Auckland
New Zealand
A city built on fifty volcanoes, with an island ferry from the bottom of the street
Photo by Sulthan Auliya on Unsplash
Photos by Partha Narasimhan, Sulthan Auliya, Kyle Myburgh and Arphy on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of New Zealand
November to April
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 120mm in Jul
Where it is
36.85°S, 174.76°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Take the ferry to Waiheke for the vineyards and the beaches
- Walk up Mount Eden for the crater and the view over both harbours
- Cross to Rangitoto and climb the youngest volcano in the country
- Spend a day on the black sand at Piha
- Eat and drink your way along Karangahape Road
- See the Māori collection at Auckland Museum, and the daily cultural performance
Auckland travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget New Zealand
ExpensiveYou will barely touch cash: contactless is universal, including on buses and ferries and at market stalls. Note that many places pass on a card surcharge of around 2%, and that a public holiday adds a 15% surcharge in cafés and restaurants, which is legal and always signposted.
ATMs & cards
ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac machines are everywhere and most do not charge their own fee, though your bank will. Avoid the standalone machines in convenience stores and bars, which charge several dollars a withdrawal. Decline conversion.
Avoid these
- machines in convenience stores and bars, which charge several dollars
Use these instead
- ANZ
- ASB
- BNZ
- Westpac
You will hardly need cash at all — contactless works on ferries, buses and market stalls. Watch for the card surcharge instead.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of New Zealand
SafeA safe, easy city where the sensible precautions are ordinary ones — do not leave anything visible in a parked car, which is the one theft visitors actually meet, especially at trailheads and west coast beach car parks. The genuine danger is the water: Piha, Bethells and Muriwai have rips that kill people every year. Swim between the flags, and nowhere else.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Ponsonby
- Parnell
- Devonport
- Auckland CBD — by day
Worth more attention
- Karangahape Road — and the lower CBD at three in the morning
- Car break-ins at west-coast beach car parks, which are constant
- Piha — and the west-coast surf beaches, which are the most drowning-prone in the country
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa New Zealand visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 90 daysNZ$23 plus NZ$100 visitor levy
NZeTA plus the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy, paid together. UK passports get six months rather than three.
Other passports
No visa needed
Australian citizens may live and work in New Zealand indefinitely.
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Apply through the official Immigration New Zealand app or website — it is cheaper in the app. Allow 72 hours.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: the arrival card
New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD)Required
In the 24 hours before you fly.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- flight number
- the full address of your first night
- what food, outdoor gear and medicines you are carrying
The biosecurity questions are the point and are taken seriously — undeclared food carries an instant fine.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of New Zealand
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
Excellent, and unusually generous to visitors: the ACC scheme covers everyone in the country, tourists included, for treatment of accidental injury regardless of fault or nationality. Illness is not covered, so insurance is still worth having.
The weather in the mountains is the hazard. There are no snakes and nothing venomous worth worrying about.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodThe best eating in New Zealand, and mostly Pacific and Asian rather than European: Vietnamese and Korean on Dominion Road, Pacific Island food in Ōtara, and a Sunday morning at the Avondale market. Order the green-lipped mussels, and take the flat white seriously, because everyone here does.
Nightlife
Waterfront bars and a compact centre, with the good stuff spread into the inner suburbs.
- Britomart — and the Viaduct, for the waterfront bars
- Ponsonby Road — the restaurants and the better bars
- Karangahape Road — K Road, and the late alternative night
Closing: 03:00 in the centre, 04:00 on K Road.
A beer in a bar: NZ$10–14
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- OlaWorks here
- ZoomyWorks here
- BoltNot here
Zoomy the New Zealand one
- From the airport
- Auckland airport to the centre NZ$70–95
- Against a taxi
- Under the meter in the three big cities. In the smaller towns supply is thin and a booked taxi is more reliable.
Time zone and your working day
Pacific/Auckland — 17 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 16:00–17:00 your time, 09:00–10:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 16:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 16:00–00:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of New Zealand
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.7× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 1.7× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for New Zealand, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
New Zealand English — local usage
- Hello (Māori, widely used)Kia orakee-a OR-a
- ThanksCheers / Ta
- Flip-flopsJandals
- Cool boxChilly bin
4 more phrases
- Holiday homeBachbatch
- Sweet, no problemSweet as
- The bill, pleaseCan we settle up?
- GoodbyeHaere rāHIGH-reh rah
Religion
No majority faith
Around half report no religion. Māori tikanga governs behaviour at marae and at sites of significance, and is respected as protocol rather than religion.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Learn kia ora and use it; Māori greetings are part of everyday speech
- Remove shoes entering homes
- Clean hiking boots between parks — biosecurity is taken seriously
- Log your intentions before any serious walk
Don't
- Do not confuse New Zealand with Australia, or the accents with each other
- Do not sit on tables or pillows — in Māori custom, surfaces for food and heads are not for sitting
- Do not tip; it is not part of the culture
- Do not underestimate the weather in the mountains; it changes within the hour
Where to stay in Auckland
No Holistay rentals in Auckland yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Auckland on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Auckland AKL
45 minfrom the airport· 18 km as the crow flies
SkyDrive bus to the centre, 45 min.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
