Auckland Airport

Most travellers would agree that an airport is never a must-see destination. And yet we all find ourselves spending hours in them. In the interests of making your time at Auckland Airport as pleasant as possible, here’s some basic information to help make your airport-time stress-free. Auckland International Airport is New Zealand's busiest airport, open up to twenty three hours a day. Arriving off an international flight, you’ll find yourself walking through a small number of duty free shops before you reach the luggage carousel. This area was upgraded in 2015-2016 and is up to an international standard now.

Between midnight and 6.00am there’s often only one shop open. Because New Zealand is an island nation and highly dependent on agricultural and horticultural production, quarantine regulations are necessary to protect the country from the introduction of unwanted pests and diseases from overseas. All arriving travellers are required to complete a declaration as to whether or not they are carrying any fruits, meat or meat products, plants or plant material, or animals. A false declaration means that you may be heavily fined or, in serious cases, imprisoned. After you retrieve your luggage, you may be required to wait to have it scanned for items that are not allowed into the country.

Walking out of Customs, you will see directly ahead of you an area where the drivers of pre-arranged pickups wait. If you haven’t made special arrangements to be met, continue straight out of the building and you'll find the taxi, bus and shuttlebus area. From the airport to Auckland central, the journey takes between half an hour and an hour, depending on your choice of transport and the prevailing traffic flow. If you have a connecting flight leaving from the domestic terminal, you have a number of options. Every twenty minutes, a free bus travels between the international and the domestic terminals, taking five minutes. If you have more than an hour before your flight, you may be able to use the domestic transfers desk. You’ll see it to your left as you leave the customs area. There you’ll be able to check in for your onward flight and deposit your luggage, leaving you free to make your own way to the domestic terminal. On a sunny day it’s nice to take the inter-terminal walkway. From the international terminal exit, you just follow the blue and white lines painted on the ground outside. It’s a fifteen-minute amble or a five minute dash to get from one terminal to the other. This method is not recommended on a dark night, because of the poor lighting. Keep in mind that the domestic terminal is open only from 5.15am to 11pm. Both the domestic and international terminals have food courts, bars, bookshops and clothing stores.