24 hours in Auckland: what to see

The Sky Tower is visited first: the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere, with its transparent glass platform under your feet, offers a first overview of the city and its two harbors.

Heading down to the sea you reach the Viaduct Harbour, the port district renovated for the America's Cup, today full of restaurants and sailboats moored along the docks.

Continuing you enter the Auckland Domain, the city's oldest park, which hosts the War Memorial Museum, with its collections of Maori art and culture among the most important in the country.

For lunch, the restaurants of the Viaduct Harbour or downtown offer fresh fish and New Zealand and Pacific cuisine.

Mount Eden is the city's highest volcanic cone: its grassy crater can be traversed on foot with 360-degree views of Auckland's entire isthmus.

A ferry instead crosses the harbor to Devonport, the historic suburb with Victorian houses and the headland of North Head, an ancient coastal defense position with explorable underground galleries.

As evening falls, heading back to the Viaduct Harbour, the restaurants overlooking the harbor remain the most convenient option for dinner, with sailboats illuminated on the water.

Sky Tower, Viaduct Harbour, and War Memorial Museum already tell Auckland's urban side well, while an afternoon choice between Mount Eden and Devonport completes the picture with the volcanic or historical side.

The gulf islands, reachable by ferry, and a trip to the west coast beaches remain chapters for a second journey. Watching the white sails of Viaduct Harbour with Sky Tower in the background sums up Auckland better than anything else.