Guide12 hours Hamilton

A place for breakfast lovers, Miltons Canteen may unintentionally become your daily destination for a morning brew and delicious bite. Serving Supreme coffee and Noble & Savage tea alongside muffins, scones, slices, doughnuts, scrolls, brioches, cake, quesadillas, frittatas, wraps, sammies, chia puddings and raw slices, you can see what we mean when we say this place is good…

A place to meet, eat and drink, Riverbank Lane is home to a number of bespoke businesses making a visit an easy one stop shop to cover all bases. Need a quick trim while you’re here? Fox & Kennedy Barbers can have you looking sharp in no time. Fancy browsing books for a while? The towering shelves at Browsers should keep you occupied. Or if it’s another dose of caffeine you’re after, then SL28 will make you a cup of the good stuff no questions asked – except maybe for how you’d like it.

What’s a visit to a new city without checking out the local museum? Hamilton is not short on history, and you can find out all about it at the Waikato Museum (Te Whare Taonga o Waikato). Wander around the thirteen galleries and be amazed by one of the museum’s major highlights, the 200-year-old waka taua (war canoe) Te Winika, which was gifted to the museum by the late Maori Queen.

If you thought all the action in Hamilton was in the centre, then think again, coz the East side sure has some good things going on too. In particular, Lovegrove Lane, an upmarket alleyway where boutique businesses sit side by side and offer you anything from yoga classes to freshly pressed juice. After a framing service or a bunch of pretty florals? Framing House and The Flower Crate have you covered.

If you’re now hankering for some lunch, you’re in luck because the sixth and final shed in Lovegrove Lane is home to GG’s, a cosy café with good vibes aplenty. Decorated with 70s nick nacks that will leave you reminiscing over your family bach, GG’s are well known for their chocolate lamingtons and delicious savoury scones, as well as their free, functional WIFI.

We hear you, we hear you, all that wandering through awe-inspiring greenery can leave you feeling a little fatigued, so why not pop back over to Hamilton Central and have yourself a caffeine pick me up from the people who know a quality coffee when they see one, Rocket Coffee Roasters. Open till 4:00pm, you best make it before the doors closed for a chance to see them roasting the very coffee you’re drinking.

Ever tried to find a needle in a stack of hay? No neither have we, but we get the point. Lucky we’re here to tell you exactly where this little store filled with eccentric arts, crafts, homewares and records is so you needn’t get lost along the way. Happy to tread its own path, Needle in the Hay is a clever shop full of rad goods where you just might be pleasantly surprised by what you can find.

Late afternoon means it’s about time for a cold one, and what better place than Craft, a bar that prides itself on having no less than fifteen beers on tap. If you’ve timed it well, don’t pass up the Three Beer Thursday on from 4:00 – 7:00pm where you’ll get three new beers for $15.

Dinner time, so we’re recommending one of the best in the business. Dough Bros is homely, creative and full of great menu offerings like wood-fired pizzas, shared plates and the Hamilton-famous doughnuts. A separate vegan menu means no one misses out here, while you can wash it all down with local beers from Shunter’s Yard Brewery, or a range of sweet wines, sherry and port digestifs.

Don’t call it a night just yet! On the same street is Wonderhorse, an establishment at the heart of Hamilton’s night scene, with amazing service, a whole lot of soul and a menu of magnificent cocktails. The place for good chats, group hangs or after dinner drinks, and open to the public from Wednesday till Saturday every week, wind down your night here in the intimate two-story loft.