This is your destination guide for New Zealand.
This is your destination guide for Bay of Islands
📍 Part of New ZealandSubtropical sailing among 144 islands, the treaty that founded a country, and New Zealand's warmest, most historic corner.
The reality: You're on the morning ferry from Paihia to Russell — fifteen minutes across flat water, the Treaty Grounds slipping past on your left. By lunch you're eating fish on a Russell veranda that two hundred years ago looked out on the rowdiest port in the South Pacific. By mid-afternoon you're under sail, heading for an empty cove on one of 144 islands. That's an ordinary day here.
The Bay of Islands does two things at once, and most people only plan for one. It's New Zealand's great summer sailing ground — subtropical, sheltered, dolphin-rich, warm enough to swim off the back of a boat most of the year. It's also where the modern country began: the first mission, the first capital, the first vines, and in 1840 the treaty between Māori and the Crown that everything since has argued about. Geography and history landed in the same small bay.
You don't have to choose. Base yourself in Paihia, Russell, or Kerikeri, rent a car, and give it three or four days. Spend one on the water, one on the history at Waitangi and Kerikeri, and the rest doing very little in the warmest corner of the country. Just don't come expecting the South Island. Different island, different story.
Captain Cook named it for the obvious reason: 144 islands scattered across a sheltered, east-facing bay, the mainland never far off. The water is calm, the anchorages are many, and from late spring to autumn it's warm enough to swim straight off the deck. This is why most people come — build a day around it.
Hole in the Rock (Motukōkako) — the set piece. A sea-carved archway through an island off Cape Brett, wide enough for a boat to pass through when the swell allows, and a non-event when it doesn't — the captains won't risk it, and won't pretend otherwise. Fullers GreatSights and Explore both run the half-day cruise, around NZ$120–135, weaving past the islands with marine-mammal commentary on the way out.
Urupukapuka — the largest island: pest-free, laced with walking tracks and quiet beaches. Cruise boats stop at Otehei Bay (café, kayaks); the rest of the island is yours the moment you walk. The American writer Zane Grey ran a big-game fishing camp here in the 1920s and put the bay on the world's map.
Under sail — better than the motorised cruise if you have the day for it. Shared day-sails (roughly NZ$140–165 with lunch) actually raise the sails, anchor in a bay for a swim and a kayak, and let the wind choose the island. For longer, bareboat charters out of Opua start around NZ$1,000 a day — but you'll need a sailing résumé first; nobody hands over a yacht on trust.
Dolphins — common and bottlenose pods are around, and licensed boats may watch them. You cannot swim with them. The bay banned that in 2021 after the resident bottlenose population collapsed to roughly 40 animals; boats now keep their distance, and that's the honest deal before you go looking for a "dolphin swim" that no longer legally exists.
Three towns do most of the work, and they're very different.
Paihia — the tourism hub. Wharf, cruise operators, motels, the i-SITE, the ferry to Russell. Not pretty in itself, but it's the practical base: nearly everything departs from here, and most visitors sleep in Paihia and day-trip out.
Russell — across the water and a century calmer. New Zealand's first European settlement and, briefly, its first capital (at nearby Okiato). In the 1830s it was a whaling and grog town the missionaries called the "Hell Hole of the Pacific"; today it's wine bars, a waterfront of colonial timber, and the country's oldest church — Christ Church, 1836, still carrying musket holes in its weatherboards. The fifteen-minute ferry from Paihia is the only sensible way in.
Kerikeri — inland, green, and the food basket of the north: citrus, avocados, small vineyards, Saturday markets. It also holds the two oldest buildings in New Zealand (next section). A working town rather than a resort, which is part of why it's pleasant.
Opua — the yacht harbour, where the bareboats and the vehicle ferry live. Worth knowing if you're sailing; a quick stop otherwise.
Worth the short detour inland: Kawakawa, whose public toilets — designed by the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who lived nearby — are the only ones in the country people queue to photograph.
If you take one thing from the Bay of Islands, make it this: a great deal of New Zealand began here, and the evidence is all within half an hour's drive.
Waitangi Treaty Grounds — the single most important historic site in the country. On 6 February 1840, Māori chiefs and the British Crown signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the founding document the nation has been interpreting — and contesting — ever since. The grounds hold the Treaty House, a carved meeting house, the world's largest ceremonial war canoe, and the very good Te Kōngahu museum. A day pass is NZ$74 for international adults (under-12s free, valid two days) and includes a guided tour and a Māori cultural performance. Open daily 9–5, later in summer; closed Christmas Day and — pointedly — Waitangi Day itself, 6 February, when the grounds become the stage for the national commemoration. Take the guided tour rather than wandering alone; the context is the whole point.
