Kia ora! This week and next I’m going to talk about New Zealand cities. While most people are familiar with Auckland, Wellington, and Queenstown, there are a few more than that. New Zealand only has a population of 4.69 million, and the majority of them live in the North Island. There are five large cities on the South Island though! New Zealand cities range from cosmopolitan to rugged, from mountainous to sub-tropical, and from international gateways to Antarctic ports.
New Zealand cities
Most people enter New Zealand via the major international airport in Auckland, although those coming from Asian countries or Australia have some more options. Travelling to New Zealand is super easy – direct flights from all over the world – and a great destination for travellers of all ages!
North Island
New Zealand cities on the North Island, as seen above, are Auckland (the largest city), Rotorua (and Taupo, geothermal attractions), Napier-Hastings (wine country), and Wellington (the capital). These are the four I’ll focus on individually this week.
Hamilton, New Plymouth, and Palmerston North are often omitted from travellers itineraries for various reasons. The biggest reason is that, because New Zealand is such a beautiful country, you have to maximise your time! Stopping in every major city just doesn’t cut it, and unfortunately for these three cities, they are much more important to industrial New Zealand than tourism New Zealand.
HOWEVER, if you have time and are self-driving, a quick stop in Hamilton to visit the botanic gardens wouldn’t go amiss… aren’t they gorgeous?!
South Island
New Zealand cities on the South Island are Nelson, Christchurch, and Dunedin. I’m going to add Queenstown to that list, even though it’s not one of the top ten New Zealand cities (population wise).
The population of the Queenstown/Wanaka region is 28,000. Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island and is a major port for Antarctic base ships. Nelson, and its nearby town Motueka, is the gateway to the South Island. Abel Tasman National Park and Kahurangi National Park, as well as Golden Bay, are accessible through Nelson. In fact, post-earthquake, until the Kaikoura road (State Highway 1) reopened, everyone had to drive through Nelson to get anywhere on the South Island!
Lastly, Dunedin is the gateway to the southern South Island. It’s a big student town, home to the University of Otago. Dunedin is also the last major city before the remote Catlins region. Invercargill, the main town in the Southland, population 50,000, is the gateway to Stewart Island (and the Catlins, coming from the west).
So, stay tuned this week and next for posts about all these New Zealand cities and why I think they definitely need to be on your list of places to go!
