The small town of Katikati sits between Waihi Beach’s six miles of pristine sand and the metropolitan city of Tauranga on New Zealand’s North Island, in the Bay of Plenty district. Katikati is known for its colorful murals celebrating Katikati’s Māori heritage as well as its farming and timber milling past. Another form of outdoor art to explore here is the Haiku Pathway, an extensive collection of haiku poems carved into a series of boulders along the river’s edge. You can stop off on the way to take in sweeping views from the summit of nearby Mount Maunganui.

This region’s rich soil and golden sun make it the perfect place to grow avocados, kiwis, and orchard fruits. During the harvest, you can enjoy the local bounty at roadside stalls and discover local arts and crafts from independent stores in town. With miles of coastline meeting the cool waters of the bay, there are plenty of spots in Katikati for anglers to cast for dog snapper and gray triggerfish.

Most visitors head to Katikati during the Southern Hemisphere summer (December to March) and winter (June to September). Summer is peak time for dolphin spotting, when the waters of the bay are also home to penguins, seals, and whales. If you’re visiting during the winter, warming up with a dip in a hot spring is a popular pastime, and you’ll find yourself one of fewer visitors at the Bay of Plenty region’s beaches. Snow is rare in the colder months, but don’t forget to pack a waterproof layer or two, due to the chance of rain showers.

Spring and fall tend to experience more rain, but you’ll still find mountain bikers, horseback riders, and hikers taking on the drops at TECT All Terrain Park. Every other October, the Arts Festival in Tauranga, about 30 minutes’ drive away, brings 10 days of comedy, music, arts, and theatrical performances.

MacMillan Reserve

This combined park and nature reserve is on the edge of the bay, minutes from town, and is a great place to have a waterfront picnic and watch the sunset. Local wildlife is plentiful here, and it’s an ideal spot for birders, who can keep an eye out for native birds like kererū and tūī among the reeds.

Open Air Art

Where there were once blank walls throughout the city, you’ll now see grand art pieces depicting Māori and Keleha stories. Beginning in the 1990s, Katikati became known as New Zealand’s Mural Town, and it is currently home to nearly 80 murals. The community-based initiative to cover the town in huge works of art was driven by a goal to share the history of Katikati, and of New Zealand as a whole, with the rest of the world. You can wander the streets and discover the murals at random, or follow the map you can pick up at the Information Centre/Arts Junction.

Kaiate Falls

Around a 45-minute drive from Katikati, Kaiate Falls comprises a series of spectacular waterfalls and cascades. The figure-8 loop trail takes 45 minutes to an hour to complete, offering various vantage points of the falls and an inviting tree-fringed swimming hole below the lower cascade.