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Bay of Plenty

The Bay of Plenty stretches along the pohutukawa tree-studded coast from Waihi Beach to Opotiki and inland as far as the Kaimai Range. This is where New Zealanders have come on holiday for generations, lapping up salt-tinged activities and lashings of sunshine.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Bay of Plenty.

Historic Building
Mataatua
Mataatua is a large, fantastically carved 1875 wharenui (meeting house) that is the centrepiece of Te Mānuka Tūtahi marae (traditional meeting place). A visit provides a more intimate experience than the classic tourist cultural show. The two-hour tour is an immersive and personal interaction with the Ngāti Awa, and includes a guided tour, cultural workshops, the 'Hiko: Legend Carved in Light' digital experience and a hāngi meal. The one-hour ‘express’ tour is a bullet-point version.
Mountain
Mauao
The steep slopes of 232m-high Mauao swarm with walkers in the morning, when the Mount’s early risers perform their ritual climb to the summit. The ascent is signposted to take an hour, though you’ll see people striding up it in less than 30 minutes (and often running down). The gentler 3.5km loop around the base should take around 45 minutes.
Gallery
Tauranga Art Gallery
The city's pre-eminent gallery stages challenging exhibitions of thought-provoking contemporary work. The building itself is a former bank, though you’d hardly know it − the atrium can hold massive works, and it’s an altogether excellent space with no obvious compromise.
Historic Building
The Elms
Surrounded by mature trees and lovely gardens, Tauranga's original mission station incorporates the Bay of Plenty's earliest buildings, along with one of the country's oldest oaks and first pianos. Fascinating guided tours tell the story of the mission, founded by Anglican priest Alfred Nesbit Brown in 1838, and its relations with local Māori. The property remained in the extended Brown family until 1997, retaining much of its original furniture, books and other chattels.
Museum
Classic Flyers NZ
This fascinating aviation museum, beside the airport, is filled with predominantly military aircraft. You can scramble through the living quarters of the amphibious aircraft Catalina, or into the cabin of the de Havilland Heron to feel the spartan nature of 1950s commercial flights (note the lack of seatbelts). There's a licensed cafe and an excellent playground incorporating sections of fuselage.
Forest
Hukutaia Domain
Around 8km south of town, this verdant 4.5-hectare patch of forest is home to around 1500 varieties of native plants, which can be seen on a 20-minute walking circuit. The prize specimen is Taketakerau, a sacred 23m-tall puriri tree, with a huge circumference, estimated to be more than 2000 years old. It was once used as a burial place for the distinguished dead of the Upokorehe hapū (subtribe) of Whakatōhea; their remains have since been reinterred elsewhere.
Museum
Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi
Attached to the library, this impressive museum and gallery has artfully presented displays on early Māori and European settlement in the area. A gourd on display travelled from a distant Pacific island on the Mātaatua canoe more than 700 years ago. Other displays focus on Whakaari (White Island) and laud local sporting heroes. The gallery presents a varied series of NZ and international exhibitions.
Sculpture
Hairy Maclary & Friends
Hairy Maclary author Lynley Dodd lived in Tauranga for years, and NZ’s favourite literary animals were immortalised in bronze on Tauranga’s wharf in 2015. They’re all here – Hairy Maclary, Slinky Malinki, Bottomley Potts et al – customarily harassing Scarface Claw. Just hope the kids aren’t too disappointed on discovering that Hercules Morse really isn’t as big as a horse.
Waterfall
Wairere Falls
Tumbling down the cliffs immediately behind town, tall, skinny Te Wairere occupies a deliciously damp nook. It once powered flax and flour mills, and it supplied Whakatāne’s drinking water until 1924. It's a gorgeous spot, and goes almost completely unheralded – in any other country there'd be a ticket booth, interpretive audiovisual displays and an ice-cream van!