Introducing Napier
You don’t have to be particularly cultured to enjoy Napier but you might find its passion for architecture and fine wine surprisingly contagious. Before long you’ll be blathering on about the Chicago School, Mayan decorative devices and ‘hints of passionfruit on the palate’ with the best of them.
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The Napier of today is the silver lining of the dark cloud that was NZ’s worst natural disaster. Rebuilt after the deadly 1931 earthquake in the popular styles of the time, the city retains a unique concentration of Art-Deco buildings. Architecture obsessives flock here from all over the world and the town milks it for all it’s worth. Don’t expect the Chrysler Building – Napier’s Art Deco is resolutely low-rise – but you will find intact 1930s streetscapes which can provoke a Great Gatsby swagger in the least romantic soul.
For the layperson it’s a charismatic, sunny, composed city with the air of an affluent English seaside resort about it.
Last updated: Sep 23, 2010
Tips & articles
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World’s best festivals: Art Deco Weekend
2 December 2010
This is an excerpt from Lonely Planet’s A Year of Festivals.Location: Venues around Napier and...
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North Island Travelers
by diriven 05 September 2011
Hey, I've just moved down to New Zealand (Auckland). I got here at the end of July, and I'll be here until mid-December. I have a flat…
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RE: Searching for possibilities
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Hey Anne, Lena and Verena, I'm Dave. I've just come down to Auckland as well. I've been here just over a month now. I'm 21 from Canada.…
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Re: New Zealand 16 days
by amgs 03 September 2011
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Our favourite Napier Blogs (beta)
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Lady in the Land of the Long White Cloud
Blog: A Lady in London - 7 November 2009
I arrived in New Zealand on January 2 and Rob and I drove straight from Auckland to the Coromandel Peninsula. The scenery was spectacular. We saw beautiful coastline, rolling hills, farmland, and lots of small towns along the way. We even got chased down a hill by a gigantic sheep!We stopped in Thames and Coromandel before taking the 309 road, a one-lane gravel shortcut, to Hahei. On the way we came across two adorable hedgehogs and a possum, all of whom I was tempted to bring along with us.
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North Island, New Zealand
Blog: By Way of the World - 7 July 2009
From Christchurch, we made our way to Picton, a town in the Marlborough sounds at the northern end of New Zealand's South Island. From there were able to take the Interislander Ferry, which took about four hours to get to Wellington. It had beautiful views of the Marlborough Sounds, though it was very cold out on the deck, so we weren't able to stay outside long.
