3 days in New Zealand’s capital – Wellington

As the main capital of New Zealand, Wellington was a Must-See while living in NZ. Even the city is smaller than Auckland, I think it has much more charm and is definitely worth a visit! We spent three days in Wellington and really enjoyed the alternative vibes of this little cute city.

Day 1 in Wellington

Our first starting point was the famous cable car, which starts from the city centre. Once the red train left the entrance area, it lifted us up to the Botanical Garden while it offers stunning views over the city and the ocean. After we creamed ourself with some sun lotion (puh what a hot day!), we started strolling along the Botanical Garden. There are many ways you can go and after each corner you will spot another great garden with beautiful trees and flowers. It was one the most beautiful botanical gardens I have ever seen (ok, I haven’t visited that much, but believe me, it was a lovely place). I think my favourite garden was the Rose Garden.  After we walked down along the streets towards the city centre, we spotted a very nice old building, which proved to be the Parliament Building. They offer several free tours through the building and I highly recommend to join one of them. It’s a beautiful historical building, nice staff and an informative walk through all the meeting and ball rooms with different wall decorations standing for different countries and relationships.

After the tour was finished, it was time for some food. Wellington offers a great choice of nice restaurants and cafes (find my food recommendations for Wellington here).

One hour before sunset, we took an Uber to drive up to the Mount Victoria Lookout. Of course you could also walk the way up, but… we were on vacation, ok?! (just food and sightseeing,  no sport). Once you arrive at the top, you will be overwhelmed by the stunning view! At least I was. The city looks so warm and nice when the sun colours everything in her beautiful light. It is the perfect spot, to sit down, enjoy the view from the city over to the ocean and maybe to open a bottle of wine.

Day 2 in Wellington

We decided to spend our second day to discover the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. It’s a huge museum with severals floors, many topics and a lot to see. The most impressive section for me was the War floor. Although I didn’t want to destroy my happy city-trip-mood by visiting the dark and sad war exhibition, I was glad I did. Until April 2019 you can see an exhibition like no other named “Scale of War”. When you enter the exhibition, you will be leaded through several rooms showing several giant human sculptures reflecting different war scenes. Those figures are just stunning! While they capture the War and all its violent, fearfulness and hopelessness, those figures are created in such a perfect and detailed way, that you might think, true giant human beings are standing in front of you (the figures are monumental scale of 2.4 times human size). 

Once we finished our Museum visit, we came out to the sunlight and the beautiful harbour front of the city. To switch our thoughts to the bright side of life, we strolled along the harbourside market, a nice food market, which opens every Sunday from 7:30 am to 2:00 pm. You will find it quite difficult to decide what to chose in between all those delicacies. From the end of the food market it is not far to Oriental Bay – the city beach. Its a nice spot, to rest a bit, watch the kids jumping into the water and for being happy to discover this great city.

After a short stop at our hotel, we went to the City Harbour for Dinner. There are several restaurants, with nice water views. We even could watch two big rays while waiting for our food. What a great end of the day.

Day 3 in Wellington

I always like to “save” some time with no plan to stroll along the streets of the place I visit. In my opinion, thats the best way to get a feeling for a place and to discover some corners away from the main spots. So we used our last day to walk along the city centre and we explored so many great graffities! Coming from Berlin, I am used to street art and was really happy about all those colourful walls. Just loved it! We enjoyed our afternoon at the harbour front, there is nothing better than a cold lemonade under an umbrella with a great view.

To finish our day, we watched a movie in the Embassy Theatre, this was one of my favourite places. The building is just stunning! When you come in, you will notice the winding staircases, big mirrors and thick carpets. You should plan some time here before the movie starts. The “underground” bar on the ground floor, which is located behind the hallway, is awesome as well. This retro-chic bar is perfect, to get a cocktail and the free cinnamon-mint water is just so good. I am sure you will love it, like the rest of the city 🙂

♥ The end ♥