MUST DO on your first day! Highly recommend Liz's Aucky Walky Foodie tour in Auckland CBD. Debbie…read more(and Liz) met us right outside Sky City Tower sign/ticketing area which is right in front of the SkyCity Hotel entrance. You won't be disappointed... you end up with tummies full of delicious food, ton of information, and new found friends. I really liked the small group setting bcuz it's like you are on a private tour. Knowledgeable and they chose the perfect spread of foods while meandering the streets of Auckland CBD down to the wharf. Take the tour first before anything else... that way you can narrow down where to eat/see next. Debbie - you are the BEST! Thank you for being our guide. Special thanks to owner Byron at Cocoa Wilds Chocolates for personally coming out to greet us. We could just feel the good vibes and passion he has for his business. God bless you and much success to you and your team! Special MAHALO to Jed, SkyCity Tower Hotel OUTSTANDING concierge, for recommending us to Aucky Walky tours.

Great tour! Debbie customized the tour to accommodate our interests and she graciously answered our…read moremany, many questions about architecture, history, culture, restaurants, places to buy men's shoes and Auckland customs. We enjoyed our time with Debbie and wholeheartedly recommend Aucky Walky Tours. -Michael Florida, USA P.S. the mussels were incredible! Thanks for the recommendations.

Okay. So it's not like the bus in London, Rome or Sydney, but it was a really great way to see the…read morecity especially when traveling with a couple of octogenarians. Stopped at almost all of the stops along the Red Route. Blue Route was less interesting to us. Stop 1- The heart of the city is at the Queens Wharf and the Central Business District. Loved the historic buildings, shops and restaurants. Saw the International Buskers Festival. Watched the boats come into harbor. Stop 2- The Sky Tower is pricy, but gives a great view of the city. A short uphill climb from our hotel apartment. Stop 3- The Art Museum and Albert Park. The Guo Pei exhibit was so interesting. A very eclectic museum. Stop 5- The Auckland War Memorial Museum and the switch to the blue line or red line depending on which way you came. Easy to walk from this stop to the Winter Garden. Stop 6- The Holy Trinity Cathedral. Closed on Auckland Day. Easy to walk from here to Parnell Village and then stop #7. Stop 7- Pick up a lamb or meat pie on the way to this stop. Stop 8- Bastion Point has stunning views of Auckland. The memorial is beautiful as well. Stop 9- The aquarium, because who doesn't love penguins? Happy Feet! Stop 10 - The Winter Garden has the most beautiful flowers in the glass greenhouses. The fernery is interesting, too. Pricy, but we got a great taste of Auckland.

Really good time. Professional helpful really enjoyed our day. I have said enough and think 85…read morecharacters is too much so I write this gibberish

When we arrived after a hard uphill walk from the harbor to learn that the Maori Court and Pacific…read moreExperience exhibits were closed for a multiyear renovation, and were told that a discounted price of $27! was being charged, we felt a bit ripped off. But there were a number of fine exhibits so we felt the visit was still worthwhile -- but a more substantial discount would very much be warranted

Known as the war memorial museum, this place was much more than that. I'm used to museums with a…read morespecific theme and this was a hodge podge museum, filled with quirky collections of indigenous, historical war, science and other miscellaneous items. I am quirky, so I really enjoyed my visit here. The first floor was about indigenous Māori history and other Polynesian islands. The second floor's theme was natural history and the third floor was war history (Māori, World wars) and memorial dedicated to those who served from New Zealand. I spent about three hours looking at all the exhibits and displays. In another lifetime, I worked at an aviation museum and I was astounded to find an intact Zero plane here. With less than twenty in existence, to actually see one in person with actual World War Two history was the highlight of my visit. The museum has two eateries that's pretty decent in price with nice sitting areas to enjoy. The gift shop had original items I didn't see anywhere else on my trip. The museum is free to NZ residents but visitors have to pay admission. It's worth it to pay and visit here atleast once in your lifetime.

Gorgeous Art gallery in the heart of Auckland! My husband and I enjoyed strolling the gallery…read moreduring a recent trip. I really enjoyed their Manet and Picasso pieces. If you have a few hours to spare, there's a really nice outdoor space to sit and read a book!

We had just finished eating on Queen Street and were wandering around the area when we stumbled…read moreupon this art gallery museum. We decided to walk in and I'm glad we did. The first floor is free and features several exhibitions, so we took our time roaming around. One of the main exhibits focused on Māori art, and we spent about an hour exploring the pieces and learning more about Māori history in New Zealand. It was genuinely informative and beautifully presented. There was also a display by a Korean artist on the first floor. I don't quite remember the theme, but the design of the house-like structure had some Chinese influences, which made it visually interesting. Overall, if you have some time to spare and want to cool off from the scorching sun, this gallery is definitely worth a visit. Bonus points for clean restrooms, too!

Fascinating ! Highly recommend. I got bored of reading so I took pics to read later. There are some…read morereally cool touches I won't describe so I don't spoil it for you.

Right on the harbor, this large new Maritime Museum presented the history of New Zealand Māori &…read moreEuropeans on the water. There was a cafe and large gift shop. This museum opened in 1993 and houses the most extensive collection of naval artifacts in New Zealand. There were many exhibits, concentrating on: Maori vessels & navigation, European voyages of discovery, Settlement & immigration, Early coastal trading, Whaling & sealing, commercial shipping, piloting & coastguard services, Navigation &surveying, nautical arts & crafts,Recreation & sporting maritime activities, trades, and harbor &port history.

