Cafes and Restaurants

There is a thriving and ever growing restaurant and cafe scene offering creative Kiwi cuisine and seafood or exotic dishes from around the world. Northland baristas have won numerous awards as well, so you’ll never be short of an excellent latte.

Some consider Whangarei’s Town Basin the jewel in the crown with art galleries, cafes and shops that attract tourists and locals, great for a stroll on a weekend or dinner in the evening.

Shopping

Whangarei has branches of most national chain stores and a big number of specialist retail shops and service providers.

Fresh produce can be bought in farmers markets, the Whangarei Growers Market is the oldest grower's market in Australasia, with up to 6,500 visitors each weekend! Fresh, high quality local produce, much of it organic, all locally grown and often sold personally by the growers. Whatever the weather fruit, vegetable, plant and flower growers plus honey, egg, bread, organic beef and oyster producers set up their stalls early every Saturday morning.

Events and Nightlife

While Whangarei is more renowned for its natural life than its nightlife, there is a lively bar scene, with a number of websites dedicated to events and live music venues.

The artist community also continues to add creative events and venues throughout the year while the Council sponsors free concerts, festivals and open air cinema.

Exciting events are spread throughout the year, for example Maori festivals, agricultural field days, rodeos, boat fairs, fun walks, rally championships, Scottish highland games, open air cinema, flower shows, horse and dog races and shows, music festivals, fishing tournaments etc.

Sports

If you like water based or outdoors activities then you're coming to the right place:

The Poor Knights Islands offer the best subtropical diving in the world and beautiful snorkelling.
Plenty of surfing, windsurfing, kitesurfing or paddleboarding, and boogieboarding is safe fun for everyone else.
Many fishing records have been broken along the Northland coast, catch Snapper from the jetties or go big game fishing for Marlin.
Read the National Geographic article about the famous Tutukaka Coast [ more ]
Learn to sail or captain a power boat - you don't need a licence.
Explore the harbours and bays in a kayak, the coastline is ideal for exploration.
Learn to row with a fast Polynesian style Waka Ama (outrigger canoe).
Golfing, there are four Golf courses in Whangarei and several others in driving distance.