Christmas in Auckland: the beautiful Franklin Road Christmas lights

After spending a few weekends at the beach, we decided it was time to go urban and get the vibe of Auckland Christmas! Friday night, and a beautiful evening, so we headed to the CBD and the waterfront. We wandered through the Viaduct and down to the fantastic Wynyard Quarter. This recently revitalised part of the waterfront is now a vibrant mix of bars and restaurants, working wharfs and harbour views. Perfect for an evening promenade.
We stopped off at the popular Playspace—a playground reflecting the area’s maritime past complete with sand, recycled building materials and over-sized kina and mussel shells to clamber over. Nestled under the imposing silos is the Silo night market. The night market runs on Friday evenings from 5 pm ‘til late and on Saturday afternoons, 12 noon ‘til 6 pm with a wide range of tasty food options, a bar, DJs and regular outdoor film viewings on offer. It’s a great place to hang out with kids.


From there, we walked over to Victoria Park to check out the Telecom Christmas tree. It’s about a 15-minute walk. There are live music and colouring-in on offer and phone boxes for calls to Santa for last-minute Christmas list updates. The tree is lit up every night ‘til Boxing Day and beanbags are provided so you can sit under the tree, watch the lights, and listen to Christmas music to your heart’s content.
It wasn’t quite dark enough for the show so we wandered over to Franklin Road to check out the famed Christmas lights. It’s a 15-minute walk from Vic Park to Franklin Road. Bravo to the residents of Franklin Road! The lights are a 19-year community tradition and it’s a pretty magical setting made even better by some very talented busking musicians. The lights are on every night until Christmas Eve from 6:30 pm ‘til 11 pm, but after 9 pm is best when it is fully dark. You can drive the street but we think it’s well worth the walk up and back down the road. We retraced our steps back into the CBD stopping at the now fully lit Christmas tree before heading home to put one very tired, but very happy, four year old to bed.


Well done Christmassy Auckland, you’re beautiful!