Taupo & the Ruapehu Region
Mt Ruapehu (2797m) is the North Island's highest mountain and one of the world’s most active volcanoes. One year-long eruption began in March 1945,…
Must-see attractions in New Zealand
Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari
Waikato & the Coromandel Peninsula
A community trust has erected 47km of pest-proof fencing around the triple peaks of Maungatautari (797m) to create the impressive Sanctuary Mountain…
Taupo & the Ruapehu Region
For some peaceful moments away from the mountains, consider a walk to this bush-smothered lake, the centrepiece of the Lake Rotokura Ecological Reserve,…
The West Coast
Lying at the heart of a 7000-hectare scenic reserve, 18km southeast of Hokitika, beautiful Lake Kaniere is 8km long, 2km wide, up to 195m deep, and…
Tauranga
Surrounded by mature trees and lovely gardens, Tauranga's original mission station incorporates the Bay of Plenty's earliest buildings, along with one of…
Waikato & the Coromandel Peninsula
Due to copyright, all the movie sets around NZ were dismantled after the filming of The Lord of the Rings, but Hobbiton’s owners negotiated to keep their…
The West Coast
Water this turqouise doesn't come easily. Half a million years of glacial movement sculpted Hokitika's ravine; the rock 'flour' ground over millennia…
Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium
Auckland
In this topsy-turvy aquarium sharks and stingrays swim over and around you in transparent tunnels that were once stormwater tanks. You can also enter the…
Fiordland & Southland
In the early 20th century, Gore's enterprising Scottish immigrants responded to 50 years of prohibition by distilling their own moonshine. This museum…
Fiordland & Southland
Cutting back into cliffs right on the beach, the huge, arched Cathedral Caves were carved out of the limestone by 160 million years of waves. Named for…
Dunedin
This street proudly held the title of steepest street in the world until July 2019, when Ffordd Pen Llech in the Welsh town of Harlech was officially…
Dunedin & Otago
Oamaru’s main drag owes its expansive girth to the need to accommodate the minimum turning circle of a bullock cart. The town's grand pretensions reached…
Taupo
Two kilometres off SH5, this gorge was a spectacular part of the Waikato River until a hydroelectric dam was plonked across the waterway, shutting off the…
Fiordland & Southland
Incorporated in this new centre is a pleasant cafe (lunch mains $10 to $22, dinner $26 to $38), visitor centre and the Gateway, a modern museum with a…
Fiordland & Southland
Your best chance of spotting rare yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho) is from a hide at Roaring Bay, 8km south of Kaka Point's main drag. The hide is accessible…
Westland Tai Poutini National Park
Follow Cook Flat Rd for its full 21km (the final 12km is narrow, winding and unsealed) to this remote beach, a ruggedly beautiful, wind-blasted length of…
Owaka Museum & Catlins Information Centre
Fiordland & Southland
Vaguely canoe-shaped in honour of the town name (Owaka means 'place of the canoe'), this modern museum is a pleasant surprise. Salty tales of shipwrecks…
Taupo
This geothermal area sprang to life when hydroelectric tinkering around the power station in 1958 caused water levels to fall. The pressure shifted,…
Rotorua
The natural springs here are home to wild trout and eels, which you can peer at through an underwater viewer, and plenty of animals, including tuatara (a…
The West Coast
Serene Lake Māhinapua lies 10km southwest of Hokitika, screened from SH6 by its surrounding forest. The scenic reserve, gazetted in 1907, has a picnic…
Christchurch & Canterbury
Near Broken River Bridge, 2km northeast of Castle Hill, you'll find this 594m-long cave. As indicated by the information panels in the car park, the walk…
Waikato & the Coromandel Peninsula
Ruakuri Cave has an impressive 15m-high spiral staircase, bypassing a Māori burial site at the cave entrance. Tours lead through 1.6km of the 7.5km system…
Taupo & the Ruapehu Region
Northeast of Ruapehu, Mt Ngauruhoe (2287m) is the national park's youngest volcano and the most classically perfect in its conical shape. Its first…
Auckland
Parents bring their children to this picturesque park for the popular playground. It’s a pleasant picnic spot and a good place to get acquainted with…
Viaduct Harbour & Wynyard Quarter
This museum traces NZ’s seafaring history, from Māori voyaging canoes to the America’s Cup. Recreations include a tilting 19th-century steerage-class…
Parnell & Newmarket
Covering about 80 hectares, this green swath contains the Auckland Museum, sports fields, interesting sculpture, formal gardens, wild corners and the…
Auckland Region
As well as providing information on the 250km of trails within Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, this impressive centre features Māori carvings and…
Taupo & the Ruapehu Region
At the southern end of the town, in a large, almost-Stalinist concrete castle, is the National Army Museum. Proclaimed as ‘history without the boring bits…
North Island
Waikanae's main visitor lure, Ngā Manu is a 15-hectare bird sanctuary dotted with picnic areas, bushwalks, aviaries and a nocturnal house with kiwi, owls…
Pukeahu National War Memorial Park
Wellington
It seems strangely fitting that NZ's National War Memorial should be a musical instrument and contain as its centrepiece not a statue of a soldier, but of…
Fiordland & Southland
Two falls for the price of one! A fork in the road leads you, on the left, to the graceful drop of Matai Falls, while stairs to the right bring you to…
Fiordland & Southland
Nicknamed the ‘Goreggenheim’, this gallery has a truly impressive treasury of contemporary New Zealand art, including a large Ralph Hotere collection and…
Dunedin
Even in Presbyterian Dunedin, the 'established church' (aka the Church of England) gets the prime spot on The Octagon. A Romanesque portal leads into the…
Waikato & the Coromandel Peninsula
The big-three Waitomo Caves are all operated by the same company, based at the spectacular Waitomo Caves Visitor Centre (near the Glowworm Cave). Various…
Te Papa Ōtākaro/Avon River Precinct
Christchurch
One of the city's key post-earthquake redevelopment projects is reinvigorating the area around the Avon (Ōtākaro) River. Running along the river as a self…
Fiordland & Southland
Salty tales whisper from the portholes, driftwood and barnacle-clung planks displayed at Bluff's small museum by the container port. The best part is…
North Island
One of the last relatively unchanged areas of dunes and wetlands along the Kāpiti Coast, this undulating 650-hectare park offers swimming, walking,…
Queenstown & Wanaka
Strung along the creek, near the site of Arrowtown's first gold find, is NZ’s best example of an early Chinese settlement. Interpretive signs explain the…
Westland Tai Poutini National Park
It's a very long way from the actual glacier, but this parking area provides a surprisingly good view over fields to Fox Glacier (weather permitting)…
Wairakei Natural Thermal Valley
Taupo
This thermal walk (1.8km) on a secluded property explores the steaming banks of the Wairakei Stream and the deep pit of the Witches Cauldron. Kids will…
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