Wellington & Martinborough holidays

Wellington & Martinborough holiday highlights

Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, is in a picturesque harbour setting with a panoramic hilly backdrop and a sophisticated café culture. It’s by the Miramar Peninsula at the south-west tip of the North Island and overlooks Cook Strait to the South Island, only 20 miles away.

The city was named after the first Duke of Wellington and is known as the 'Windy City', which can become quite apparent walking around here. Its population of around 400,000 people mostly live perched up in the hills around the downtown area; follow the dozens of little alleys and stairways winding up the hillside to their quaint gabled cottages and wooden colonial houses.

Head to Miramar, a suburb of Wellington, to discover the award-winning Weta Workshop, the visual effects company famous for creating the costumes and props for world-renowned films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and District 9. Meet expert guides and enjoy the four-hour ‘There and Back Again: The Full Experience’ tour which includes a ‘Thunderbirds Are Go Miniatures Stage Tour’.

Not far outside Wellington you’ll find Martinborough, a small town at the centre of the Wairarapa wine region and steeped in colonial charm. It has over 20 boutique wineries, most of which are within cycling and walking distance of the captivating village square, and the region is best known for its superb pinot noir. Book a guided tour of the town’s predominately family-owned vineyards including the daily Martinborough Gourmet Wine Tour. If you can tear yourself away from the wine then stop off at the Martinborough Colonial Museum within the town’s library; it’s full of interesting artefacts and old machinery, and dates back to 1894.