Wellington Museum
Wellington
For an imaginative, interactive experience of Wellington’s social and maritime history, head to this bewitching little museum, inside an 1892 bond store…
Zealandia
Wellington
This groundbreaking ecosanctuary is nooked into a valley in the hills about 2km west of downtown Wellington. Living wild within the fenced, predator-free…
Wellington Botanic Gardens
Wellington
These hilly, 25-hectare botanic gardens can be effortlessly visited via the Wellington Cable Car (nice bit of planning, eh?), although there are several…
Mt Victoria Lookout
Wellington
The city's most impressive viewpoint is atop 196m-high Mt Victoria (Matairangi), east of the city centre. You can take bus 20 most of the way up, but the…
Te Papa
Wellington
New Zealand's national museum is hard to miss, taking up a sizeable chunk of the Wellington waterfront. ‘Te Papa Tongarewa’ loosely translates as …
Weta Workshop
Wellington
Academy Award–winning special-effects and props company Weta Workshop has been responsible for bringing the likes of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit,…
New Zealand Parliament
Wellington
New Zealand might be a young country but it has one of the oldest continuously functioning parliaments in the world and has chalked up more than its share…
City Gallery Wellington
Wellington
Housed in the monumental old library in Civic Sq (the new library is next door), Wellington’s much-loved City Gallery does a cracking job of securing…
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…
St Mary of the Angels
Wellington
Closed for seismic strengthening and restoration from 2013 to 2017, this pretty Catholic parish church is looking downright heavenly. Built in 1922, it…
Bolton Street Cemetery
Wellington
Lost beneath a canopy of oak and pohutukawa, between freeway off-ramps and apartment towers, this fabulously dank and atmospheric remnant dates back to…
Otari-Wilton’s Bush
Wellington
The only botanic gardens in NZ specialising in native flora, Otari features more than 1200 plant species including an extant section of native bush…
Old St Paul's
Wellington
Designed by Rev Fred Thatcher, the first vicar of Wellington, this wonderfully woody former Anglican cathedral (1866) is well worth a look. Despite its…
Old Government Buildings
Wellington
Across the road from Parliament, this grand Italianate structure (1876) is the largest wooden building in the southern hemisphere, although it does a…
Space Place
Wellington
Inside the Carter Observatory at the top of the Botanic Gardens, this full-dome planetarium offers space-themed multimedia shows and stargazing sessions…
Petone Settlers Museum
Wellington
Built for the centenary of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1940, this gorgeous little art-deco building on the shell-strewn Petone foreshore contains a fun and…
Wellington Cable Car
Wellington
One of Wellington’s big-ticket attractions is the little red cable car that clanks up the slope from Lambton Quay to Kelburn. At the top are the…
National Library of New Zealand
Wellington
As well as being a wonderful resource for researchers, the National Library has various exhibition spaces including the Turnbull Gallery, displaying rare…
Dowse Art Museum
Wellington
A beacon of culture and delight, the excellent Dowse is worth visiting for its jaunty architecture alone. It’s a family-friendly, accessible art museum…
Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Wellington
At 88m long and 18m high, this modern Anglican cathedral exudes quasi-Moorish architectural vibes inside its lofty interiors. It first opened its doors in…
Wellington
Often compared to Chekhov and Maupassant, Katherine Mansfield was one of NZ’s most distinguished authors, who pushed the short-story form to uncharted…
Wellington Zoo
Wellington
Committed to conservation, research and captive breeding, Wellington Zoo is home to a menagerie of native and exotic wildlife, including lions and…
New Zealand Portrait Gallery
Wellington
Housed in a heritage red-brick warehouse on the waterfront, this estimable gallery presents a diverse range of NZ portraiture and caricature from its own…
Wellington
Ngā Taonga is a vortex of NZ moving images into which you could get sucked for days. Its library holds tens of thousands of titles: feature films,…
Cable Car Museum
Wellington
The small-but-nifty Cable Car Museum tells the history of the Wellington cable car, arcing back to when it was built in 1902. Take the cable car back down…
Cable Car Lookout
Wellington
There's a terrific vantage point at the top of Wellington's cable car tracks. Ride up the hill, ogle the view over the city and Cook Strait, then wander…
Nairn Street Cottage
Wellington
Just a five-minute amble from the top of Cuba St, Wellington's oldest cottage (1858) has been carefully restored, complete with an organic garden and…
Academy Galleries
Wellington
The showcase of the esteemed New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts (founded 1882), the Academy Galleries presents frequently changing exhibitions by NZ artists…
New Zealand Cricket Museum
Wellington
Tucked under a stand at the Basin Reserve, the NZ Cricket Museum is a must-see for fans of the old game. It's only open during cricket matches or by…
Bucket Fountain
Wellington
Cuba Mall's landmark (and sneakily splashy) fountain mocks the surrounding commerce with its Zen-like tilt-and-pour processes. The kids (and the wandering…
