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AUCKLAND CENTRAL HOTEL MAP

LOCAL INFORMATION

Auckland Central Hotels

Find hotels near Central Auckland!

Attractions in Auckland

Check out Auckland's attractions

Getting Around Auckland

Essential transportation information

Shopping

A guide to local shopping

Auckland Dining

Where to eat in the local area

Customer Service

Need help with your travel plans?

Meeting Planning

Need help with planning your meeting?

Hotel Listings

Crowne Plaza Auckland
128 Albert Street,
Auckland, 1030 NZ

Citylife Auckland - A Heritage Hotel
171 Queen Street,
Auckland, 1001 NZ

Stamford Plaza Auckland
Lower Albert Street,
Auckland, 1 NZ

Mercure Hotel Windsor Auckland
58-60 Queen Street,
Auckland, 1001 NZ

Best Western President Hotel Auckland
27-35 Victoria Street West,
Auckland, 1001 NZ

...more hotels

ABOUT AUCKLAND

Natural Surroundings
With over one million residents and a vast metropolitan area, Auckland is New Zealand's largest city. The center is located on an isthmus that attaches the Northland Peninsula to the northern half of the North Island. The Tasman Sea lies beyond the harbor to the west and the Pacific Ocean lies to the east. One out of every three persons living in the city owns a yacht. The urban center is known for its boats, ships and yachts as well as its volcanic field. The region is a great plain of almost fifty volcanoes.

Capital City History
As early as the mid-1300s, the Maori settled in the area where Auckland was built. These people valued the land for its fertility. The inactive volcanoes were convenient cones and high points on which to construct fortified villages. While some Europeans and Australians came into the area beforehand, people from European descent did not settle the area until the mid-1800s.

Auckland became the country's original capital city in the early 1840s, but the seat of government remained at this location only about fourteen years. Then, the capital moved down to Port Nicholson that was later renamed Wellington. The capital currently remains in Wellington.

Meanwhile, Auckland continued to grow and develop. A mercantile and industrial city, urban spread progressed onward into the 1900s. In recent years, the metropolis has seen impressive contemporary improvements and urban renewal.

Cultures and Peoples
The Auckland cultural climate is most heavily influenced by Europeans and particularly by the British. People from Polynesia and the local Maori also add much to the mix. Still, even the indigenous Maori are fairly new to New Zealand because they settled there less than 2,000 years ago. Other nationalities from around the planet help to broaden the cultural diversity.

With a welcoming atmosphere and mild temperatures, Auckland is known as a pleasant place where the quality of life is high. Cultures are diverse and offer a rich variety of foods, music, arts and sports. Distinctive traditions, pass times, and holidays are respected and celebrated, but a movement is growing among the population towards unification of all peoples as "Kiwis" and New Zealanders.