One of Auckland’s great walks – the coast to coast walk from Waitemata Harbour to Manukau Harbour (or vice versa) – across NZ in just a few hours! 2 Auckland Summits, 2 Premier Parks and 2 Coasts!
Walk Time | 4-5 hours, approx 16km |
Surface | Mostly paved |
Difficulty | 2/5 – some steeper sections and stairs |
Buggies / wheelchairs | 3/5 – some places have stars and plenty of hills and mountain climbing! |
Facilities | Public Toilets, Water, Cafe’s, Playgrounds, Parks |
Highlights | Two Coasts, Mountain Top Views, Learn about Auckland, Great cafe’s on the way |
Click for the Interactive Google Map

My family traversed the route from Downtown Auckland to Onehunga via the Auckland Domain, Mt Eden Summit, Cornwall Park, One Tree Hill / Maungakeikei Summit and
8 Key things to know:

- The walk includes plenty of climbing – see the elevation map below for a walk cross-section of the altitude.
- The views are fantastic from the summits
- The Domain, Mt Eden and Cornwall Park are stunning Auckland green spaces, along with many smaller parks and tree-lined routes along the way.
- There are plenty of toilets and drinking fountains along the way. Make sure you have a drink bottle however as it can at times be a few km between the drinking fountains – great for refilling.
- There are some wonderful restaurants, eateries and ice cream shops along the way to purchase food and refreshments.
- You are likely to discover plenty about Auckland during this walk, even if you live here.
- The walk is reasonably sign-posted but confusing in places – use our GPS Google Map on your phone and just follow the blue line!
- Most of the walk is suitable for buggies and wheelchairs – however, there are some stairs through Auckland Teachers College and Melville Park in particular. I would also advise an alternate route on Mt.Eden, staying on the ‘road’ and exiting via Mountain Road or Mt Eden Rd to get to Auckland Teachers College.


Alternate Routes:
There are perhaps two alternative routes you could use as a variation to what we completed – mostly over the first couple of km’s.
- Shown in red on the GPS Google MAP follow the Auckland City Council route going between Albert Park and Auckland University.
- Helen in her original post on this site went up Parnell Rise and then left into Domain Drive to get to the Auckland Domain. Parnell is a quaint and beautiful shopping area with restaurants, galleries, and boutiques.
Coast to Coast Sign Auckland Domain under the trees
Getting there and back:
Auckland Transport has bus services that cross from Beachcroft St to Downtown Auckland.
We completed the walk by taking a car to each end of the walk – parking at the Manukau Harbour end was easy in a side street but downtown we had to pay for parking.
