Museums in New Zealand: One Near Each of Our 20 Cities

From the Hundertwasser Art Centre in Whangārei to Transport World in Invercargill, here’s one museum or heritage site near every Explore city, picked from each city’s own guide to history and culture. Many are free, and most are open every day.

Updated November 2026 · Built from the 20 Explore city guides

At a glance

North Island

Town Basin, Whangārei

Hundertwasser Art Centre

• Paid entry
• Open 7 days
• Māori art gallery

The last building completed to Friedensreich Hundertwasser's designs, opened in 2022 with the largest collection of his original art outside Vienna. It also houses the Wairau Māori Art Gallery. The building's colourful, wavy exterior is worth a look even if you don't go in.

Full guide on Explore WhangāreiMore history and culture near Whangārei

Auckland Domain, Parnell

Auckland War Memorial Museum

• Koha for NZ residents
• Māori and Pacific taonga
• Late Tuesdays

Tāmaki Paenga Hira holds the country's most significant collections of Māori and Pacific taonga, alongside natural history and the war memorial halls. Aucklanders get in free with proof of address, other New Zealanders by donation, and international visitors pay.

Full guide on Explore AucklandMore history and culture near Auckland

King Street, Waiuku, beside the estuary

Waiuku Museum

• Volunteer run
• Historic buildings
• Limited hours

A volunteer-run museum on Tamakae Reserve, with Māori and early colonial artefacts and a cluster of old buildings including a cottage, a school, a dairy and a lock-up. It opens for a few hours a week, so check its times before you go; groups can book.

Full guide on Explore PukekoheMore history and culture near Pukekohe

Grantham Street, central Hamilton

Te Whare Taonga o Waikato

• Free
• Open daily
• Exscite for kids

Hamilton's museum and gallery on the banks of the Waikato River, with more than 30,000 objects telling Māori and regional stories, plus changing exhibitions. Exscite, its hands-on science space, is a hit with children and charges a small fee.

Full guide on Explore HamiltonMore history and culture near Hamilton

Central Tauranga, near the waterfront

The Elms Te Papa

• Mission House 1847
• Guided tour included
• Tue to Sat

One of the Bay of Plenty's oldest heritage sites: a Church Missionary Society station founded in 1838, with the Georgian-style Mission House of 1847, a library from 1838 and gardens dating to the 1830s. Entry includes a guided tour that tells the story of early Māori and European contact.

Full guide on Explore TaurangaMore history and culture near Tauranga

Tarawera Road, 15 km from Rotorua

Te Wairoa, the Buried Village

• Paid entry
• Wed to Sun
• 1886 eruption

New Zealand's most visited archaeological site, where the 1886 Tarawera eruption buried the village of Te Wairoa. Walk among excavated ruins, see recovered artefacts in the museum, and follow the trail to Te Wairoa Falls. Rotorua Museum's strengthening finished in 2026, but it isn't due to reopen until 2028.

Full guide on Explore RotoruaMore history and culture near Rotorua

Story Place, central Taupō

Taupō Museum and Art Gallery

• Kids free
• Open daily
• Ora Garden

The district museum tells the story of the volcanic eruptions that formed Lake Taupō and of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, with local social history and changing art shows. Next door, the free Ora Garden of Wellbeing is a calm spot to sit.

Full guide on Explore TaupōMore history and culture near Taupō

Kelvin Park, Stout Street, Gisborne

Tairāwhiti Museum

• Locals free
• $5 adults
• Café

Gisborne's museum and art gallery, a five-minute walk from town, with changing exhibitions on the region's history, art and Māori heritage. Entry is cheap for visitors and free every day for local residents and children 12 and under.

Full guide on Explore GisborneMore history and culture near Gisborne

Tennyson Street and Marine Parade, Napier

Kahukura Hawke's Bay Museum

• Free
• Open daily
• 1931 earthquake

Napier's museum and art gallery, formerly MTG Hawke's Bay, with taonga Māori, fine art and costume collections. Its Shockwave exhibition tells the story of the 1931 earthquake that flattened Napier and led to its Art Deco rebuild, which makes it a good first stop before walking the town.

Full guide on Explore NapierMore history and culture near Napier

Civic Square, central Hastings

Hastings Art Gallery

• Free
• Tue to Sat
• Contemporary art

Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga is Hawke's Bay's public art gallery, showing local, national and international contemporary art in a distinctive 1970s building beside the library. Exhibitions change through the year; for history, Kahukura in Napier is 20 minutes away.

Full guide on Explore HastingsMore history and culture near Hastings

St Aubyn Street, central New Plymouth

Puke Ariki

• Free
• Open daily
• Museum and library

A museum, library and research centre in one waterfront building, telling Māori and Pākehā stories of Taranaki and its natural history. It's free, and a short walk from the Coastal Walkway and the Len Lye Centre.

Full guide on Explore New PlymouthMore history and culture near New Plymouth

Queen's Park, Whanganui

Whanganui Regional Museum

• Free
• Open daily
• Moa display

A bicultural museum in Pukenamu Queen's Park with important Whanganui taonga Māori, a well-known moa display and river heritage. It's free and open every day; the Sarjeant Gallery is right next door.

