Heritage trails

Dunedin is known as the Edinburgh of the South and is home to many beautiful examples of Gothic, Italianate, Palladian and Georgian architectural forms. If you love gazing skywards at cathedral spires or wandering the hallowed halls of the University, there is an architectural style to take your fancy.

Pre book with us! 

If any of the options on these pages take your fancy, contact us as a lot of them require pre-booking. 

Day One

  • Start early with breakfast in town, before catching a double-decker bus tour. You can hop off half way around for a tour of Olveston, Dunedin's historic home. Afterwards, hop back on the bus to complete the tour of Dunedin's architectural highlights.
  • Lunch at a cafe in the Octagon will give you a rest before you wander down the main street past the City Court House and over to the Dunedin Railway Station. Around the corner, pausing to admire the forbidding architectural style of Dunedin's former prison, you can make your way to the Otago Settlers Museum.
  • For an unusual twist on Dunedin's history, take a tour of Speights Brewery just up the road in Rattray Street. You can just take the tour or combine it with dinner in the Alehouse Restaurant.

Day Two

  • Drive out to Matanaka Farm Buildings, just past Waikouaiti, to experience the rugged isolated lifestyle of early farming families.
  • After fish and chips for lunch in Waikouaiti, Otago's oldest European settlement, head back into town via the Signal Hill Lookout. You will be awed by the mammoth bronze statues commemorating 100 years of British sovereignty. The view of the city and Otago Harbour will also take your breath away.
  • Head down to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame to take in some of the history that shaped our sporting mad nation.
  • After your full and varied day, take a stroll down to the wharf for dinner right on the harbourside.

Weekend

  • Start your day with a drive along Portobello Road to Glenfalloch. You can spend the morning wandering through the gardens and have lunch at the cafe
  • After lunch, continue along Portobello Road until you reach Broad Bay. Here you will find the Fletcher House, built in 1909 and the only fully restored and furnished Edwardian villa in New Zealand.
  • Return to Company Bay and drive up the windy road to Larnach Castle, New Zealand's only castle for your prebooked night of luxury. You will love the view from your room and will be able to spend a large part of the next day wandering through the castle grounds, pausing for refreshments in the cafe before returning to town, via the spectacular views from the 'high road'.

Last reviewed: 16 Oct 2009 10:35am

Side image - Olveston.

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