Auckland Museum & Mount Eden

The Auckland War Memorial Museum (Auckland Domain) is New Zealand's most significant museum — a neoclassical building from the 1920s that towers over the city like a Greek temple. Inside: the most extensive collection of Māori and Pacific art worldwide, including a complete Wharenui (meeting house, which you can enter) and a 25-meter-long Waka Taua (war canoe made from a single kauri tree trunk). The Māori gallery alone is worth the visit — it explains the history, art, and philosophy of the Māori in a way that romanticizes or simplifies no aspect.

The haka performance (3x daily, 11:00, 12:00, and 13:30, included in museum admission) by Māori dancers is impressive — the ground vibrates, eyes are wide open, tongues are stuck out. The Gallipoli exhibition (New Zealand soldiers in World War I) and the Natural History Department (moa skeletons, volcanic geology of Auckland) are also first-class.

Admission: 25 NZD (Māori gallery free). Daily 10:00–17:00.

★★ Mount Eden (Maungawhau)

Mount Eden (Maungawhau, 196 m) is the highest natural point in Auckland — an extinct volcanic cone with a 50-meter-deep crater and a 360-degree panoramic view over the entire city, the Hauraki Gulf, the Waitakere Ranges, and on clear days to the Coromandel Peninsula. The name Maungawhau means "Mountain of the Whau Tree" in Māori. The climb from the parking lot takes only 10 minutes, but the view is sensational — especially at sunset when Auckland glows in golden light.

Important: The crater is sacred (Tapu) to the Māori of the Ngāti Whātua tribe — please do not enter the crater, but only view it from the edge. Signs explain the significance. Since 2019, the access road for cars has been closed — you must walk the last 800 meters (10 minutes, easy).

Other worthwhile volcanoes: One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie) — 182 m, once the site of one of the largest Māori pā (fortified village) in the world with over 5,000 inhabitants. The single tree that gave the hill its name was felled in 2000 (after a protest attack) — an obelisk now stands in its place. From the summit: panoramic views and the grave of John Logan Campbell, the "Father of Auckland." North Head (Maungauika) in Devonport offers military tunnels and the best view of the harbor entrance. All volcanoes are free to access.