30 Best Sights in North Island's West Coast, New Zealand

For a look at an authentic New Zealand farming town visit Feilding, 20 km (12 miles) northwest of Palmerston North. The Feilding Saleyards Guided Tour is a classic experience. One of the largest livestock sale yards in the southern hemisphere, nearly 30,000 sheep and cattle are sold here every week. Every Friday at 11, a retired farmer will guide you (NZ$10, bookings essential) through the sheep pens and computerized cattle auction pavilion, and explain the secrets of a long-time New Zealand farming tradition. After the tour, visit the rustic Saleyards Café, where farmers meet for pie and chips or a toasted steak sandwich. Other local attractions in the Edwardian-style town square include the Friday morning farmers' market and the Coach House Museum that displays restored vehicles from the pioneering era (NZ$12). You could also putter about the town’s bookshops, art galleries, and boutique movie theater, and café. From Feilding, Kimbolton Road passes through prime sheep-farming country to Kimbolton Village, 28 km (17 miles) away. Within a few minutes' drive of it are two outstanding gardens with rhododendrons and myriad other plants: Cross Hills ( crosshills.co.nz; NZ$10; daily Sept.–May) and Heritage Park Garden ( heritagepark.co.nz; NZ$7; daily year-round).

A 14-acre horticultural haven 16 km (10 miles) southwest of Stratford, Hollard Gardens encompasses native and exotic trees, rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, and perennials. The 1920s vision of farmers Bernie and Rose Hollard, the gardens are now managed by the local council for all to enjoy. For families, there is a children's playground and a picnic area. Self-contained campervans can stay overnight.

Established by the Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust, these 900 acres of lush, native rain forest are surrounded by farmland. The Pukeiti (poo-ke-ee-tee) collection of 2,500 varieties of rhododendrons is the largest in New Zealand. Many were first grown here, such as the giant winter-blooming R. protistum var. giganteum, collected from seed in 1953 and now standing 15 feet tall, and the delightful Lemon Lodge and Spring Honey hybrids, which bloom in spring. Kyawi, a large red "rhodo," is the last to bloom, in April (autumn). Rhododendrons aside, there are many other rare and special plants here. All winter long the Himalayan daphnes fragrance the pathways. Spring-to-summer-growing candelabra primroses reach up to 4 feet; and, for a month around Christmas, spectacular 8-foot Himalayan cardiocrinum lilies bear heavenly scented, 12-inch, white trumpet flowers. There’s a classy café on site and a self-guided Kids Treehouse Trail. Located 20 km (12½ miles) southwest of New Plymouth's center, Pukeiti is also a wonderful bird habitat.

The most "genteel" and perhaps famous of all the caves here was first officially explored in 1887 by local Chief Tane Tinorau and surveyor Fred Mace. They floated on a raft of flax stems, with candles for light, into the cave where the stream goes underground. Now visitors enter via a gentle pathway, explore the limestone cathedral (and, like opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa, are invited to test the amazing acoustics), then board a boat for a magical cruise beneath the "starry" glowworm-lit ceiling, floating out of the cave on the Waitomo River. Tours last 45 minutes and start at the Waitomo Glowworm Cave Visitor Centre.

This museum offers a superb overview of the region's history and one of the country's best collections of Māori artifacts. It contains taonga (Māori ancestral treasures) of the river people and re-creates 19th-century pioneer-town Whanganui. There's also Te Pataka Whakaahua (the Lindauer Gallery), featuring 19th-century paintings of Māori leaders by respected artist Gottfried Lindauer. Entry is free, but the museum offers guided tours for an extra charge if you want to gain more insight into the exhibits.

This is one of the smallest and prettiest cave systems in Waitomo. Eons of dripping water have sculpted a delicate garden of pink-and-white limestone here. Hour-long tours lead along boardwalks into tall, narrow chambers. Keep an eye out for the resident cave wetas; these native insects grow up to 4 inches long, but don’t worry—they will most likely hide if they sense you coming. Tours meet at the Ruakuri Visitor Centre at the top of Ruakuri Reserve on Tumutumu Road, 3 km (2 miles) beyond Waitomo Caves Village. Reservations are essential.

This lookout, Whanganui's most popular attraction, provides spectacular views, but reaching it—via an elevator that runs through the hill—is something else. First, you walk through a 700-foot tunnel to the elevator shaft, and the elevator concierge at the top will see you on camera and lower the elevator for you (there's a charge for the elevator each way in cash only). Alternatively, you can climb several hundred steps to the lookout, plus another 176 steps up the nearby Durie Hill Memorial Tower.

