TRIP OVERVIEW
Day 1 – Wellington Cable Car · Wellington Botanic Garden · Zealandia · Te Papa
Day 2 – Mount Victoria Lookout · Wētā Workshop
Day 3 – Wellington Museum · City Gallery Wellington · Cuba Street · Oriental Bay
Day 4 – Red Rocks Coastal Walk · Owhiro Bay · Island Bay · Otari-Wilton's Bush
Day 5 – Matiu/Somes Island · Pukeahu National War Memorial · Katherine Mansfield House · Carter Observatory
Day 6 – Parliament Buildings · Old St Paul's Cathedral · Old Government Buildings · Mākara Beach
Day 1
From Hotel: 🚶 14 min · 🚕 6 min → Wellington Cable Car
1. Wellington Cable Car
The bright-red funicular has climbed from Lambton Quay to the Kelburn hilltop since 1902, rumbling through three lit tunnels to a lookout over the harbour, the rooftops and the green belt — Wellington's signature five-minute ride.
🏛️ Monday - Thursday 7:30am - 8:00pm · Friday 7:30am - 9:00pm
🏛️ Saturday 8:30am - 9:00pm · Sunday 8:30am - 7:00pm
⏰ ~30 min
🚶 3 min · 🚕 5 min → Wellington Botanic Garden
2. Wellington Botanic Garden
Twenty-five hectares of hillside gardens roll down from the cable-car summit — native bush, a fern gully, the Lady Norwood rose garden and the historic Dominion Observatory, all threaded with paths back toward the city.
🚶 32 min · 🚕 8 min → Zealandia
3. Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne
The world's first fully fenced urban ecosanctuary — 225 hectares of regenerating valley behind a predator-proof fence, where 32 km of tracks pass free-living tuatara, kākā, takahē and other rare native wildlife minutes from the CBD.
🚕 14 min → Te Papa
4. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
New Zealand's national museum on the waterfront — six floors of Māori treasures, a colossal squid, the Gallipoli giants modelled by Wētā, an earthquake house and a living carved marae, all wrapped in interactive, storytelling exhibits.
🚶 11 min · 🚕 5 min → hotel
Day 2
From Hotel: 🚕 12 min → Mount Victoria Lookout
1. Mount Victoria Lookout
The classic Wellington panorama — a 196 m town-belt summit with a 360-degree sweep over the harbour, the CBD, the airport runway and the south coast. It doubled as the "get off the road" hobbit hollow in The Fellowship of the Ring.
🚕 13 min → Wētā Workshop
2. Wētā Workshop
The Miramar effects house behind The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Avatar and Black Panther. A 90-minute guided tour walks you through props, armour, creatures and miniatures, with artists at work and the troll-guarded Wētā Cave at the end.
🏛️ Daily 8:45am - 4:45pm
⏰ ~1 hr 30 min
🚕 15 min → hotel
Day 3
From Hotel: 🚶 12 min · 🚕 5 min → Wellington Museum
1.
Wellington Museum
Housed in the 1892 Bond Store on Queens Wharf, the Wellington Museum covers the city's social and maritime history across three floors, from early Māori settlement and European colonisation to the 1968 Wahine ferry disaster and the lives of ordinary Wellingtonians.
🚶 4 min · 🚕 3 min → City Gallery Wellington
2.
City Gallery Wellington
Wellington's main public contemporary art gallery, operating since 1919 and located in the 1939 former Central Library building on Civic Square. The gallery presents a continuous programme of changing exhibitions covering contemporary New Zealand and international art, design and architecture; admission is free.
🚶 10 min · 🚕 4 min → Cuba Street
3.
Cuba Street · Bucket Fountain
Cuba Street is Wellington's main pedestrian shopping and café strip, running through the Te Aro neighbourhood. The Bucket Fountain, a 1969 kinetic sculpture by Burren and Keen, stands at the Cuba Mall end — a stack of metal buckets that fill, tip and cascade water down to a shallow pool.
