Long Bay Regional Park (Te Oneroa ō Kahu)
Kids & familyBeach Road, Long Bay, Auckland 0792
Clifftop walking trails plus swimming & kite flying in a beach park with BBQ & picnic sites.
Spending our whole lives in Tāmaki Makaurau,we've come to appreciate the great parks in our beautiful city, and wanted to share our knowledge and general information to help others: whether the playground is fenced, the parking is a mission, if there are toilets.. a general hub to help you find a good park.
Prams and access, scenery, toilets and water, parking, safety. These five decide whether a visit works, whoever you came with.
Playground, picnic and BBQ, and shade for family parks. Off-leash and walking tracks for dogs. Food and coffee nearby for a date. Nothing else counts.
The overall number averages whichever factors apply. Playground, prams and access, food and coffee nearby, and picnic and BBQ count half. They say more about how you’re visiting than about the park itself.
Every factor has a written 1, 3 and 5 to score against. A 1 on toilets and water means nothing on site. A 5 means an accessible one by the playground, and a fountain that works. So a number means the same thing in every park.
Nearly every park here has had its facilities read off a council or operator page, then dated and linked. The handful we haven’t got to yet say so on the page.
All eleven factors are written out at the full scale, inside How we rate a park.
It averages the factors that apply to that park: five shared ones, plus a few specific to whether it is a family, dog or scenic spot. Four of them count half as much as the rest, being playground, prams and access, food and coffee nearby, and picnic and BBQ. Those say more about how you are visiting than about the park itself.
That the facilities were read off a council or park-operator source on the date shown, and we linked what we used.
No. There is no sponsorship, no advertising and no paid placement anywhere on this guide. We try to maintain the integrity of this site as a hub for nature lovers.
Roughly once a week, when we sit down and review them. Most scores come from our own visits, though a few lean on online reviews or anecdotal opinion where we haven’t been ourselves. We try to stay as objective as we can.
Beach Road, Long Bay, Auckland 0792
Clifftop walking trails plus swimming & kite flying in a beach park with BBQ & picnic sites.
Pakuranga Heights, Auckland 2010
Sports hub with cricket pitches, a BMX park & a rugby club, plus swimming pools & a small museum.
13 Chartwell Avenue, Glenfield, Auckland 0629
Glenfield's main family park, with a big modern playground and plenty of flat grass.
Hibiscus Coast Highway, Orewa 0931
Three kilometres of flat, safe sand with a grass reserve running the whole length.
670 Manukau Road, One Tree Hill, Auckland 1051
Landmark volcanic peak providing panoramic views, 2 parks, memorial statues & a graveside obelisk.
63 Milford Road, Milford, Auckland 0620
A sheltered family beach at the mouth of the Wairau Creek, with the cliff walk to Takapuna at one end.
164 Brightside Road, Stanmore Bay, Whangaparāoa 0932
The peninsula's main recreation park, with a pool complex and a sheltered beach below it.
90R Wairere Road, The Gardens, Auckland 2016
A big rural park of paddock and bush, with pools, a flying fox and mountain bike trails.
Maraetai 2018
A wide safe beach with a wharf to jump off and a pub across the road.
Portage Road, New Lynn, Auckland 0600
New Lynn's main sports park, with a playground, a skate bowl and the Whau walkway off one corner.
94 Shelly Beach Road, Westhaven, Auckland 1011
Terraced harbour lawns under the bridge, with a heated saltwater pool below them.
90 Sunnynook Road, Sunnynook, Auckland 0620
Local fields with a playground and the Wairau Creek path running alongside.
5/7 Howe Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland 1011
Park (also called Tuna Mau) with trails, sports fields, tennis courts, a playground & picnic areas.
2 Claude Brookes Drive, Henderson, Auckland 0612
One of the west's best playgrounds: flying foxes, real tree shade, and toilets that are actually looked after.
15 Davies Avenue, Manukau City Centre, Auckland 2104
South Auckland's flagship playground, with a tower, giant slides, air swings and flying foxes.
Mairangi Bay, Auckland 0630
A compact sheltered bay with a grassy reserve, a surf club on the sand and cafes across the road.
Quadrant Road, Onehunga, Auckland 1061
Onehunga's civic park, with a colonial blockhouse, the local pools and a playground under old trees.
24 Tarahanga Street, Northcote, Auckland 0627
A dinosaur playground and a summer splash pad, sitting on the floor of a volcanic explosion crater.
31 Herdman Street, Waterview, Auckland 1026
Water play, a bike track for learners, a skate park and basketball, all in one park.
572-578 Blockhouse Bay Road, Blockhouse Bay, Auckland 0600
Sixteen hectares dropping down to the Whau, with a playground at the top and a boat ramp at the bottom.
71-91 Beachcroft Avenue, Onehunga, Auckland 1061
A saltwater lagoon and a big playground, with a footbridge over the motorway to the foreshore beaches.
528 Point Chevalier Road, Point Chevalier, Auckland 1022
A sheltered beach that holds the afternoon sun, with a wide grassy reserve behind the sand.
1 Buckley Avenue, Hobsonville, Auckland 0616
A new waterfront park on the old airbase, with a 4km coastal walk and a big fenced dog park at Bomb Point.
39 Neil Avenue, Te Atatū Peninsula, Auckland 0610
The peninsula's main green, with a playground and a link out to the walkway along the harbour edge.
109 Mill Road, Helensville 0800
A country town domain on the Kaipara River flats, with room for everything.
Corner Beaumont Street and Jellicoe, Jellicoe Street, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010
Public park incorporating parts of a former industrial site, with outdoor concerts, films & markets.
11 Central Road, Kingsland, Auckland 1021
A small Kingsland green with a good modern playground and a shaded lawn.
Waiuku 2123
A quiet riverside reserve at Waiuku, with a playground and a walkway following the water into town.