Napier, New Zealand

Napier Highlights

River rafting
Art deco town centre
National aquarium

Why visit Napier?

For art deco architecture, the national aquarium and an eclectic food scene.

Getting there and around

We hired a small SUV car from Apex for 28 days. We booked the hire car 9 months in advance, and paid £1517, which worked out at £54 per day. The car came with a full tank of petrol and the price included car seats, unlimited mileage, zero excess, roadside assistance, and ferry tickets for us and the car from North to South Island.

After our time in Rotorua, we spent £45 on petrol to top up the tank, and drove from Rotorua to Napier. The drive took 4 hours (not including the stop at Tūrangi).

The road (strategic highway 5) was long and winding, but passed through some nice scenery including the beautiful lake at Taupo, and then pine plantations and hilltop grasslands. We stopped at a scenic lookout and it turned out to be a panoramic view of the Waipunga Falls, a spectacular waterfall in full flow thanks to a lot of recent rainfall.

Accommodation

We stayed in a wonderful Airbnb on the seafront in Napier for 3 nights at a cost of £160 per night.

The Airbnb had 2 bedrooms both with en-suite bathrooms (one with a washer and drier), a kitchenette, living area, and breakfast bar. It was compact but well designed, making the most of the space and fitted with beautiful furniture and luxurious soft furnishings.

It had good wi-fi and came with food and drink provisions, plenty of towels, and nice additional touches like heated towel rails, electric blankets and dressing gowns. This was one of the best equipped Airbnbs we have stayed in.

The hosts lived downstairs and were there if we needed them but respected our privacy. They let us stay an extra night and provided us with candles and a gas cooking stove when the power went down and roads closed during Cyclone Gabrielle. They were kind and compassionate and lovely people.

Our star rating: 5

Our cost rating: 5

Marine Parade Napier Airbnb

River Rafting

In between travelling from Rotorua to Napier we drove to Tūrangi for a ‘family floats’ rafting trip with Tongariro River Rafting. The family floats trip cost £250 and includes all equipment, drop-off and pick-up from the river, a guide, and digital photos and 360 go-pro video.

Unlike the rafting at Rotorua which is high grade and not suitable for young kids, a 7.5km trip on the Tongariro provides easier grade 2 rafting, and takes about 1.5 hours.

Once we had changed into our swimming costumes we put on all the gear provided including a wetsuit, fleece, splash jacket, helmet and wet boots. There were even straps to keep our glasses on!

Our guide Lindsey was sweet and friendly, and fantastic at controlling the raft. She made us all feel at ease and found the right balance between fun and challenging. There were a series of rapids in quick succession including what felt like big drops, and it was exciting from start to finish.

Cyclone Gabrielle

Our visit to Napier coincided with Cyclone Gabrielle making landfall the evening we arrived, bringing with it 400mm of rain and 100mph winds.

11 people sadly died in the devastating storm and many people lost their homes. The storm knocked out all power, cell phone coverage and wi-fi in Napier. Stores and petrol stations were shut. All roads in and out of the town were shut too. The town of Napier was badly hit and we felt terribly for the people affected.

We were very grateful to our Airbnb hosts for letting us stay as long as we needed and providing us with candles and a gas stove so that we could survive during the power cut. As soon as a road out of Napier reopened we left town, because we didn’t want to take up any more resources or be an additional burden to the community for longer than necessary.

Art Deco Town Centre

We had a quick walk around Napier town centre before the stormy weather got really bad. The town had a vibrant quirky feel thanks to the 1930s art deco buildings that were constructed after a devastating earthquake in 1931.

Napier town centre also had some great shops and good places to eat. We had a wonderful lunch at Rasoi which served fantastic curries with vegetarian choices and extensive kids’ menu.

National Aquarium

We are not huge fans of animal based attractions and far prefer leaving animals in the wild than seeing them in zoos. However, the aquarium was across the road from our Airbnb and offered an indoor activity on a wet and windy day.

The aquarium was small, but had some cool exhibits including a colony of kororā (little blue penguins), turtles, and kiwi birds. There was an interesting exhibition about natural hazards including earthquakes and tsunamis. It wasn’t the flashiest aquarium we’ve been too, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Final Thoughts

Napier was an attractive town with an interesting mix of shops and restaurants and some awesome street art. We really liked what we saw of the town centre.

Cyclone Gabrielle was the worst storm to hit Aotearoa New Zealand in 100 years. During this difficult time we saw a strong community staying calm and level headed, helping each other and demonstrating kindness and compassion. We were very impressed with how everyone pulled together.