In short
Wellington is the southernmost capital in the world and the most compact in New Zealand: the centre is crossed on foot in twenty minutes, wedged between a harbour and steep hills.
Cuba Street is the street of cafés, record shops and second-hand clothes. Te Aro holds the nightlife. Oriental Bay is the seafront promenade. Kelburn, at the top of the cable car, holds the botanic garden and the university.
Arriving and getting around
Wellington is the compulsory crossing point between the two islands. The Interislander and Bluebridge ferries cross Cook Strait to Picton in about three and a half hours, cars included. The crossing is famously scenic and regularly rough: the strait is one of the windiest stretches of water in the world.
The airport is eight kilometres out, with a short runway bounded by sea at both ends — landings are lively and diversions happen in high wind.
The city is walked. Te Papa, the national museum, is free to enter.
What it really costs
Cheaper than Auckland for housing, Wellington is still a capital: the public service and the creative sector hold central rents up.
Cafés are a claimed local institution, with a high density of roasters for the size of the city.
When to come
January–March: the driest and most settled period. Spring is the windiest.
Wellington carries its "Windy Welly" nickname without exaggeration: gusts regularly exceed 100 km/h and flights are cancelled accordingly.
What nobody tells you
Zealandia is a fenced sanctuary in the middle of the city, cleared of introduced predators, where endemic birds have been reintroduced. The birds leave it: you hear tui and kaka in the streets of neighbouring suburbs, which happens in no other capital.
The Kelburn cable car climbs in five minutes; the walk down through the botanic garden and the cemetery is free and the better route.
Wellington is built on an active fault and public buildings display their seismic rating. Earthquake instructions are serious and posted everywhere.