🚶 18 min · 🚕 6 min → Oriental Bay
4.
Oriental Bay
Oriental Bay is a sheltered curve of sand on the eastern edge of Wellington Harbour, a short walk from the CBD. The beach faces west across the water toward the Hutt Valley hills, with a promenade, public swimming area, a 1929 bandstand and views back toward the city skyline and Te Papa.
🚶 18 min · 🚕 6 min → hotel
Day 4
From Hotel: 🚕 20 min → Red Rocks Coastal Walk · Pariwhero
1.
Red Rocks Coastal Walk · Pariwhero
A flat 4WD track of 2.5 km each way from the Owhiro Bay car park runs along red Precambrian lava pillows — the oldest exposed rock in the Wellington region — to the largest kekeno · NZ fur seal colony in the region reachable on foot. Seals haul out year-round; kororā · little blue penguins nest here in season.
🏛️ Open 24/7
⏰ ~2 hr 30 min
⚠️ Seals are wild — stay 10 m away. Do not walk between a seal and the sea.
🚕 5 min → Owhiro Bay
2.
Owhiro Bay
A small shingle-and-sand bay at the western end of Wellington's south coast, sheltered by low headlands, with tidal rockpools and public swimming. Owhiro Bay is the start point for the coastal walk to Red Rocks.
🚕 8 min → Island Bay
3.
Island Bay
A south-coast suburb 5 km from the CBD, settled by Italian fishing families from the 1880s. Island Bay faces Cook Strait with a marine reserve directly offshore and a view south to Matiu Somes Island and the South Island on clear days.
🚕 18 min → Otari-Wilton's Bush
4.
Otari-Wilton's Bush
New Zealand's only public botanic garden dedicated entirely to native plants — 100 hectares of broadleaf-podocarp forest in Wilton with 12 km of tracks. The oldest trees include an 800-year-old rimu; kererū and tūī are present year-round.
No pictures found.
🚕 12 min → hotel
Day 5
From Hotel: 🚶 12 min · 🚕 4 min → Matiu/Somes Island
1. Matiu/Somes Island
A pest-free wildlife sanctuary 3 km into Wellington Harbour, reached by a 25-minute ferry. Tuatara roam the paths, little blue penguins nest under the track, and the 1866 lighthouse looks over the city skyline. The island served as a WWII internment camp; its gun emplacements still stand.
🚕 10 min → Pukeahu National War Memorial Park
2. Pukeahu National War Memorial Park
The 49-bell Carillon tower has stood on this hill since 1932, its chimes marking ANZAC ceremonies. Below it sits the Hall of Memories — a solemn vaulted hall with the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Allied-nation memorials from Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom surround the park.
🚕 8 min → Katherine Mansfield House & Garden
3. Katherine Mansfield House & Garden
Katherine Mansfield — New Zealand's most celebrated writer — was born in this two-storey kauri villa in 1888. Restored to its Victorian appearance, the house holds period furnishings, manuscripts, and a cottage garden. The Thorndon streets she walked as a child appear in her most famous stories.
🏛️ Tuesday - Sunday 10:00am - 4:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday
⏰ ~1 hr
🚶 20 min · 🚕 6 min → Carter Observatory
4. Carter Observatory
Wellington's planetarium in a 1941 Art Deco dome at the summit of the Botanic Garden. A digital dome theatre shows Southern Hemisphere skies; the historic 9-inch refractor — used by New Zealand's first professional astronomer — is open for viewing, and outdoor stargazing sessions run on clear evenings.
🏛️ Thursday - Saturday 10:00am - 11:00pm · Sunday 10:00am - 5:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday
⏰ ~1 hr 30 min
🚕 8 min → hotel
Day 6
From Hotel: 🚶 18 min · 🚕 6 min → New Zealand Parliament Buildings
1. New Zealand Parliament Buildings
Three interconnected buildings form the heart of New Zealand's democracy. The Beehive — designed by Sir Basil Spence, completed in 1981 — is the executive wing and the country's most photographed building. Free one-hour tours walk through the Debating Chamber, select committee rooms, and the Edwardian Library.
