Where to Eat in the Bay of Islands
Fish off the boats, lunch across the water and the growers of Kerikeri
The Bay of Islands eats from the sea and from the orchards behind it. On a stop of two or three nights, eat in Paihia for oysters, kingfish and the day’s fish on the wharf, take the ferry to Russell for one long lunch on the Strand, and if you are here at the weekend, drive inland to Kerikeri for the market and a vineyard.
How this page was madeWe stayed at Ōpua for a week in March 2026, cooking in our apartment, buying takeaways near the wharf and our coffee at the general store. We ate at the Treaty Grounds café on our day there and drove to Kerikeri for the Stone Store. We did not get to Russell. Everything else on this page is researched, from the official visitor site, the places’ own websites and menus, and we name only places we could confirm have been trading for at least five years.
Areas, places and prices reviewed 28 September 2026.
First, how the Bay of Islands eats
The bay is a holiday coast with a small resident population, and its eating follows the boats and the seasons. Paihia, where the tour boats and the Russell ferry leave, has most of the restaurants and cafés. Russell, across the water, has fewer and older ones. Inland, Kerikeri is a growing district of citrus, kiwifruit and vines, and its cafés and weekend market are where the bay’s produce shows up on a plate.
What to eat follows from that: fish and shellfish on the coast, fruit and wine inland. Oysters, kingfish and whatever snapper or gurnard came in that morning are on most waterfront menus, and a Pacific dish, raw fish in citrus and coconut, is often among the small plates.
Summer and winter
From Christmas to the end of January, and again around Waitangi Day on 6 February, the bay is full and the waterfront tables fill with it. Book the dinner you care about. Out of season it is quiet, and some places shorten their hours; we ate at the café at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds on our day there in March 2026, but when we checked again in September it was closed, with a coffee cart open from 10am to 3pm, so take something with you.
Catching your own
You do not need a boat to fish here. At Ōpua we bought a light rod and squid bait at the general store and fished off the landing for an afternoon; we caught ten small fish, probably young snapper, and put every one of them back. That is the rule as much as good manners: size and catch limits apply off a wharf just as they do from a boat. The Ministry for Primary Industries publishes them for its Auckland and Kermadec area, which covers Northland, and its free NZ Fishing Rules app shows the limits for the spot you are standing on. For a fish you can keep and cook, a half-day charter from Paihia is the surer way.
Buy a coffee at the Ōpua store early, and carry it to the end of the landing. Stand still and listen: the car ferry’s ramp dropping on the far side, rigging ticking against masts across the marina, small fish turning at the pilings below you. Watch for the first boats heading out, and notice how the whole bay wakes from the water, not the road.
What to eat in the Bay of Islands
Served by the piece on the waterfront menus in Paihia and Russell, natural, in tempura batter or grilled Kilpatrick-style with bacon. At one Paihia restaurant they are $6 each, which makes a dozen a considered decision.
Listed as market fish because it changes with the boats: often snapper. Ask what came in that morning and how the kitchen means to cook it; the answer is usually the best thing on the menu.
Haku is the Māori name for kingfish, the big silver fish of northern waters. Sliced raw and dressed simply, it is on Paihia menus as a starter, and it is the dish to order if you have never had it.
Raw fish ‘cooked’ in citrus juice and finished with coconut cream, a Pacific Island dish that has become a New Zealand one. Look for it as te ika mata among the small plates.
The simplest meal in the bay: fish in batter and chips in paper, carried to the sea wall in Paihia or the beach on the Strand in Russell and eaten looking at the boats.
Kerikeri is orchard country, and citrus and kiwifruit are sold from roadside stalls around the town. Mandarins and oranges in winter are the reason to stop the car.
Samuel Marsden planted about a hundred vines at Kerikeri in 1819, among the first in New Zealand. Today’s vineyards around the town pour their own wine with lunch on a terrace.
| Try | What to expect | Where to look | Typical spend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oysters | By the piece, natural or cooked | Paihia wharf, the Strand in Russell | $6 each |
| Kingfish sashimi | Raw haku, sliced thin, a starter | Paihia waterfront restaurants | $24 |
| The market fish | The day’s catch as a main course | Paihia and Russell | $45 |
| Te ika mata | Raw fish in citrus and coconut | Paihia, among the small plates | $14 |
| Fish and chips | In paper, eaten by the water | Paihia and Russell | Not published online |
| Fruit from a stall | Citrus and kiwifruit in season | Roadsides around Kerikeri | A few dollars |
| Lunch at a vineyard | Seasonal plates and the estate’s wine | Around Kerikeri | Not published online |
The seafood prices are from one Paihia wharf restaurant’s winter 2026 menu, the only one we found that publishes its prices. The Marsden vines are recorded by the government’s NZHistory site, which notes that vines may have been planted a little earlier elsewhere in the bay.
Where to eat: the most useful places
| Area | Best for | Best time | Main catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paihia | Most meals, and seafood | Any time; book dinner in summer | Busy in the holidays |
| Russell | A long lunch by the water | Lunch; early dinner | The last ferry to Paihia |
| Kerikeri | Growers, cafés, the market | Weekend mornings, lunch | 23 minutes’ drive |
| Ōpua | Coffee at the marina | Morning | No dinner to speak of |
Paihia is on the western shore, with the wharf in the middle of its waterfront. Russell is across the water, fifteen minutes by passenger ferry. Ōpua is ten minutes’ drive south of Paihia, and Kerikeri twenty-three minutes inland.
