Things to do in Dunedin
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Dunedin
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Summer, best overall and busiest, long evenings, pool open, albatross chicks hatch from late January.
Autumn, often most settled weather, Botanic Garden colour, students back and good wildlife.
Winter, cheapest and coldest, short windy days, museums and breweries come into their own.
Spring, wildlife peak with penguin breeding and albatross courtship, also windiest and least predictable.
Best months overall: February, March and November.
The hardest months, with short cold wet days, unless a festival, test match or low price is the reason.
What's on
- Dunedin Fringe Festival March
Autumn festival worth timing a trip around.
- iD Dunedin Fashion Week March/April
Autumn fashion event.
- Hyde Street Party March/April
Student party, observe rather than base nearby.
- Wild Dunedin Festival Usually April
New Zealand's Festival of Nature and the city's signature wildlife festival, check the year.
- Midwinter Carnival June
Lantern procession around the winter solstice.
- Puaka Matariki June/July
Maori New Year celebrations in June and July.
- Dunedin Craft Beer & Food Festival Usually late Oct/Nov
Held at Forsyth Barr Stadium in recent years, check the year.
Best things to do in Dunedin
Royal Albatross Centre
The only mainland royal albatross breeding colony, with a guided observatory tour over nests at the peninsula tip.
Blue Penguins Pukekura
Little penguins raft in at dusk and pass close to the viewing platform on their way to their burrows.
Larnach Castle & Gardens
New Zealand's only castle, strongest for its seven acres of gardens and the tower view over the peninsula.
Toitū Otago Settlers Museum
Free social history museum covering Maori settlement, Scottish founders and the gold rush, best visited first.
Olveston Historic Home
A 35 room 1906 mansion kept intact, seen only on small guided tours that bring its objects and family to life.
Dunedin Railway Station, the Octagon & Dunedin Public Art Gallery
A walkable free cluster of the Flemish Renaissance station, the Octagon and the free public art gallery.
Speight's Brewery Tour
Tour and tasting at New Zealand's oldest continually operating brewery, brewing on this site since 1876.
Dunedin Botanic Garden
Free 30 hectare garden with lower lawns, an aviary and upper native collections climbing the hill.
Where to stay in Dunedin
The Octagon / Warehouse Precinct / Princes Street
first trip, all-round base
Flat walkable heart with pubs, gallery, museums, station and tour pickups within 10 minutes on foot.
St Clair Esplanade
ocean people, surfers, slower trips
Beachfront cafes and Dunedin's best restaurant row facing a surf beach, ten minutes drive from the centre.
Otago Peninsula - Portobello, Broad Bay, Macandrew Bay & the Larnach area
wildlife-first stays of 2+ nights
Albatross and penguins become an evening trip from dinner, with harbour village charm and limited dining after dark.
Think twice about
- North Dunedin student flat core - Castle Street, Leith Street, Dundas Street, Howe Street and Hyde Street
Famous student party streets with loud all night noise in term, especially orientation and Hyde Street Party day.
- South Dunedin commercial / industrial strip - Hillside Road, Andersons Bay Road and the Forbury low flats
Low lying flood prone working area with car yards and fast food, no evening atmosphere and little visitor accommodation.
- Far George Street / SH1 one-way motel strip and airport-adjacent / Mosgiel motels
Functional road motels that trade away Dunedin's walkability, requiring a drive to breakfast and every sight.
Best restaurants in Dunedin
Tītī
Modern New Zealand tasting and a la carte dining above St Clair beach, the one Dunedin dinner to reserve first.
The Press Club
Modern New Zealand flavours and inventive cocktails in the glamorous heritage dining room inside Fable Dunedin.
Plato
Quirky art filled seafood restaurant in a former sailors' rest home, serving paua, mussels, oysters and cockle soup.
Etrusco at the Savoy
Tuscan pasta and pizza in the grand Savoy building, Dunedin's most reliable and generous group dinner answer.
No.7 Balmac
Neighbourhood restaurant cafe in Maori Hill with contemporary New Zealand cooking and a booked out dining room.
Carey's Bay Historic Hotel
Bluestone Victorian harbour pub serving seafood chowder, blue cod and fish and chips beside the fishing port.
Esplanade
All day Italian beachfront institution for house pasta, pizzas, cocktails and wine facing the surf.
Glenfalloch Garden Café & Restaurant
Lunch in a woodland garden and historic homestead on the peninsula road, with seasonal Otago produce.
