I love Auckland! It’s the biggest city in Aotearoa, the “city of sails”, and, of course, known home of JAFAs. Aucklanders get a lot of stick from the rest of the country, but I think it’s because they’re jealous of us having the most opportunities, while still having great access to nature. In Auckland, you can surf on both the East and West coast easily, go for beautiful bush walks, and also see the best of what New Zealand’s hospitality and arts scene has to offer! It’s an amazing place and I feel lucky to live here.
So, on this page I have put down my guide to Auckland (although it’s a work in progress). These are places/experiences that I would recommend to my friends. It’s not for everyone, and it’s definitely not Trip Advisor’s level, but I hope that there’ll be something cool here that you can go enjoy.
Coffee
Auckland, and New Zealand, has some of the best coffee in the world! If you love a flat white, you’re in the right place.
- Coffee Lab - The best coffee in Auckland in my opinion.
- Chur Bae - This is a nice cafe and their barista is great.
Restaurants
- Otto - Delicious and cozy, great date spot.
- OOH-FA - A pizza and wine bar 😋 - can recommend the butternut, goats cheese, and soft herb pizza (if they haven’t changed their menu since I wrote this).
- Pici - Owned by the same people who run Ooh-fa, it’s a small, modern Italian place with great food!
- Ada - Delicious and fancy. Run out of a place that used to be a convent for nuns. Cool building.
- Daphnes - Also fancy, also delicious
- Amano - One of those places where you feel like the staff feel hospitality is their career, rather than their job.
- Hai Phong - Vietnamese in Northcote. This is maybe not a “go out of your way to get it”, but more something that you may enjoy if you’re in the area. This is a weeknight local place.
- Ramen Takara - Japanese ramen place. Very good prices, very good food.
Drinks
- Cave a Vin - If I have a local, this is it. It’s a super cool natural wine bar. They don’t have a menu, you go in, tell them what you like, they bring out wines for you to taste and try. If you go, you won’t regret getting the skillet cookie!
- Beer Spot - It’s a freehouse focusing on craft beer. There are a couple of locations, the one in Northcote has ~40 taps. They also have a different food truck onsite every week. This isn’t a fancy place to go, but it’s a great place to relax for a weeknight drink.
Fish and chips
- FishSmith - Fish and chips is a classic in New Zealand. You can find fish and chip shops all over and most of them are good. However, in my opinion, the best fish and chips is from FishSmith. They also take it a little further and do things like fish tacos (I recommend!).
Bakeries
A kiwi thing that no one else does, is savoury pies. If you’re new to New Zealand, you have to try them at least once. The best place to get them from is the Euro patisserie in Torbay, but pies are quite competitive, so you can probably find a good one near you.
- Euro Patisserie - The best pies in Auckland (imo).
- Daily Bread - Various locations (not just the one linked), great pastries, not a pie place really, just a great bakery in general.
- Fã - This gem popped up in Silverdale. Similar to Daily bread. Their cinnamon bun is great!
Desserts
This is definitely an area I need to find more places for! However, the two ice cream places below are both really nice.
- Giapo - Beautiful and elaborate ice creams. This is a little bit of an experience as well as an ice cream. Look them up on instagram to get some ideas of what you can get.
- Duck Island Icecream - A normal ice cream servery with great flavours and multiple locations.
Gardens
If you like gardens, here are a couple that are nice to visit.
- Domain Winter Gardens - Very close to the museum, could be worth a walk if you just end up in Auckland with some free time.
- Ayrlies Gardens and Wetlands - I considered proposing to my wife here. It’s an amazing garden, and I don’t think it’s widely known about. A little bit out of the way though and you have to email them to visit on a Saturday.
Walks and activities
- Tawharanui Regional Park - If you have a day with good weather, this is an easy win. The downside is that it’s about an hour and half drive from Auckland, so it’s really a day trip. New Zealand has some incredible beaches and Tawharanui is one of them. It is also a bird sanctuary and has a really great nature walk where you can see all sorts of birds, from kākā to kiwis! To see the kiwi you have to go at night (Tawharanui has a campground too!). They are relatively easy to spot if you go at night with a red torch, the last 3 times I’ve been I’ve seen them. I’m sure that’s more a reflection on how well the sanctuary is doing rather than me being able to find and spot kiwi. I really love this place. It’s also a surf beach when the weather is right.
- Tamaki Drive - This is a road that connects the Auckland CBD to Mission Bay. It’s a really nice walk, ride, or lime scooter. A cool idea can be to get a drink in CBD and dinner in Mission Bay, or vice versa, and walk/ride/scoot from one to the other.
- Walk up Mount Victoria, or North Head at night and look out towards the city and the harbour bridge. Bonus points if you’re having a night out in the city, walk/ride/scoot to mission bay and back and then take the ferry to Devonport and walk up the hill 🤩
- Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill - Another of Auckland’s volcanos. It’s a really cool park in the middle of the city. I’m not sure if it’s an active farm or not, but it does have sheep and cows, as well as some beautiful trees and a café.
Culture
- Auckland War Memorial Museum - Auckland’s best museum! Check what’s on. Great if you have kids as well.
- Auckland Art Gallery - Another great place to visit. Check their website to find out what’s on.