Expedia Expert: A Taste of Auckland

Market Manger Tori Calver gives us the inside scoop on a short trip to Auckland and why this city is worth a stopover.

Despite being home to 1/3 of New Zealand’s population, Auckland is often not high on the tourist’s wish list, but it should be. The South Island is well known for its beautiful scenery – mountains, lakes, rivers, rolling plains – and adventure sport opportunities – sky diving, jet boating, skiing, bungee jumping and more. It has multiple nature walks and is the greatest testament to New Zealand’s clean and green image (made even more famous by the film adaptions of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit). All this and more justifies why people flock to the south island, but I would advocate that any visitors to New Zealand spend a few days in the City of Sails during their trip.

Since the 2010 Rugby World Cup (yes it’s true Kiwis really are crazy about rugby) the city has been completely reinvigorated. Restaurants, cafes and entirely new shopping precincts keep popping up, challenging even the locals to keep up with what’s new and trendy. Just like the harbourside Viaduct was created out of the Americas Cup, the Wynyard Quarter and vibrant Britomart areas sprung up from the Rugby World Cup. Now they’re a foodie paradise, with almost every nation represented (Mexican, American, Japanese, Indian – the list goes on).

The SKYCITY complex has positioned itself as a forerunner in this vibrant restaurant culture, with top NZ chefs setting up great new restaurants in and around the Sky Tower (Al Brown’s Depot, Peter Gordan’s Sugar Club and The Grill by Sean Connolly are among the standouts). In Mount Eden, you’ll find award winning restaurant Meredith’s, where the food is almost too pretty to eat.