Striking and elegant, the Auckland Ferry Terminal – often simply called the Ferry Building – is a waterfront landmark that connects the city to islands, harbors, and the pulse of Waitematā Harbour. Completed in 1912, this Edwardian Baroque gem was designed by Alex Wiseman with sandstone, brick, and a base of Coromandel granite. Back then, it served not just ferries, but also trade unions, consulate offices, and maritime businesses.

Today, the historic „Old Building“ facing Queen Street houses cafés and shops that invite you to pause and watch ferries glide in and out. Meanwhile, daily ferry operations happen next door in the newer terminal, with modern piers designed to echo sails and waterfront life. A major recent upgrade: in 2021, Auckland Transport invested NZ$42 million to improve the ferry basin and add new berths (including infrastructure for electric ferries), making the waterfront more sustainable and future-friendly.

Did you know? The original Ferry Building was meant to be five storeys tall – but public outcry over blocked views led to a design reduction. What we see today is a four-storey building with a clock tower, carefully balanced between grandeur and preserving harbour vistas.

Enjoy a coffee inside the Old Building, stroll the waterfront walkway, and soak in the view across the harbour. Ferry rides, shops, and waterfront cafés combine to make this more than just a transit hub – it’s a spot where the sea meets the city in style.

Queen Street is Auckland’s main artery where business, cafés, neon signs, and history all collide in the best way possible. Running from the waterfront near the Ferry Terminal up past midtown toward Karangahape Road, it’s roughly 3 km of hustle, history, and heart. Named after Queen Victoria when it was surveyed in 1841, Queen Street rose quickly from muddy beginnings – yes, early planners had to gravel over swamps just so building foundations wouldn’t sink.

Fires in 1858 destroyed many buildings on nearby Shortland and High Streets, pushing merchants and architects to focus their energies on Queen instead. Brick and plaster buildings sprang up in the 1860s; in 1902 Queen Street achieved two „firsts“ for New Zealand: it was the first road to be asphalted, and the first to run electric trams. (Horse-drawn buses had been rumbling along since the 1880s.) These days, the trams are gone, but their legacy lingers in the streetlamps, façades, and grand old buildings that still stand.

Fast forward to now: Queen Street is in the middle of a transformation. The Wai Horotiu Queen Street Project, completed in November 2023, has stripped away general traffic from large stretches and replaced it with widened footpaths, native plant planters, green seating areas, and safer spaces for walking, biking, or scootering.

New retail and hospitality developments are popping up too, including a major restoration of the heritage building at 131 Queen Street (formerly Milne & Choyce store) and a flagship Radisson Red hotel + rooftop bar building at 280 Queen Street, planned as one of the latest additions to the city’s skyline.

Did you know? When electric trams first rolled down Queen Street in 1902, Sir John Logan Campbell drove the leading car, and thousands lined up to watch the spectacle. Horses were still shaking their heads.

Stroll up Queen Street amid shops and heritage façades, stop in leafy pocket parks, sip coffee overlooking busy laneways, and soak up the energy that comes from a street both historic and ever-changing.

The Auckland Domain is the oldest park in Auckland, covering 75 hectares, making it one of the largest in the city. It's situated in the central suburb of Grafton and includes the entire explosion crater as well as most of the surrounding tuff ring of the Pukekawa volcano.

This park is famous for housing one of Auckland's primary tourist attractions, the Auckland War Memorial Museum, which is prominently located on the rim of the crater (tuff ring). The crater's floor is occupied by several sports fields, encircling the southern part of the cone. On the opposite side of the Museum, you'll find the cricket pavilion and Auckland City Hospital. Moving to the north side of the central scoria cone, you'll discover the Domain Wintergardens, featuring two beautiful glass houses. The fernery has been built within an old quarry within the cone. Additionally, there are duck ponds in the northern area of the explosion crater, which has a small overflow stream to the north.

Among the notable annual events held here are "Christmas in the Park," which has attracted over 200,000 spectators in the past, as well as other popular recurring events like "Symphony under the Stars," the "Lantern Festival," and the "Teddybears Picnic."

Why You Should Visit:
Great place to picnic, walk around, watch cricket, sit in the shade, listen to music in the park or visit the Auckland Museum and the Wintergardens.

Tip:
If you like walking, make a whole day of it by starting in Mount Eden, then going to Newmarket and the Auckland Domain.
During the summer there are loads of events that take place here, so always worth checking if there's anything happening.

