If you’re ever lucky enough to visit Auckland, you’re in for a treat. Based around two large harbours on the North Island, this gorgeous city has plenty for tourists to see and experience, from iconic landmarks to top-class bars and eateries.

While it’s New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland often takes visitors by surprise thanks to its incredible scenic beauty. A modern and cosmopolitan city, it’s nonetheless a blend of urbanity and wilderness, with picture-perfect landscapes and wild coastlines never far from where you are.

If you’re planning on paying it a trip, here are four places we insist you visit.

Rotoroa Island

Owned by the city of Auckland, Rotoroa is a mere ferry ride away from this cosmopolitan hub. A stunning heritage site, it’s often overlooked by tourists in favor of better-known island paradises, but this is a mistake.

Formerly acting as a rehabilitation site run by the Salvation Army, Rotoroa has been allowed to go back to its roots, more recently becoming a conservation park. A veritable haven for native plants and animals, it’s home to dozens of fascinating species of flora and fauna.

If you want to do it right, pack a picnic, spread a blanket, sit back and appreciate its breathtaking beauty.

Auckland Domain Winter Gardens

If you want to experience natural beauty in the heart of Auckland, add this spot to your itinerary. This incredible inner-city park is filled with picturesque landscapes and is situated right next door to the Auckland Museum, meaning you can combine a visit to the two.

It’s hard to do Auckland Domain Winter Gardens justice, for its delights fill up the senses. Not only is its paradisiacal interior teeming with native flora, but the air is heavy with the perfume of flowers and the soft tinkling of the ponds and water features.

If you fancy restoring your sense of zen and getting some Insta worthy pictures while you do it, this is the spot for you.

Manukau Heads Lighthouse

For something a little different again, you might want to pay a visit to the historic Manukau Heads Lighthouse. Offering fantastic views across the surrounding area, you’ll need to climb a whopping 120 steps to get to the top.

Once you’re up there, the wooden structure acts as the perfect viewing platform, and you can even venture out onto the lightkeeper’s balcony if the fancy takes you. While you will need to have a head for heights, it’s well worth the vertigo-inducing ascent. If you’re really lucky, you might even spot rare Maui dolphins cresting the waves out to sea.

Tell us, if you were lucky enough to visit New Zealand, which of these places would you most want to visit?