Evans Bay Marina

Evans Bay is the reason a self-contained camper is worth having in Wellington. The city is dense, hilly and short of places to park a van overnight — and then there is this strip along the marina, looking straight across the harbour, a short drive from Te Papa and the Cook Strait ferry. Sunrise over the water from your own bed, in a capital city.

It is a designated self-contained site, which means the certificate on your window is not a formality here: without it you will be moved on. Numbers are limited and it fills from late afternoon in summer, so arrive early rather than after dinner. There are no facilities beyond the parking itself — the point is the location, not the amenities.

Most people use it as the night before or after the ferry crossing to Picton. That works well: you wake up twenty minutes from the terminal instead of driving in from somewhere out of town at six in the morning.