We were driving to Tawharanui Regional Park and noticed the sculptures peeking out from inside a…read moregarden and decided we must stop in. We are so glad that we did. We found a lovely art gallery that even includes pieces from Chihuly that led to a couple of beautiful gardens adjacent to the gallery. Beyond this there is yet another larger sculpture garden with meandering paths that sometimes led to aviaries as well as other small animal areas (such as rabbits). They will be having a couple of "native" pigs join the property soon as they just arrived today. We met the owners, Anthony and Sandra Grant as she arrived on property with their new pets. Between our visit to the gallery and the larger sculpture garden, we stopped by for a wine tasting and met Tina who was generous and informative sharing about the wines grown on their estate. The Gallery Syrah and Bordeaux Blend were our favorites. Much appreciation is extended to Tina for her kindness and hospitality! After the sculpture garden, we ventured over to their restaurant, Rothko. Unfortunately for us, the restaurant was fully booked with reservations. Fortunately for us, they had seating at the picnic tables outside and they served wine and small bites. Overall, we had a very pleasant experience and will definitely be back!

Fabulous collection if (mostly) modern art sculptures set in beautifully manicured gardens and chic…read moreindoor galleries. One hour from auckland cbd... we were tourists, renting a city hop car (very reasonable and convenient)... 1 hour to get there and 3 hours in the setting, well worth the time and expense!

SPLORE SPLORE SPLORE, its taken me this long to complete this review because it taken me this long…read moreto get over the buzz of this festival. In my opinion splore is the best festival NZ has to offer! After attending for my first time in 2012 i couldn't wait for the 2014. Personally i don't go to splore for the music, i go the whole package and the amazing atmosphere. The splore team really have nailed it on the head once again! There were 7 of us who went this year. As to be expected we took WAY to much stuff and didn't use anything. note to self- one change of clothes is adequate, multiple bikinis= essential! more glitter less makeup is my new motto for splore! The key to camping is getting their super early so you can secure a good camp site. Half of our group set off at 6am and got us a fab spot looking over the ocean (pics to follow), we were a good 20 minutes away from the car so again DON'T TAKE TO MUCH STUFF as you do have to carry everything you take. The camping vibe is rad, everyone is so friendly and hangs out together. You can also take a camper-van, get glamping or get a car park next to your tent. All the camping is set at the top of the park, down the hill (which FYI is quite a big/steep hill) you enter into a wonderland of magic. There are so many things to look at from art installations, craft tents, random decorations, the mirror maze this year was amazing and also the large cube mirrors hanging from the large trees. Obviously tons of live music plus live performances= Sam hunt was a personal fav along with double dip on saturday night. Lets also not forget the beautiful beach right there!! the water is so clear and fresh, a great way to wash off. There are also showers at the camp sites, i didn't get there so i can't report on how they were! The whole park is decorated in weird and wonderful ways that only the splore team could pull off. You really do have to see it to believe the craziness!! A personal fav for me was the crazy tvs installed on one of the trees that played wacky videos at night, i lay there watching for at least 2 hours on the saturday night. The creative minds of the splore team do really go well beyond anything you can ever dream of. In terms of drinking and eating.. there are roughly 5 bar areas dotted around the festival, all with the different theme serving great alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages. Personal fav in terms of bars was most likely the old Mout cider LOVE SHACK down by the lagoon. (YES there's a lagoon which is fresh water. The recycled swan sculptures floating in the lagoon were spectacular! ) The living lounge is also very chilled with beans bags and live performances. As for eating there is a food stall village area offering so many amazing healthy options from curry, Mexican vegetarian burritos, vegan ice blocks, Hungarian puffs etc , the list goes on!! Many great coffee trucks for your morning caffeine fix too. There is also a variety of food stalls up the top in the camping areas. Please note splore is also EXTREMELY focused on recycling and leaving no trace. The statistics are amazing and the minimal amount of waste is an admirable achievement especially considering how many people attend. stats below : Compost 442.13kg 70.509% Recycling 131.32kg 20.942% Landfill 53.60 kg 8.547% Splore is known for its outlandish ways and every year there is a different theme for the festival. This year was LOVE, 'more to love at splore' was the catch phrase. On the Saturday night everyone dresses up in the theme, its an amazing site to see so many people in fancy dress,!! This year marked the 10th anniversary of the festival. There has been some talk of making the festival annual but i personally think this would ruin the amazing vibe they have created. As you can see i could and would talk about this festival ALL DAY. So if you are thinking of going and want some insider tips do message me!! Can't wait for 2016 ALREADY, great work team splore xo

This was my first time here and have to say I was very impressed. Good music, good atmosphere and…read morebeen right next to the beach meant a swim when it got too hot. Toilets were well, not a nice experience and the clampdown on alcohol seemed a bit excessive. Lack of food options meant a long wait for food, but in saying that, what was on offer was pretty good. Overall it was great. I had a good time which is all that matters really. Will be going again but this time I'm in a camper van so no long walks to carry camping equipment back and forth.

We booked this activity through Viator several weeks in advance. We received confirmation and…read moretickets. We arrived at the pickup location early and messaged the operator to ensure we were in the right location. We did not receive a response. Contacted Viator directly who spoke with the operator wan advised that we had not been out on their calendar. We had one day in Auckland and were left with no tour as everything else was booked. So unprofessional and they didn't even respond to us. I would give them zero stars if I could. Nothing was offered to compensate for this oversight.

We took many wine tours during our New Zealand vacation and this was by far the best. John, the…read moreowner operator provided our group with a great selection of Auckland area vineyards and wineries. We didn't just visit the tasting rooms, John provided us a detailed cellar tour where he explained the entire wine making process. We were given excellent commentary on New Zealand, various trends, and the economic forces at play. It was a very informative drive through the region as we made our way from winery to winery. It was a perfect way to spend our final day in New Zealand as we were also able to hire John to transport us straight to the airport at the conclusion of our tour. I highly recommend NZ Wine Pro.