New Zealand has 27 active lighthouses around its coastline plus several heritage decommissioned towers. The oldest is Pencarrow Head, lit on 1 January 1859 with Mary Bennett as the country’s first woman keeper. The tallest is Dog Island in Foveaux Strait at 36 metres of Birmingham cast iron. The most visited is Cape Reinga, where Māori tradition says the spirits of the dead leap to Hawaiki.
This map shows the operating, automated and heritage lighthouses around the country. Click any for the build year, tower height, accessibility (some are an easy walk; others are a multi-day boat charter or strict no-access island), and the founding story.
NZ lighthouses, chronologically
- 1859Pencarrow Head LighthousePencarrow Head Lighthouse holds the distinction of being NZ’s first permanent lighthouse — lit on 1 January 1859 to mark the entrance to Wellington Harbour. Mary Bennett, widowed in 1858, was appointed keeper and served until 1865 — making her NZ’s first woman lighthouse keeper. The light was decommissioned in 1935 because increasing fog meant the high station was less effective than the low Baring Head light across the entrance. Now a Heritage NZ Category 1 site, accessed by walking or cycling along the Pencarrow Coast Road from Burdans Gate.
- 1865Tiritiri Matangi LighthouseTiritiri Matangi Lighthouse was the second on its site (replacing a smaller wooden tower) and has operated continuously since 1865 — the longest unbroken NZ lighthouse service. Originally manned, automated 1984. The cast-iron tower was built in Birmingham, shipped flat-pack and assembled on the island. It coexists with NZ’s most-visited bird sanctuary (Tiritiri Matangi) — walk from the ferry wharf takes about 30 minutes.
- 1865Taiaroa Head LighthouseTaiaroa Head has accumulated layers — the original Kāi Tahu pā (Pukekura), the Armstrong Disappearing Gun fortification (1880s, response to the Russian Scare), the lighthouse (1865), and the royal albatross colony established naturally from the 1930s. Visitor access through the Royal Albatross Centre with various tour packages. Lighthouse access is part of premium tours.
- 1865Dog Island LighthouseDog Island Lighthouse is NZ’s tallest at 36m. Built in 1865 in Birmingham, shipped flat-pack and assembled. The size was needed because Foveaux Strait is one of the world’s roughest stretches of water and ships needed a far-visible mark. Automated 1989. The Bluff-Oban (Stewart Island) ferry passes within view in good weather.
- 1869Nugget Point LighthouseNugget Point is a Catlins headland with a series of rocky islets (‘the Nuggets’) below, formed of jointed dolerite. The lighthouse was built in 1869, automated 1989. The 5-minute walk from the carpark to the lighthouse is one of NZ’s most photographed coastal walks. Family-friendly with safety rails. Combines naturally with the Roaring Bay seal-and-penguin viewing platform 1km away.
- 1870Farewell Spit LighthouseThe original Farewell Spit Lighthouse was a wooden tower built in 1870 at the tip of the spit. By 1897 sand erosion forced replacement with the current iron tower. Automated 1984. Public access is restricted to keep the Ramsar wetland intact — booked 4WD tours only. The spit accumulates sand at its tip; the lighthouse may need relocating again within decades.
- 1870Cape Campbell LighthouseCape Campbell Lighthouse was built in 1870 — one of NZ’s oldest stone lighthouse towers, with characteristic black-and-white horizontal stripes. Automated in 1986. The Cape Campbell Walkway is a privately-run 3-day coastal tramp using restored stone cottages as accommodation, ending at the lighthouse. Genuinely family-friendly multi-day option.
- 1876Cape Foulwind LighthouseCape Foulwind was named (unkindly) by James Cook in 1770 because of contrary winds. Lighthouse built 1876, automated 1986. The Cape Foulwind Walkway is the major regional family attraction — flat 90-minute one-way walk from the lighthouse carpark along the clifftops to a fur seal colony at Tauranga Bay. Both ends have road access so you can shuttle.
- 1877The Brothers LighthouseThe Brothers are two small rocky islets in the middle of Cook Strait. The lighthouse on North Brother was built in 1877 to mark the central hazard for shipping in the strait — automated 1990. The islet is now a tuatara sanctuary; permits restrict access to DOC and researchers. No public visits.
- 1878Akaroa Lighthouse (village)This wooden tower was the original Akaroa lighthouse — built in 1878 at the harbour heads, decommissioned in 1880 when the cast-iron Akaroa Head lighthouse replaced it. It survived in situ until 1980, then was relocated to Akaroa village as a heritage attraction. Open to the public; you can climb the spiral staircase. Combine with Akaroa village walking tours.