Full guide on Explore WhanganuiMore history and culture near Whanganui

Inside Te Manawa, Main Street

New Zealand Rugby Museum

• Paid entry
• Open daily
• Since 1969

The world's first museum devoted to rugby union, with jerseys, photos, balls and trophies from the 1870s to today, covering men's, women's, sevens and provincial rugby. It sits inside Te Manawa, whose own museum and gallery are free.

Full guide on Explore Palmerston NorthMore history and culture near Palmerston North

Cable Street, Wellington waterfront

Te Papa Tongarewa

• Free for NZ residents
• Open daily
• National museum

New Zealand's national museum, spread over several floors on the waterfront, with Māori and Pacific collections, natural history, New Zealand history and art. It's free for New Zealand residents and international under-16s; international adults pay a 48-hour ticket.

Full guide on Explore WellingtonMore history and culture near Wellington

South Island

Trafalgar and Hardy Streets, Nelson

Nelson Provincial Museum

• Locals free
• Open daily
• Oldest museum

New Zealand's oldest museum, tracing its origins to 1841, now in a modern building in the city centre. The Regional Gallery covers Nelson Tasman from its geology to today, with temporary exhibitions upstairs.

Full guide on Explore NelsonMore history and culture near Nelson

Omaka Aerodrome, 5 km from Blenheim

Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre

• Paid entry
• Open 7 days
• Wētā Workshop sets

One of the world's largest collections of First World War aircraft, much of it on loan from Sir Peter Jackson, shown in dramatic scenes with Wētā Workshop figures. The Dangerous Skies hall covers the Second World War.

Full guide on Explore BlenheimMore history and culture near Blenheim

66 Gloucester Street, central Christchurch

Canterbury Museum (pop-up)

• Free
• Open daily
• Main site closed

Founded in 1867, the museum holds 2.3 million objects. Its Rolleston Avenue building is closed for a major redevelopment, so highlights and temporary exhibitions are shown at a pop-up venue on Gloucester Street, free and open daily.

Full guide on Explore ChristchurchMore history and culture near Christchurch

George Street, Timaru

Te Ana Māori Rock Art Centre

• Paid entry
• Rock art tours
• Tue to Sat

South Canterbury holds more Māori rock art than anywhere else in New Zealand, drawn in charcoal and red ochre by Ngāi Tahu ancestors. The centre's exhibition explains it, and it's the place to book guided tours to a rock art site inland, since most sites are on private land.

Full guide on Explore TimaruMore history and culture near Timaru

Queens Gardens, central Dunedin

Toitū Otago Settlers Museum

• Free
• Open daily
• Research centre

Dunedin's social history museum, telling the stories of Otago's people from early Māori to later arrivals, set across an Edwardian building and an old Art Deco bus garage full of vintage transport. It's free and open every day.

Full guide on Explore DunedinMore history and culture near Dunedin

Tay Street, Invercargill

Bill Richardson Transport World

• Paid entry
• 300+ vehicles
• Open daily

The largest private automotive museum of its kind in the world, with more than 300 vehicles, from vintage trucks and petrol pumps to wearable art and family exhibits. Allow a couple of hours, and pair it with Classic Motorcycle Mecca in the city centre.

Full guide on Explore InvercargillMore history and culture near Invercargill

Before you go

• Many are free. Te Papa is free for New Zealand residents, Auckland Museum is free for Aucklanders and by donation for other New Zealanders, and the museums in Hamilton, Napier, New Plymouth, Whanganui, Dunedin and Christchurch are free for everyone. Special exhibitions can cost extra.
• Check the days. Smaller museums and heritage sites open fewer days: The Elms and Hastings Art Gallery close Sundays and Mondays, the Buried Village is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and Waiuku Museum opens only a few hours a week.
• Bring proof of address. Local residents get free or cheaper entry at several museums, but usually need to show it.
• Some are closed for work. Canterbury Museum’s main building and Rotorua Museum are both shut for redevelopment; Christchurch has a free pop-up in the meantime.

Questions people ask

What is the best museum in New Zealand?

Te Papa in Wellington is the national museum and the biggest, and it’s free for New Zealand residents. Auckland Museum holds the most significant Māori and Pacific collections. For something different, Omaka in Blenheim and Transport World in Invercargill draw visitors from all over the country.

Which museums are free?

Of the 20 here, Waikato Museum, Kahukura in Napier, Hastings Art Gallery, Puke Ariki, Whanganui Regional Museum, Toitū and the Canterbury Museum pop-up are free for everyone. Te Papa is free for residents, and several others are free for locals.

Where can I learn about Māori history?

Auckland Museum and Te Papa have the largest taonga collections, Te Ana in Timaru shows Ngāi Tahu rock art, and the Taupō and Whanganui museums tell the stories of Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Whanganui iwi. The Buried Village near Rotorua tells the story of Te Wairoa and the 1886 eruption.

What’s good for kids on a wet day?

Te Papa, Auckland Museum, Waikato Museum’s Exscite, Puke Ariki and Toitū all work well for families, and Transport World and Omaka are popular with children who like machines.

Looking for more in one city? See all 20 Explore city guides. Also see Day walks in New Zealand and Beaches in New Zealand.