10 of the best hotels in Auckland, from sea-view retreats to urban art escapes

Auckland’s hotel scene begins in the Central Business District (CBD), where a new post-pandemic energy has seen a wave of openings including restaurants and rooftop bars. Away from the shadow of the needle-pointed Sky Tower, seaside neighbourhoods such as Takapuna, Devonport and Mission Bay attract quirky breweries and top-notch cafes, and all around you’ll find hilltop viewpoints, award-winning vineyards and white-sand beaches.

1. SO Auckland

Best for city views  

White wakes line the expanse of Waitematā Harbour, which separates the city centre from its North Shore suburbs across the bay. It looks especially impressive from Hi-SO, the 16th-floor cocktail bar at SO Auckland. Order a high&loud for a smoky-sweet mezcal number, while taking in views of the high-rises along the waterfront. The hotel sets itself apart from other chains in the CBD with avant-garde art across its lobby, which feels part-exhibition, part-nightclub. Running routes are laid out on the in-room screens to help you see the best of Auckland, and with a spa, sauna, and pillow menu, unwinding in style is guaranteed.

Rooms: From NZ$398 (£192), room only. 

2. Parohe Island Retreat

Best for wellness

Thickly forested Kawau Island lies just beyond the urban orbit, a mile offshore in the Hauraki Gulf, 70 minutes north by road and water taxi from the CBD. At the innermost end of the harbour around which the island wraps itself, Parohe is a wellness retreat ensconced in 50 acres of native bush, with yoga platforms, massage huts, saunas and outdoor baths to help guests detach — a feeling also achieved with assistance from the resident alpacas, Karen and Steve. The retreat has a schedule of activities encouraging guests to connect with land and sea, including volleyball, fishing and pétanque. With locally sourced veggie meals to enjoy by the firepit as the stars gather, you’ll feel blissed out in no time.

Rooms: From NZ$650 (£315), all inclusive. 

3. Hotel Fitzroy

Best for a home from home 

Ponsonby may once have been known as ‘Pon-snobby’, thanks to its range of boutiques and upmarket brunch spots, but the area provides an entirely different kind of weekend getaway for those keen to escape the CBD’s glass jungle. Enter Hotel Fitzroy — a 10-room converted Victorian villa, curated by the Fable hotel group, which also has properties in the CBD and the South Island. The aim here is for a more intimate experience, to feel at home, but with some luxury touches. You can look forward to 5pm cocktail hour and hors d’oeuvres in the plush velvet library, where drinks are complimentary for guests until midnight, plus a breakfast delivered to your door with restaurant-level attention to detail.

Rooms: From NZ$405 (£196), B&B. 

4. Hotel Britomart

Best for eco chic

One of the newest arrivals in the CBD is Hotel Britomart, an understated haven among the high-rises, all cool brushed woods with calming white and green accents. The colour palette is a fitting one for this pioneering eco-hotel, New Zealand’s first to gain a 5 Green Star award for sustainability. The location makes it popular among both holidaymakers and locals, who happily fill the tables of its superb fish restaurant, Kingi. Local sourcing is so championed that the menu names those responsible for each catch. The rooms, meanwhile, have a feature wall made of the volcanic black sand ubiquitous on New Zealand’s west coast beaches, exposed handmade brickwork and compostable slippers. Going green has never looked so good. 

Rooms: From NZ$377 (£183), room only. 

5. Emerald Inn

Best for family fun

Across the harbour from the CBD, Takapuna is a laid-back beach hub and an ideal spot for multi-generational trips. Emerald Inn is set back from the restaurants of every stripe that line Anzac Street, with a pool, garden and BBQ area all primed for get-togethers. Alongside the two villas and a cottage for longer stays, you’ll find studios and self-catered suites whose botanical design touches pick up on the subtropical greenery brushing up against the picture windows. There are enough local activities for families to while away a week here, from the Sunday beachside market to Lake Pupuke, a freshwater-filled volcanic crater where you can try paddleboarding or windsurfing.

