Auckland Waterfront: Queens & Princes Wharves, Viaduct Basin and Wynward Quarter

The Queens Wharf and the beautiful Downtown Ferry Terminal Building.

The Viaduct Harbour.

From my recent visit to Auckland, I learned that there are 3 areas to go to and enjoy your time in the city. Whether it’s for the purpose of entertainment, shopping, food, art and some sightseeing. So these are:

In and around the vicinity of Queen Street
The Britomart area
The Waterfront

Auckland city view from the Wynward Quarter.

The Waterfront is really where the action is. It is where people hang out for long hours to have a good time, and even to just waste time (hehe). The Auckland local government managed to convert the harbourfront into a buzzing place with a nice mixture of everything — office, residential, public leisure space, entertainment, and hospitality.

One of my favourite owl sculpture in Auckland.

The waterfront thas 3 main areas to check out:

The Wharves: Queens Wharf and Princes Wharf

The Queens Wharf is the location of the Downtown Pier and the Downtown ferry terminal in stunning Edwardian Baroque architectural style. This building is beautiful and iconic, it is a historical piece of art in the city that locals are quite proud of I am sure.

I was planning on going to Devonport on one of the daily boats that ply between the village and Auckland downtown ferry terminal but I ended up driving there instead. It wasn’t bad because it’s easy to park in Devonport but I would have wanted to experience the mini boat ride. Maybe another time.

This place is always busy throughout the day because of the public ferry. Both wharves are located beside each other and there are a number of shops and open restaurants here.

The Downtown Ferry Terminal in Auckland in Edwardian Baroque architectural style. It houses some shops and a nice cafe restaurant with a terrace.

The Queen’s Wharf and another of my favourite representation of the owl sculpture. This one is the “Owl and the Pussycat”, a poem by Edward Lear that I have learned in school and remember fondly as a child. We even had a play about the poem at school before.

Viaduct Basin / Viaduct Harbour

Perhaps my favourite waterfront area to hang out. There are lots of nice bars, cafes, and restaurants here. One can never go wrong coming here for sure. The Viaduct Harbour and the whole basin reminds me of southern Europe during the summer months. It’s like the Greek Islands or Spain in Malaga, in one of the harbour docks decorated with outdoor terraces, restaurants, sailing boats and yachts. That’s the kind of feeling I got when I first step foot on here.

We actually came back here on my last night in the city to have dinner and a toast (with a view). This is a not to be missed place!

At the Viaduct Harbour, one can find boats offering sailing and dinner cruises =)

The promenade of Viaduct Harbour and the boats and the many restaurants. The atmosphere here is very holiday, like you are somewhere in Spain or Greece holidaying.

What a cute coffee truck!

I stopped by at the Headquarters Cafe Restaurant for some prosecco.

The Headquarters Cafe Restaurant is right on the end of the promenade of Viaduct Harbour. It’s a really nice and laid back place.

The Wynward Quarter

This is an up and coming commercial and entertainment area with a mixture of residential, a marina and a park. It has an alternative and trendy vibe to it at the moment.

I have read about the Silo Park and I was really planning on visiting but I got very tired from walking, so I just spent a good amount of time here on the docks, sitting and watching everything go by…. before I moved on to the next stop in my agenda, climbing the Auckland Sky Tower before twilight.

I hope the pictures I took did justice!

I was trying to get a nice picture of the building behind because it has a very eye-catchy and artistic facade. Similarly the building beside it as well.