Outdoor things to do in Dunedin
Monarch Wildlife Cruise
One hour boat trip to Taiaroa Head for albatross in flight at eye level, seals, sea lions and penguins.
OPERA - The Otago Peninsula Eco Restoration Alliance
Conservation reserve for rare yellow eyed penguins viewed from hides, with sightings honestly not guaranteed.
Clearwater Wildlife Tours
Small group premium peninsula wildlife tour covering seals, sea lions, penguins and albatross without self driving.
Tunnel Beach Walk
Free walk through farmland and a hand hewn tunnel to a small beach enclosed by sandstone cliffs and a sea arch.
Sandfly Bay, Allans Beach & Aramoana
Free wild beaches where sea lions and seals haul out, reached by dune and farmland walks with no guide.
Orokonui Ecosanctuary
Predator fenced cloud forest sanctuary with kaka, takahē, tuatara and kiwi, best on the two hour guided walk.
Te Aka Ōtākou - Otago Harbour Cycleway
Mostly flat 32 km harbourside cycleway around the harbour, best ridden one way with the ferry closing the loop.
Esplanade Surf School
Group surf lessons and hire at St Clair and St Kilda with local knowledge of rips, reefs and thick wetsuits.
Best hotels in Dunedin
Fable Dunedin
Heritage former newspaper building turned glamorous small luxury hotel, the most characterful top end central bed.
Distinction Dunedin Hotel
Large polished hotel in the former Chief Post Office a block from the Octagon, with spacious rooms and suites.
Ebb-Dunedin
Modern design led boutique hotel built around a striking printed glass facade, calmer than the big central hotels.
Scenic Hotel Southern Cross
Reliable large hotel in the grand 1883 former Grand Hotel building, often the best priced full service central rooms.
Scenic Hotel Dunedin City
Dependable large central hotel paired in prose with the Southern Cross for consistent full service rooms.
Bluestone on George
Spacious apartment style suites in a stone building on George Street, suited to families and longer stays.
Camp Estate at Larnach Castle
Five luxury suites in a lodge in the Larnach Castle grounds, with dinner in the castle available.
Larnach Lodge & Stable Stay
Lodge rooms and converted stable stays inside the castle estate, waking in the gardens before day visitors arrive.
Is Dunedin expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | NZ$110 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | NZ$207 a person |
| Splurge | NZ$350 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Royal Albatross Centre: weeks ahead
- Blue Penguins Pukekura: weeks ahead
- Larnach Castle & Gardens: a few days ahead
- Olveston Historic Home: weeks ahead
- Speight's Brewery Tour: a few days ahead
- Monarch Wildlife Cruise: a few days ahead
- OPERA - The Otago Peninsula Eco Restoration Alliance: a few days ahead
- Clearwater Wildlife Tours: weeks ahead
- Blue Penguins Pukekura, Royal Albatross Centre tours, Tītī and No.7 Balmac sell out, book before you arrive.
- Book a few days ahead for Larnach, Speight's tours, surf lessons and Monarch cruises.
- Check DOC track status for Tunnel Beach and coastal tracks after storms.
- Cruise ship days and university graduation, orientation and stadium events fill hotels and tours, book early.
Is Dunedin safe?
- Keep at least 20 m from sea lions and seals and 50 m from yellow eyed penguins, never between an animal and the sea.
- Leave nothing visible in cars at beach and track car parks, the visitor crime locals warn about most.
- Octagon late night drinking crowds get rowdy on Friday and Saturday, with a small rough sleeping presence.
- Cold water, rips, cliff tracks and winding peninsula roads tired or after dark are the main natural hazards.
Dunedin travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Doing the peninsula in half a day including penguins forces a dark winding drive and rushed tours.
- Treating Baldwin Street as a destination rather than a ten minute free add on.
- Expecting guaranteed wild yellow eyed penguins at OPERA, sightings are not guaranteed.
- Planning a day on Moeraki alone or dinner at Moiety, whose closure signals conflict in current listings.
- Swimming unpatrolled or underdressing for wind, Dunedin's most repeated visitor complaint.
Getting around Dunedin: public transport and more
- Walk the centre, the Octagon to station and warehouse precinct is under 15 minutes.
- A car is effectively required for the peninsula, Orokonui, Tunnel Beach, the Catlins and golf.
- Dunedin Airport is 30 minutes by road, shuttles cost about NZ$20 to 25 and no train meets flights.
- Local buses cover St Clair, North Dunedin and Port Chalmers, and the Port to Port ferry links Port Chalmers and Portobello.
Who Dunedin suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Dunedin your trip
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