The case for Dunedin and the Waitaki, Lonely Planet's New Zealand pick for 2027

Most people driving from Christchurch to Queenstown go inland, past Tekapo, and Dunedin is the first stop they cut. Lonely Planet’s Oceania editor, Jessica Lockhart, thinks that’s a mistake, and this year she made the argument in print. “Dunedin & Waitaki” is in Best in Travel 2027, the only New Zealand entry on the list, labelled “best for offbeat Kiwi charm”. Her description: a city that “has finally shaken off its European heritage”, and, with Ōamaru up the coast, “one of New Zealand’s most idiosyncratic corners”. 1News called it the country’s “coolest, quirkiest corner”.

The timing works in your favour too. November to January is spring turning into summer down here: daylight past nine in the evening, the albatross sitting on their eggs, the penguin colonies busy, and the cycle trail from the Southern Alps to the sea in good shape. And since the university students leave for the summer, Dunedin goes quiet in December while Queenstown fills up.

Albatross on the nest

At the tip of the Otago Peninsula, Pukekura/Taiaroa Head has the only mainland breeding colony of northern royal albatross anywhere in the world. The birds come back in September and build nests in October. In the first three weeks of November they lay eggs, which take about 80 days to hatch. So a spring visit means birds sitting on nests, with wings three metres across folded on the headland. The chicks don’t arrive until late January. The Royal Albatross Centre’s hour-long Albatross Classic tour ends in the observatory above the colony. Some guides say viewing moves to an alternative spot while the birds are nesting, until late November, so ask when you book.

The peninsula is also home to the hoiho, the yellow-eyed penguin, and it’s in trouble. The 2024/25 count found around 250 nests on the south-east coast, the lowest in 27 years. Treat a sighting as luck, not a promise. Larnach Castle, built in 1871 on the peninsula’s spine, has gardens worth an afternoon and a high tea you need to book. For a full day out, Lonely Planet’s weekend itinerary for Dunedin and Ōamaru suggests the 33 km Te Aka Ōtākou harbour loop by e-bike, crossing the water on the Port to Port ferry. North of the city, the predator-fenced Orokonui Ecosanctuary is the best place to see native birds up close. It’s closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

A city that does its own thing

Dunedin’s railway station is a bluestone pile finished in 1906, and its recent restoration won a national architecture award. Trains still leave from it: Dunedin Railways runs the Taieri Gorge line inland, which the council voted to keep. Baldwin Street, said to be the world’s steepest, is about 3.5 km north-east of the Octagon. At Tunnel Beach, a set of 72 steps runs down through a tunnel cut by hand in the 1870s. Go at low tide. The street-art trail takes about ninety minutes, and the i-SITE in the Octagon has the map. At St Clair, the hot saltwater pool is heated to 28°C and opens from October to March, right beside the surf.

For dinner, Moiety has 26 seats and a set menu that borrows French and Japanese technique, served from Tuesday to Saturday. Tītī, on the Esplanade at St Clair, does “feed me” menus built around the day’s fish. In the daytime, take a tasting at Ocho’s chocolate factory and eat a cheese roll, the toasted, rolled-up white-bread snack known in the south as “Southland sushi”.

Ōamaru, in its Victorian finery

Ninety minutes up the coast, Ōamaru built its harbour quarter from pale local limestone in the nineteenth century and has refused to let go of it. Steampunk HQ fills an 1883 grain elevator with machines that hiss and glow. From 12 to 15 November, the Victorian Heritage Celebrations take over the precinct with a parade, a garden party and penny-farthing races down the main street.

At dusk the little blue penguins come ashore at the Ōamaru colony on the waterfront. The colony has a new Discovery Centre, and new prices to go with it: NZ$50 for general seating, NZ$70 for the premium seats a few metres from the birds, which you need to book. A short drive north, Riverstone Kitchen is the place for a long breakfast. South of town, on the way to Dunedin, the Moeraki Boulders sit on the beach like a scattered set of marbles. Walk down free from the DOC car park. You’ll still see Fleurs Place at Moeraki recommended online, but it closed in 2021.

From the Alps to the sea

The Waitaki Valley is also New Zealand’s first UNESCO Global Geopark. The Waitaki Whitestone Geopark, designated in 2023, takes in more than forty sites, among them the limestone outcrops of Elephant Rocks near Duntroon. At the Vanished World Centre in Duntroon you can see fossils of a penguin the size of a person and of shark-toothed dolphins.

Running through all of it is the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail, about 300 km in eight sections from Aoraki/Mt Cook (or Lake Tekapo) down to the Ōamaru waterfront. Most itineraries allow about six days. It’s mostly gentle riding, and in November the evenings are long enough to ride late. Lake Ohau Lodge is the classic overnight stop on the high section. Lower down, the Waitaki Valley’s pinot noir cellar doors at Kurow give you a reason to stop early. Wind in the Mackenzie basin can turn an easy day into a hard one, so leave a spare day in the plan.

Two videos before you go, one on the city and one on the trail:

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Where to base yourself

Stay in Dunedin and do Ōamaru as a long day or one night; the city has the restaurants, and the peninsula is on its doorstep. Bell Hill Apartments has three heritage apartments facing First Church, each sleeping four or five, with breakfast supplies and parking included. Chapel Apartments is inside the city’s oldest church, from 1863, with the stained glass still in place. The 858 George Street Motel in the North End is the cheaper option: tidy, award-winning and with free parking. For one night out of the ordinary, Larnach Lodge puts you in the castle grounds on the peninsula, with breakfast in the old stables and the albatross colony a short drive away.

From Christchurch or Queenstown

Dunedin Airport has direct flights from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and sits 27 km south-west of the city. Wind and fog sometimes delay landings. By road, Christchurch is about four and a half hours north, and the coast road passes both Ōamaru and the Moeraki Boulders, so you can see them on the way down. Queenstown is about four hours inland. In November, expect highs in the mid-teens and the odd wet day, and pack a windproof.

Five and a half weeks until the penny-farthings race through Ōamaru. The albatross tour, the penguin colony’s evening seats, three Dunedin stays and a castle lodge, Moiety, the Taieri Gorge train and the Alps 2 Ocean’s lodges are all in our Dunedin and Waitaki collection. Save it, take the coast road south, and stay on the Ōamaru waterfront until the penguins come in.

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