Cuba Street
The street of cafés, record shops and the bucket fountain that soaks passers-by.
Duration
1 hr – 2 hrs 30 min
Best time
Late afternoon
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Cuba Street is named after a settler ship that arrived in 1840, not the country. It is Wellington's alternative street: record shops, vintage stores, roasters' cafés and music venues, along a pedestrianised stretch of a few hundred metres.
The Bucket Fountain, installed in 1969, is a kinetic sculpture of coloured buckets that fill and tip into one another — and splash passers-by, which was originally considered a fault. The city tried to remove it and backed down in the face of protests.
Getting there
In central Wellington, between Manners Street and Webb Street. Fifteen minutes on foot from the station.
Rules on site
The pedestrian section ends at Ghuznee Street: beyond that the street carries traffic. Many cafés close in the mid-afternoon and the bars take over.