About

The Wellington Regional Trails project is a collaboration between the region’s district and city councils, the Greater Wellington Regional Council, Department of Conservation and WellingtonNZ.

The Wellington region is becoming wildly famous for its spectacular recreational trails. We want to make sure everyone knows about these unique experiences and that our residents in the Greater Wellington region get to enjoy them every day.

The individual regional landowners listed below have handpicked and approved 200 of our regions’ best trail experiences to showcase to our residents and the world. That’s close to 300 km of spectacular mountain biking, walking and horse riding tracks that weaves through some of Wellington’s 40,000 hectares of publicly owned land. These awesome trails stretch from Wellington CBD all the way to the northern Wairarapa and Kāpiti Coast.

From scenic coastal walks with panoramic views, to rugged hilltop biking trails, leisurely rambles through native forests, and bumpy riverbank tracks, there’s a tranquil, hair-raising (if that’s what you’re after), or picturesque pathway to suit everyone’s next adventure.

So, put on your shoes, saddle up your horse, and get your mountain bike at the ready because there’s a giant playground right here in Wellington’s back yard waiting to be explored.

For further information, please contact us.

The Wellington Regional Trails Framework

The aim of the Wellington Regional Trails project is to make Wellington’s trails world-class and wildly famous and, and as a result, improve the lifestyle of Wellingtonians through increased tourism and economic growth.

The Regional Trails brand and Wellington Regional Trails website are key deliverables of the project framework. Read the full Wellington Regional Trails for the Future Strategic Framework document.

Our structure

The Wellington Regional Trails Regional Coordinating Committee is made up of senior officials from the project’s partner organisations who report directly to the region’s councils and Department of Conservation’s Chief Executives.

The Committee works closely with the Community and Industry Engagement Forum who are made up of trail user representatives. Together these groups drive and collaborate ongoing support for the Wellington Regional Trails for the Future Strategic Framework and approve the key actions to be executed by the Regional Trails Framework Advisor (see the diagram below).

There are many trail user groups including: trampers, walkers, runners, cyclists and mountain bikers, horses and environmentalists. The Wellington Regional Trails website includes information to support those region-wide user groups. These include:

• Location, routes, interactive maps and trail descriptions (distance, elevations, standards, facilities and difficulty grading).
• Promotion and links to events and trails related operators such as hospitality, accommodation, products, tour and skills courses.