Wellington

The compact grid means you can see the highlights in a day or two on foot. Te Papa, the national museum on the waterfront, is free and easily half a day on its own. The red cable car climbs from Lambton Quay to the Botanic Garden, where you can walk back down through the trees. Cuba Street is the centre of the cafe, music and second-hand scene.

Things to do

• Spend a morning at Te Papa, then walk the waterfront to the bars of the inner harbour.
• Ride the cable car up and wander down through the Botanic Garden and the Bolton Street cemetery.
• Browse Cuba Street and Aro Valley for coffee, vinyl and small bars.
• Drive or bus around the south coast to the seal colony at Red Rocks.

Where to go nearby

• The Wairarapa over the Remutaka hill, for the wineries around Martinborough.
• The Interislander or Bluebridge ferry across Cook Strait to Picton and the South Island.

Good to know

Te Papa is free, as are the Botanic Garden and the waterfront walks, so you can fill a day here without spending much beyond coffee and food. The cable car costs about NZ$6 one way. The Cook Strait ferry to the South Island takes around three and a half hours and should be booked ahead in summer, especially with a vehicle. A flat white in a central cafe runs about NZ$5 to NZ$6, and the city takes its coffee seriously.

On cost: Wellington is not cheap. Forum-goers comparing the weekend city market with the supermarket found it no cheaper and sometimes dearer, paying around NZ$15 for tomatoes, a cucumber and a couple of bags of potatoes and carrots. Treat the market as a nice outing, not a saving.

Wellington's weather is the city's running joke and its real catch. Summer, December to March, gives the warmest and calmest stretches, with days around 18 to 22 degrees and the harbour at its best; this is when to come for the waterfront and the walks. Autumn often brings the most settled days of all. The catch is the wind: the city sits in the path of the Cook Strait gales, and a northerly or southerly can blow hard in any season, turning a sunny day cold and grey within the hour. Winter is rarely freezing, more often 6 to 12 degrees, wet and blustery. Bring a windproof layer whatever the month, and do not over-plan around the forecast.

Wellington is the most walkable city in the country: the centre, the waterfront, Cuba Street and Te Papa are all within a flat 20-minute stroll of each other, which is the main reason a car is more nuisance than help here. Buses and the suburban trains run on the Snapper card and reach the hill suburbs and the Hutt Valley. The cable car is a short, useful hop as well as a tourist ride. Parking in the centre is metered and limited, so leave the car at the hotel. The airport is close in, about 8 kilometres southeast, roughly 15 to 25 minutes by the Airport Express bus or a NZ$30 to NZ$45 taxi, though the single runway is exposed and crosswind delays happen. The Cook Strait ferry terminals are a short ride or shuttle from the centre.