- 1879Cape Maria van Diemen LighthouseMotuopao Island Lighthouse marked the far north of NZ from 1879 until Cape Reinga took over in 1941. Decommissioning was driven partly by the difficulty of supplying the island. The Te Paki Coastal Track is the way to see the abandoned site — multi-day tramp from the Te Paki dunes (the giant dunes you can sandboard) along the coast. Family-friendly day-walk from Te Werahi Beach to view from the mainland.
- 1880Akaroa Head LighthouseAkaroa Head Lighthouse was built in 1880 to mark the harbour entrance for shipping into Akaroa, then a major French settler port. The original wooden Akaroa Lighthouse (replaced in 1880) survives — relocated to Akaroa village as a heritage attraction. The 1880 tower is on private farmland but visible from the road approach. Automated 1980.
- 1880Cape Saunders LighthouseCape Saunders sits at the east tip of the Otago Peninsula, marking the northern entrance to the deep Otago coast water. The lighthouse was built in 1880 and significantly restored in the 2020s. Active automated; viewing only from a respectful distance over the farm fence.
- 1881Cape Egmont LighthouseCape Egmont’s lighthouse has had a peripatetic history — built in Birmingham in 1864, originally erected on Mana Island near Wellington, then dismantled in 1877 and re-erected at Cape Egmont in 1881. The cast-iron design is one of NZ’s oldest functioning lighthouses. Automated 1986. Public road to the gate but the actual tower is on private farmland — viewing from outside the perimeter.
- 1885Motiti Island LighthouseMotiti Island Lighthouse was built in 1885 to mark shipping for the rapidly-growing Tauranga port. Automated 1981. The island is iwi-administered and access is by booked charter or arrangement with iwi. The lighthouse marks the approach for one of NZ’s busiest ports.
- 1894Stephens Island LighthouseStephens Island Lighthouse opened in 1894 — and in the same year the lighthouse keeper’s cat ‘Tibbles’ helped drive the Lyall’s wren to extinction. The story is somewhat mythologised (multiple cats; the bird was already in trouble) but it’s NZ’s most-cited example of how introduced predators arrived at conservation-critical sites with the people who built infrastructure. Highest focal height of any NZ lighthouse at 183m. Automated 1989. Strict permit-only access; major tuatara population.
- 1900East Cape LighthouseEast Cape Lighthouse was originally built on East Island offshore in 1900, but moved to its present clifftop location on the mainland in 1922. Automated 1985. The 746-step climb is a serious workout. Many visitors come at sunrise — the lighthouse claims the first sunrise of any NZ mainland point (despite Gisborne’s similar claim further south on the same coast). Driving access along East Cape Road from Te Araroa.
- 1910Cape Brett LighthouseCape Brett was built in 1910 to mark the eastern entrance to the Bay of Islands. Automated 1978; permanently unmanned since. The 16km tramping track from Rāwhiti is rough — counts as one of the harder one-day NZ tramps — but the keeper’s house at the lighthouse is now a 23-bunk DOC hut, so most trampers stay overnight. Boat visits also possible from Russell or Paihia.
- 1913Castlepoint LighthouseCastlepoint Lighthouse was built in 1913 and automated in 1988. The setting is among NZ’s most photographed lighthouse views — the lighthouse on the limestone reef with Castle Rock (a 162m sea stack) directly behind. Public walking track from the village. Family-friendly with safety rails. Accommodation in Castlepoint and Riversdale Beach. Within the new Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve, so a winter night-photography destination.
- 1929Cape Jackson LighthouseCape Jackson Lighthouse marks the entrance to Queen Charlotte Sound from Cook Strait. Built 1929; automated 1976. Boat access only; the cape is otherwise unreachable. Visible from the inter-island ferry route — passengers see it as a small white tower on the headland.
- 1935Baring Head LighthouseBaring Head Lighthouse was built in 1935 to replace the increasingly hard-to-see Pencarrow Head light (which still stands as a heritage building). Automated 1989. The site is now part of East Harbour Regional Park; walking access from Wainuiomata. Adjacent to it is NIWA’s atmospheric station — the southern-hemisphere reference point for CO2 monitoring. The site has dual heritage and scientific significance.
- 1941Cape Reinga LighthouseCape Reinga Lighthouse was built in 1941, replacing the older Motuopao Island light. Automated since 1987. The site has profound cultural significance — Te Rerenga Wairua, the leaping place of spirits, is where in Māori tradition the souls of the dead depart on their journey to Hawaiki. The lighthouse sits at the cliff edge where tides from the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet visibly offshore. Family-accessible by sealed road from Kaitaia (2 hours).
Cape Reinga Lighthouse
Cape Reinga is the most visited lighthouse in New Zealand, at the north-western tip of the mainland where Te Rerenga Wairua, the leaping place of spirits, sits in Māori tradition. Built in 1941 and automated in 1987, its light stands 165 metres above the sea, and it is reached on a sealed road north of Kaitaia and a short walk down from the car park.
