Wanganui, New Zealand

There's an old-fashioned charm to the centre of Wanganui, the slow pace mirroring the speed of the river that bisects it, and museums and well-tended streetscape exuding civic pride. Founded on the banks of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable watercourse, Wanganui is one of New Zealand's oldest cities and was the hub of early European commerce because of its access to the interior, and coastal links with the ports of Wellington and New Plymouth. The river traffic has long gone and the port is a shadow of what it was, but the city has given itself a facelift with an eye to its colonial past: the late Victorian and early Edwardian facades have been refurbished, and mock gas lamps installed along re-cobbled streets. All in all, Wanganui is a pleasant little place from which to take a ride on a restored river steamer, visit the excellent museum, idle away an hour in the renowned art gallery, or enjoy the road to the tiny settlements along the Whanganui River.