Dunedin, NZ

Chef Hannes Bareiter's restaurant at Hotel St Clair, looking straight out over St Clair beach, where the 'Trust the Chef' menu lets the kitchen send out three or five seasonal courses around the main you choose. Sharp local cooking and an Otago-leaning wine list, the dinner Dunedin sends its serious eaters to. Book ahead; the room fills.

An intimate ten-seat tasting restaurant in the historic Warehouse Precinct at Queens Gardens, run by chef-owner Sam Gasson and his partner Kim Underwood. The five-course 'Just Feed Me' set menu shifts with South Island produce and borrows fermentation techniques from Japanese and Korean kitchens. Counter seats watch the charcoal grill work; the vibe is unhurried and sharply executed. The hardest reservation in the city.

A 20-plus-year wine-bar-restaurant above the Octagon, with the deepest old-world wine list in town and a small Mediterranean menu that does not get in the way of the wine. The grown-up's pre-dinner drink or quiet late one.

The roaster-cafe on Princes Street whose coffee you taste in half the city's good cafes. Vast industrial room, daylight from the windows, a tight brunch menu and the best espresso in town. The coffee snob's home base.

George Street cafe that has been the student-and-locals breakfast room for two decades. Big bowls of bircher, the best eggs benedict in town, and a brick courtyard out the back. Reliable, no-fuss, and the place to start a Dunedin morning.

The Turkish restaurant on St Andrew Street, run by the Ozkavak family for years, with the best kebabs and pides in the city and a wood oven you can smell from the street. Casual at lunch, full restaurant at dinner.

A small Taiwanese-led restaurant on Stuart Street with bao, noodles, and the kind of bold-flavour Asian street food the city was missing. Tight room, communal feel, and a tiny natural-wine list that pairs surprisingly well.

The 1932 fish-and-chip shop on Stuart Street, unchanged behind the counter, with the city's best blue cod and a seafood chowder locals queue for at lunch. Plastic tablecloths, formica counter, no concessions to fashion.

Long-running Italian restaurant in the upstairs Savoy ballroom, with a frescoed ceiling, sweeping windows over the Octagon, and a pasta-and-pizza menu that has not changed in years because it does not need to. The most romantic-feeling dinner room in town.

A converted seaman's hostel on the waterfront with the most idiosyncratic menu in town — eclectic, with strong seafood, generous portions, and a wine list put together by the chef. A long-running locals' favourite that visitors usually leave promising to come back to.

The flagship taproom of Emerson's, the brewery that put New Zealand craft beer on the map back in the 1990s. Industrial-warehouse room, a long pizza-and-burger menu, and twelve taps of in-house beer including the legendary London Porter. Reliable for any group.

A George Street student-and-locals cafe with the best coffee on the strip and a brunch menu that delivers without ceremony. Big windows, fast service, dependable.

A leafy suburban cafe in Maori Hill in a converted villa, with a brunch menu that is more ambitious than most central rooms and a wine and small-plates menu in the evening. A short drive from town but the most pleasant brunch room in the city.

A 20-minute steep walk down through farmland and a hand-cut sandstone tunnel to a fossil-filled beach with a sea arch. Short but unforgettable; the tunnel itself is the moment. About 1.4km return.

A steady climb from Bethunes Gully to Dunedin's highest peak, passing the Organ Pipes — a wall of hexagonal basalt columns — and ending with a panoramic view of the city, the harbour and the peninsula. About 7km return, two and a half hours.

A skyline track along the Flagstaff ridge with the best city views in Dunedin, named after the canned pineapple early walkers stopped to eat at the top. Most do the short upper section for the panorama; the full descent to Woodhaugh Gardens makes a half day.

A short walk from the carpark to the WWII centennial memorial on the hill above town, with a 360-degree view down both sides of the harbour. The lazy version of the Pineapple Track and the photo most visitors take of Dunedin.

A 30-minute walk in and a sand-dune slide down to a wild beach on the Otago Peninsula where sea lions sleep and yellow-eyed penguins come in at dusk. About 1.5km each way, steep dune section.

A flat walk on the open ocean side of the peninsula, with sea lions on the sand and a quieter alternative to Sandfly Bay. Combine with Hoopers Inlet bird hide for a full afternoon of peninsula wildlife.

A short native-bush walk on the lower flanks of Mt Cargill, popular with locals as an after-work loop. The full track goes up to Mt Cargill; most people do the gentler lower 30-minute loop. Pram-friendly along the bottom.