Mt. Taranaki (8,261 feet), called Mt. Egmont by Captain Cook, is a steep, symmetrically shaped volcanic peak that dominates the region's landscape and weather. Egmont National Park was created in 1900 to protect the mountain and its surrounding forests. From a distance, the landscape looks simple; a cone-shaped mountain draped white with snow in winter and flanked by a near-perfect circle of forest. Look closer—or try walking on the park trails—and a different picture emerges. Thousands of years of volcanic buildup and erosion have crafted steep gullies and rivers, immense lava bluffs, unstable slips, and acres of moss-covered "goblin" trees and tall, ancient forest giants. It's a fascinating place to explore, and thankfully there are many ways of doing this no matter your level of fitness. Try a scenic drive up one of the three access roads, explore the easy short trails around each of the three park entrances, or take a longer hike, staying in a park hut. The one-day Pouakai Crossing or two- to three day Pouakai Circuit explores all the park’s landscapes: lava cliffs, wetlands, tussock tops, and goblin forests. (Always check with the DOC before heading out since some tracks are often temporarily closed due to erosion). Climbing the mountain is a serious undertaking for only experienced climbers, especially with frequent bad weather. The mountain is sacred to the local Māori people, so they ask that climbers respect this and not clamber over the summit rocks. In winter, climbing is for technically equipped and experienced climbers only.

You can casually browse the art at this light and casual establishment, then sit down for a coffee or brunch (the beef pot pie is recommended) and be surrounded by the local works, or turn your attention to the gins and vodkas on sale. The owner, Stuart Greenhill, is also a published author; his murder mystery, Dante Fog, is on sale at the gallery. Don't restrict yourself to the main room; take a quick stroll down the corridors where you will find more interesting photos and paintings.

A reasonably exposed yet popular and easily accessible beach, Fitzroy is just 1½ km (1 mile) from the center of New Plymouth. You can even walk or ride there via the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway. Changeable surf makes it a bit wild, so be sure to swim between the patrol flags. There's interesting rock-pool exploring here and at other beaches along this coast, courtesy of the black sand and rocky outcrops. Expect crowds on hot summer days, when pohutukawa trees provide shade in some spots. Amenities: lifeguards (summer only); parking (free); toilets. Best for: surfing; swimming; walking.

Step out of the city and onto the coast by taking a stroll or cycle along this gentle coastal path, which meanders for 13 km (8 miles), from Port Taranaki to Hickford Park (a rugby and bike park). It explores beaches and playgrounds, crosses rivers, passes by a golf course, and runs beneath the Wind Wand, a sculpture almost as iconic to New Plymouth residents as the Statue of Liberty is to New Yorkers. Created by the late New Zealand artist Len Lye, the red carbon-fiber tube stands 148 feet high and, like a conductor's baton, dances in the wind as Lye's tribute to what he called "tangible motion." Leaving the city confines the walkway crosses the startling white Te Rewa Rewa Bridge (Mt. Taranaki framed in the bridge's struts makes a great photo) into farmland and past the Waipu Lagoons, a wetland reserve.

Whanganui is regarded as the country’s home for glass artisans; many of them exhibit internationally. This community studio is open for the public to watch some of these artists at work, join workshops (the half hour paperweight session is the most popular, but you need to check times and book in advance), and purchase their own stunning pieces from the retail gallery.

This museum—located upstairs in the Te Manawa complex—is worth a visit whether or not you're a rugby fan because it offers insight into a sport that many New Zealanders treat like a religion. The ever-growing collection of rugby memorabilia dates back to the start of this national game in 1870. Interactive components even let visitors "have a go"; you can kick, tackle, and jump in the lineout, testing your playing skills quite safely.

Together the lawns, lakes, gardens, and woodlands of these connected parks make up a 128-acre urban oasis. Each summer evening the Festival of Lights transforms the gardens and giant trees of Pukekura Park (annually from mid-December through January and during the March WOMAD Festival). Rowboats can be rented to explore the small islands and nooks and crannies of the main lake. The park also has massive botanical display houses and a fernery in caverns carved out of the hillside. The adjoining Brooklands Park is known for its ancient rain forest and exotic trees, such as giant copper beeches, pines, walnuts, and oaks. The Monterey pine, magnolia soulangeana, ginkgo, and native karaka and kohekohe here are the largest of their kind in New Zealand. A giant puriri tree is believed to be more than 2,000 years old. Brooklands is also home to the hugely popular Bowl of Brooklands, a natural amphitheater used for concerts and events, including international acts. Brooklands Zoo has farm animals, meerkats, monkeys, and an aviary.