🚶 5 min · 🚕 2 min → Old St Paul's Cathedral
2. Old St Paul's Cathedral
Built in 1866 from native rimu and totara by Wellington's first bishop, this Heritage New Zealand Category I church has hammer-beam trusses soaring 12 metres overhead, lancet windows throwing coloured light across the nave, and carved wooden memorials lining the walls — one of the finest wooden churches in the world.
🚶 8 min · 🚕 3 min → Old Government Buildings
3. Old Government Buildings
Completed in 1876, the world's second-largest wooden building — an Italianate kauri palazzo designed to mimic stone. It housed the New Zealand cabinet for over a century. The restored Victorian Cabinet Room and ground-floor heritage displays are open to the public.
🏛️ Monday - Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm
🚫 Closed Saturday & Sunday
⏰ ~45 min
🚕 30 min → Mākara Beach
4. Mākara Beach
Wellington's wild west coast, 16 km from the city, where Cook Strait meets the shoreline in surf and wind. The Mākara Walkway — a DOC-managed 6 km loop — climbs above sea cliffs, circles the West Wind Farm's 62 turbines, and returns to the black-sand beach. Fur seals rest on the rocks at dusk.
🚕 30 min → hotel
🗓️ Weekly Closures
Museums & Historic Houses · Closed Monday
Planetariums · Closed Monday - Wednesday
Heritage Buildings · Closed Saturday - Sunday
📅 Tours
Viator
A 5.5-hour morning excursion across the Remutaka Ranges to Martinborough's boutique wine country, visiting three wineries with guided tastings. small group maximum 11. Departs the Tākina Convention Centre for those not using.
⏳ 5 hr 30 min · 👥 max 11
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A full-day 10-hour tour combining Martinborough wine tastings and lunch with the rugged South Wairarapa coast — Cape Palliser Lighthouse, fossil-strewn Putangirua Pinnacles, and the remote seal colony at Cape Palliser. max 11.
⏳ 10 hr · 👥 max 11
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A 5-hour afternoon tour across the Remutaka Ranges to Martinborough with guided food and wine tastings at boutique producers — artisan cheese, olive oil, and locally grown wine paired with expert commentary. max 11.
⏳ 5 hr · 👥 max 11
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A 3-hour guided walking and sightseeing tour of Wellington's highlights — the historic waterfront, Te Papa precinct, Botanic Garden, and cable car ride with panoramic views over the harbour and cityscape. Small group.
⏳ 3 hr · 👥 Small group
🚶 5 min · 🚕 3 min
A 3.5-hour guided tour of Wellington's architectural landmarks, the historic cable car, and Botanic Garden, with expert commentary on the city's political and cultural history. Small group; cable car ticket included.
⏳ 3 hr 30 min · 👥 Small group
🚶 5 min · 🚕 3 min
GetYourGuide
A 5.5-hour guided Martinborough wine tour from Wellington by Zozo Travel, visiting boutique wineries with expert tastings and a gourmet lunch platter. small group maximum 11.
⏳ 5 hr 30 min · 👥 max 11
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A 4-hour guided Lord of the Rings tour visiting real filming locations around Wellington followed by a tour of the legendary Weta Workshop — the creature and prop studio behind the entire trilogy.
⏳ 4 hr · 👥 Small group
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A 3.5-hour small-group · max 10 4WD safari along Wellington's rugged Seal Coast — an exclusive coastal access route not open to the public — to observe New Zealand fur seal colonies up close in their natural habitat.
⏳ 3 hr 30 min · 👥 max 10
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A 10-hour full-day tour over the Remutaka Ranges to Martinborough wine tastings and lunch, then on to the rugged South Wairarapa coast for Cape Palliser Lighthouse, Putangirua Pinnacles, and seal colony views. max 11.
