Auckland

Auckland spreads across a narrow isthmus between two seas, studded with some fifty volcanic cones that can be climbed straight from the suburbs. Māori terraced these summits into fortified villages centuries ago, and the earthworks still ring several of them. The nickname is City of Sails, and masts crowd every inlet of the harbour. The Auckland Museum holds the country's great Māori and Pacific collections, among them a war canoe cut from a single tree, while the Auckland Art Gallery keeps the largest art collection in New Zealand. At Maungauika / North Head Historic Reserve, a volcanic headland at the harbour mouth, tunnels and gun emplacements from the 1880s wait under the grass. An hour southeast, Hunua Falls drops into a forest pool inside Hunua Ranges Regional Park. Farther south, among green farmland, the Hobbiton Movie Set has kept its round doors, its gardens and its inn.