Napier

Napier is a beautiful Art Deco New Zealand city with a seaport, located in Hawke’s Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island.

The population of Napier is about 61,500 as of the June 2015 estimate. About 18 kilometres south of Napier is the inland city of Hastings. These two neighbouring cities are often called “The Bay Cities” or “The Twin Cities” of New Zealand.

Napier has a Mediterranean-style climate with long, fine summers with temperatures in the mid 20s (°C) and short, mild winters. Its high sunshine hours and favorable winter and summer temperatures help make it the largest producer of pip and stone fruit and the second largest producer of wine grapes.

Napier is known as the Art Deco Capital of the world. Napier is a popular tourist city, with a unique concentration of 1930s Art Deco architecture, built after much of the city was razed in the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. A national disaster resulted in Napier becoming one of the purest Art Deco cities in the world. The quake destroyed large parts of the city. Rebuilding began almost immediately, and much of it was completed in two years. Every February, Napier celebrates it’s heritage with the Art Deco weekend – a stylish celebration of all things 1930’s, including vintage cars, fashion and music.

Napier’s other special attractions include the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers. The 13 hectare reserve includes the Saddle and Black Reef gannet colonies. It also has one of the most photographed tourist attractions in the country, a statue on Marine Parade called Pania of the Reef.