Experience the best of Coromandel

Coromandel Town sits on the sheltered west coast of the peninsula, facing the Hauraki Gulf, and grew in the 1850s when gold was found nearby. Kauri timber followed, and the town keeps wooden colonial buildings along its main street, a small mining museum and the studios of potters and painters. A narrow-gauge railway built by a potter climbs through replanted native forest behind the town.

Across the spine of the peninsula, the east coast has the beaches that draw most visitors: Cathedral Cove with its sea arch near Hahei, Hot Water Beach where heated water seeps up through the sand, and Whitianga on Mercury Bay. Coromandel Forest Park has kauri walks, and the Karangahake Gorge to the south has old gold-mining tunnels open to walkers.

Green-lipped mussels from the harbour farms and local oysters turn up on café menus, along with smoked fish and a good deal of coffee. In December the pohutukawa trees along the shore flower red, and the coast road from Thames runs beneath them. Summer is the beach season.