The highest volcanic cone on the isthmus, ten minutes from the city centre: a grassy crater fifty metres deep and a view that explains the whole city.
Auckland is built on a field of about fifty small volcanoes, and Maungawhau / Mount Eden, at 196 metres, is the highest on the isthmus.
The summit holds a near-perfect grassy crater about 50 metres deep. From the rim, the whole city makes sense at once: the Waitematā Harbour and Rangitoto to the north, the Manukau Harbour to the south, the CBD towers, and the other cones rising from the suburbs.
The slopes still show the terraces and storage pits of a Māori pā, and the mountain is sacred. Walk around the rim on the path, and stay out of the crater itself.
Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill, Mount Victoria in Devonport and North Head are the other summits worth climbing.
A short climb from Mount Eden village.
Begin at the cafés on Mount Eden Road.
Climb the footpaths past the old pā terraces.
Reach the rim and the view over the crater to the city.
Walk the rim path for the view over both harbours.
Descend for coffee, or continue on the Coast to Coast walkway.
Buses run along Mount Eden Road from the city; the summit is closed to cars, so walk up from the base.
The Coast to Coast Walkway crosses the summit on its way to One Tree Hill.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under their licences.
