On Yer Bike
Feel that crisp spring air as you pedal up mountain biking trails to the best views in town, and free-wheel down to your post-ride coffee and nibbles (and fluffies for the kids). The super keen mountain biking community of Dunedin has created a network of trails to match the skills of everyone from family groups with pre-schoolers on tag-alongs, to competitive riders looking for that downhill thrill.
The ever-lengthening cycle ways and shared pedestrian and cycle paths around Otago Harbour and the city form a network that takes you to some of most scenic parts of Dunedin. Whether you are cycling the flat paths, or taking to the hill trails, you can hire bikes to suit the occasion from a number of local vendors including Dunedin eBike Hire.
Read more about mountain biking and all kinds of cycling in Dunedin.
Seafood for Catching and Feasting
Dunedin’s impressive coastline, peaceful rivers, tidal estuaries, sheltered Otago Harbour and hinterland all present fishing opportunities galore for beginners and seasoned professionals alike. It’s a great way to fish while away a few hours in glorious surroundings and with any luck, catch dinner. If fishing’s not your thing, but you still love a good seafood feast, then stop in at one of the city’s specialist seafood restaurants for the freshest local blue cod, whitebait, littleneck clams, sole, brill, monk-fish and more.
Action Stations
Love is in the air at the Taiaroa Head Albatross Colony – you know its spring when the Royal Albatross present regal displays to attract a mate in breeding season. Head out to the Otago Peninsula for a guided tour of the Royal Albatross Centre and then nip over to Natures Wonders and be guided to Penguin Beach where Hoiho Yellow Eyed Penguins and Korora Little Blue Penguins scurry to their burrows.
Discover why Dunedin is a thriving Unesco City of Literature by joining one of the several excursions offered by Dunedin literary walking tours. You’ll have worked up an appetite, so head back out to the irresistible Otago Peninsula for High Tea at Larnach Castle, followed by a leisurely stroll in this Garden of International Significance.
Golfing Goodness
Modern golf originated in Scotland – so it’s only fitting that Dunedin, the 'Edinburgh of the south’ is home to so many well-regarded courses. Discover coastal links, expansive rural idylls, or charming 9-hole courses snuggling up to the city centre. Get out your driver and go.
Street Art for Spring
Look up, look around and spot the ever-increasing number of street art gems in Ōtepoti Dunedin, bringing central city walls to life, and spreading into the suburbs. One of the latest to appear tapped into the city's cafe culture with a Be Freesmith work at Daily Coffee on Princes Street. In early 2020 Sophie Photographe of France completed seven animal portraits among Dunedin's city streets as a part of an urban safari. This followed on from 2019, when creatures seemingly escaped onto Highgate from the Otago Museum animal attic, and two travel-themed murals by Dunedin artist Frank Gordon appeared in the waterfront industrial area. A street artist’s homage to a Dunedin taonga/treasure emerged in 2018 when Tyler Kennedy created a striking mural of Ralph Hotere on a Carrol Street building.