If there’s one structure in Auckland you can’t miss, it’s the Sky Tower – a steel and concrete spire rising 328 meters above the city, dominating the skyline and daring you to look out over land, harbour, volcanoes and sea. Ever since it opened in 1997, it’s been more than just an observation tower – it’s an icon, a view-point, and (if you’re brave) an adrenaline playground.

Ride the glass-panelled lifts up to one of three public decks: the Main Observation Deck, the Lookout, and the SkyDeck perched closer to the top among the antennae. Each offers sweeping 360° panoramas – on a clear day you can see up to 80 kilometres into the distance.

For an extra pulse-race, try the SkyWalk, a 1.2-meter-wide ledge walk at 192 m above ground, open-air, harnessed, wind-in-your-hair kind of stuff. Or if you want more thrill, there’s the SkyJump – which is basically a wire-guided base jump from the same height, reaching up to roughly 85 km/h in free-fall style adrenaline.

Inside, there’s more than just vertigo. Elegant dining happens at the Orbit 360° Restaurant, which rotates while you dine. There’s also the SkyBar, The Lookout café, and a gift shop filled with Auckland keepsakes.

Did you know? On special nights, the Sky Tower lights up in millions of LED colours, supporting causes or celebrating festivals – it's one of Auckland’s favourite ways to shine.

Take a walk by Sky Tower early morning or at sunset, when the light washes the city in gold, whisking you between towering views and street-level charm. Add Sky Tower as your high point – literally – of the route, and savour how Auckland transforms from dawn to dusk.

Stretching along Auckland’s waterfront, Viaduct Harbour is where sails, style, and sea-breeze combine to make walking feel like a mini celebration. Once a rugged industrial stretch of warehouses and fisherman’s docks, the area was completely reimagined in the 1990s and early 2000s. What used to be gritty wharves became prime waterfront apartments, top-notch restaurants, and a marina full of gleaming boats.

A key turning point was hosting America’s Cup events – that helped push Auckland to invest in Viaduct’s redevelopment and polished it into the destination it is today. The precinct now combines luxury living with seriously good food: waterfront dining spots from Soul Bar & Bistro to Hello Beasty and Bivacco, where the views of the marina are almost as tasty as the dishes.

The Viaduct Harbour Marina (now branded „Auckland Central Marina“ in parts) has around 70-80 berths, handling everything from sleek superyachts to day-trip charter boats. It’s also a gateway for cruising the Waitematā Harbour and heading out toward the Hauraki Gulf.

Did you know? The Viaduct Events Centre reopened in April 2023 after renovations, now shining with a sustainability badge: floor-to-ceiling glass, event halls overlooking the harbour, and design touches that speak to both marine tradition and modern flair.

Start by meandering the boardwalk, peek into luxury shops and hidden laneways, enjoy al fresco meals by the water, then soak up the marina energy. It’s one of those parts of Auckland where you feel like you’re both in the city and by the sea – perfect for mixing history, leisure, and panoramic views.

Set right on Hobson Wharf next to Viaduct Harbour, the New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui A Tangaroa is water, wood, stories, and sails all rolled into one. Opened in 1993, it traces Aotearoa’s oceanic connections from Māori navigation and early Polynesian voyaging, through European arrivals, up to modern sailing legends like America’s Cup.

Inside, you’ll find permanent galleries that showcase Māori vessels and navigation, coastal trading, whaling histories, immigration, and the tools and tales of harbour trades. There are rotating exhibits too. Many explore art, ship figureheads, and vibrant storytelling through scrimshaw and maritime painting. For families, there are hands-on booths where kids can design toy yachts, weather digital storms, or step into a „bach“ replica to experience classic Kiwi holiday vibes.

Outside, the museum has a fleet of heritage vessels. You can sail aboard Ted Ashby, a replica scow that offers one-hour sails around Waitematā Harbour nearly every day, or take shorter steamy trips on SS Puke when scheduled. Be warned: things get salty and windy, but the view of the city from the water is unbeatable.

Did you know? The steam crane Rapaki, once towering in Lyttelton after being built in Scotland in 1926, was moved to the museum and served as both exhibit and breakwater – until parts of it were removed in 2018 during harbour upgrades. (Parts remain, but the full crane is no longer intact.)

Mid-morning or early afternoon is perfect when galleries are fresh and sail-times are scheduled. Snap some shots, step aboard a heritage boat, and let the sea-borne stories of New Zealand anchor themselves in your memory.