16 Best Sights in Wellington, Wellington and the Wairarapa

Te Papa Tongarewa (the Māori translation is "container of treasures") provides an essential introduction to the country's people, cultures, landforms, flora, and fauna. Bringing together the latest technology, interactive exhibits, and storytelling, it shares New Zealand's past and present. Whether you want to enter a carved marae (Māori meetinghouse), walk through living native bush, be shaken in the Earthquake House, or see a colossal squid, there's inspiration for everyone.  Don't miss the Toi Art gallery; spanning two floors, it features New Zealand, Pacific, and international works.

Opposite the Parliament Buildings is the country's national library, including the Alexander Turnbull Library, a "library within a library" that specializes in archival materials about New Zealand and the Pacific. Its books, manuscripts, photographs, newspapers, maps, and oral history tapes are available for research. One special highlight, He Tohu, is an exhibition housing Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty of Waitangi. This controversial 1840 agreement between the British crown and more than 500 Māori chiefs is considered the founding document of modern New Zealand. The oldest document on display is the Declaration of Independence of the Northern Chiefs, signed by more than 30 northern Māori chiefs on October 28, 1835, a confederation agreement that led up to the Waitangi treaty. Also on view is the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition, which led to New Zealand becoming the world's first nation to grant women the vote.

Just minutes from downtown Wellington, more than 500 acres of forest have been transformed into a safe haven for New Zealand's most endangered native species. A specially designed fence creates a cage-free eco-sanctuary for species that had disappeared from the mainland. Tuatara (a reptile), New Zealand's unique "living fossil," are breeding, as are takahē and saddleback (birds), which have both been brought back from the brink of extinction. Pick up a map and explore at your leisure, or join a two-hour guided tour. The flashlight-led nighttime tour is very popular; departing about 30 minutes before sunset, it provides a glimpse into the nocturnal world—you might even spy a little spotted kiwi or the legendary ruru owl.

The modernist writer, born in 1888, lived the first five years of her life here, and the house has been restored as a typical Victorian family home, with furnishings, photographs, and videos that elucidate Mansfield's life and times. Katherine Mansfield (née Kathleen Beauchamp) left to pursue her career in Europe when she was only 20, but many of her short stories take place in Wellington. A year before her death in 1923, she wrote, "New Zealand is in my very bones. What wouldn't I give to have a look at it!" 

Placed atop a historic and trendy suburb is a stunning vantage point to watch the city both day and night. You can take a short, but careful, drive up to the lookouts and enjoy the vistas that sweep across the whole region. Alternatively, take a leisurely uphill stroll through the pine forest of the town belt. These trails are sporadically dotted with outlooks, mountain biking tracks, and creatively crafted playgrounds. Fittingly, its tall twisted trees were the backdrop to a number of scenes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which are signposted.

Built in 1858 as a family home by immigrant carpenter William Wallis, this cottage is Wellington's oldest remaining building. With a steep shingled roof and matchboard ceilings, kauri wood paneling, and somber Victorian wallpapers, the house has been kept almost completely in its original state. The spinning wheel, smoke-blackened cooking pot, hand-pegged rugs, and oil lamps re-create the feeling of those pioneer days. Outside, a garden of flowers and herbs blooms in a riot of color during the summer.

The buildings that make up the Parliament complex include Parliament House with its Debating Chamber, a copy of the one in the British House of Commons right down to the Speakers Mace. Here legislation is presented, debated, and voted on. There is fine Māori artwork in the Māori Affairs Select Committee Room. The adjoining building is the Parliamentary Library. The neighboring Executive Wing is known for architectural reasons as The Beehive; it's where the prime minister and cabinet ministers of the elected government have their offices and hold cabinet meetings. Across the road at the corner of Whitmore Street and Lambton Quay, the Old Government Buildings, the largest wooden structure in New Zealand, is now home to Victoria University’s law faculty. Introductory tours start in The Beehive, and a guide explains the parliamentary process in detail. The website has information about booking a wide variety of tours. 

