Auckland's skyline at night
KAREN WALKER, 38, fashion designer
I'd start the evening with a drink at S.P.Q.R. Café & Bar, tel: (64-9) 360 1710, on Ponsonby Road. It offers an incredible roster of champagnes by the glass. If it's fine weather, take a seat on the pavement and watch the always-intriguing parade of passersby. Then head for a fabulous dinner at dine by Peter Gordon, tel: (64-9) 363 7030, located in the Grand Hotel at Skycity. A quick meal is possible but the atmosphere is so elegant and welcoming that you could quite easily settle for the full degustation menu, available with matching wines. Finish the evening off in the downstairs bar at Clooney, tel: (64-9) 358 1702, on Sale Street. Try their martinis.
MIKE MCROBERTS, 42, TV3 anchor
Begin in the afternoon with exceptional art-browsing at Webb's auction house, tel: (64-9) 524 6804, in Newmarket. Next, drink a toast at the Corner Store, tel: (64-9) 379 5099 — a funky city-fringe bar at the top of Mount Eden Road with eclectic music and my favorite wine, Central Otago Pinot Noir. For dinner, it has to be the French Café, tel: (64-9) 377 1911, a multi-award-winning restaurant where I usually have the beef. It sounds boring but it's an exquisitely prepared organic, grain-fed beef fillet with caramelized onion and bacon and potato rosti. Next, head to a private booth at the grooviest nightclub in Auckland, the Pony Club (no phone), owned by a friend of mine, fellow TV3 presenter Brooke Howard-Smith. It's a fairly infamous place that gets the odd sports team coming in for a drink and some misbehaving.
ANDREA CLOUT, 25, Tourism Auckland marketing associate
Start at Shanghai Lil's, tel: (64-9) 358 0868, an eclectic bar full of Oriental artifacts and staff dressed in embroidered Chinese silk. Next, head across the road to La Zeppa, tel: (64-9) 379 8167, in a spacious transformed warehouse. It's the perfect place to meet friends for a bottle of wine and some of the many tasty tapas on offer. Then jump in a taxi and head to the Coco Club, tel: (64-9) 21 676 737, on Fort Lane, for champagne and sophisticated cocktails in a smooth, luxurious setting. If you're keen to party on, duck next door into Flight Lounge, tel: (64-9) 309 6569, where you'll hear house music playing till the early hours.
—With reporting by Stephanie Stephens