To enter Ruakuri, visitors descend a dramatic, man-made spiral "drum passage," then go on to explore narrow, low-lit passages. Surrounded by magical limestone formations and the roar of hidden waterfalls, the way follows a dark underground river that twinkles with glowworm reflections. Tours are two hours (reservations suggested) and limited to 15 people. This is the longest cave-walking tour in Waitomo, but it's easily managed by people of reasonable fitness. All pathways are wheelchair-accessible. Tours meet at the Ruakuri Visitor Centre on Tumutumu Road.

Walk among some of the most ancient forests in the region at Maungatautari, where the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust, in conjunction with the Department of Conservation, is carrying out one of New Zealand's many successful conservation stories. The trust has built a 50-km (31-mile) pest-proof fence around 8,400 acres of native forest, creating a refuge for some of New Zealand's rarest native species. Endangered birds, including the kaka bush parrot, kiwi, takahe, and saddleback, have been reintroduced here. The best place to start is at the Manu Tioriori Visitor Centre, which has information and refreshments; it's on the southern side of the mountain at the end of Tari Road in Pukeatua, 32 km (20 miles) outside of Cambridge. From here you can explore on your own or take a short guided walk through the Southern Enclosure (1½-hours). Five kilometers (3 miles) of high-quality trails lead through forest to a 52-foot viewing tower in the treetops, where you can be one with the birds. Another guided walk explores Tautari Wetland (1½ hours). Both guided walks have an additional fee. Keen walkers can tackle the Over the Mountain trail, a full-day walk from one side to the other. It's a good spot to stop if you're driving off the main routes from Rotorua to Waitomo.

This company offers three different underground experiences, all incorporating a gentle raft trip and close-up views of glowworms, and a short bush walk to the caves is a bonus. The raft trip, in Spellbound, explores a glowworm chamber that was filmed by Sir David Attenborough for the BBC. Te Ana o Te Atua (Cave of the Spirit) features limestone formations, fossils, and bones. Tours range from 1½  to 3½ hours and are limited to 12 people; advanced booking is advised. The shorter tours depart from a new base on Boddies Road, while the longer tours offer pick up and drop off from Waitomo Village. Private tours can be arranged.

Known as the Forgotten World Highway, Highway 43, heading northeast from Stratford, takes you on an intriguing, heritage-rich journey back in time as it winds through rolling farmland and dense rain forests to Taumarunui, the northern access point for the Whanganui River. You'll see few cars here, but there's no shortage of scenic sights. Highlights include Mt. Damper Falls (a side trip); spectacular views from three saddles and a lookout point; the steep, forest-filled Tangarakau Gorge; a road tunnel and historic railway; plus Whanganui River views. The 155-km (96-mile) highway is paved for all but 11 km (7 miles). Allow three hours, and be sure to fill your tank before leaving Stratford. If you need a break, drop into the vintage Whangamomona Hotel ( 6018 Ohura Rd.). More than a century old, it’s the only place to stop for refreshments along the Forgotten World Highway. Travelers who don’t feel like driving a car can sign on with Forgotten World Adventures ( www.forgottenworldadventures.co.nz), an outfit that lets you "ride the rails"—golf carts mounted on a decommissioned railway line. The self-drive carts reach a top speed of 20 kph (12 mph) as you're led along 140 km (87 miles) of stunning track; guided trips from three hours to two days are available.

Mt. Taranaki (Taranaki Maunga) is a receding presence in your rearview mirror as you head northeast up the Taranaki coast from New Plymouth on Highway 3. This is the most direct route to the Waitomo Caves and Hamilton, turning inland at Awakino, 90 km (56 miles) from New Plymouth. The Awakino Gorge, between Mahoenui and the coast, is appealing. Forest-filled scenic reserves are interspersed with stark, limestone outcrops and lush farmland. Look for well-worn sheep trails traversing the steep-sided hills. At the mouth of the Awakino River, little shacks dot the water's edge. These belong to seasonal fishers of the tiny migrating fish, whitebait. Awakino is worth a stop; the Awakino Hotel ( www.awakinohotel.com) offers a friendly country pub experience, or you could turn off the main road by the hotel to find a sheltered picnic spot beneath the summer-flowering pohutukawa trees. A little farther along is Mokau. Between September and November, if the whitebait are running, delicious whitebait fritters might be on the menu at the two little cafés nearby. From Awakino to Waitomo, allow about an hour.

