Landmarks, museums, historic sites, parks and viewpoints that draw visitors to a city, with practical notes on planning a visit.
20 places · Updated November 12, 2026
Our top 3 attractions in New Zealand
Attraction
Neoclassical museum and war memorial on Observatory Hill in the Auckland Domain, home to major Māori and Pacific collections, natural history galleries and the Halls of Memory.
View details — Auckland War Memorial MuseumAttraction
Queenstown's gondola climbs from the top of Brecon Street to Bob's Peak, where a viewing complex, restaurant, café and two luge tracks look over Lake Wakatipu.
View details — Skyline QueenstownAttraction
New Zealand's longest lake, an 80 km dog-leg of deep glacial water that frames Queenstown and links it by boat and road to Kingston and Glenorchy.
View details — Lake WakatipuAttraction
The 328-metre telecommunications and observation tower at the heart of the CBD, with glass-floored viewing decks, a revolving restaurant and the SkyWalk and SkyJump.
View details — Sky TowerAttraction
New Zealand's first permanent art gallery, set in an 1887 French Renaissance building with an award-winning 2011 extension, holding over 18,000 works with free general entry.
View details — Auckland Art Gallery Toi o TāmakiAttraction
A 14.75-hectare public garden on the peninsula beside the town centre, planted from the 1860s, with lake views, a rose garden, memorials and New Zealand's first disc golf course.
View details — Queenstown GardensAttraction
The highest natural point on the Auckland isthmus, a 196-metre volcanic cone with a deep crater, Māori pā terraces and free 360-degree views of the city.
View details — Maungawhau / Mount EdenAttraction
Fiordland's best-known fiord, 15 km of sheer cliffs and permanent waterfalls under Mitre Peak, reached from Queenstown by coach, car or scenic flight.
View details — Milford Sound / PiopiotahiAttraction
Auckland's oldest park, set in an ancient volcanic crater, with the 1920s Wintergardens glasshouses, a fernery in an old quarry and duck ponds below the museum.
View details — Auckland Domain and WintergardensAttraction
A family-run wildlife park just below the Skyline Gondola, home to more than 20 native species and the easiest place in Queenstown to see kiwi.
View details — Kiwi Park QueenstownAttraction
Arrowtown's museum, in the former Bank of New Zealand building on Buckingham Street, tells the story of the gold rush, Chinese miners and the Wakatipu district.
View details — Lakes District Museum and GalleryAttraction
A 182-metre volcanic cone that was once the largest pā on the isthmus, surrounded by Cornwall Park's farmland, gardens, cafés and the historic Acacia Cottage.
View details — Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill and Cornwall ParkAttraction
The restored huts and store of the Chinese gold miners who lived beside Bush Creek in Arrowtown from the 1860s, now cared for by the Department of Conservation.
View details — Arrowtown Chinese SettlementAttraction
Waterfront museum on Hobson Wharf telling New Zealand's seafaring story, from Polynesian voyaging to Sir Peter Blake's America's Cup yachts, with heritage harbour sailings.
View details — New Zealand Maritime Museum Hui Te Ananui a TangaroaAttraction
Not-for-profit zoo at Western Springs with more than 1,400 animals, a large New Zealand wildlife precinct, Sumatran tigers, orangutans and a working wildlife hospital.
View details — Auckland ZooAttraction
Queenstown's classic hard day walk climbs from the town to the 1,748 m summit of Ben Lomond, with views over Lake Whakatipu to the Remarkables and beyond.
View details — Ben Lomond TrackAttraction
Aquarium built inside old storage tanks under Tamaki Drive, with a 110-metre underwater tunnel, sharks, rescued turtles and a colony of king and gentoo penguins.
View details — Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life AquariumAttraction
A three-hour return walk from Belfast Terrace up Queenstown Hill, Te Tapu-nui, past history panels to the Basket of Dreams sculpture and wide views of the lake.
View details — Queenstown Hill Time WalkAttraction
A quiet mountain-ringed lake a short drive from Queenstown, with an easy two to three-hour loop track, a DOC campsite and calm water for paddling.
View details — Moke LakeAttraction
Two-site transport and technology museum at Western Springs, linked by a heritage tram, with aircraft, trams, trains, a pioneer village and a hands-on science centre.
View details — MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology)