Auckland: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Auckland is built on about fifty volcanoes on an isthmus two kilometres wide at its narrowest, with a harbour on each side. Maori called it Tamaki Makaurau — Tamaki desired by many — because whoever held this strip controlled the canoe route between the two seas, and it was fought over for centuries. This walk is the centre and the ridge above it. Two and a half hours, and the hills are real hills.
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A short history of Auckland
The city sits on a volcanic field of about fifty small volcanoes, and on many of them the Māori built fortified villages. They called the place Tāmaki Makaurau, the land desired by many. In 1840, after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Governor William Hobson chose this shore as the capital of the colony and named it after Lord Auckland. In 1865 the capital moved to Wellington, but Auckland kept growing and became the largest city in the country; today about a third of New Zealand's population lives here. In 1997 the Sky Tower, 328 metres tall, was opened.
The ten best sights in Auckland
1Sky TowerThree hundred and twenty-eight metres and the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere. You can jump off it on a wire, which about thirty thousand people a year do.
2Auckland Art GalleryFree, and the largest art collection in New Zealand. The Maori portraits by Gottfried Lindauer and Charles Goldie are the rooms people stand longest in.
3Albert ParkA Victorian park on the site of a British army barracks, and there are tunnels underneath it dug as air raid shelters in 1942.
4Auckland MuseumA war memorial and a museum in one building. The Maori court on the ground floor holds Hotunui, a carved meeting house of 1878, and a hundred-foot war canoe.
5Auckland DomainThe oldest park in the city, and it sits inside the crater of a volcano that erupted about one hundred thousand years ago.
6Takutai SquareA green square where the shoreline used to be — everything north of here is reclaimed land, including the ground you are standing on.
7Viaduct HarbourRebuilt for the America's Cup in 2000, and New Zealand has won that trophy four times — from a country of five million.
8Wynyard QuarterA fuel storage and fishing port turned public waterfront in 2011, with the silos kept standing on purpose.
9Silo ParkConcrete silos turned into a park, with films projected onto one of them on summer Fridays and a market under them.
10Mount EdenThe highest natural point in the city, a volcanic cone with a crater fifty metres deep. Its Maori name is Maungawhau, and the terraces on its sides are the remains of a fortified village.
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Auckland →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Auckland:
Free walking tours in Auckland
The City Between Two Harbours
Auckland is built on about fifty volcanoes on an isthmus two kilometres wide at its narrowest, with a harbour on each side. Maori called it Tamaki Makaurau — Tamaki desired by many — because whoever held this strip controlled the canoe route between the two seas, and it was fought over for centuries. This walk is the centre and the ridge above it. Two and a half hours, and the hills are real hills.
- Britomart · The station is inside the 1911 post office, and everything north of Takutai Square is reclaimed land — the original shoreline ran where the square is now. The warehouses around it were due for demolition in the 1990s and were saved and converted instead.
- Queen Street · The main street runs down a valley that held the Horotiu stream. It was culverted in the 1870s and is still there under the road, which is why this street floods when the rain is heavy.
- Auckland Art Gallery · Free, and the portraits are the reason: Gottfried Lindauer, a Czech painter, and Charles Goldie painted Maori sitters from the 1870s onward, often chiefs who sat deliberately so that their moko would be recorded.
- Albert Park · A British barracks stood here until 1870, and under the park is a network of tunnels dug in 1942 to shelter twenty thousand people from a Japanese air raid that never came.
- Auckland Domain · The oldest park in the city, and the flat sports field in the middle of it is the crater floor of the Pukekawa volcano. The whole park is the volcano.
- Auckland Museum · Both a war memorial and a museum. The ground floor holds Hotunui, a carved meeting house given in 1878 as a wedding gift, and Te Toki a Tapiri, a war canoe over twenty-five metres long carved from a single tree in 1836.
The Volcanoes
There are about fifty volcanoes under Auckland and the field is still active — the last eruption built Rangitoto about six hundred years ago and Maori living on the shore watched it happen. The cones were terraced and fortified as pa, and the quarrying of some of them for roadstone is one of the things the city is still apologetic about. Three hours with two climbs, or one morning by car.
- Mount Eden · Maungawhau, the highest natural point in Auckland at a hundred and ninety-six metres, with a crater fifty metres deep. The terraces on its flanks are the remains of a pa that held several thousand people, and you are asked not to walk into the crater because it is sacred.
- One Tree Hill · Maungakiekie held one of the largest pa in the country, with terraces for perhaps five thousand people. The tree it is named for was attacked twice with a chainsaw in protest over Maori land rights, in 1994 and 2000, and had to be removed; nine native trees were planted in 2016 and one will be left.
- Cornwall Park · John Logan Campbell bought the land and gave it to the public in 1901 on condition it stay a farm. Sheep still graze it, three kilometres from the centre, and the lambing in spring is open to anyone.
- Devonport · Twelve minutes by ferry on an ordinary ticket. The naval base here has been in use since 1841, and the wooden villas along the front were built when this was where Auckland's merchants lived.
- North Head · The headland is hollow. Tunnels and gun emplacements were dug into it from 1885 against a feared Russian attack, extended in both world wars, and they are open and unlit — take a torch.