This isn't a boring old museum but rather an outstanding presentation of Taranaki’s lively history. It’s the creation of former schoolteacher-cum-historian Nigel Ogle, who has created life-size fiberglass figures and set them into historic scenes: dioramas depict the huge intertribal wars of the 1830s and European–Māori land wars of the 1860s, for example. More than 800 model warriors, none of them the same, have been created. In "Traders and Whalers," you glide by lantern light on a boat through an eerie world of traders and whalers and witness their first encounters with Māori tribes. Outside, Tawhiti Bush Railway highlights historical logging operations in Taranaki (runs the first Sunday of each month). Mr. Badger's Café, with its Wind in the Willows theme, and a quaint gift shop, can bring you back to the present. To reach the museum, in southern Taranaki, head south on State Highway 3 for 30 km (18 miles). It's a fascinating stop, but well off the beaten path.

This distinctive complex is divided into three sections that weave together the region's art, science, and history, including natural history and the history of Rangitane, the local Māori people. For young ones, the Mind Science Centre, with its quirky interactive exhibits, is entertaining and educational. Regular touring exhibitions that visit here are also known for their quality. The art gallery has a strong focus on established and emerging artists from the local area, but you'll also find works from national and international artists. Te Manawa also houses the New Zealand Rugby Museum.

The formal gardens here are a delight, and a gentle 25-minute stroll leads around the lake through woodlands and gardens. Take the time to check out the winter gardens. There's also a small café here.

The coal-fired paddle steamer, Waimarie, is one of the original riverboats that operated here. Sunk in 1954, it was salvaged from the river bed and restored in the 1990s. Throughout summer (late Oct.--early May) you can enjoy a historic, two-hour cruise, just like the old days. The Waimarie Centre displays photographs and related artifacts from the era when riverboats thrived here. Opening hours are variable at this volunteer operation; summer weekends are your best bet.

Rescued from the muddy riverbed and restored to first-class order, the classic little riverboat Wairua now makes regular two- and three-hour passenger trips upriver. Scheduled cruises depart year-round on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at 11 am.

This striking structure has an open design that reflects the drama of the limestone landscape surrounding it and artwork that honors Māori culture. Inside, you can buy tickets to visit the caves, find information about the region, relax in the café and restaurant, or browse the gift shop.

With its limestone features (fluted outcrops, arches, tunnels, and caves), open farmland, and native forest, the 5-km (3-mile) Waitomo Walkway is an interesting short trek. Start at the Waitomo i-SITE Discovery Centre and follow the path beside the Waitomo River. You can return the same way, or follow the road (a bit shorter). Alternatively, you can drive to Ruakuri Reserve (from the Village take Te Anga Road then Tumutumu Road), and just walk the 30-minute loop through natural rock tunnels, across cantilevered bridges, and beneath limestone bluffs. The trail is slippery following wet weather, and there are steep sections, so wear good walking shoes.

Many people come after dusk for a free viewing of the local glowworms; bring a flashlight to find your way.

The Whanganui River starts high on the volcanic mountains of the central North Island, and travels 329 km (204 miles) to the sea. For several hundred years the tribe Te Atihau nui a Paparangi has lived along the riverbanks; they regard the waterway as their spiritual ancestor. To acknowledge this, the Whanganui became the first river in the world to be accorded legal personhood in 2017. The Whanganui flows through the heart of Whanganui National Park, through steep gorges and huge tracts of forested wilderness. The remoteness and beauty, culture and history, the river’s relatively easy navigability, and forest trails and mountain bike tracks are the main draws to this national park. Scenic jet boat trips operate throughout the year from road access points along the river. Single and multiday kayak trips, both guided and independent, are extremely popular. The Whanganui Journey is, in fact, listed as one of New Zealand’s famed Great Walks. Most visitors kayak in summer, but a river trip is feasible at any time. Two multiday walks and many shorter ones explore the lowland forest. Totaling 317 km (197 miles), the Mountains to Sea—Nga Ara Tuhono Cycle Trail traverses remote forest tracks (challenging for mountain bikes) and roads through Tongariro and Whanganui national parks from Mt. Ruapehu to the river's mouth; it can be ridden in stages. The river journey is also part of Te Araroa, the New Zealand Trail.

For a little slice of New Zealand, take a scenic and historic drive along the river's lower reaches by following the Whanganui River Road from the city of Whanganui. Turn left off State Highway 4 15 minutes north of the city. The narrow rural road follows the river for 79 km (49 miles) north, as far as Pipiriki. It passes several small villages and historic sites (ask a local before venturing into any traditional Māori villages). Interpretive signs are progressively being added along the route to help visitors uderstand what they are looking at. Be sure to keep left, drive slowly, and watch for wandering livestock.