Auckland

• New Year's & summer holidays · Jan 1 – Jan 31 · school break

  Auckland's New Year - beaches at the Coromandel and Bay of Islands packed, the city quietly drifting between BBQs.

• Day after New Year's Day · Jan 1-7 · holiday

  A nationwide public holiday - many businesses close and the city takes on a festive note.

• Auckland Anniversary Day & Regatta · Jan 29-Feb 4 · festival

  The Waitemata fills with sails for the world's biggest one-day regatta - beaches and harbour packed.

• Waitangi Day · Feb 5-11 · holiday

  National holiday marking the founding treaty - ceremonies in Northland, BBQs everywhere else.

• Auckland Pride Festival · Feb 5 – Feb 25 · festival

  Three weeks of events - the Ponsonby Road party is the city's biggest Pride moment.

• Auckland Lantern Festival · Feb 12 – Feb 25 · festival

  Lunar New Year celebrated in the Domain - lights, food stalls, a gentle three-night festival.

• Chinese New Year · Feb 12 – Feb 25 · festival

  The spring festival - lion dances, red lanterns and family reunions; the calendar’s biggest celebration and busiest travel week.

• Auckland Cup Week · Feb 26 – Feb 11 · sport

  Auckland Cup Week: New Zealand's richest thoroughbred racing carnival, anchored by the historic Auckland Cup and New Zealand Derby, drawing the country's top horses to Ellerslie each early March.

• Pasifika Festival · Mar 12-18 · festival

  The largest Pacific Island festival in the world - music and food across Western Springs' lakeside.

• Easter · Mar 26 – Mar 8 · religious

  Holy Week into Easter - processions and quiet reflection give way to a celebratory weekend.

• ANZAC Day · Apr 23-29 · holiday

  Dawn service at the War Memorial Museum; businesses closed all morning, then a quiet public holiday.

• Matariki · Jun 18 – Jul 1 · religious

  Māori New Year, marked by a public holiday and dawn ceremonies - a quiet, reflective addition to the calendar.

• Winter wet stretch · Jul 9 – Aug 5 · holiday

  Auckland's mid-winter is wet and dim - cheap, quiet, but waterproof gear required.

• Whitebait Season · Sep 3 – Sep 25 · festival

  Whitebait Season: each spring the translucent fingerlings of native fish run New Zealand's river mouths, and whitebait fritters briefly appear on menus nationwide — a fiercely local, fleeting delicacy.

• Auckland Diwali · Oct 29-Nov 4 · festival

  Diwali at Aotea Square - fireworks, Bollywood stages, the city's Indian community putting on its biggest cultural night.

a reason to go mixed worth knowing about