12 Best Sights in Auckland, New Zealand

Adjacent to Albert Park, the gallery has some 15,000 items dating from the 12th century but also shows innovative and challenging contemporary art that draws big crowds. Its modernist addition has breathed life and light into a structure built in the 1880s. The soaring glass, wood, and stone addition, which some say looks like stylized trees, both complements and contrasts with the formal, château-like main gallery. A courtyard and fountain space at the front is home to ever-changing works. In the museum, historic portraits of Māori chiefs by well-known New Zealand painters C.F. Goldie and Gottfried Lindauer offer an ethnocentric view of people once seen as fiercely martial. Goldie often used the same subject repeatedly—odd, considering his desire to document what he considered a dying race. New Zealand artists Frances Hodgkins, Doris Lusk, and Colin McCahon are also represented here, and there are shows and performances. The gallery has made a tilt to offering more international exhibitions, so check the website for the latest show. Free collection tours are given at 11:30 and 1:30. The hip, busy café offers views of the central city from its deck. The gift shop offers a range of books, original artworks, and keepsakes.

The Māori artifact collection here is one of the largest in the world, housed in a Greek Revival building in one of the city's finest parks, Auckland Domain, with views to match. Must-sees include a fine example of a pātaka (storehouse), a fixture in Māori villages, and Te Toki a Tapiri, a superb Māori waka (canoe). Made of a single log and measuring 85 feet long, it could carry 100 warriors, and its figurehead shows tremendous carving. To learn more about Māori culture, attend one of the performances, held twice a day, that demonstrate Māori song, dance, weaponry, and the haka (a ceremonial dance adopted by the All Blacks rugby team as an intimidating pregame warm-up). The museum also holds an exceptional collection of Pacific artifacts and hosts high-quality visiting or issue-specific exhibitions; it also has two cafés. On Anzac Day (April 25), thousands gather in front of the museum in a dawn service to recognize the gallantry of the country's servicemen and -women.

First to plant grapes on Waiheke were Kim and Jeanette Goldwater, whose eponymous wines have since earned a reputation for excellence. It's also home to Auckland University's Wine Research Institute for postgraduate research into wine as well the Goldie Room, a fantastic eatery that offers superb food and, of course, wine. Personalized tours can be arranged. The estate is known for the Long Lunch, which is a nine-course degustation menu that is held about four times a year and sells out very quickly.

The largest of Auckland's extinct volcanoes and one of the city's best lookout points, One Tree Hill, or Maungakiekie, was the site of three Māori pā (fortifications). It had a single pine tree on its summit, but that was attacked by activists who saw it as a symbol of colonialism, and in 2000 it was taken down. Sir John Logan Campbell, the European founding father of the city, is buried on the summit. There is fantastic walking and running in the surrounding acreage known as Cornwall Park, with avenues of oaks, a kauri plantation, an old olive grove, and magnificent seasonal flower plantings. Or just take a mat and read under an old tree. Free electric barbecue sites are also available.  Because the park is a working farm of sheep and cattle, you'll need to be wary of cows with their calves along the paths. There's also a cricket club with old-style seating, where you can watch a game in summer, and a pavilion that sells refreshments.

The lovely Victorian wooden villas along the upper slope of Parnell Road have been transformed into antiques shops, designer boutiques, cafés, and restaurants. Parnell Village is the creation of developer Les Harvey, who saw the potential of the old, rundown shops and houses and almost single-handedly snatched them from the jaws of the bulldozers in the early 1960s by buying them, renovating them, and leasing them out. Today, this village of trim pink-and-white wooden facades is one of the most delightful parts of the city. At night, the area's restaurants and bars attract Auckland's well-heeled set.

On the eastern end of Waiheke Island, this award-winning vineyard in its own little valley with a view to Passage Rock has pricey and highly regarded wines. It's especially known for chardonnays, viogniers, and syrahs. The vineyard has a good bistro, which is very popular with locals. Tastings are only offered in the afternoon.

