Napier
A Provincial City Almost Entirely Rebuilt In The Art Deco Style After The 1931 Earthquake Flattened It, Now Holding One Of The Most Complete Collections Of 1930s Architecture Anywhere In The World, With Vintage Car Tours, An Annual Art Deco Festival And The Wider Hawke'S Bay Wine Region Spreading Out Behind It · Napier, Hawke's Bay
Napier sits on Hawke's Bay's coast on the North Island's east side, almost entirely rebuilt within two years of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed around 256 people and flattened the town centre in under three minutes. Local architects chose the then-fashionable Art Deco and Spanish Mission styles for the rebuild, and the result is one of the most complete collections of 1930s architecture anywhere in the world, concentrated along Emerson Street, Tennyson Street and the Marine Parade waterfront. The Art Deco Trust runs walking tours and vintage car rides past pastel facades and sunburst motifs, and the city's Art Deco Weekend each February fills the streets with 1920s costume and period cars. Marine Parade carries the National Aquarium of New Zealand, sculpted gardens and the Tom Parker Fountain along a stony beach. Behind the city, Hawke's Bay's wine country spreads across the Heretaunga Plains, among New Zealand's oldest wine regions, with cellar doors a short drive from the Art Deco centre and Cape Kidnappers' gannet colony reachable along the coast.
On Hawke's Bay, about 4.5 hours from Wellington, Napier, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
Napier's Art Deco streets, Marine Parade gardens and waterfront have no gate and are walkable at any hour, though the look changes with the light - early morning and golden hour suit photography best. The Art Deco Trust's i-SITE shop and guided walking tours run fixed daytime hours, roughly 9am to 5pm, with the vintage car tours departing on set time slots rather than on demand. The National Aquarium of New Zealand keeps standard daytime hours, typically 9am to 5pm, open every day of the year. Cellar doors across Hawke's Bay vary widely, some open daily, some weekends only outside summer, and Art Deco Weekend in February is a single fixed week - confirm the current date before building a trip around it.