It was a dream to get to go to New Zealand's best beer festival, and I made it happen in 2024…read more Watching social media of past events, and seeing how thoughtful and fun it looked, over a typical commercial drunkfest, made me want to experience it. It's the best beer festival I've ever gone to and hope to make it back again soon! It was held over two days, two sessions each (a Friday and Saturday). Thursday night I also got to attend the trade show and preview some beers, breweries, and meet people that would be at the festival. It was all held in Sky Stadium in Wellington. The festival itself was so well planned it never once felt overwhelming: easy entry with efficient security, quick ticket scan and cup pickup, and organized ring of breweries inside (it was cold that weekend), with enough space in between to make it always feel healthy and open. Water stands and food were also interspersed nicely. Due to local laws, you had to pay for each beer, which was done all electronically. No guesswork nor change, just tap and go. It featured beers mostly from around New Zealand, but also had a great selection of Sunshine Coast Australia breweries, plus this year's featured country Germany. Ticket prices plus drink prices added up, but was still reasonable for the quality and fun time. I also met so many genuinely friendly people in and around the festival. If you love beer and are able to go, this one is worth the trip.

Beervana attracts craft beer lovers from all over New Zealand and beyond…read more This epic festival is now held in the Westpac stadium corridors. This means there is a lot of space for impressive, large stalls and entire food trucks and beer trucks to drive in. But that also means the concrete venue is totally lacking in atmosphere and soul. The craft beer is good quality and both the brewers and punters are passionate and beardy. Beervana now uses scannable wristbands pre-loaded with money to pay for all of the samples. A benefit to this is that you can get the money left on your wristband back at the end, so you don't have to try to calculate exactly how much you think you will spend in a session. A big surprise for me was the hefty price tag. The ticket prices were very high compared to other beer and spirit festival I've attended. Also, there was essentially nothing included with the ticket, other than entry. There were no initial tasting tokens and as for the "entertainment," there was one small stage that wasn't visible from a majority of the festival. The performers I saw were tolerable, but certainly didn't come close to justifying the ticket price. I'm cool with a higher cost of admission if there are free samples, tasting tokens included, or far more value for money with extras & entertainment. If I'm paying for all of my samples with no added extras, that's okay too, but I would expect a low entrance fee. It makes me wonder if some locals would be better off just spending what they would have on the entrance fee on pints at one of quality craft beer bars around town instead? There's a great buzz at Beervana and in the craft beer bars around Wellington during the festival. I had an excellent time and some fond memories from the event (along with a few hazy ones)! Beervana is both pricy and a lot of fun.

This is a professional theatre company from 1976,Pinocchio is being performed now. The building…read morewas a former advertising agency that was going to be demolished. Originally it was the former Westport Coal Company building from 1916. It has a 100-seat auditorium, dressing rooms and storage on the first level witha rehearsal room above.

We saw aperformance at the Circa while in town for the Lions rugby tour. We try to take in local…read moretheater when we travel and Circa did not disappoint. The play we saw was geared for a young female audience and it was great to see a full house of young people enjoying live theater. The concessions area sells wine which they allow inside the theater, love that!

BATS 'Out of Site' Theatre is temporarily located at 80 Cuba Street, until refurbishment and…read moreearthquake strengthening is completed at the original building in Kent Ave. "BATS Theatre's Purpose/Kaupapa is to provide a supportive, professional and accessible theatre venue that fosters the development of practitioners, audiences and New Zealand performance work." It seats upto 74 people, has a spacious & vibrant bar called 'Understudy' and offers great theatre for reasonable prices - ranging from $14-$20. I have both seen and directed some ground-breaking theatre here, that reminds me of the 'London' stage. I encourage you to go and see some work for yourself!

Wellington Night Market takes place every Friday and Saturday evening on Cuba Street from 5pm till…read more11pm. It promotes not only the diversity of cuisine, culture, and creativity on Cuba Street, but also exhibits how the community comes together to share an experience of comfort food with some rad entertainment. It's all about food, flavors, fun, friends, and family. Currently, the market is about one-city-block long which will take about 10-15 minutes to explore through all the vendors. As the community and popularity grow, hopefully so will the market. IndoPlus, among all other street food vendors, was the most appealing to my taste buds. There's nothing like REAL authentic, family-owned and operated, Indonesian street food in Wellington! And $10 deal was a bargain for the delicious Nasi Goreng with Short Beef Ribs & Fried Egg.

I love a good market, and even better a night market, but I was underwhelmed by Wellington's Friday…read more& Saturday night markets. Most of the food stalls seemed overpriced and not very inventive. Good for a 5 minute walk through, but that's about it.

This simple, ever changing gallery in an old shed (No. 11) in central Wellington's Queens Wharf is…read morea bit of a secret gem. Free entry and an interesting selection of portraits make for an enjoyable visit. The small size of the shed means a visit will not be too laborious if you're not a fan. Last time I visited I think I was out in between 5 and 10 minutes, but previous visits have stretched for far longer. I struck it lucky once as the renovations to Government House required the artworks from the Vice-Regal residence to be relocated, and many found a short term home here. Well worth a visit, see what you find.

It's basically just one warehouse, and not even a full one by any stretch. Might drop in for a…read morequick visit to see what's up, but I wouldn't go in expecting much. It is free and on the waterfront, so there's no reason not to.

I read really good reviews on the museum but me and my husband aren't really museum people, however…read morewhen it started raining in Wellington we knew we needed to try something indoors! The museum is very neat and large- has multiple floors. They have many interesting exhibits that can entertain all ages! Also recommend going to their top floor and the view outdoors is beautiful! They do allow the ticket to be valid for 48 hours so we were able to go back the next day when it was raining again and finish the museum! I would recommend if you need an indoor activity- the whole area is nice, the walking area is pretty and walkable to the downtown food scene as well.

New Zealand's national museum is "Te Papa" which is Māori for 'the treasure box' and it does look a…read morelot like a jewelry box. I did want to see the Gallipoli exhibit but it was slammed all three times I walked past. Instead, lots of art and history. There's a space on the roof with a patio and a fabulous view. I spent over two hours. It was a great time. Oh, and it's free. [Review 479 of 2024 - 129 in New Zealand - 21511 overall]

A small museum worth taking a look. We decided to come here and take a look around. Just like te…read morepapa, this museum was also free admission. We quickly looked around and went through all the floors. This museum had a good mix of interactive exhibits, videos, and information. Overall, not a bad museum, but I would rather go to te papa if I was short on time.

An amazing experience albeit being smaller than The Papa. It has plenty to offer especially for a…read moreyounger audience. My favourite levels were those that allowed for one to vote for an alternate story or name to some things and had a short hologram describing a certain legend involving Maui, and my second most favourite level was the level describing the origins of Wellington.

If you're riding the Wellington Cable Car, they have a museum at the top with free entry to learn…read moreabout its history. It's a nice small museum that doesn't take much time. Inside is an old cable car you take pictures in, exhibits about the old iterations and information about why it was installed. There's also models. They have a gift shop as well, with all things Wellington including post cards and other souvenirs. The staff was friendly and helpful. There's a lookout, cafe, Botanical Gardens nearby too.

Cute museum at the top of the cable car route…read more Spend a few minutes learning about the history of the cable cars. Cute old red cable car. Perfect to snap a selfie. The Cable Car Museum is free, like most museums in Wellington. Nice for a quick stop while exploring the peak.