Wellington Botanic Garden

The garden covers twenty-five hectares of steep hillside between the city and Kelburn, and the way to use it is downhill: take the cable car - running since 1902 - from Lambton Quay to the top, then walk down through the garden to the Glenmore Street gate and back into town, which turns a hill garden into an easy stroll. On the way are the Lady Norwood Rose Garden with a hundred-odd beds and a begonia house, native bush remnants in the gullies, a duck pond, the Space Place observatory at the Carter Observatory, and a sequence of formal plantings that change with the season. The garden holds original forest in parts, which is why tui and kereru are common in the middle of a capital city. It is free and open all hours; only the cable car and the observatory are ticketed. In summer the Soundshell hosts free evening concerts.

What you actually see

• The Lady Norwood Rose Garden - a hundred-odd beds, at their best from November.
• The 1902 cable car - the ride up that makes the visit downhill.
• The bush gullies - remnant native forest with tui and kereru.
• Space Place - the observatory at the top of the garden.

When to go

November to March for the roses; any season for the walk. Take the cable car up and walk down. Summer evenings have free concerts at the Soundshell.

Honest expectations

It is genuinely steep - going up on foot from Glenmore Street is a climb. The cable car is ticketed and queues at midday in summer. Wellington wind reaches the upper garden.

Nearby

Lambton Quay and the city are at the bottom; Otari-Wilton's Bush and Zealandia are west.