Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
We've compiled the best of the best in Napier - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
One of Napier's more notable buildings is at the corner of Hastings and Emerson streets. The Māori theme on the lintels is probably the country's finest example of kowhaiwhai (rafter) patterns decorating a European building. The traditional red, white, and black pattern is also continued inside around a coffered ceiling.
Hildebrandt's has an excellent frieze, which is best viewed from across Dalton Street. The original owner was a German who migrated to New Zealand—hence the German flag at one end, the New Zealand at the other; the wavy lines in the middle symbolize the sea passage between the two countries.
On Tennyson and Hastings, this was the first building to rise after the earthquake. Its steel metal frame was riveted, not welded, so that the construction noise would give residents the message that the city was being rebuilt. The bronze storefronts with their "crown of thorns" patterned leaded glass are original.
A little over a kilometer (½ mile) north of the central core stands one of the area's finest deco edifices. The 1932 structure has been totally renovated and its original name reinstated: the National Tobacco Company Building. It has a rose theme on the stained-glass windows and on a magnificent glass dome over the entrance hall.
