3 Best Sights in Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

A cottage café and craft shop are set in a garden full of citrus and olive trees and kitchen herbs. The café serves soups, delicious country-style pies, salads, and an ever-changing variety of cakes, scones, muffins, slices, and Devonshire teas. In the shop you can procure tasty chutneys, jams, organic honey, and giftware. The open grassy space, play area, and tame donkeys make this an especially good place to stop with kids. It's located on State Highway 25 just south of the Hahei turnoff on the way to Tairua.

The region’s most popular and safest swimming beach is the 11-km (7-mile) laid-back Ōhope, just a 10-minute drive east of Whakatane. Pohutukawa Avenue, Ōhope's main road, runs parallel to the beach, flanked by native pohutukawa trees, private homes, and grazing cows. You can stay in the Top 10 Holiday Park or choose from a range of holiday homes, motels, apartments and B&Bs. There's lots to do here: fishing off the beach, surfing, and walking the Nga Tapuwae o Toi trail are just a few options. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (free); toilets. Best for: surfing; swimming; walking.

This dormant volcano is the region's visual icon; its rocky cone stands sentinel, 761 feet high at the end of the peninsula that boasts one of New Zealand's best swimming and surfing areas. White-sand beaches with rolling surf stretch for miles away from Mauao. Trails on Mauao include an easy walk around its base and the more strenuous summit climb. To get to Mauao, head toward it along any road running parallel to the beach. The Mount Maunganui area gets crowded around Christmas and New Year's Eve, so consider early or late summer (or even winter) for your visit. Beach walks or exploring Mauao is a delight at any time, and the sidewalk cafés are always open.