View of Auckland City from the summit of Mt Eden

Coast to coast walkway auckland

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 Time4-5 hours, approx 16km
SurfaceMostly paved
Difficulty2/5 – some steeper sections and stairs
Buggies / wheelchairs3/5 – some places have stars and plenty of hills and mountain climbing!
FacilitiesPublic Toilets, Water, Cafe’s, Playgrounds, Parks
HighlightsTwo Coasts, Mountain Top Views, Learn about Auckland, Great cafe’s on the way

Click for the Interactive Google Map

View of Auckland City from the summit of Mt Eden
View of Auckland City from the summit of Mt Eden

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 Jelicoe Park. We completed the route on our bikes in about 3 hours (kids 6-12 years old). Allow 4-5 hours to walk from Coast to Coast.

8 Key things to know:

Ice Cream and Restaurant at Cornwall Park
Ice Cream at Cornwall Park
  1. The walk includes plenty of climbing – see the elevation map below for a walk cross-section of the altitude.
  2. The views are fantastic from the summits
  3. The Domain, Mt Eden and Cornwall Park are stunning Auckland green spaces, along with many smaller parks and tree-lined routes along the way.
  4. 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.
  5. There are some wonderful restaurants, eateries and ice cream shops along the way to purchase food and refreshments.
  6. You are likely to discover plenty about Auckland during this walk, even if you live here.
  7. The walk is reasonably sign-posted but confusing in places – use our GPS Google Map on your phone and just follow the blue line!
  8. 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.
Elevation from Downtown Auckland to Mt Eden Summit – maximum altitude approx 180m
Mt Eden Summit to the Manukau Harbour

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.

  1. Shown in red on the GPS Google MAP follow the Auckland City Council route going between Albert Park and Auckland University.
  2. 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.

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.

One Tree Hill / Maungakeikei Summit
One Tree Hill / Maungakeikei Summit