The Dunedin Experience

Norfolk House Weekend

Norfolk House is the perfect staging post for you and your party to experience everything that Dunedin and the Otago region has to offer.

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Dunedin Attractions

Dunedin City, along with the Otago region, has a vast array of sights and attractions that offer visitors the opportunity to have an enchanting and memorable visit. This page contains links to sites that will help you research and plan what you’d like to do when you’re here so that your visit to the region is a fantastic one. You can also ask your host for more information on the region’s attractions.

Dunedin is becoming increasingly popular as a mellow city nurturing a strong artsy side. If you can unglue yourself from the city's cafe scene, the raggedly shaped Otago Peninsula lies practically in Dunedin's backyard and is teeming with wildlife and outdoor activities.

City of Dunedin Website
Comprehensive site on what to do in Dunedin, where to stay and how to get around.

Tourism Dunedin
The official Dunedin Tourism website.

Historic Dunedin Architecture
Check out a small selection of the glorious and historical architecture that exists in Dunedin. It's a visual feast!

Otago Settlers Museum
The Otago Settlers Museum was established in 1898, the 50th anniversary of the founding of Dunedin City and the Otago province. It continues to flourish as one of New Zealand's most significant social history museums. Originally created to tell the story of the early British settlers in Otago, the Museum now celebrates all the peoples of Otago including indigenous Maori, the Chinese who came initially to work the goldfields in the 19th century and successive waves of migrant groups including those from Lebanon, Poland, Holland, the Pacific Islands and many parts of Asia.

Extensive collections including portraits, documents, 19th century artworks, costume, domestic technology and transport are used to paint a lively picture of Dunedin City and provincial life through the ages and right up to the present.

• Experience 'Across the Ocean Waves' - an interactive exhibition for the whole family
• Admire 'Josephine' - New Zealand's oldest surviving locomotive
• View close to 1,000 photographic portraits of settlers and their descendants in the Smith Gallery
• Enjoy the exhibition 'On the Move: Road Transport in Otago'

Taieri Gorge Railway
Taieri Gorge Railway is an award-winning train service which consistently achieves the 'highest satisfaction' rating of all Dunedin's attractions. It takes passengers from the hustle of Dunedin's city centre to the rugged mountain interior of Central Otago, and back. It's the perfect all-weather activity.

• Travel in the comfort of an award-winning train service as you experience an amazing variety of landscapes of the city, farmland, forests, and the wild Taieri River Gorge.
• Cross magnificent stone and wrought iron viaducts and bridges and gasp at the sheer drops to the river below.
• Plunge into a series of tunnels with the schist rock walls only inches from the side of the train.
• Disembark at points of interest to take photographs (weather, time and operational conditions permitting).

Speight's Brewery
Speight's Brewery was founded in 1876 and still occupies its original Dunedin site with several of the buildings dating back to the late 1800s. The tour is an award-winning, informative and interactive tour through a working brewery and heritage centre.

• Fully guided tour takes about 90 minutes
• You'll see, smell, touch and taste the ingredients that go into making Speight's beers
• Discover how Speight's became a legend in the south
• Learn the history of beer making, the brewing process and how to make traditional wooden beer casks
• No tour of Speight's Brewery would be complete without sampling the product (for those over 18 years old). Enjoy an appreciation session of six Speight's beers

Cadbury Chocolate Factory

• Not a patch on Willy Wonka's factory - see the real thing!
• See the chocolate waterfall housed in a five storey high silo
• Sample Cadbury chocolate along the way
• Learn about the history of Cadbury and chocolate through the ages

Baldwin Street – “the steepest street in the world”
Experience a walk up the steepest street in world. Just 3 streets away from Bygone Era, it's a perfect early morning walk to get the blood pumping!

• The street's steepness was unintentional. As with many other parts of Dunedin, streets were laid out in a grid pattern by planners in London with no consideration for the terrain.
• At its maximum slope, the street has an approximate 19 degree or 35% gradient
• That means for every 2.86 metres travelled horizontally, the altitude rises by 1 metre

Dunedin Botanic Garden
Established in 1863, Dunedin Botanic Garden is the oldest in New Zealand. A visit to the Botanic Garden offers an enjoyable experience for everyone at all times of the year. Wonderful plants for the enthusiastic gardener and a relaxed and peaceful environment for families.

• On the slopes of the upper garden is the renowned Rhododendron Dell along with the Geographic Collection which displays plants of the world
• The Native Plant Collection gives a broad overview of New Zealand's distinctive, mostly evergreen flora, 85% of which grows naturally only in New Zealand
• The lower botanic garden has a Rose Collection, Camellia Collection, Herb Garden and Rock Garden amongst others
• Don't forget to admire the banana trees in the winter garden glasshouse - there's even one that grows pink bananas!

Otago Peninsula

Royal Albatross Colony
Witness the fascinating social and family life of the Northern Royal Albatross in the world's only mainland breeding colony. Devoted mothers guarding their chicks; adolescents posturing as only juveniles can; courtship proceedings; nest building and interplay. Enjoy the privilege of viewing these majestic seabirds in their natural environment. Interesting albatross facts are:

• Albatross life spans can exceed 60 years
• They can reach speeds of over 100kph during flight
• Young albatross stay at sea continuously for up to 5 years prior to reaching mating maturity
• Albatross have a wing span of over 3 metres
• The Royal Albatross Colony is a wildlife reserve managed by the NZ Department of Conservation and has been the subject of 70 years of continuous research
• Tour fees contribute to the on-going research and the day-to-day bird management programme

Fort Taiaroa

• Stand by for a journey into New Zealand's colonial past. Experience the tunnels of Fort Taiaroa which were Otago's answer to the perceived Russian invasion in the 1880's.
• Informative displays illustrate the history of the headland fort complex
• Man the 6 inch Armstrong disappearing gun - the world's first successful breach loader - sited in its original gun pit and maintained in working condition
• Marvel at the poutokomanawa (carved pole) which depicts the Maori history of the headland

Larnach Castle
William Larnach, seated alone in a committee room in Parliament, took his own life with a single pistol shot to the head. Thus died one of New Zealand's most remarkable men. A successful landowner, Minister of the Crown, banker, financier and merchant Baron, Larnach's lasting legacy was his great castle overlooking the spectacular Otago Harbour.
Larnach Castle is New Zealand's only castle and has an exciting, sometimes scandalous, sometimes tragic history

• It offers a vision of the past and present
• Magnificent carved ceilings
• Antiques and breathtaking views
• 35 acres of gardens and grounds

Glenfalloch Woodland Garden
Enjoy peace and tranquillity and the panoramic harbour views at Glenfalloch, Gaelic for 'hidden valley'. Walk among the rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias, fuchsias and a profusion of other flower species which integrate with native ferns, exotic imports and indigenous New Zealand trees.

• Glenfalloch is a showcase of 120 years of conservation and expansion of our botanical heritage
• Be amazed and in awe of the mature oak, walnut, elm, horse chestnut, birch, English beech and other imported and native trees as they pay homage to a 1,000 year old matai which has pride of place
• Refreshments at the cafe/wine bar can be extended to light snacks and sweet treats complemented by an extensive range of imported and New Zealand wines and ales.
• 15 minutes from the city centre