Tauranga Travel Guide

Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, around 2 and a half hours drive south east of Auckland. Formally a small fishing town (you cannot get nicer fish and chips anywhere!!) Although now the population has simply boomed, so traffic can be a bit of a bitch going in and out of the town (the roads were never designed for this many people) As far as accomodation goes, Tauranga pretty much just has small flag in motels. Nothing major, don't expect to find a four seasons or a Hilton. I guess the major attraction in Tauranga would be Mt Maunganui (mon-ga-nu-e) Its a beachside nightlife area. (Adelaidians, it can be compared to Glenelg) Great shopping, amazing beach (but oh so cleaner and prettier than glenelg) and the nightlife is incredible. Transportation in NZ is simple. drive!. Seriously  to get from one end of the north island to the other, it takes barely a day!! And Tauranga is a great place to base yourself for North Island sightseeing, its not farther than 2 hours from Auckland, Rotorua and Wellington. But its a small enough town to really get the nz experience (unlike Auckland, which is about as un nz as you can get!)  

Tauranga is a great small city, the sun is usually shining and the people like to have fun! Book accomodation before you arrive as in the summer it fills up fast. Nightlife happens on the harbour front. Go to the beach of Mount Maunganui (5min drive from cbd) There are shops and accomodation closer to the beach too. A very nice long white sand beach, good for surfing and chilling out in the summer. 

Tauranga is beautiful. It has some of the most consistantly warm weather in New Zealand. Most of the kiwis in the country are grown in that region. Great place to go fishing, swimming and it also has easy access to the Coromandel.

Never been out on the town so cant recommend nightlife. It is generaly known as a place where a lot of Kiwi people go in their retirement years, so draw your own conclusions