⏳ 10 hr · 👥 max 11
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A 3-hour guided city tour of Wellington's highlights and hidden gems — four photo stops, the historic cable car, and expert local commentary — with and a Cable Car ticket in the price.
⏳ 3 hr · 👥 Small group
🏨 ↔ 🚐
TripAdvisor
A 5.5-hour guided winery tour to Martinborough from Wellington — three boutique wineries, expert tastings, and gourmet food pairings. Departs 10am from Tākina Convention Centre · Wakefield St side or. Max 11.
⏳ 5 hr 30 min · 👥 max 11
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A 4-hour half-day guided tour of Wellington's real Lord of the Rings filming locations paired with a behind-the-scenes visit to Weta Workshop and a hosted lunch. small group.
⏳ 4 hr · 👥 Small group
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A 2.5-hour small-group · max 12 guided night walk inside the Zealandia eco-sanctuary — red-light torches, radio headsets, and expert guides spotting kiwi, tuatara, wētā, and glowworms inside the predator-free reserve in Karori.
⏳ 2 hr 30 min · 👥 max 12
🚕 10 min
A 3.5-hour small-group · max 10 4WD safari to Wellington's exclusive Seal Coast — closed to the public — tracking New Zealand fur seals along sea-sculpted cliffs. Multiple pickup options including Te Papa and Pipitea cruise terminal.
⏳ 3 hr 30 min · 👥 max 10
🏨 ↔ 🚐
A full-day tour of Wellington city landmarks transitioning to the dramatic Kāpiti Coast — Te Papa, the cable car, Kāpiti Island viewpoints, and the wild dune beaches of Paraparaumu. small group.
⏳ 5 hr · 👥 Small group
🏨 ↔ 🚐
☕ Cappuccino
Customs by Coffee Supreme · 4.7⭐ · 470+ reviews
🏛️ Monday - Friday 7:30am - 3:00pm · Saturday - Sunday 8:30am - 3:00pm
🚶 3 min · 🚕 3 min
Pour and Twist · 4.9⭐ · 320+ reviews
🏛️ Monday 8:30am - 5:00pm · Wednesday - Saturday 8:30am - 5:00pm
🚫 Closed Tuesday & Sunday
🚶 5 min · 🚕 3 min
Flight Coffee Hangar · 4.5⭐ · 2900+ reviews
🏛️ Monday - Friday 7:00am - 4:00pm
🚫 Closed Saturday & Sunday
🚶 7 min · 🚕 4 min
Havana Coffee Works · 4.7⭐ · 585+ reviews
🏛️ Monday - Friday 7:00am - 5:00pm
🚫 Closed Saturday & Sunday
🚶 8 min · 🚕 4 min
Raglan Roast · 4.6⭐ · 620+ reviews
🫕 Restaurants Near Hotel
Floriditas · 4.4⭐ · 1650+ reviews
All-day modern European and New Zealand bistro.
🏛️ Monday - Saturday 7:00am - 10:00pm · Sunday 7:30am - 9:30pm
🚶 5 min · 🚕 3 min
Loretta · 4.3⭐ · 2200+ reviews
Mediterranean plates, wood-fired pizza and generous brunch.
🏛️ Tuesday - Sunday 8:00am - 9:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday
🚶 5 min · 🚕 3 min
Ombra · 4.6⭐ · 1470+ reviews
Venetian bacaro — cicchetti, small plates and Italian wine.
🏛️ Daily 12:00pm - 9:30pm
🚶 6 min · 🚕 4 min
Logan Brown · 4.6⭐ · 570+ reviews
Landmark New Zealand fine dining in a grand 1920s banking hall.
🏛️ Wednesday - Sunday 5:00pm - 11:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday & Tuesday
🚶 6 min · 🚕 4 min
Field & Green · 4.5⭐ · 285+ reviews
European "soul food" — modern bistro cooking.
