Hataitai, Wellington: A Local's Guide

Hataitai sits on the eastern side of Mt Victoria, between the CBD and Kilbirnie, with its back to the forest and its feet almost in Evans Bay. The name means "the seaward side" in te reo Maori, and that is exactly what it is. On one side of the suburb you have the Mt Victoria town belt; on the other, a sheltered sliver of harbour with a small sandy beach, a rowing club and one of the best flat walking and cycling paths in Wellington City. In between sits a village shopping strip, two big sports parks and a community that has grown up around one of the city's best family formulas.

The Vibe

Hataitai has one of the nicest pieces of suburban geography in the city. The streets climb gently from Evans Bay up the back of Mt Victoria, lined with painted weatherboard homes, a handful of brick-and-tile family houses and the occasional modern renovation. The village around Moxham Avenue and Hataitai Road has the classic Wellington mix: a butcher, a dairy, a Thai takeaway, two cafes, a pharmacy and a supermarket, all within about two blocks.

The feel is quietly confident. Dogs are many, cargo bikes are common, Saturdays are for sport, and Sunday mornings are for walking over the bus tunnel into town for brunch. The suburb is just big enough to have its own identity and just small enough that you will see the same faces at the school gate, the cafe and the bowling club.

A Quick History

Hataitai was developed from the early twentieth century as the eastern extension of Mt Victoria, with subdivisions filling the hillside through the 1910s and 1920s. A lot of the original bungalows from that era are still standing. The big turning point was the opening of the Hataitai Bus Tunnel under Mt Victoria in 1907, which gave the suburb a direct walking and later bus connection to the CBD and effectively turned it into an inner-city suburb with hill suburb pricing.

Evans Bay Parade took its modern shape when the flats around the bay were reclaimed in the early twentieth century. The Hataitai Bowling Club, Tennis Club and the Badminton Hall (one of the oldest dedicated badminton facilities in the Southern Hemisphere) all trace back to the suburb's interwar heyday and are still running today.

Beach & Evans Bay

Hataitai Beach, tucked into the north-eastern corner of the suburb, is a small sandy beach on the sheltered side of Evans Bay. It is calm, family-friendly and a genuine swim option from December through April. There is a small changing room and playground, a clubhouse for the Hataitai Beach Rowing Club, and the kind of easy parking that the inner-city beaches dream about.

The Evans Bay Parade walking and cycling path is the other great piece of local infrastructure. The flat shared path runs from the bottom of Oriental Parade all the way around Evans Bay to Kilbirnie and onwards to Miramar and the airport, giving you one of the best waterfront loops in central New Zealand. Dolphins, little blue penguins and the occasional orca have all been seen from this path, so keep an eye on the water.

Things to Do in Hataitai

Hataitai Park, between Ruahine Street and Waipapa Road, is one of the biggest sports reserves in the city. On any given weekend it hosts touch, football, cricket, netball and rugby, plus regular fireworks nights and the odd community event. It is a big piece of flat green space that most of the eastern suburbs end up using at some point.

Walkers can climb directly up into the Mt Victoria town belt from the back of the suburb. A popular route ends at the Mt Victoria Lookout, giving you one of the best free views in the country. For a longer day, string Hataitai into a coastal loop with Lyall Bay and Miramar.

For events and broader ideas, our Wellington events and things to do in Wellington pages track the rest of the city.

Food & Drink

Hataitai's village strip has a strong run of cafes for a suburb this size. Kapai Hataitai and Delish Kitchen both do genuinely good brunch, The Library Cafe pulls a solid flat white, and a rotation of small lunch spots cover pies, sushi and Vietnamese rolls. The local Thai takeaway on Hataitai Road has a cult following, and there is a reliable pizza joint for Friday nights.

For dinner, most locals either walk over the bus tunnel into Courtenay Place and Te Aro, or drive the five minutes through to Kilbirnie or Miramar for the Roxy and its surrounds. Our Wellington restaurants, Wellington cafes and Wellington bars pages track the best of the wider city.

Living in Hataitai

Hataitai is one of the most consistently in-demand family suburbs in the city. The combination of a walk to town via the bus tunnel, a decent village, a beach, good schools and a flat cycle route into the CBD keeps it competitive. Housing is mostly early and mid-twentieth-century weatherboard and brick family homes, with some newer townhouses along Hataitai Road and a number of larger hillside renovations for those with the budget.

Schools in zone include Hataitai School, Evans Bay Intermediate, Wellington East Girls' College and Rongotai College. Transport is simple: Metlink bus route 24 runs through the Hataitai Bus Tunnel directly to Lambton Quay in about five minutes, the cycle path along Evans Bay is flat and fast, and the airport is a ten-minute drive.

The main trade-offs are the ones you would expect for a tightly packed inner suburb: narrow streets, tight on-street parking in the village and a noticeable whistle when the wind funnels through the Hataitai valley in a northerly. None of it is a dealbreaker.

One Last Thing

Hataitai is the Wellington suburb that gets the basics right. A proper village, a sheltered beach, a flat walk around Evans Bay, a bus tunnel to town and enough green space for every sport you ever played at school. Throw in a warm community and one of the best east-to-west waterfront routes in the country and you understand why locals do not often leave. For the bigger picture, head back to our Wellington City guide, check the Wellington weather and flick through this weekend's Wellington events.

Know a Hataitai spot we have missed? Flick it to us at [email protected] and we will add it to the next update. Steve and Kirstie, WellyBuzz.