Wairarapa & Martinborough

The Wairarapa is Wellington's backyard — an hour through a mountain tunnel — and feels like another world. The Tararua and Rimutaka ranges hold the wind and rain on the western side, leaving the Wairarapa in a sunnier, drier pocket that has proved perfect for pinot noir. Martinborough is the epicentre: a small town built on a grid pattern in the 1880s, now ringed by some of New Zealand's finest wine estates — Ata Rangi, Palliser, Craggy Range Martinborough, and a dozen others within walking distance of the town square.

But the Wairarapa's character extends well beyond its cellars. Wharekauhau Country Estate, perched above Palliser Bay on a 5,500-acre working sheep station, is one of New Zealand's most complete lodge experiences — farm heritage, coastal drama, and exceptional hospitality in a property that has been welcoming guests for generations. Cape Palliser, at the region's southern tip, has New Zealand's largest fur seal colony and a lighthouse reachable by 258 steps, with the Kaikoura Ranges across the strait on clear days.