New Zealand
Auckland is New Zealand’s biggest city and its front door, a harbour city built across a narrow isthmus between two seas and scattered with more than fifty volcanic cones.
Tāmaki Makaurau, as it is known in te reo Māori, mixes a compact downtown with ferries, islands and beaches only minutes from the skyline. In a few days you can ride to the observation decks of the 328-metre Sky Tower, meet king and gentoo penguins at SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton’s on the Tāmaki Drive waterfront, see the great Māori and Pacific collections and a cultural performance at the Auckland War Memorial Museum in the Domain, and walk the rim of the crater on Maungawhau / Mount Eden for the best free view in the city. Take a forty-minute ferry to Waiheke Island for vineyards and beaches, or climb the black lava fields of Rangitoto, the city’s youngest volcano, which rose from the sea about six hundred years ago. Back downtown, the Viaduct Harbour holds the New Zealand Maritime Museum and its heritage sailings, and the SkyCity precinct adds the All Blacks Experience and Wētā Workshop Unleashed. Further afield, the Hobbiton Movie Set is an easy and much-loved day trip. This guide books the tickets worth booking, flags the ferry and weather caveats, and matches you to the right hotel, from a harbourfront splurge in Wynyard Quarter to a budget base five minutes from the Sky Tower.
Sky Tower
Auckland’s 328-metre landmark in the SkyCity precinct, with a main observation deck at 186 metres, The Lookout at 194 metres and the Sky Deck at 220 metres, the highest public viewing deck in New Zealand, looking over the harbour, the islands and the volcanic cones.
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Tāmaki Paenga Hira, the grand neoclassical museum on the crest of the Auckland Domain, with one of the world’s great collections of Māori and Pacific taonga, natural history and volcano galleries, the city’s war memorial halls and a daily Māori cultural performance.
Waiheke Island Ferry and Vineyards
The Hauraki Gulf island of vineyards, olive groves and white-sand bays, about forty minutes by Fullers360 ferry from downtown Auckland, with hop-on hop-off buses, wine tours and beaches such as Oneroa and Onetangi for an easy, memorable day out.
SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton’s Aquarium
Auckland’s much-loved aquarium on the Tāmaki Drive waterfront, built into old sewage storage tanks, with a walk-through Shark Tunnel, a replica of Scott’s Antarctic hut, king and gentoo penguins in the Antarctic Ice Adventure and New Zealand’s only turtle hospital.
Auckland’s 328-metre landmark in the SkyCity precinct, with a main observation deck at 186 metres, The Lookout at 194 metres and the Sky Deck at 220 metres, the highest public viewing deck in New Zealand, looking over the harbour, the islands and the volcanic cones.
Tāmaki Paenga Hira, the grand neoclassical museum on the crest of the Auckland Domain, with one of the world’s great collections of Māori and Pacific taonga, natural history and volcano galleries, the city’s war memorial halls and a daily Māori cultural performance.
The Hauraki Gulf island of vineyards, olive groves and white-sand bays, about forty minutes by Fullers360 ferry from downtown Auckland, with hop-on hop-off buses, wine tours and beaches such as Oneroa and Onetangi for an easy, memorable day out.
Auckland’s much-loved aquarium on the Tāmaki Drive waterfront, built into old sewage storage tanks, with a walk-through Shark Tunnel, a replica of Scott’s Antarctic hut, king and gentoo penguins in the Antarctic Ice Adventure and New Zealand’s only turtle hospital.
Auckland’s youngest and largest volcano, which rose from the sea about six hundred years ago, reached by a short ferry ride, with a two-hour return summit track over black lava fields, a side trip into lava caves and sweeping views across the Hauraki Gulf.
Auckland’s highest volcanic cone at 196 metres, a sacred maunga with a deep grassy crater, ancient pā terraces and a boardwalk around the summit, giving a free 360-degree view of the city, both harbours and the volcanic field.
Hui Te Ananui a Tangaroa, the waterfront museum on the Viaduct Harbour that tells New Zealand’s story through the sea, from Polynesian voyaging canoes and immigrant ships to yachting, with heritage harbour sailings on the scow Ted Ashby and the Breeze.
The official interactive rugby attraction in the SkyCity precinct, with an hour-long guided tour through the story of the All Blacks and Black Ferns, a 180-degree multi-sensory haka, five interactive zones and the chance to try your own conversion kicks.
A guided behind-the-scenes tour from the Oscar-winning Wellington effects studio behind The Lord of the Rings, on Federal Street opposite the Sky Tower, with themed film sets, a walk-through miniature castle, hands-on tools and a horror workshop you can skip if you prefer.
The real-life Shire from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, on a working farm near Matamata, visited on a guided walking tour past hobbit holes to a drink at the Green Dragon Inn, as a coach day trip from Auckland or combined with the Waitomo glowworm caves.
Hotels we would book ourselves, from splurges to good-value bases.
Wynyard Quarter
Auckland’s waterfront splurge in Wynyard Quarter, a five-star hotel of 195 rooms and suites, most looking over the Waitematā Harbour and the Lighter Basin, with a 25-metre infinity pool, a day spa and four restaurants and bars led by Onemata.
Rates on Expedia →Britomart and Lower Queen Street
A 79-room boutique heritage hotel in the 1928 Windsor House, an Art Deco landmark on lower Queen Street, formerly the Hotel Grand Windsor, with jewel-toned rooms, The Windsor Room restaurant and bar and Britomart station about a minute’s walk away.
Rates on Expedia →SkyCity and Federal Street (CBD)
A polished 312-room hotel on Federal Street with direct access to the SkyCity precinct, steps from the Sky Tower, the All Blacks Experience and Wētā Workshop Unleashed, with harbour-view rooms, a heated lap pool and the East Day Spa.
Rates on Expedia →Britomart and Quay Park
An apartment hotel beside Spark Arena on the eastern edge of the CBD, with 167 studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, full kitchens and in-room laundry in the apartments, a guest gym and an easy walk to Britomart and the waterfront.
Rates on Expedia →CBD (Wyndham Street)
A no-frills, good-value base of 143 compact private rooms on Wyndham Street in the CBD, about five minutes on foot from the Sky Tower, with en-suite showers, a microwave and fridge in every room and a 24-hour front desk.
Rates on Expedia →The practical primer for a first visit to Auckland: what to book ahead, getting around by ferry, bus and on foot, how many days you need, and where the Sky Tower, the museum, the volcanoes, the islands and Hobbiton fit.
How to choose your base in Auckland, from a harbourfront splurge in Wynyard Quarter and an Art Deco boutique hotel by Britomart to a polished hotel beside the Sky Tower, family apartments and a budget pick in the CBD.
