Wellington's history sits in layers you can walk: Māori settlement around Te Whanganui-a-Tara, the 1840 New Zealand Company landing at Petone, the 1855 quake that lifted the shoreline, and the capital's move here in 1865.
The Māori history floor holds Te Hau ki Tūranga, an 1842 carved meeting house from Rongowhakaata, plus the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi displays. Open 10:00–18:00 daily; entry free, Māori-guided tours NZ$25.
Mount Victoria's summit, Tangi te Keo in Te Reo, is named for the taniwha Whātaitai's spirit which flew here as a bird after the taniwha stranded in the harbour. Free access; the 196m summit reads the whole Te Whanganui-a-Tara story.
The 1939 Wellington Provincial Centennial Memorial marks where the Aurora landed the first New Zealand Company settlers on 22 January 1840, on land already held by Te Āti Awa. Open Wed–Sun 12:00–16:00, free entry.
The 1932 Carillon tower carries 74 bells; beneath it the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior holds a soldier repatriated from Longueval, France in 2004. The park sits on the old Mount Cook prison and barracks ridge.
Free hour-long tours run every hour 10:00–16:00 through the 1922 Parliament House, the 1899 Gothic Revival Parliamentary Library and Basil Spence's 1979 Beehive. The base-isolation gallery shows the 417 lead-rubber bearings installed in the 1990s.
Built of kauri and matai to imitate stone, this is the second-largest wooden building on earth after Tōdai-ji in Nara. It housed the entire public service until 1990; the ground-floor room and Premier's office are open free, weekdays 09:00–16:30.
Consecrated 1866, an all-timber Gothic Revival church built entirely from native rimu, matai and kauri by Reverend Frederick Thatcher. US Marines stationed here in 1942–44 gave the memorial flags still hanging in the nave. Open 09:30–17:00, entry by koha.
On 10 April 1968 the inter-island ferry Wahine struck Barrett Reef in a 275 km/h storm and 53 people died. The mast stands at Frank Kitts Park; the Seatoun shore where survivors washed up carries the plaque and the wreck site view.
The 1888 wooden villa where the writer was born in 1888 and lived until age five, restored to its 1890s state using her story 'Prelude' as the guide. Open Tue–Sun 10:00–16:00; NZ$10 adults, NZ$5 concession.
Wellington's first European cemetery, in use 1840–1892, cut in two by the motorway in 1968 — 3,700 graves were exhumed and reinterred in a vault. Headstones of the New Zealand Company's early settlers and Premier Richard Seddon's family remain.
Running since 1902 to serve the new Kelburn subdivision, the line still climbs 120m in five minutes. The free museum at the top holds the original 1905 winding gear and Grip Car No. 3. Cable car NZ$6 return, museum free, open 09:30–17:00.
One of the few Wellington valleys the 1855 quake and later demolition left intact — rows of 1870s–1890s workers' cottages on Aro Street and Devon Street, built for the quarry and brickworks labourers who supplied the growing capital.