Te Papa – New Zealand’s 🇳🇿 #1 Museum and Top Attraction in Wellington

Join us on tour around Te Papa Tongarewa - New Zealand's most famous interactive museum.

Located in downtown Wellington, Te Papa is the biggest and most visited museum in New Zealand, spreading across 390,000 sq ft on six levels. Deemed to be years ahead of anything similar, this giant edifice on Wellington's waterfront makes one of the biggest national museums in the world.

Open year round and completely free of charge, the Te Papa museum welcomes more than 1.5 million visitors per year. Here you'll find everything from a giant squid and a traditional Maori home to masterpieces of the world's greatest painters, VR and modern art installations.

So, let’s take you in.

We started off on level 5, where we discovered New Zealand’s national art collection alongside some of the newest commissions. Thanks to a headset, we learned about the author and the history of each piece. Then we checked out the Hear Colour Room for total internal reflection where we could hear the colors - figuratively and literally.

On level 4, we were intrigued by a cool Maori tattoo exhibition and learned so much about the history and culture of the Pacific people.

Next up was level 2. Here we found an exhibition that tells the story of the Gallipoli Campaign through the eyes and words of eight Kiwi soldiers. Everything looked so realistic that it made us feel emotional. For this one-of-a-kind exhibition, Te Papa joined forces with Weta Workshops - New Zealand’s best prop and special effect studio. We loved their work so much that we created a video of our visit to Weta and we will be releasing it soon. Stay tuned!

On the Ground level, we walked through the Bush City to discover an interesting cave full of stalactites and stalagmites, crossed a draw-bridge and had some fun at the fossil dig. We also learned why Wellington was called the Quake City.

Once we were done exploring nature outside, we continued exploring nature inside Te Papa. Te Taiao (Nature) on level 2 offered an amazing interactive experience, unlike any other museum. We discovered hundreds of species native to New Zealand, many of which are extinct. We also heard some amazing bird sounds and discovered the smell of Rotorua, the Sulphur City.

In the earthquake section, we tried to build a structure and see whether it would stand when affected by an earthquake. Then, we went on to experience a simulated earthquake, even though we had already felt 4 real ones while being in New Zealand!

Level 2 was also hiding a giant squid, the biggest invertebrate ever discovered. It had been found in Antarctica and weighed around 300kg!

We’d been at the Te Papa museum for over five hours, and we almost missed Level 3, named Blood, Earth and Fire. Here we saw what New Zealand looked like before the settlers arrived. We also found a super fun section with all the animal species that weren’t native to the Islands but were brought by the newcomers.

Level 3 also featured a cool cinema that tells the stories of many interesting people who came to visit and made New Zealand their home!

All in all, Te Papa Tengarewa museum was an amazing experience.

00:00 Let’s Visit Te Papa Museum
00:06 Intro
01:16 It’s Free and Nothing Short of Amazing
01:41 Level 5: Welcome to the World of Toi Art
02:04 Hear Colour Room
02:12 Level 4: Maori Tattoo Exhibition
02:34 The Story of the Pacific People
03:25 Learning About Maori History and Culture
04:08 Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War by Weta Workshops
07:59 Red Poppies to Remember the Fallen Heroes
08:27 Ground Floor: Bush City
09:33 Why is Wellington called Quake City?
10:25 Level 2: Going into Nature
11:27 New Zealand Bird Sounds
11:49 What Rotorua, the Sulphur City Smells Like
12:59 What an Earthquake Feels like?
14:54 Giant Squid: the Largest Invertebrate Ever Discovered
15:21 Level 3: Blood, Earth, and Fire
16:25 Real Life New Zealand Stories