Read the full guide to Cape Reinga Lighthouse.
Castlepoint Lighthouse
Castlepoint Lighthouse stands on a limestone reef on the Wairarapa coast, with the 162-metre sea stack of Castle Rock rising behind it, making it one of the most photographed lighthouse scenes in the country. It was built in 1913 and automated in 1988. A public walking track leads from the village to the base, with safety rails, so it suits families. The point now sits inside the Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve, so it doubles as one of the North Island’s better night-photography and stargazing spots.
Cape Palliser Lighthouse
Cape Palliser marks the southern tip of the North Island, on the south Wairarapa coast. The red-and-white banded cast-iron tower was first lit in 1897 and automated in 1986, and a flight of 258 steps climbs to it above the North Island’s largest New Zealand fur seal colony.
Read the full guide to Cape Palliser Lighthouse.
Nugget Point Lighthouse
Nugget Point sits on a headland in the Catlins, above a line of rocky islets known as the Nuggets. First lit in 1870 and automated in 1989, it is reached by a short clifftop walk to a viewing platform, with a yellow-eyed penguin hide at nearby Roaring Bay.
Read the full guide to Nugget Point Lighthouse.
Waipapa Point Lighthouse
Waipapa Point, at the western edge of the Catlins, is one of the few timber lighthouses still working in New Zealand. It was first lit in 1884 after the wreck of the SS Tararua on the reef offshore in 1881, which killed 131 people, still the country’s worst civilian shipwreck.
Read the full guide to Waipapa Point Lighthouse.
Lighthouse guides
In-depth guides to some of the best-known lighthouses on the map, each with its history, height and how to visit.
- Cape Reinga Lighthouse, the top of the North Island.
- Nugget Point Lighthouse, the Catlins.
- Akaroa Lighthouse, Banks Peninsula.
- Cape Egmont Lighthouse, Taranaki.
- Cape Palliser Lighthouse, the southern Wairarapa.
- Waipapa Point Lighthouse, Southland.
- Bean Rock Lighthouse, Auckland Harbour.
- East Cape Lighthouse, the East Coast.
More lighthouses you can visit
Several other lighthouses are easy or rewarding to reach. Pencarrow Head, across the harbour from Wellington, is the country’s oldest, first lit on 1 January 1859 with Mary Jane Bennett as New Zealand’s first and only woman lighthouse keeper. Tiritiri Matangi in the Hauraki Gulf pairs its 1865 light with an open sanctuary full of native birds. Cape Egmont in Taranaki frames Mount Taranaki on a clear day, and Cape Brett in the Bay of Islands rewards a long day walk. Out in Foveaux Strait, Dog Island near Bluff is the tallest lighthouse in the country at 36 metres of cast iron from 1865, best seen from the deck of the Stewart Island ferry. Use the map above to filter by region and check access for each site, and browse the rest of Newswire’s New Zealand map tools for more.
Frequently asked questions
How many lighthouses does New Zealand have?
Maritime New Zealand operates around 23 lighthouses plus about 75 smaller automated light beacons, and there are several decommissioned heritage towers on top of that. The map above plots the main operating and heritage lighthouses around the coast so you can see where they are.
Which lighthouses can you visit?
Cape Reinga, Castlepoint, Cape Palliser, Nugget Point, Waipapa Point and Pencarrow Head are all reachable by road and a short walk. Others, such as The Brothers, Stephens Island and Puysegur Point, sit on remote islands or headlands with no public access. The access note on each map point tells you which is which.
Are any New Zealand lighthouses still staffed?
No. Every New Zealand lighthouse is now automated and monitored remotely by Maritime New Zealand from Wellington. The last staffed station, The Brothers in Cook Strait, was de-manned in 1990, ending more than 130 years of resident lighthouse keepers.
What is the oldest lighthouse in New Zealand?
Pencarrow Head at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, first lit on 1 January 1859. It was also home to New Zealand’s first lighthouse keeper, Mary Jane Bennett, the only woman ever to hold the role here.
About this data
The map plots operating, automated and heritage lighthouses around New Zealand, compiled by Newswire from Maritime New Zealand, the Department of Conservation, Heritage New Zealand and lighthouse historical records. Each point carries the build year, tower and focal height where known, and an access note ranging from an easy walk to no public access. Facts such as the count of active lights and the automation dates come from Maritime New Zealand. If you find a detail that has changed, tell us in the comments.
Related tools
- NZ Conservation Areas Explorer — many lighthouses sit within reserves and parks.
- NZ Great Walks Explorer — Cape Brett tramp ends at the lighthouse.
- NZ Marine Reserves Explorer — coastal protection alongside historic navigation.
- NZ National Parks Explorer
- All Newswire data tools