Wellington is known for award-winning eateries and coffee shops, but not so much for hiking. Located at the bottom of the North Island, the city is miles away from large mountain ranges or one of New Zealand’s 10 Great Walks (soon to become 11 with the addition of the Hump Ridge Track in Fiordland). I’m not aware of any well-known multiple-day hiking trails close to Wellington, but the city has some brilliant day walks instead.

The unique inner and outer Town Belts that encircle the capital are a beautiful, vast expanse of greenery with a network of well-maintained, marked walkways spreading from north to south.

The Green Belt concept was developed in England in the early 19th century when the large industrial cities struggled with overcrowding in ever-expanding suburbs. Based on that idea, the surveyors’ plan of Wellington in 1840 marks large areas on the hills surrounding the city as ‘reserved for the enjoyment of the public and not to be built upon’.

As Wellington’s population grew, the resolve to save this land from urban development weakened and Town Belt land was appropriated for public purposes. What parkland remains today, however, still fulfils its original purpose of simply being green and undeveloped.

And there is no better way to discover the city than to explore its well-marked trails that run between Mt Kaukau and the South Coast, through the inner city, residential suburbs, and the Town Belt, to the sea.

The walks are surprisingly varied and offer wonderful clifftop, city, harbour, and ocean views, and an occasional glimpse into the living room of a Wellingtonian. Some of the city’s most popular coffee shops are dotted along the way and you’re guaranteed a tremendously good workout, forever slogging up a hill (battling ferocious headwinds), stumbling down the other side (almost getting blown over by ferocious tailwinds), only to start again on another hill (why, headwinds again).

If you’re looking for further reading on any of the walkways, Wellington City Council does an excellent job of providing maps and track notes for every walk on their website. The only difficulty with so many walks to choose from is picking a couple to get to know the city in a few days.

I’ve selected our favourite eight walks – three in the city and southern suburbs, two walks to the north of Wellington, one along the Kapiti Coast, and two at Cape Palliser Bay at the southernmost point of the North Island, a 2-hour drive from Wellington.

If you don’t have time to do all eight, I suggest you pick one trail stretching south from the city and one meandering north and either explore the Kapiti Coast on the Escarpment Track or the remote Wairarapa.

Wellington has an extensive public transport system operating in the region, making it easy to make your back into the city at the end of these point-to-point trails. However, you will need a car to get to the lighthouse and the Putangirua Pinnacles at Cape Palliser Bay, where there’s no public transport.

Walkers and trail runners, who’re interested in a longer workout more than strolling, eating, and sightseeing along the way, can combine the Skyline and Northern walkways, which intersect at Mt Kaukau, and the City to Sea and Southern walkways that connect in Shorland Park at Island Bay.