Kerikeri Mission Station — where Pākehā first settled at Māori invitation. The Reverend Samuel Marsden founded the mission in 1819 under the protection of the Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika, whose fortified pā, Kororipo, sits just across the river. Here stand the two oldest buildings in the country: Kemp House (1822), a plain Georgian mission house, and the Stone Store (1832–36), still trading as a shop nearly two centuries on. Marsden also planted New Zealand's first grapevines here in 1819 — the national wine industry started in this one small basin, a footnote even most New Zealanders don't know.
Cape Reinga (Te Rerenga Wairua) — much further north, a long day-trip, but it belongs to this story. In Māori belief it's where the spirits of the dead depart for the homeland, Hawaiki, leaping from a lone pōhutukawa clinging to the headland. Standing where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific visibly collide, it's the most affecting spot in the north. Day tours from Paihia (around NZ$195) run up via Ninety Mile Beach with sandboarding on the Te Paki dunes — a long day, and the only easy way to do it without your own 4WD.
For people who'd rather be in the water or on a track than reading another plaque.
The bay isn't only cruises. Some of New Zealand's best diving, its big-game fishing heritage, and a serious coastal walk all start from the same few wharves.
Northland eats simply and well, off the sea and the orchards around it.
Fish and chips — the regional religion. Eat them on the Paihia waterfront, or drive an hour north to Mangonui, whose harbour-built fish shop is the most famous in the country and just about lives up to it.
Oysters — the bay and nearby Orongo grow plump Pacific oysters; buy them by the dozen, barely dressed.
Kerikeri produce — the inland basin is citrus, avocado, and macadamia country. The Saturday market is the place to graze, and the roadside stalls are honest.
Wine: here's the surprise — New Zealand wine started in this bay, when Samuel Marsden planted the first vines at Kerikeri in 1819. The modern Northland scene is tiny and subtropical — syrah, chambourcin, and viognier rather than the South Island's pinot — but a few Kerikeri cellar doors (Marsden Estate, Ake Ake) make a pleasant afternoon, and you can drink where the whole industry began.
They call Northland the "winterless north," and while that oversells it, the region does have the mildest climate in New Zealand — subtropical, frost-free on the coast, warm long after the South Island has turned cold.
December to February — summer and peak. Warm seas, full sailing season, and the pōhutukawa (New Zealand's "Christmas tree") burning crimson along the shore in December. Also the busiest and dearest stretch, overlapping local school holidays from late December.
November, March, April — the sweet spot. Still warm, water still swimmable, boats still running, but the crowds thin and prices ease. Aim here if you can.
June to August — mild, green, wet, and quiet. Days around 15°C, rarely cold, but the sea drops and many boat trips scale back. Good for the history and the towns, less so for swimming. The trade-off is half-price beds and an empty bay.
Drive. The bay is about three hours north of Auckland on State Highway 1 — an easy run, and a car is essential once you arrive, since the sights spread from Kerikeri to Cape Reinga. There's a small airport at Kerikeri with flights from Auckland, but most people drive.
The Paihia–Russell passenger ferry — the everyday crossing. Fifteen minutes, roughly every half hour through the day, around NZ$15–20 return. Walk on, no booking. It's also the prettiest commute in the region, passing the Treaty Grounds.
The Opua–Okiato vehicle ferry — if you're taking a car to Russell, this little shuttle (every ten minutes, about NZ$18 one way) saves a long detour around the inlet. Foot passengers pay almost nothing.
On the water — beyond the scheduled ferries, water-taxis serve the islands and the Cape Brett hut. Worth knowing if you're walking one way.
Pick a base for the trip you want.
Paihia — for convenience. Every cruise and tour leaves from here; plenty of motels and mid-range hotels, walkable to the wharf. Functional rather than charming.
Russell — for character and calm. Colonial cottages, waterfront B&Bs, good dinners — but quieter at night and a ferry from the action. Books up, and charges for the privilege.
Kerikeri — for green space and food. Family-friendly, leafy, close to the historic sites and markets, a short drive from the water. Good value.
Opua — for sailors. Marina town, handy if your holiday floats; less so otherwise.
An island or cove lodge — a few remote stays sit out on the bay itself, reached by boat. Pricey, memorable, best over several nights.
The Bay of Islands sits mid-range for New Zealand — dearer than the rural Far North around it, well under Queenstown — and the money goes on the water, not the bed. Budget for the boat trips; the towns themselves are reasonable.
Prices in 2026 NZD. Summer and the school holidays push beds up hardest; the boat trips barely move. Most overseas visitors now pay a NZ$100 International Visitor Levy plus a NZ$17–23 NZeTA before arrival (Australians exempt).
Go if you want to sail an island-strewn subtropical bay by day and stand on the spot where New Zealand was founded by afternoon — warm water, 144 islands, and the country's deepest history all within one short crossing. Skip if you came for South Island mountains, a guaranteed dolphin swim, or a holiday that never touches a boat.
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