To catch the passenger ferry to Waiheke Island, head down to the Downtown Ferry Terminal, Wharf 2 in the Auckland CBD.

The ferry ride takes approximately 40-50minutes.

You can book your tickets online or on the day at the ferry terminal kiosks. Tickets currently cost $59 per adult for a return trip.

Waiheke passenger ferries also accept AT Hop transport cards, though we recommend that you check you have enough balance for the return trip!

If you plan to travel over on the Saturday morning, please allow plenty of time to arrive at the terminal before your ferries departure time as the weekends can get busy with queues & strict passenger numbers per sailing.

If you want to use a car while on Waiheke, there is a car ferry from Auckland.

Refer to the website linked below for the car ferry prices & schedules.

Regular sailings are from Half Moon Bay in East Auckland and there are also limited sailings departing each day from Wynyard Quarter in the City Centre.

We recommend booking your trip as there are limited sailings and spots available on the day.

Alternatively, there are hire car options available for you while on Waiheke Island. These can be arranged for pick-up and drop-off at the Matiatia Bay passenger ferry terminal.

Taxis & Ubers can be quite expensive from the Airport to the city ($38-$95!!).

So, we have broken down some other options to help you get into Auckland City & over to Waiheke Island.

From Auckland Airport, the AirportLink bus service departs every 10 minutes, and takes you to the nearest transport hub; Puhinui Station. From there you can catch a train or a bus into the CBD.

If you are travelling directly on to Waiheke, we recommend getting a train to Britomart: Waitemata Station, from there the Downtown Ferry Terminal is an easy 5 minute walk.

Refer to the AirportLink timetable and the AT Journey Planner to check connecting services. (Please note that during the weekends some train services may be out of action while upgrades are being undertaken for the City Rail Link.)

There is also the SkyDrive shuttle bus service which takes you directly into Central Auckland terminating at Hobson Street adjacent to SkyCity. From there it’s a 15minute walk to the passenger ferry terminal.

Shuttle buses run every 30 minutes and tickets can be purchased directly from the bus driver (card payment only), or via the SkyDrive website. Adult fares are $20pp.

Alternatively, you can book a SuperShuttle which will take you directly to your destination. Fares starting at $20pp.

There are regular buses on Waiheke from the passenger ferry.

The 50A & 50B to Onetangi from Matiatia Bay run past the access road to Te Motu Vineyard as well as stops in Oneroa, Ostend & Onetangi.

Check out the Waiheke bus schedule & route maps to plan your journey.

You can use most contactless payment methods (debit/credit card, apple pay) as well as your AT HOP cards to tag on in the bus. Just remember to tag off at the end of your ride.

Please note most public transport options in Auckland are now cashless, so if wanting to use cash, you will need to purchase a paper ticket from a ticket machine or transport hub kiosk.

Uber does not run over on Waiheke Island so if you aren’t bringing your car and don’t want to bus, we recommend booking a taxi to get around.

Our go-to taxi service on Waiheke is Waicabs. We have included the phone number above and their website is in the main link below.

Other taxi companies you can look into booking on Waiheke are:

Waiheke Taxis

Waiheke Transport

Prime Taxis

If you prefer to wing it, there’s a taxi stand outside the Waiheke ferry terminal at the entry to the public carpark.