New Plymouth Coastal Walkway

A melting pot of folks - young and old - congregate on the 13.2km New Plymouth Coastal Walkway. And whether it's to walk dogs, have a stroll, exercise, commute, navigate kids on scooters or cast fishing lines off the rocks, this award-winning public space has captured the imagination of the community.

The serpentine-shaped promenade undulates its way from Pioneer Park at Port Taranaki to the sprawling eastern beach, Bell Block. The well-established track snakes its way around jagged cliffs, black sand beaches and railway lines (a reminder you are in fact in a city reliant on a working port). Whilst hugging the shoreline, the path runs parallel to the dramatic seawall comprising rocky boulders engineered to bolster you from the Tasman Sea. The path deliberately has no edge to allow people to feel connected to nature. 

The striking Te Rewa Rewa Bridge across Mangatī Stream has become synonymous with the walkway, designed to look like a breaking wave or whale’s skeleton, and the bridge cleverly frames Mt Taranaki/Taranaki Maunga on a clear day. Len Lye’s Wind Wand (2000) is another landmark on the walkway, a giant red antenna poking out of the ground, not dissimilar to a Google map pin that swings to and fro in the breeze. Mesmerising and imposing in equal measure. 

The thoughtfully planned walkway boasts lots of benches for rest and reflection as well as inviting places to swim dotted intermittently. Whatever your chosen pastime here, chances are you’ll feel a strong connection to the whenua and of course, the community that’s blossomed as a result.