When Rangitoto Island emerged from the sea in a series of fiery eruptions around 600 years ago, it had an audience: footprints in the solidified ash on its close neighbor Motutapu Island prove that Māori people watched Rangitoto's birth. It is the largest and youngest of about 50 volcanic cones and craters in the Auckland volcanic field, and scientists are confident it will not blow again. During the 1920s and '30s hundreds of prisoners built roads and trails on the island, some of which are still used as walkways. Small beach houses were erected by families in the early 20th century. Many were pulled down in the 1970s before their historical significance was recognized. Thirty-two remain, and a few are still used by leaseholders, who can use them during their lifetimes. (Afterward, they'll be relinquished to the DOC.) The island's most popular activity is the one-hour summit walk, beginning at Rangitoto Wharf and climbing through lava fields and the pohutukawa (a flowering evergreen tree) forest to the peak. Walkers are rewarded with panoramic views of Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf. Short detours lead to lava caves and to the remnants of a botanical park planned in 1915.  Wear sturdy shoes and carry water because parts of the walk are on exposed lava flows, which are hot in the sun. You can swim at Islington Bay and at the Rangitoto Wharf in a specially made pool.

The harborside marine park—the creation of New Zealand's most celebrated undersea explorer and treasure hunter—offers a fish's-eye view of the sea. A transparent tunnel, 120 yards long, makes a bewitching circuit past moray eels, lobsters, sharks, and stingrays. You can also have an encounter with king and gentoo penguins and their keepers in their icy abode, and take home photos to prove it.  The penguin attraction is popular and limited to four people per session, so book ahead.

This vineyard has followers all over the world. The Stonyridge Larose, made from the classic Bordeaux varieties, is excellent, and the vintage often sells out. Reservations for lunch at the Veranda Café, which uses local produce including olive oil and wine, are essential. This place is popular with the helicopter-in crowd and visiting people who work in the film industry.

The friendly Dunleavy family started planting vines in 1989, and today Te Motu Bordeaux blend, made only when conditions are right, is on the wine list at many Michelin-starred restaurants in France. The winery gives tastings, but you must call first to check for times. Don't be fooled by the restaurant's name, the Shed; it caters to a fussy clientele for its grown-on-site garden-to-plate cooking. The wine list, which always features Te Motu wines from the heritage cellar, changes monthly. Reservations are essential for the restaurant.

You can see and hear rare native birds up close at Tiritiri Matangi, a bird sanctuary open to the public and accessible by ferry from Auckland or from Gulf Harbour on the Whangaparoa Peninsula. Gentle, well-maintained, signposted trails lead to the top of the island and the oldest lighthouse in the gulf, still in operation. A visitor center is near the lighthouse, but it does not sell food. The island is free from predators, and the birds are unafraid. Tiritiri is home to at least 18 takahe, large blue-and-green flightless birds with red beaks that are part of a nationwide breeding program for the rare species; you can usually spot them eating grass near the lighthouse.

Once a sleepy summer vacation retreat and hippie haven with beach houses dotting its edges, Waiheke is now home to 35 vineyards (many the passion projects of their owners), architecturally impressive holiday homes owned by the well heeled, and tiny, old-school weekend escapes. The island has earned an international reputation for its vineyards, and many local cafés stock Waiheke wines unavailable elsewhere. The annual Waiheke Jazz Festival at Easter attracts renowned overseas performers. From the ferry landing at Matiatia Wharf you can walk five minutes to the small town of Oneroa, the island's hub, with its shops, cafés, bars, and real estate agents. Another minute's walk gets you to Oneroa Beach, one of the most accessible beaches. The north-facing beaches—sheltered bays with little surf—are the best for swimming. The most popular is Palm Beach, 10 minutes by bus from Oneroa. Around the rocks to the left is Little Palm Beach, one of Auckland's three nudist beaches. Another great beach, Onetangi, is on the north side of the island, 20 minutes from Matiatia by bus. Whakanewha Regional Park, on the south side, is a lovely bush reserve leading down to a half-moon bay. You can hike and picnic here, and the wetlands are home to rare birds such as the New Zealand dotterel. You can get to the park from Oneroa by shuttle bus. If you go in summer or on weekends, it pays to get ferry tickets early as the island draws big crowds on fine days.