- Rangitoto Island · The youngest and largest volcano in the field. It rose out of the sea in a series of eruptions about six hundred years ago, and Maori footprints have been found preserved in the ash under the lava — which means people were standing here while it happened.
The Two Coasts
Auckland has two coasts half an hour apart and they are nothing alike. The east is the harbour: shallow, warm, sheltered, with islands you reach by ferry. The west is the Tasman Sea: black iron sand, cliffs, and surf that kills people most years. This route is both, and it needs a car or a bus for the west. A full day.
- Mission Bay · The city beach, eight kilometres along the waterfront drive, with Rangitoto directly opposite. The water is harbour water and almost always flat.
- Bastion Point · In 1977 Ngati Whatua occupied this headland for five hundred and six days to stop the government selling their last land here. On the twenty-fifth of May 1978 six hundred police and army removed them and two hundred and twenty-two people were arrested. The land was returned in 1988 and the Waitangi Tribunal found the Crown's actions unlawful.
- Okahu Bay · The village of Ngati Whatua Orakei stood on this bay. In 1951, before a royal visit, the state demolished what remained of it and burned the meeting house. The apology and the settlement came in the 1990s.
- Piha Beach · Black sand made of iron from the volcanoes, which means it can reach sixty degrees in summer. The rips here are strong enough that the surf club has been filmed as a television series for twenty years, and the flags are not a suggestion.
- Karekare Beach · The beach in the opening of The Piano, with a waterfall in the bush behind it and no shop, no cafe and no phone signal.
- Muriwai Beach · A gannet colony of about twelve hundred pairs nests on the rock stacks here between August and March. The birds dive from thirty metres and hit the water at about a hundred kilometres an hour, and the viewing platform is a few metres from the nests.
Getting to Auckland and getting around
- Auckland Airport · Twenty-one kilometres south and there is no train to it — a bus or a taxi, and the motorway can double the time at five in the afternoon.
- Britomart · The train and bus hub inside the old 1911 post office, and the ferries leave from the wharf directly in front of it.
- Ferry Terminal · Ferries to Devonport, Waiheke and Rangitoto. Devonport is twelve minutes and is ordinary public transport.
- Auckland Harbour Bridge · Opened in 1959 with four lanes and so badly underestimated that extra lanes were bolted on in 1969 — built in Japan, and still called the Nippon clip-ons.
Cheap eats in Auckland
Eight counters where Auckland eats standing. The city has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world — more Samoans, Tongans and Cook Islanders live here than in several of those countries' own capitals — and the food follows. Ask for a hangi where you see one: food cooked in a pit on hot stones, which is how it has been done here for centuries.
- Avondale Market · Sunday from six to noon
- Auckland Fish Market · Open from seven · auction earlier
- Ponsonby Central · Open to late · no bookings at most
- Karangahape Road · From noon until very late
- Queen Street · Weekday lunch only
- Silo Park · Summer Fridays
- Britomart precinct · Lunch is the value hour
- Matakana · Saturday morning only
Museums in Auckland
- Auckland Museum · Donation for New Zealanders · fee for visitors
- Auckland Art Gallery · Free · open every day
- MOTAT · One ticket for both sites
- Old Government House · Free to walk the grounds
- Civic Theatre · Open for shows and tours
- Howick Historical Village · Live days at the weekend
- Michael Joseph Savage Memorial · Free · open always
Parks and gardens in Auckland
- Auckland Domain · Free · open always
- Cornwall Park · Free · lambing in August
- Western Springs · Free · open always
- Waitakere Ranges · Check open tracks at Arataki
- Auckland Botanic Gardens · Free · open every day
- Tiritiri Matangi · One ferry a day · book ahead
- Mangere Mountain · Free · the education centre has guides
Things to do in Auckland with kids
- Auckland Zoo · Open every day
- MOTAT · One ticket, two sites
- Rangitoto Island · Take water · no shade and no shop
- Western Springs · Free · the eels are large
- Howick Historical Village · Live days at the weekend
- Devonport ferry · Ferries every half hour
- Hot Water Beach · Check the tide before driving
Nature and day trips near Auckland
- Rangitoto Island · Ferries daily · an hour to the top
- Waiheke Island · Ferries every half hour
- Muriwai gannets · Free · the platform is right by the nests
- Piha and Karekare · Forty minutes west · swim between flags
- Waitakere Ranges · Use the cleaning stations · they matter
- Coromandel · A long day or a night away
- Cathedral Cove · Check the track is open
Live music in Auckland
- Auckland Town Hall · Season all year
- Spark Arena · Check what is on this month
- Karangahape Road · Thursday to Saturday
- Civic Theatre · Check the programme
- Western Springs · Summer only
- Ponsonby Road · Most nights
- Eden Park · Tickets go months ahead
Frequently asked questions about Auckland
What is there to see in Auckland?
The top sights in Auckland are Sky Tower, Auckland Art Gallery and Albert Park. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Auckland?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Auckland without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Auckland?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Auckland, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The City Between Two Harbours.
How do you get to Auckland and get around?
The main ways are Auckland Airport, Britomart and Ferry Terminal. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Auckland, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Auckland that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Auckland for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.