Food And Wine Pair Perfectly At These 10 Top Wineries With Outstanding Restaurants

As the gateway to New Zealand, there is a huge amount to see and do in Auckland, but the country's largest city isn’t that budget-friendly.

Auckland has enough to fill even the most demanding traveler’s itinerary – but New Zealand’s largest city isn’t the cheapest place to visit. Dining out and cultural activities are often on the pricier side, yet Auckland has a wealth of natural beauty including parks, beaches and native forests that are all free to visit.

Even with traffic on the 405, it probably would have taken at most three hours for Victoria Pardo Uzitas to drive from her home in San Diego to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles to see a performance of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Instead, she and her teenage daughter crossed the border to Tijuana, flew to Mexico City, enjoyed classic tacos al pastor and churros, saw a Frida Kahlo masterpiece at the Museo de Arte Moderno, and yes, saw Taylor Swift.

Auckland is New Zealand’s biggest city, but like the rest of the country, it still has a suburban, family-focused vibe.

In an inspirational demonstration of passion, preparation and poise, Naomi Onwufuju, Junior Minister of Tourism of the British Virgin Islands, brought home the winner’s plaque at the 19th Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Regional Tourism Youth Congress, held at Beaches Turks & Caicos in Providenciales on Friday. Competing against students from 13 other Caribbean destinations, the 16-year-old skillfully presented three innovative strategies her country could undertake to develop and implement an initiative whereby tourism stakeholders and their allied partners can work together to enhance access, safety, use, and enjoyment of the destination’s tourism offerings by visitors with disabilities.

Australian entrepreneur Jason Renwick came to Copenhagen in 2005, travelling in and out of the country before opening vegan cafe Souls in 2016. He then teamed up with British chef Brett Lavender, who had spent much of his career cooking in luxury hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants in Australia, New Zealand and Japan, to open Ark restaurant, in central Copenhagen, in 2020. The seasonal plant-based menu is a surprise for diners on the day, but might include signature dishes such as barbecued blue oyster mushrooms or deceptively complex combinations like turnip with apple and macadamia. 

When German teacher Richard Schirrmann converted a former classroom to accommodate young travellers on a budget in 1909, no one could have predicted the global movement he would inspire. Three years later, Schirrmann bought a castle near Dortmund to establish the world’s first youth hostel and by the 1920s, Germany had 2,000 low-cost hostels dotted around its rural areas. But it wasn’t until a group of Brits brought the idea back to the UK and launched the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) in 1930 that the new movement gained its poster child.

While I was born and bred here in New Zealand – or Aotearoa, the country's Māori-language name – I’ve spent enough years away to understand how it’s a destination that can feel comfortingly familiar and completely strange to visitors all at once. 

When Delta decided to revamp its wine lists recently—across main cabin international and higher-fare classes—the airline couldn’t just sip and spit its way to a new drinks menu. For one thing, wines don’t taste the same when you’re 35,000 feet off the ground.

Auckland’s 1.6 million people are spread out across a large geographic area, in many distinct neighborhoods.

Depending on how you count it, you could say I've been a pescatarian for seven years. Or just five months.

On Saturday, violence erupted across Israel and Gaza in one of the worst conflicts the region has seen in decades, according to The New York Times. After Hamas militants began launching thousands of rockets and infiltrating Israeli towns early Saturday morning, the conflict has continued to escalate, with Israel’s military responding with massive air strikes. The violence has left thousands dead, according to CNN. Thousands more are injured on both sides.