Wellington Budget Travel Guide introduces budget travelers to the capital city of New Zealand. I write this travel guide to showcase all that Wellington has to offer and at the same time, provide useful travel information to visit the city. I hope that you will enjoy reading this guide and can derive useful information to use during your visit there.
About Wellington
Wellington is the capital as well as third biggest city in New Zealand. It is located on the southern tip of North Island overlooking Cook Strait towards South Island. On a clear day, you can see the Kaikoura Ranges across the strait. The metropolitan area of Wellington comprises Wellington City, Porirua City, Lower Hutt City and Upper Hutt City.
Wellington was named after Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington of the Battle of Waterloo. It took over from Auckland the role of capital in 1865, as its location was deemed more appropriate as the capital.
Wellington enjoys a temperate marine climate, with temperatures usually staying within a band from 4°C to 25°C. January and February are the warmest months, when average high reaches 20.3°C (69°F) while July is the coldest month, with average low of 6.3°C (43°F). June is the wettest month followed by July, with precipitation of over 136 mm (5.35 inches). February is the driest month, with precipitation of just 62 mm (2.44 inches).
The Wellington International Airport is located in Rongotai, about 5 km from downtown, between the Miramar peninsula and Mount Victoria.
From the airport, you can take the Airport Flyer Bus to Wellington City. The fare is NZ$8.00 per adult. You enjoy a 20% discount when you pay using the Snapper electronic ticketing card. (I'll explain what's Snapper in the "Getting around" section.)
Budget Travel within Wellington
There are two main bus operators in Wellington: GO Wellington and Valley Flyer. Of the two, GO Wellington it the older and bigger company, tracing its history to 1904. Valley Flyer is the other bus operator. Both belong to the same parent, Infratil. When taking these buses, you can pay using the Snapper Card.
Snapper is a contactless stored-value smart card available from retailers throughout Wellington and the Hutt Valley.
Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?
The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!
Our Flight Checker helps travelers compare flights and get the lowest fare for their trips. If you're flying somewhere, use our Flight Checker to compare the rates from different airlines. To use it, enter where you will be flying from, where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.
Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.
