While New Zealand isn’t exactly known for its cities, Wellington is well worth a stop while exploring the North Island. This capital city is perched right on the Cook Straight and features beautiful water views, along with a delicious array of restaurants and several craft breweries to keep you satiated.
We spent three days in Wellington as part of our recent New Zealand adventure, and this felt like the right amount of time to explore the city and take a day trip to some nearby attractions.
Where to Eat
- Pizza Pomodoro: Pizza isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of New Zealand cuisine, but this VeraPizza Napoletana-certified shop blew us away. It was delicious, authentic, Neapolitan-style pizza just like we like it. The Bufalina pie was awesome. There is almost no seating available in the restaurant, so your best bet is to purchase a pizza at the counter and take it to go.
- Dragons Restaurant: You can’t beat a dim sum brunch, and Dragons fully delivered. The cart service was quick as you’d expect, and there was a lot of variety to choose from. Our favorite plates were the sticky pork bun, shrimp and coriander dumplings, xiao long bao, and custard tart. If you’re visiting Wellington on a cold or windy day, we also recommend getting some hot tea for the table to accompany your meal.
- Little Penang: Wellington has a ton of good Asian food. If you’re in the mood for an affordable Malaysian dinner (really, who isn’t?), we highly recommend going to Little Penang. The service was friendly and fast, the portions were large, and the mee gorang with shrimp was delicious.
- Aurora Argentinian Bakery: For a quick grab-and-go breakfast before a day trip or morning hike, consider stopping at Aurora. The dulce de leche medialunas are spectacular. We tried the brisket empanadas too, and those were solid but nothing special. The medialunas though make the visit 1000% worth it.
Things to Do
- Craft Breweries: Wellington is considered the beer capital of New Zealand, and for good reason. The city has a ton of great beer, and the Craft Beer Trail brochure offered at each brewery outlines the best places to enjoy a pint. Over the course of our three days in the area, we visited Fortune Favours, Heyday Beer Co, Choice Bros, Parrotdog, and Double Vision Brewing. Fortune Favours was definitely our favorite, but Double Vision was a close second. Honestly, though, they all have a good vibe and are worth a stop if you find yourself in those areas.
- Weta Workshop: If you are a fan of Lord of the Rings, you HAVE to visit Weta Workshop. This design company is responsible for the costumes and makeup, special effects, and props across the whole trilogy, along with several other well-renowned films (including the Hobbit movies). Their tour is great too. In addition to pulling back the curtain on how they create these magical worlds and creatures, they’ve retained several props from the films that you can feel and see up close to really appreciate the craftsmanship. If you’re lucky, your tour guide will also have fun anecdotes from when the movies were being filmed and about some of the shenanigans that took place on set.
- Mount Victoria Loop (3 miles; 711 feet of elevation gain): Situated right in the city, hiking Mount Victoria is a great way to get a morning workout in and see Wellington and the coastline from above. If hiking isn’t your style, there is an option to drive to the top. Doing the hike though will let you appreciate the viewpoints along the way and see a couple Lord of the Rings filming locations. If you do the full hike outlined at the link, you’ll also get to visit a local beach before or after.
- Pari-Whero (Red Rocks) Loop (5.3 miles; 1,194 feet of elevation gain): If you have a car and are looking for a hike just outside the city, consider visiting Te Kopahou Reserve. Less than 20 minutes from central Wellington, the Pari-Whero hike provides some dramatic cliffside, coastal views and takes you along the famous red rocks (which, admittedly, aren’t that red). We still enjoyed the hike though and would recommend it to anyone that has a couple hours and wants to work off all the food and beer they’ve been enjoying in Wellington.
