Visitor Information

The Wellington i-SITE Visitor Centre, 101 Wakefield St., Civic Square (tel. 04/802-4860; fax 04/802-4863), is open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5:30pm (Tues till 5pm) and Saturday and Sunday from 9:30am to 4:30pm. It provides details of regional attractions and has the best range of free guides in the country. It also has a range of tiny pocket-size leaflets and cards on everything from transport systems to shopping, art, fashion, and free walking tours. Staff members can book accommodations and attractions, arrange transport, and sell stamps and phone cards. It also has an e-mail center and cafe.

For information on Lower and Upper Hutt areas, contact Hutt City i-SITE Visitor Centre, 25 Laings Rd., Lower Hutt (tel. 04/560-4715; fax 04/939-4716) or Upper Hutt i-SITE Visitor Centre, 84-90 Main St., Upper Hutt (tel. 04/527-2141; fax 04/527-9818).

The free weekly publications Capital Times and City Voice are available at the visitor centers and leading hotels and cafes. Both have details on local happenings. If you're a keen follower of the performing arts, check at the visitor center for availability of discounted day-of-performance tickets.

Public Relief -- Free public toilets are at 69 sites throughout the city. Staffed facilities are at the ANZ Building (at the corner of Lambton Quay and Featherston St.). You'll also find restrooms at all major attractions and several department stores.

Special Events

Wellington is home to the country's biggest cultural event, the biennial New Zealand International Arts Festival (tel. 04/473-0149). It features international works and the best of New Zealand talent in everything from opera to jazz, dance to comedy. The next festivals will be staged in February and March 2008 and 2010. A major spin-off from the festival is the growth of the Wellington Fringe Festival (tel. 04/495-8015), which is a completely separate event run at the same time. It's now an annual event celebrating offbeat productions and innovative art forms.

Summer City Festival (tel. 04/801-3500), staged during January and February each year, launches Wellington's events calendar with more than 70 free activities such as the Teddy Bears' Picnic, the Rock Barge Concert on Oriental Parade, a Pacific Islands Festival, and Summer Shakespeare in the Botanic Gardens Dell. Montana World of Wearable Art (tel. 03/548-9299) is a theatrical costume spectacle not to be missed, now staged annually at the Events Centre Wellington in mid-September and early October. This 2-hour visual extravaganza attracts international entrants and sell-out audiences of over 22,000 -- not bad considering it started in Nelson in 1987 in a leaky tent with just 200 people watching. Montana Wellington International Jazz Festival features a superb roster of national and international jazz musicians performing modern jazz through the classics (mid- to late Oct at various city locations).

Martinborough Country Fair (tel. 06/306-9043) is a popular gathering of crafts artisans from around the country. Held the first Saturday in February and the first Saturday in March, it attracts about 30,000 visitors. Martinborough is about an hour's drive northeast of Wellington. Golden Shears (tel. 06/378-7373) is a 3-day international shearing contest that includes wool handling and sheep and goat shearing. It's held in late February or early March in Masterton, 103km (64 miles) northeast of Wellington. In November, catch a special 50-minute festival train from Wellington to the Toast Martinborough Wine, Food & Music Festival (tel. 06/306-9183). Shuttles run a continuous circuit within a 10km (6-mile) area of Martinborough's town square to Martinborough vineyards, where tastings take place with the winemakers.