Consecrated in 1866 and built in a style dubbed Colonial Gothic, the church is a splendid example of the English Gothic Revival style executed entirely in native timbers. Even the trusses supporting the roof transcend their mundane function with splendid craftsmanship. Managed by Heritage New Zealand, Old St. Paul's no longer functions as a parish church, but it is a venue for weddings and other services. 

This appropriately monumental space around the National War Memorial is the base for remembrance of New Zealand's experience in war. At the foot of the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior towers the carillon, whose bells ring across this city and echo in the memorial's Hall of Memories. Beyond the steps of the memorial is a wide plaza with artworks and historical information.

Lie back and watch an almost limitless range of virtual space journeys in the planetarium, or, on a clear night, view the heavens through the observatory telescope. Such experiences—plus state-of-the-art displays and a remarkable collection of artifacts that includes the oldest working telescope of its kind in the country—make this a popular stop. The observatory is only a two-minute walk from the top of the Kelburn Cable Car, and you can also wander up from the botanical gardens.

Devoted to gathering and preserving indigenous plants, Ōtari's collection is the largest of its kind. With clearly marked bushwalks and landscape demonstration gardens, the 100-hectare (247-acre) preserve aims to educate the public and ensure the survival of New Zealand's native plant life. While in the garden, you'll learn to identify forest plants, from the various blechnum ferns underfoot to the tallest trees overhead. An aerial walkway crosses high above the bush, giving an unusual vantage point over the gardens. Look and listen for the native birds that flock to this haven: the bellbird (korimako), New Zealand wood pigeon (kereru), and parson bird (tūī), among others. Take the No. 14 Wilton bus from downtown (20 minutes) and ask the driver to let you off at the gardens.

The lack of suitable local stone, combined with the collapse of most of Wellington's brick buildings in the earthquake of 1848, ensured the almost-exclusive use of timber for building here in the second half of the 19th century. Most carpenters of the period had learned their skills as cabinetmakers and shipwrights in Europe, and the sturdy houses on this street are a tribute to their craftsmanship. A few notables are the tall and narrow No. 304, Premier House, and the little doll-like cottages along the adjoining Ascot Street.

Sitting across the road from Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Tākina is home to the largest exhibition space in New Zealand and hosts a rotation of international exhibits, including family-friendly ones, on widely varying subjects. Locally developed and curated exhibitions are also premiered here before touring offshore. Check the website to see what's on. 

In the hills overlooking downtown is a concentration of splendidly varied terrain and forest. Native woodlands fill the garden's valleys, water-loving plants line its mountain streams, and the lawns brightly flourish with seasonal and annual blooms. At night, the gardens come alive with artistic light installations and glowworm tours. The lovely Lady Norwood Rose Garden, the most popular area, is in the northeast part of the garden. On a fine summer day, you couldn't find a better place to enjoy the fragrance of magnificent flowers. Situated on a plateau, the formal circular layout consists of 110 rose beds, each planted with a single variety of modern and traditional shrubs. Climbing roses cover a brick-and-timber colonnade on the perimeter. Adjacent to the rose beds, the Begonia House conservatory is filled with delicate plants. If you don't want to walk up the hill, the Kelburn Cable Car can take you. Or catch the No. 2 bus (direction: Karori) from Lambton Quay to the main (Glenmore Street) entrance. The parking lot is on Tinakori Road.

The Swiss-built funicular railway makes a short-but-sharp climb from among the shops on Lambton Quay to the highest point in the Wellington Botanic Garden, the Kelburn Terminal. Once up there, you get great views across parks and city buildings to Port Nicholson. Sit on the left side during the six-minute journey for the best scenery. At the top, a small Cable Car Museum in the old winding house has a free display of restored cable cars and a splendid gift shop.

Smell the burlap sacks, hear the gulls, and see the (mechanical) rats scuttling around in this refurbished 1892 bond store, now a museum that portrays the history of the original Māori tribes and the European settlers who arrived around 1840. The displays cover work, leisure, crime, and education in Wellington. A steampunk-theme fourth-floor attic with weird and wonderful exhibits is not to be missed.