Wellington is a fantastic location for a weekend get away. We headed down for a quick weekend adventure with the kids, to explore some new places and visit a few old haunts. Here’s our picks on the best places to go in Wellington.
If you lived in Wellington like me in the 1990’s then you will probably remember this song and it’s true – you can’t beat Wellington on a good day and we had the incredibly good fortune to have 2 of them on our recent weekend in Wellington.
We scored some super cheap seats from Air New Zealand Grab a Seat and set of Saturday morning with a flight back at 8.30 on Sunday night. The great thing about this was that we got two full days in Wellington but only had to pay for one nights accomodation.
It was a whirlwind tour and despite living in Wellington for 5 years I saw a whole new side to the city with a few old favourites and thanks to the suggestions of the Getting Lost community, a lot of places I had never been to before.
The 3 best places to explore in Wellington
Zealandia
Only 10 minutes out of Wellington Zealandia is flanked by a 8.6km long fence to keep predators out and help them realise their objective to wind back the time 1,000 years. For the less environmentally conscious of us it is a wonderful walk surrounded by bird song while knowing your donation is helping support this wonderful work. Read more…
Gallipoli at Te Papa
In this deeply moving and personal exhibition, Te Papa and Weta Workshops combined to create this moving account of what happened at Gallipoli and to pay tribute to the 2,779 Kiwi’s who lost their lives there. It truly is something every Kiwi should see. Read more…
Taking a tour of Parliament
Taking that photo outside the Beehive is a given if you are travelling to Wellington, but next time spare an hour to go on a tour inside Parliament. You can’t take photos (no camera’s allowed) but it is an awesome experience – especially if you have a budding Prime Minister in your midst. Read more…
The 3 best places to eat in Wellington
The Thistle Inn
The fact that the Thistle Inn is the oldest pub in NZ is reason alone to visit this Thornton beauty – add in a new refurb, friendly staff, handy location and great menu and it’s little wonder that The Thistle Inn is in the top 5 restaurants in Wellington on Trip Advisor. Read more…
KK Malaysia
There is a lot that has changed in Wellington but thankfully KK Malaysia isn’t one of them. It still looks the same as it did when I left in 2003, tastes even better and I am fairly sure the prices haven’t moved that much either. Read more…
Chocolate Fish cafe
Located in in the 122-year-old Submarine Mining Depot Barracks with amazing views of the Wellington Harbour, super cheap kids meals (we’re talking $3 and up here), lots of places to play and quick & friendly service this quirky Shelly Bay cafe was an awesome spot for a family brunch. Read more…
The best place to stay in Wellington
Museum Hotel
Initially famous for dodging the wrecking ball in 1993 when it became the largest building in New Zealand to be relocated and wheeled it’s way across the road to make way for Te Papa. Nowadays the Museum Hotel is more well known for its extensive art collection, quirky style, location and who could go past the pillow service. Read more…
Getting around in Wellington
Public Transport in Wellington is amazing! We walked straight off the plane and onto the flyer bus to the city. Not only is it cheap but it’s the only way to go through the Haitaitai bus tunnel – a narrow one way tunnel that only buses are allowed through. Catching a bus to anywhere is also a breeze with regular services that make their way quickly through the city. Don’t forget the cable car (and free light show too).
On day two however we wanted to do a little exploring so went to Thrifty Car Rental who do $79 rentals for the day. This meant we could walk from the hotel and pick up the car first thing in the morning, go for an explore and then drive ourselves out to the airport that night and leave the car there – brilliant!
Having a coffee with friends at Joe’s Garage and talking about all the great diving spots around the Wellington region we decided there simply wasn’t enough time in a weekend to do all we wanted to do so next time we will be heading down for a week.
Cheers Wellington for a brilliant time and we hope you have as much fun exploring as we did!