Start from 40 curated places around Dunedin, NZ, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Tītī
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.
Moiety
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.
Trails & outdoors
Tunnel Beach Walkway
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.
Mount Cargill Track
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.
Things to do
Otago Farmers Market
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.
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
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.
Landmarks & sights
Dunedin Railway Station
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.
Larnach Castle
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.