Rooms: From NZ$235 (£114), room only. 

6. Elements of Castor Bay

Best for self-catering 

Boutique accommodation is competitively priced in Auckland, but if you’re on a mission to blow the budget, you may as well do so at Elements of Castor Bay. The luxury holiday home on the North Shore has three rooms, all with fully equipped kitchens and floor-to-ceiling windows. You don’t have to fill up the property to book a weekday night for two (May to October), or any number of the rooms for exclusive use. Stays are tailored to the guest, and for an additional fee, your hosts can arrange private chefs, yoga teachers and golf instructors. Among the readily available relaxation options, pick between a swim in the infinity pool or the Pacific; Elements also has kayaks and paddleboards for guests’ use.

Rooms: From NZ$1,350 (£654), room only. 

7. The Convent Hotel

Best for eccentricity

There are hotels with interesting backstories — and then there’s the Convent in Grey Lynn, which was a nunnery until the late 1980s. Following some colourful goings-on at its next incarnation, as a boarding house once known as ‘Auckland’s Hotel California’, it has since been transformed into a chic boutique space where religious artifacts are interspersed with pop art posters, and Italian dinners are dished up at its restaurant, Ada. Among the Convent’s 22 rooms and suites are the Chapel, Sisters Quarters and Sanctuary, featuring brickwork, vaulting and other details from its former life, and new eclectic furnishings and patterned fabrics taking the look just beyond monastic vows of simplicity.

Rooms: From NZ$169 (£82), room only. 

8.  Mudbrick

Best for wine buffs

A half-hour ferry away from the CBD, Waiheke Island is the Auckland region’s wine capital, and this winery is a cut above. Vineyard sleeps at Mudbrick could mean anything from a converted WWII-era wooden hut to French chateau-style bedrooms. Over three decades, it has become a favourite among day-trippers, fine diners and a string of celebrity guests, from Taylor Swift to Cindy Crawford, and regularly receives gold medals for its vintages. From its hilltop perch, the winery’s lodge has a hot tub and outdoor sofas from which to enjoy 360-degree views, and stocks the vineyard’s sparkling wine in the fridge for all guests. Keep the tasting session going with a visit to the restaurant, with wine pairings for two- or three-course set menu options.

Rooms: From NZ$750 (£364), B&B. 

9. Ohtel 

Best for art-lovers

Auckland is also known as the City of Sails, in a nod to its devoted yachting community. You’ll see some impressive ships docked near Ohtel at Viaduct Harbour — a section of the Waitematā harbourfront that’s a 10-minute walk from the CBD. There’s a quirky aesthetic at play in this brightly coloured hotel beside the marina, mostly courtesy of managing director Adam Cunningham, whose personally collected artworks are now dotted across this Auckland outpost. He also designed much of the furniture: there are mid-century-inspired pieces dotted all over the property, along with geometrically patterned rugs, and decorative prints and sculptures that bring variety throughout. Soak up the design while you test out the record player — there’s one in every room.

Rooms: From NZ$227 (£110), room only.

10. Warblers Retreat

Best for nature-lovers

Campervanning is much loved among New Zealanders — they account for a good half of all vehicles on the road in the country’s South Island — but if you’re not quite ready to embrace #vanlife, Warblers Retreat has found a way to ease guests in. Tucked away in suburban Albany, this luxury eco retreat has five options for guests. Two of them are vintage VW campers complete with outdoor grills, showers overlooking wooded slopes below, and decking on which to watch the sun dip beneath the trees, making it a popular choice for romantic breaks. Barb and Dave Milina, the proprietors — and, in Barb’s case, celebrant for the resort’s weddings — hand-deliver breakfast supplies to guests, and dish up dinner on request, too. While the retreat does have more conventional sleeps in a cottage or studio, the VW brings a very Kiwi style of low-key luxe.

Rooms: From NZ$480 (£233), B&B.