New Zealand · Auckland travel guide
Auckland: A City Built on 53 Volcanoes and Not Remotely Worried
Imagine building your home on a volcanic field and deciding the best thing to do about it is pop up the hill for a picnic. That’s Auckland. The locals look at a cone-shaped crater and think, “Lovely spot for the sheep.”
GeoNet counts 53 volcanoes in the Auckland Volcanic Field. The field is still active. The city, meanwhile, has a harbour full of boats and seems remarkably relaxed about the whole thing. I love that about the place.
Welcome to the City of Sails, where the weather can’t make up its mind, the coffee is serious and “sweet as” is a complete sentence.
The soundtrack
Close your eyes on the waterfront, and Auckland talks to you. Ferry horns bellow across the harbour. Halyards tap against masts like a wind chime orchestra. Seagulls eye your fish and chips with criminal intent. Somewhere in a garden, a tūī sounds like someone tuning a tiny, glorious synthesiser.
Then come the voices. A Kiwi accent is a gift. “Yeah, nah” means no. “Nah, yeah” means yes. “Chur” means thanks. Within a day you’ll be saying all of them, badly, and nobody will mind.
Start with the big pointy thing
The Sky Tower. At 328 metres, it’s impossible to miss. Ride up for the view, or check what’s running if you fancy the SkyWalk or SkyJump. Stepping off a perfectly good building is hardly my idea of a good time, though I’m happy to take photos of yours. Check Sky Tower visitor information.
Waitematā Harbour. Yachts, ferries and small boats are everywhere. As a coastal skipper, I look at this place and see paradise. The America’s Cup has been sailed here more than once, and the Viaduct still has the buzz of a place that takes boats seriously.
Climb a volcano. Maungawhau / Mount Eden gives you a crater to peer into and a city panorama. At Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill, sheep graze in Cornwall Park. Real sheep, in the middle of a city. I told you the locals were relaxed.
Rangitoto Island. Take a ferry out to Auckland’s youngest volcano, then walk across black lava rock towards the summit. Look back at the skyline across the water. It’s the kind of view that makes you quiet. Check the return sailing before you set off.
Over the water and into the wine
On Waiheke Island, the pace changes as soon as you step off the ferry. Vineyards, olive groves, beaches and lunches that can swallow the afternoon. Take a bus or hire a bike, pick a winery and leave a little room for the view across the vines to the sea.
Give Waiheke and Rangitoto separate days if you have the time. One is for a long lunch. The other is for a walk that earns it.
Black sand and big waves
Head west to Piha. The volcanic sand can get hot underfoot, the surf rolls in with real power, and Lion Rock sits there like a sleeping giant.
The Tasman Sea doesn’t do polite. Swim only between the red and yellow flags while lifeguards are on duty. If there are no flags, stay out of the water. Piha Surf Life Saving Club.
What to eat and drink
Start with a flat white. New Zealanders and Australians still argue over who invented it. Order one anyway and watch the barista’s face.
For lunch, fish and chips out of paper on the waterfront will do nicely, provided you keep an eye on the gulls. A meat pie eaten outside a bakery with total commitment is another sound decision.
If you get the chance to try hāngī, say yes. Food cooked slowly in an earth oven has a smokiness worth stopping for. For dessert, have the pavlova and let Australia and New Zealand fight it out. There’s also Whittaker’s chocolate, hokey pokey ice cream with honeycomb toffee, and L&P, which has the good sense to call itself “world famous in New Zealand.”
Auckland after dark
Viaduct Harbour and Wynyard Quarter. Pull up a seat with the boats in view and let sunset run into the evening.
Britomart. Cocktail bars, restaurants and lanes where you can lose a few hours without making a particularly strenuous effort.
Ponsonby Road. Come for dinner or a drink. Everyone looks as though they’ve just come back from a surf.
Karangahape Road, or K Road. Music venues, dive bars, drag shows and some very strange outfits. It has an edge that the rest of the city lacks, and it’s all the better for it.
If you’re heading out for a craft beer, take photo ID and check your route home before the evening gets away from you.
A Saffa in the city of the All Blacks
Let’s address the elephant in the stadium. I’m a South African, standing in the home of the All Blacks, and the green-and-gold jersey is sitting in my suitcase. Folded. Hidden. Practically in witness protection.
Every instinct says I should be walking down Queen Street in full Springbok kit, arms out, grinning like a man who’s just won a raffle. Four Rugby World Cup titles will do that to you. And one of them, in Paris in 2023, was a 12–11 final against the All Blacks. By a single point. I’m not saying I think about it every day. I’m saying I don’t have to.
But I’m not an idiot. In Auckland, Eden Park is practically a cathedral. Wearing a Springbok jersey around town would feel like walking into a lion’s den wearing a meat suit. For the sake of my health and my dental work, the jersey stays in the bag.
There’s a small, smug smile that appears when I’m sipping a flat white and a Kiwi mentions rugby. A polite nod, something wise like “Great team, great tradition,” and the scoreboard in my head does the talking. It’s the most dignified gloating in the Southern Hemisphere.
The funny thing is, the Kiwis are gracious about it. Properly gracious. “Yeah, nah, you blokes were good.” Then, with perfect calm, “Wait till next time.” It’s the polite warning of a country that has absolutely no intention of letting it happen again. Fair enough.
Survival tips for fellow Saffas
- Keep the jersey in the bag. If you must show your colours, do it in a quiet bar, among friends, with the door locked.
- Let them bring up the score. The moment you start counting trophies out loud, you’re no longer a guest.
- Give the haka your full attention. Whatever team you support, seeing it live will make the hair on your arms stand up.
- Buy the Kiwi a beer. Rivalry on the field, mates off it.
Mandela understood it better than anyone. In 1995, he walked onto that pitch in a Springbok jersey, and a country that had been divided stood up and roared.
Rugby has a funny way of doing that. It can be brutal for eighty minutes, then bring people together over a pint.
If you spot a South African in a quiet corner, nursing a drink, with the faintest, most contented little smile, you’ll know exactly what he’s thinking.
Bokke.
A few things nobody warns you about
- Weather. Sunshine at breakfast, rain by lunch, a rainbow at tea. Pack a jacket, a hat and sunscreen.
- Traffic. Give yourself extra time when crossing town, especially if you’re catching a ferry.
- Useful words. A dairy is a corner shop. Jandals are flip-flops. Togs are your swimming costume. A chilly bin is a cooler box.
The verdict
Auckland is a city that sprawls across volcanoes and bays and sits comfortably on its harbour. Climb a crater in the morning, sip wine on an island another afternoon, and save an evening for sunset over a forest of masts.
Come for the harbour, stay for the pies, and when someone says “sweet as,” just smile and say it back.
Next step
Deciding between the waterfront, a neighbourhood with a bit of nightlife, or a quieter base across the harbour?