Karangahape Road is the best street in Auckland to spend a half day on foot, and New Zealand's only cannabis museum is a two-minute walk from it. Here is how we would do it, with our own favourites for coffee, lunch, dinner and everything in between. We live here, so these are the places we actually go.
Why K Road
It is a kilometre of independent shops, galleries, record stores, vintage, bars and some of the best food in the country, sitting on a ridge above the city with the 1920s St Kevin's Arcade in the middle of it. In 2026 the Michelin Guide arrived in New Zealand and gave six K Road restaurants a nod in one go. Nowhere else in Auckland has that density. It is also a short walk from Karanga-a-Hape Station, so you can do the whole day without a car.
The plan
Late morning: coffee first
Our pick is Daily Daily, a small, serious coffee shop that does a very good cold brew if the weather is on your side. If you want to stay close to the museum, No. 7 Cafe is right next door to us on Beresford Square and is excellent. Either way, you are caffeinated and a few minutes from the front door.
Midday: the museum
Whakamana Cannabis Museum is at 19 Beresford Square, in the big heritage church just below the Pitt Street end of K Road. Entry is free, it takes about an hour, and one of the team will walk you through. You will see a six thousand year history of the plant, the science of cannabinoids and terpenes, the story of prohibition and reform in Aotearoa, and you can see and smell the medicinal cannabis products currently available to patients in New Zealand. There is a curated shop of vaporisers and glass on the way out. Everything you need to know is in Plan your visit.
If you hold a medicinal cannabis prescription, you can use your own medicine at our device tables, and we have high-end vaporisers to hire for $10 for two hours. Bring your prescription or pharmacy label.
Lunch: munchies, ranked
You are going to be hungry. Our top four:
- Lollo's Pizza. The MVP, and it is on site at the museum. Roman-style pizza al taglio on 72-hour fermented dough, sold by the slab. Wednesday to Friday, 12pm to 4pm. If you are here on those days, do not overthink it.
- Lebanese Grocer, 61/65 Pitt Street, a minute from the museum. Chef Elie Assaf's deli and lunch counter: shawarma off the spit, falafel fried to order, haraa fries, and house-made hummus, labneh and toum you can take home in tubs. Tuesday to Saturday, lunchtime only.
- Uncle Man's, 277 Karangahape Road. Proper Malaysian, halal, cheap and fast. Roti canai made in front of you, nasi lemak, beef rendang, and a teh tarik that people cross town for.
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Sneaky Snacky. Fried chicken burgers on glazed doughnuts. They give you gloves. It is as ridiculous as it sounds and it is very good. Also does ramen if you want to be sensible.
Afternoon: the strip
Walk east from the museum along K Road. St Kevin's Arcade is the heart of it: a 1920s arcade with big windows over Myers Park, galleries, vintage and a cluster of the restaurants below. Around it you will find record shops, second-hand bookshops, vintage clothing, tattoo studios, small galleries and the kind of shops that only survive on this street. If it is the first Thursday of the month, the whole road opens late for First Thursdays, with galleries, music and pop-ups until well into the evening.
Cut down to Myers Park below the arcade if you want green space and a sit down. It is a five-minute loop back up to the strip.
Evening: dinner
This is where K Road punches well above its weight. Our four favourites, and every one of them is in the 2026 Michelin Guide:
- Tempero, 352 Karangahape Road. Modern Brazilian and Latin American from Fabio Bernardini and Tiffany Low. Gnocchi in lemon cream, picanha with farofa, cocktails made from scratch. Bib Gourmand.
- Bar Magda, 25B Cross Street. A subterranean speakeasy doing modern Filipino food and serious cocktails. The entrance is hard to find on purpose. Michelin Selected.
- Apéro Food and Wine, 280 Karangahape Road. A small, intimate wine bar with a short menu that changes constantly. Go for the pommes dauphine and stay for whatever they are pouring. Bib Gourmand. Weekdays only.
- Gemmayze Street, St Kevin's Arcade. Lebanese, named after Beirut's nightlife strip, with a tabletop picnic or a set mezze that will feed a table. Bib Gourmand. Book ahead.
All four are within a ten-minute walk of the museum. Book, especially on Friday and Saturday, and check days: Apéro does not open at the weekend.
Late: music
If you have anything left, the basement venues under St Kevin's Arcade, Whammy Bar and The Wine Cellar, have live music most nights. Check what is on before you go.
The short version
Coffee at Daily Daily or No. 7, an hour at Whakamana, pizza at Lollo's or a shawarma from Lebanese Grocer, wander east through St Kevin's Arcade, dinner at Tempero or Gemmayze Street, a nightcap at Bar Magda. Train in, train out. That is a very good day in Auckland.
Related: Plan your visit to Whakamana Cannabis Museum. Hours, parking and what to expect.
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