Things to Do in Wellington

Editor's picks

A local's shortlist — the places worth your time first, each with a tip.

Te Papa Tongarewa

Culture · Waterfront

The national museum — free to enter, with Māori taonga, an earthquake house, and a colossal preserved squid.

Local tip: Most visitors do the ground floors and leave. Go straight to level four for Te Marae, the museum's own contemporary marae, which is the only one of its kind and where the building is actually making an argument rather than displaying objects.

Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne

Hidden gem

Nature · Karori, 10 minutes from the centre

A 225-hectare valley behind a predator-proof fence, restoring a pre-human ecosystem on a 500-year plan — and the reason kākā and tūī are all over the city.

Local tip: The night tour is the one worth booking: kiwi, tuatara and glow-worms in a valley inside a capital city. The birds that spill over the fence into Kelburn and Aro Valley are the sanctuary's most visible result, and residents' feeders are why they keep coming.

Cuba Street

Neighborhood · Central

The city's counter-cultural spine — second-hand shops, the Bucket Fountain, live music, and most of Wellington's good cheap eating.

Local tip: The Bucket Fountain has splashed pedestrians since 1969 and is a listed part of the streetscape. Look up while you are dodging it: most of Cuba Street is exactly the kind of unreinforced masonry the earthquake-prone system was written about, and several of the notices are visible from the footpath.

Wellington Cable Car & Botanic Garden

Landmark · Lambton Quay to Kelburn

A 1902 funicular from the middle of the shopping street to the top of the Botanic Garden, with the classic view over the harbour.

Local tip: Ride up and walk down through the garden rather than buying a return — it takes about half an hour, passes the Lady Norwood Rose Garden and the Carter Observatory, and drops you at the Bolton Street Memorial Park, which is the old colonial cemetery the motorway was driven straight through.

Miramar & the Weta workshops

Landmark · Eastern peninsula

A quiet suburb that happens to contain a complete film-production pipeline, plus the airport and the best swimming beaches in the city.

Local tip: Skip the tour bus and take the coastal road round to Scorching Bay and Breaker Bay. The peninsula has the calmest water in Wellington on a northerly, which is exactly when the harbour side is unusable.

Red Rocks & the south coast

Nature · Owhiro Bay

A wild volcanic coastline facing the Southern Ocean, with a fur seal colony that hauls out through winter and views to the South Island.

Local tip: The seals are there roughly May to October and they are wild animals — stay well back and never get between one and the water. Go on a southerly day if you want to understand what Wellington's weather actually is; go on a still day if you want to enjoy it.

Explore 85 places across Wellington

Museums, landmarks, monuments, heritage sites and parks — mapped, with photos. The most notable spots first.

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Museum · 14Landmark · 11Monument · 15Religious · 20Archaeological · 3Park · 19Attraction · 3Open in OpenStreetMap

Museums & galleries

(14)

Photograph unavailable Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Museum

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

National museum of New Zealand

Editor's picks

Te Papa Tongarewa

Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne

Cuba Street

Wellington Cable Car & Botanic Garden

Miramar & the Weta workshops

Red Rocks & the south coast

Explore 85 places across Wellington

Museums & galleries

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Zealandia

Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery

Katherine Mansfield Birthplace

Dowse Art Museum

New Zealand Olympic Museum

New Zealand Portrait Gallery

National Art Gallery of New Zealand

Wellington Cable Car Museum

Our Lady's Home of Compassion

Academy Galleries

Cricket Museum

Holocaust Centre of New Zealand

TheFLOW Gallery

Landmarks & architecture

Te Ngākau Civic Square

City to Sea Bridge

Waione Street Bridge

Post Office Square, Wellington

Thorndon Brewery Tower

Queen Margaret College Tower Building

Fujitsu Tower

Wellington Blown Away

Wright's Hill Fortress

Fort Buckley Ruins

Kau Point Battery

Monuments & memorials

William Wakefield Memorial

Queen Victoria Monument

Holland Monument

World War One Memorial

Katherine Mansfield Memorial

Australian Memorial

Le Calligramme

The Rugby World Cup Celebration

ANZAC Memorial Flagpole

Iona Memorial Cross

War Memorial

Yitzhak Rabin memorial

Oruaiti Pa Pouwhenua

Te Rauparaha Pouwhenua

Somes Island Memorial

Places of worship

Sacred Heart Cathedral

St Mary of the Angels

Futuna Chapel

St Mary's Cathedral, Wellington

St Gerard's Church and Monastery

St John's Church, Wellington

St Joseph's Church, Mt Victoria

St Barnabas Church, Wellington

All Saints Church

St Andrew's on The Terrace

St David's Church (Presbyterian)

St Joseph's Providence Porch, St Mary's College

St Matthias' Church (Anglican)

St Patrick's Church (Catholic) (Former)

St.Michaels, Kelburn

St James's Church (Presbyterian) (Former)

St Augustine's Church (Anglican)

Wesley Church

St Anne's Church (Anglican) (Former)

Congregational Church, Cambridge Terrace, Wellington

Heritage & archaeology

Matiu

Kaiwharawhara Magazine

Toenga o Te Aro

Parks & nature

Wellington Botanic Garden

Ōtari-Wilton's Bush