Martinborough Day Trip
If you’re willing to go even further outside the city, we recommend a day trip to Martinborough. One of New Zealand’s main wine regions, Martinborough is just over an hour from Wellington and specializes in Pinot Noir. Once you make it to Martinborough, you’ll have the opportunity to visit several vineyards within a very compact area. Below are those that we visited:
- Ata Rangi: Without a doubt, our favorite wine in the area came from Ata Rangi. The tasting was also by far the most formal. Reservations are required, but for a modest tasting fee you’ll take a seat in an award-winning tasting room and be guided through a sampling of several wines, including at least one higher end bottle. The tasting fee is waived if you purchase a bottle to take home, and you’ll likely want to take advantage of this offer after trying their wines.
- Tirohana Estate: We chose to go to Tirohana for lunch, as we had heard great things about their kitchen. The food did not disappoint. The lamb rump and spiced pumpkin bread and butter pudding were absolutely incredible. The wine glasses recommended with our dishes were also solid. We made a reservation in advance to be safe, but we definitely would’ve been fine without one, as the restaurant was relatively empty (at least around noon on a weekday).
- Palliser Estate: Palliser was our last winery stop of the day, and we honestly would have been fine skipping this one. It was still a really nice building and experience, but it had the misfortune of coming right after Ata Rangi. The wine here just didn’t hold up. If you do decide to visit Palliser, know that reservations are accepted but didn’t seem necessary.
- Margrain Vineyard and Schubert Wines: We’re grouping these two wineries together, as they are close to one another and were quick, casual, unplanned stops when we found ourselves with extra time between lunch at Tirohana and our scheduled tasting at Ata Rangi. Both Margrain and Schubert provided quick service and a nice, walk-in tasting. If we had to choose one, we would go with Margrain. We preferred the wine here, and this winery had some nice patio seating that let us relax and look out over the vineyard and surrounding hillside.
We looked into arranging transportation from Wellington to Martinborough so that we wouldn’t have to worry about driving, but unfortunately we didn’t see any such options. Luckily, most vineyards let us share a single tasting so that we could moderate how much we were drinking throughout the day. We also decided to have dinner in Martinborough (at Tohi Eatery – the duck curry was fantastic, and the service was quick and friendly) before heading back to Wellington to get some carbs in our bellies. Regardless of how you visit Martinborough, make sure you do so responsibly.
One benefit of a day trip to Martinborough is that there are several parks along the way that were used for Lord of the Rings filming. We opted to visit two – Harcourt Park and Kaitoke Regional Park. While Harcourt didn’t have much going for it (the filming location is now just a vacant field), Kaitoke was beautiful, well maintained, and included some informational placards about the trilogy. You can take a nice walk around that area to get a sense of how Rivendell was created and to enjoy the natural beauty.
Other Tips & Tricks
- Where to Stay: Wellington is a very walkable city … depending on where you stay. We opted for a slightly bigger place at a slightly lower cost and stayed at an Airbnb in the Mount Cook neighborhood, which was about a 20-minute walk from the main commercial area around Taranaki Street. We really liked our apartment and the great views that came with it, but it would have been nice to stay in the middle of the action so that we could more easily walk to different parts of town. Still though, because our itinerary here involved a lot of driving, we were happy to stay somewhere slightly further out that included free parking.
- Getting Around: If you plan to just stay in Wellington, it is possible to get around on foot and by using public transit (it felt like there were bus stops everywhere). If you’re interested in day trips though or including Wellington as part of a larger itinerary (which you should), then a rental car is fully necessary. Just remember to drive on the left side of the road, watch out for speed traps, and rent from someone other than Europcar!
- Currency Exchange: We exchanged some US dollars for New Zealand dollars at the beginning of our trip, but vendors here actively avoided cash. You’ll likely be fine just using credit card. Still, it never hurts to have a bit of cash on hand for emergencies. If you do choose to make an exchange, we recommend using one of the highly reviewed currency exchange vendors in the city center to get the best rates.
- Planning for Weather: Wellington is incredibly windy. Even on a warm, sunny day, you’ll likely feel a chill because of the consistent gusts. Make sure to pack windproof and waterproof layers, and keep them readily available as you explore the city and surrounding area.
Happy traveling!
Kitrina & Jordan