recommend booking a unit with easy walking distance from the Pier - so you are around the shops, restaurants and where the tours depart from. Small market when the cruise boats come in I think Monday and Wednesday. The Pier Restaurant - fab staff and huge meals. We took the ferry over to Russell - not much to do there - we walked around had morning tea and lunch - but it was lovely and peaceful. We didn't swim as the wind came off the water each afternoon. We did some lovely drives using Paihia as our base. Book early for Dolphin etc tours during busy time of Feb. We left it to last day which was best re sun/wind and the tours we wanted were booked out. Feb is a peak season which we did not realise. Very relaxed pace. 3 nights is all I would book for (we had four - one too many - we were ready to move on).
Paihai is the gem in the beautiful Bay of Islands and its waterfront is just wonderful. Great views, superb restaurants, clean and tidy and with a mix of old and contempory building, Paihai has something for everybody. We wandered around to the boat club which is over the bridge near Waitangi. They were busy as a cruise ship was in. However it was so cute to watch the (volunteer?) ladies preparing orders in the kitchen. Good old fashioned service, and preparation, reminded me of an era gone past. God love you ladies. Time has not wearied you.
The waterfront area is clean, with heritage, well maintained buildings mixed with modern sculptures, lots of seating. With resaurants on the waterfront and shops across the road.
If you don't have to go there, do not go. Not much ther Boring! If you are starving, go to Chinese place. King ( something) I haven't eaten chines in years but it was good for value. On Monday night it was full
Rather exposed, handy for catching ferries.Facing the prevailing windThe harbour is fun to ferry across or to take a day trip to outer islands
Has all you need but is a bit noisy and busy for a quite stroll. Take a drive up to the golf course for lovely views or the ferry to Russell for true tranquility and beauty.
Nice food, great places to sit and watch the activity in the harbour. Lots going on. Loved the markets
Good restaurants with lovely views; Harbour area quite often hosting craft markets or farmers markets. Some nice gift shops.
Great services and very clean area. Very well service with focus on safety and customers experience.
As part of our visit to the Bali Hi apartment hotel, we also found the area and harbour of Paihia very pleasant with some nice handy shopt and a variety of restaurants for most tastes.Most venues appear to offer some Wi-Fi connexions of varying sorts i.e. some limited, some paid for.Our days spent there were delightful.