Charming Mixture

Lonely Planet’s 16th New Zealand edition praises Wellington’s “compact and vibrant” CBD for its artsy mix of theatres, galleries, boutiques, museums and a “cocktail- and caffeine-fuelled hospitality scene” that fairly “fizzes and pops among the throng”. It seems Wellington is not only charming, but also easy on the eye: “It’s lovely to look at, draped around bushy hillsides encircling a magnificent harbour,” one of the guide’s five authors wrote. Other cities were also extolled: Hamilton was “surprisingly buzzy” and a “good place to plot a pub crawl” while New Plymouth boasted “a bubbling arts scene, some fab cafes and a rootsy, outdoorsy focus”.