A steep 1km climb to a twin-summit silhouette above the southern motorway, with sweeping views across the harbour and out to the coast. Fast, hard, and the best 90-minute hill workout near the city.

Saturday market across the forecourt of the Dunedin Railway Station, with the best local-producer scene in the South Island. Coffee carts, hot pies, cheese, organic vegetables and a strong cluster of bakers. The single best way to spend a Dunedin Saturday morning.

Free public art gallery on the Octagon with a serious permanent collection of NZ painters and a rotating contemporary program. One of the best small-city public galleries in the country.

The 'Pride of the South' brewery on Rattray Street has been making beer since 1876. The 90-minute tour ends in the tasting room with six in-house pours and a glass to take home. Touristy but well done.

A privately-run conservation reserve on the Otago Peninsula that lets you watch yellow-eyed penguins from a network of camouflaged trenches. Pricier than a public beach but you actually see the birds at very close range, and the entry fees fund the conservation work.

The only mainland breeding colony of Northern Royal Albatross in the world, with a guided tour up to a windswept cliff hide above the nests. The birds wheel past on three-metre wingspans. Combine with the Blue Penguins viewing on the same headland for a dusk double.

The world's first fully-roofed grass rugby stadium, home of the Highlanders Super Rugby franchise. Even if you do not watch rugby, the architecture and the way the daylight hits the field through the ETFE roof is worth the tour.

A four-hour return rail trip from Dunedin Railway Station up the Taieri Gorge to Pukerangi, on heritage carriages over Victorian-era viaducts. The best heritage rail journey in the South Island. Goes mostly in summer.

A self-guided walking tour of Dunedin's growing collection of large-scale outdoor murals, anchored by works from international and NZ artists since the Dunedin Street Art Trust started in 2014. Free, downloadable map. Best on a clear morning when the light hits the south-facing walls.

The oldest botanic garden in New Zealand (1863), sprawling up the side of Signal Hill with a rhododendron dell, a winter garden under glass, and a small aviary. Free, with a cafe at the lower entry. Underrated as a half-day stop.

The Edwardian basalt-and-stone station with the mosaic-tile ticket hall, often called New Zealand's most photographed building. Trains still run from here to Pukerangi, and the Saturday Otago Farmers Market spills out across the forecourt. The single most distinctive piece of architecture in the South Island.

New Zealand's only 'castle' — really a Gothic Revival merchant baron's house — perched on a ridge of the Otago Peninsula with views down both sides into the harbour. The lavish 1870s interiors are open daily and the grounds are arguably the best private gardens in the country.

The only mainland breeding colony of Northern Royal Albatross in the world, on the tip of the Otago Peninsula. Guided tours go up to an observation hide above the nests; the birds wheel over the cliffs on three-metre wingspans. Combine with the Blue Penguins Pukekura colony at the same headland for a full afternoon.

Officially the steepest residential street in the world per Guinness, a 35% gradient up a Mornington side street. People walk up for the photo at the top and the locals tolerate them gracefully. Surprisingly emotional once you actually try to climb it.

The city's free flagship museum, with a serious natural history collection, a Maori taonga gallery and the only Tropical Forest room of butterflies in New Zealand. Two to three hours of genuine substance, not a tourist trap.

The city's social-history museum in a striking 1907 Art Deco building, telling the Scottish-settler-and-Maori story of Dunedin with serious depth. Free entry, two hours of real content, and the cleanest piece of museum design in the country.

A perfectly preserved 1906 Jacobean-style merchant house in the inner city, frozen at the moment the last family member died in 1966 and left everything to the city. Guided tour only, hour long, with the original silver, the books and the kitchen all intact. Better than Larnach for the lived-in feel.

A dune-backed beach on the open ocean side of the Otago Peninsula where yellow-eyed penguins waddle in at dusk and sea lions sleep along the sand. Free, often empty, and the genuine wildlife experience the paid penguin tours hint at. Steep walk in over dunes.

The eight-sided plaza at the centre of town, with St Paul's Cathedral, the council chambers, the public library, the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and a Robbie Burns statue all opening onto it. The orientation point for the whole city.

A short steep walk through farmland to a sandstone tunnel hand-carved in the 1870s by a wealthy family who wanted private beach access. The tunnel emerges onto a fossil-filled sandstone shore and a sea arch you can walk through at low tide.