Paihia — the waterfront and the wharf
$6–49Paihia has most of the bay’s restaurants, cafés and takeaways, along Marsden Road and on the wharf itself, where the boats come and go. It is where you will eat most of your meals if you stay here, and where the seafood menus are longest. It is busy in summer, so book the evening you care about.
Eat here for: oysters and the day’s fish on the wharf, breakfast before a boat trip, fish and chips on the sea wall.
Russell — the Strand and the old hotel
Prices not publishedRussell eats along the Strand, its waterfront, and the few streets behind it. There are fewer places than in Paihia and the evenings are slower, but lunch on a verandah looking at the water is the best meal in the bay on a fine day. If you are staying in Paihia, check the last ferry back before you order a second glass.
Eat here for: a long lunch on the Strand, a pizza in a garden, an evening at the hotel that holds the country’s first liquor licence.
Kerikeri — growers, cafés and wine
Prices not publishedKerikeri is where the bay’s food is grown. The town has more good cafés than its size suggests, a weekend market at the Old Packhouse, roadside fruit stalls and vineyards on its edge. It is twenty-three minutes’ drive inland from Paihia, so plan it as a morning or a lunch rather than a dinner. We drove over for a day to see the Stone Store, down on the river below the town.
Eat here for: the weekend market, a café lunch in town, a glass of wine at a vineyard, fruit from a stall.
Ōpua — coffee at the marina
Prices not publishedŌpua is the marina south of Paihia, and it has a general store and a marina café rather than restaurants. We stayed here for a week in March 2026. We cooked in our apartment most nights, fetched takeaways from the places near the wharf on the others, and bought our coffee at the store, with bait for the landing. It is a place for a morning coffee and a takeaway, not for a dinner out.
Eat here for: coffee and something from the store, a takeaway near the wharf, eaten on the landing.
How much does it cost to eat in the Bay of Islands?
| Meal | Per person | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| One oyster | $6 | Natural, tempura or Kilpatrick |
| A small plate | $14 | Te ika mata, the most expensive of them |
| Kingfish sashimi | $24 | A starter |
| A wood-fired pizza | $28–36 | Margherita to smoked salmon |
| A main course | $35–49 | Pasta to sirloin steak |
| The market fish | $45 | The day’s catch, as a main |
New Zealand dollars, from one restaurant’s winter 2026 menu, read on 28 September 2026; prices include GST. It is the only place in the bay we checked that publishes its prices online, so this is one wharf-side kitchen rather than an average: cafés and takeaways will be cheaper, and a hotel dining room in Russell may be dearer. For a whole-trip food budget, see our cost of visiting New Zealand.
Does the Bay of Islands have a market?
At the weekend, in Kerikeri. The Old Packhouse Market is held on Saturday and Sunday mornings at the Old Packhouse on the edge of the town. We could not confirm its hours from its own site, so check before you drive out. The rest of the week, the roadside stalls around Kerikeri sell citrus and kiwifruit in season.
Building food into one day
This day is built around Paihia and the ferry to Russell. On a Saturday or Sunday, start in Kerikeri at the market instead, and come back to the coast for lunch.
Morning — breakfast in Paihia
Eat breakfast near the wharf before a morning boat trip, or walk over the bridge to the Treaty Grounds, where only the coffee cart is open, from 10am.
Lunch — across the water in Russell
Take the passenger ferry to Russell and give lunch an hour and a half on the Strand: the hotel verandah, or a pizza in a garden a street back.
Afternoon — up Flagstaff Hill
Walk it off up Flagstaff Hill behind the town for the view over the whole bay, then catch a ferry back to Paihia.
Evening — the day’s fish on the wharf
Eat on Paihia wharf: oysters, kingfish sashimi and whatever fish the kitchen was given that morning. In summer, book it before you leave for Russell.
Practical advice for eating in the Bay of Islands
Watch the ferry clock
The last passenger ferry leaves Russell at 9pm and Paihia at 9.30pm. With a car, the Ōpua–Ōkiato car ferry runs until about 10pm. Check both timetables with Northland Ferries before a dinner on the far side.
Book in summer
From Christmas to the end of January and around Waitangi Day, waterfront tables fill. Book the evenings you care about before you arrive.
Out of season
In winter some places shorten their hours or close for a few weeks. Check before you drive to a particular café, especially in Kerikeri and Russell.
Dietary needs
Seafood dominates the waterfront menus. If you have a shellfish or fish allergy, say so when you book rather than at the table.
Paying
Prices include GST. Tipping is not expected in New Zealand. On public holidays many places add a surcharge, commonly 15%, which they must tell you about.
A final word on eating in the Bay of Islands
Eat the fish in Paihia, give one lunch to Russell and the ferry, and if the weekend falls right, spend a morning among Kerikeri’s growers. The bay is not a restaurant destination and does not pretend to be; what it has is good fish close to where it was caught, and a coffee on a landing that no café can improve on.
Andrew + Margaret
- Bay of Islands Overview
- Where to stay in the Bay of Islands Decide
- North Island itinerary Journeys
- What New Zealand costs Practical