5 Feb
Fri 6 Feb
Sat 7 Feb
Sun 8 Feb
Mon 9 Feb
Tue 10 Feb
Wed 11 Feb
Thu 12 Feb
Fri 13 Feb

  • Adult$59.20 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$59.20 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$82.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$69.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$59.20 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$65.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$69.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$82.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$82.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$79.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$65.00 Less than 6 at this price!
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00

  • Adult$99.00
  • Child$79.00
  • Family$299.00
Lake Tekapo and her stunning scenery. Super nice Great Night
1 / 3
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Authenticated Reviews

Real highlights, tips, and the helpful advice straight from Bookme customers who’ve actually done this experience, summarised with AI support

  • emergency가이드는 매우 지식이 풍부하고 매력적이며 경험을 재미있고 유익하게 만듭니다 (32명이 이렇게 말했습니다).
  • emergency맑은 밤은 종종 별과 행성의 놀라운 전망을 제공합니다. 특히 토성 (25명이 이렇게 말했습니다).
  • emergency망원경을 사용하면 천체를 가까이에서 볼 수 있는 놀라운 기회를 제공합니다 (20명이 이렇게 말했습니다).
  • emergency많은 사람들이 제공된 따뜻한 외투를 높이 평가했으며, 이는 추운 밤에 필수적입니다 (15명이 이렇게 말했습니다).
  • emergency경험은 잘 조직되어 있으며, 이상적인 날씨가 아닐 때에도 유연하게 대처할 수 있습니다 (12명이 이렇게 말했습니다).
  • emergency손님들은 투어 중에 찍은 무료 사진을 좋아하며, 이는 경험에 멋진 터치를 추가합니다 (10명이 이렇게 말했습니다).
  • star_shine따뜻한 옷을 가져오세요.
    최고의 전망을 위해 맑은 날에 예약하는 것을 고려하세요.

4.5

142 reviews

Showing all 142 authenticated Bookme reviews

Youngmin Lee from South Korea wrote on 08 June 2024

형언할 수 없는 아름다움

휴대전화 불빛도 끄고, 가이드의 목소리와 안내 불빛에 의지해 한참동안 하늘을 올려다 봤습니다. 오랫동안 잊고 살았던 별들, 신비로운 이야기들, 어린 시절의 추억들이 그 곳에 있더라고요. 너무나 소중한 시간이었습니다.

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YOUNGAH OH from South Korea wrote on 08 January 2019

평생 잊지못할 경험

경이롭고 소중한 시간이었어요 날씨도 좋고 모든게 완벽했습니다 밤늦은 시간이라 조금 피곤했던것만 빼면 다 좋았습니다

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From Alpine Stargazing Experience - Lake Tekapo

Hi Youngah, 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

lynh4 from Australia wrote on 21 November 2025

Cold but awesome

Very informative. Ckear cold night and you see so much with the naked eye. The telescope viewings were intersting and informative.

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Nidhi Anilkumar from India wrote on 09 December 2025

Disappointing

Very less information given. Time on telescope was not satisfactory. Plus the weather conditions were also not helpful. The photo he took in the end were not good - they were so shaky and did not capture either us nor the stars properly

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Tracy Yu from Hong Kong SAR China wrote on 03 December 2025

Not for the nerds

I wish I can give more stars for the responsive staff and friendly tour guide, but the experience is just a little underwhelming to me. It could be a memorable experience for someone who has never done any stargazing, but if you have some basic knowledge, you probably can’t take much out of the tour. We saw three objects through the telescope tonight (Orion nebula, Saturn and the moon) and the rest is mostly naked eye stargazing on constellations which are often visible in the northern hemisphere as well all year round. I was hoping the tour would put more focus on southern hemisphere specific objects but it only covers the southern cross and pointer stars, which again, if you know it already, you may prefer time spent on other objects instead. There were scattered clouds and almost a full moon on the night, so condition was not the best. I understand that it is in the guest’s best interest to talk about prominent objects we can see, which are Orion, Canis Major, southern cross, perhaps it is just not the right tour for me. Bottom line: if you are a nerd, this may not be for you. If you have absolutely no stargazing experience, you will have a good time. Suggestion: if there is a tour focus on southern night sky for people who have done fair amount of stargazing in the north, that would be perfect.

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Booking

10:00 a.m.Thursday 13 July

12

Adult

Child 3 - 15 years old

Family 2 Adults + 2 Children

*This option must be made together with another price type.
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