🏛️ Wednesday - Saturday 8:00am - 10:00pm · Sunday 8:00am - 3:00pm
🚫 Closed Monday & Tuesday
🚶 8 min · 🚕 4 min
🍽️ Downtown Restaurants
Charley Noble Eatery & Bar · 4.6⭐ · 1200+ reviews
Wood-fired grill and rotisserie, local produce, natural wine.
🏛️ Monday - Friday 11:30am - 10:00pm · Saturday - Sunday 5:00pm - 10:00pm
Dragonfly · 4.6⭐ · 1000+ reviews
Modern pan-Asian fusion and a serious cocktail bar.
🏛️ Monday - Thursday 4:30pm - 12:00am · Friday - Saturday 4:30pm - 3:00am
🚫 Closed Sunday
Hippopotamus · 4.3⭐ · 460+ reviews
French fine dining with harbour views atop QT Wellington.
🏛️ Daily 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Jano Bistro · 4.9⭐ · 470+ reviews
Intimate French seasonal degustation.
🏛️ Wednesday - Sunday 5:30pm - 11:30pm
🚫 Closed Monday & Tuesday
Noble Rot Wine Bar · 4.5⭐ · 330+ reviews
European wine bar — seasonal small plates and mains.
🏛️ Tuesday - Saturday 4:00pm - 12:00am
🚫 Closed Sunday & Monday
🍮 Local Tastes
Flat White
Espresso under a thin layer of steamed micro-foam — a drink Wellington proudly claims to have invented in the late 1980s. The city brands itself the coffee capital of New Zealand, and the flat white is its house pour.
Wellington Craft Beer
Wellington is New Zealand's craft-beer capital, dense with independent breweries. Garage Project, born in a Te Aro petrol station, is the flagship — wildly inventive small-batch beers poured at its taprooms.
Fix & Fogg Peanut Butter
A cult Wellington-born nut butter, hand-made in Te Aro since 2014 and now exported worldwide. Pick up a jar of the smooth or dark-chocolate version from a city grocer.
🎭 Shows, Performances & Concerts
Michael Fowler Centre — New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Wellington's premier concert hall and home of the NZSO, the national orchestra.
🚶 8 min · 🚕 4 min
St James Theatre — Royal New Zealand Ballet
A restored Edwardian theatre and the home stage of the national ballet company.
🚶 7 min · 🚕 4 min
🚌 Getting Around
🚕 Uber
🚢 Ferry
Harbour ferry from Queens Wharf to Days Bay and Mātiu/Somes Island.
Wellington has a ferry — operated by East by West. Route: Queens Wharf → Matiu/Somes Island.
🚆 Train Stations Near Hotel
🚊 Wellington Railway Station
Kāpiti, Hutt Valley, Melling, Johnsonville & Wairarapa Lines → Paraparaumu, Lower Hutt and Masterton.
🚶 22 min · 🚕 7 min
⛲️ Day Trips by Train
Kāpiti Coast · 1 hr
The electric Kāpiti Line runs up the coast to Paraparaumu and Waikanae — long surf beaches, the Southward car museum and boat tours out to the Kāpiti Island bird sanctuary.
Wairarapa · 1 hr 10 min
✨ The Coolest Little Capital
Wellington packs an outsized amount of life into a tight bowl of harbour and hills, and two days is enough to feel it. The shape of this trip is deliberate: spend the first day climbing — cable car up, gardens down, then out to Zealandia where the bush is loud with birds that exist almost nowhere else — and end on the flat at Te Papa by the water. The second day belongs to the eastern hills and the film-making peninsula, two short rides that bookend the harbour.
Build slack into the plan for the things Wellington does better than almost anywhere: a flat white that started here, a Garage Project beer brewed down the road, a wander up Cuba Street between dinners. The wind is real — they don't call it Windy Welly for nothing — so keep a layer handy and treat a clear, still afternoon at Mount Victoria as the gift it is.