From the moment Serena Williams slams down her first serve at the world’s first tennis tournament of 2017, Auckland is set to serve up a massively entertaining year-long smorgasbord of sporting and cultural events. 

Auckland will welcome thousands of athletes and fans to World Masters Games 2017 – the biggest multi-sports event in the world; the Pop-Up Globe will again echo to the lines of ‘the Bard’; and the second Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival will showcase our region’s unique Māori culture to the world. 

These events are just a few of the many opportunities for visitors and Aucklanders alike to experience our fantastic region. Our largest ever calendar of major events will be supported by new tourism activities, restaurants, and hotels – providing  more reasons than ever to come and explore.   

The region will serve up a memorable mix of fun, food and adventure against a stunning backdrop of picturesque harbours, beaches, and native forests. Here’s just 17 reasons to put Auckland on the itinerary for 2017:

1. ASB Classic

2 – 14 January 2017 

Labelled the biggest ever signing for the ASB Classic, Serena Williams will headline Auckland’s annual international tennis tournament for 2017. Other internationals confirmed for the 2017 tournament include Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic; and in the men’s event, American number one Jack Sock, his compatriot John Isner, and Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut and David Ferrer.

2. Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival

28 – 30 January 2017

A new location is in place for the second Tāmaki Herenga Waka Festival, moving from Queens Wharf to the Viaduct Events Centre and Viaduct Basin over Auckland Anniversary Weekend. This festival puts the unique Māori history, heritage and contemporary culture of Tāmaki Makaurau in the spotlight. It includes performances by contemporary Māori artists, Māori crafts and kai, traditional games, healing and martial arts, storytelling, tribal waka races, have-a-go waka experiences and sailings.

3. Waitangi Weekend 

4 – 6 February 2017 

New rugby league superstars will grace Auckland’s Eden Park for the fourth edition of New Zealand’s biggest summer event, the Downer NRL Auckland Nines, on Waitangi Day Long Weekend. For the first time since 1993, Guns N’ Roses founder Axl Rose and former members Slash and Duff McKagan will play together for New Zealand fans. The band has re-formed for the highly anticipated Not In This Lifetime Tour set for Western Springs on Saturday, 2 February. 

4. Naumi Auckland Airport Hotel 

Opening in 2017

Naumi Hospitality is taking its boutique hotel concept beyond Singapore with the launch of a newly transformed Hotel Grande Auckland Airport. With quiet gardens surrounding 193 spacious rooms with private patios and over 500sqm of event space, Naumi is located just minutes away from Auckland’s airport. 

5. Auckland Lantern Festival

9 – 12 February 2017

The Auckland Lantern Festival is Auckland’s largest cultural festival – and New Zealand’s largest Chinese festival –attracting more than 200,000 people to its new home at the Auckland Domain in 2016.

6. Glenfern Sanctuary 

Auckland’s newest regional park is Great Barrier Island’s Glenfern Sanctuary, a wildlife sanctuary and haven for native animals, including the rare chevron skink, the black petrel and brown teal, or pateke. The sanctuary has recently been placed in the ownership of Auckland Council, which will manage it as a regional park. It forms a conservation precinct in the northern part of the island, about 100km north-east of the Auckland CBD.

7. Headland Sculpture on the Gulf 

27 January – 19 February 2017

Thirty-four artists have been chosen to show their work at New Zealand’s foremost culture exhibition on Waiheke Island in 2017, including some new generation artists. In a new turn for headland, there is also a proportion of works that involve artists engaging directly with the public in ways that are collaborative, participatory and involve people as the medium or material of the work.

8. World Masters Games 2017 

21 – 30 April 2017 

For the first time ever, World Masters Games – the world’s largest multiple-sport event by participant numbers – will make its way to Auckland. The 10-day festival regularly attracts upwards of 25,000 participants from more than 100 countries. 

9. Pop-up Globe 

23 February – 14 May 2017

Pop-Up Globe, the world’s first full-scale working replica of Shakespeare’s theatre, returns to Auckland with four new productions, a brand new garden setting at Ellerslie Racecourse and a ground-breaking new theatre design. Other new aspects of the Pop-up Globe include a pop-up restaurant and bar, two new Royal Rooms, luxurious private rooms adjacent to the stage, complete with butler service and seating for up to six guests, offering a truly unique theatre experience. 

10. Queen’s Rise 

The launch of an upmarket collective of eateries on Auckland’s famous Queen Street opens early in 2017, inhabiting the Sultan of Brunei’s former headquarters at 125 Queen Street – a building that has been largely vacant for the past five years. The luxe laneway-style dining precinct has been touted as "a tech infused milieu for the South Pacific's most cosmopolitan city”. Queen’s Rise was inspired by Sydney architects, Jeremy Bull and Charlene Cong. 

11. Lotus Bloom 

17 February 2017

Richard Didbsury’s Brick Bay Sculpture Trail will allow access to a very exclusive part of Brick Bay farm for a very special opening to experience New Zealand award-winning artist Virginia King’s Koru, a large scale site specific land art work. It is a rare opportunity to see the Lotus bloom around the earth sculpture once a year in February. 

12. Techweek 2017

6 – 14 May 2017

Techweek, which was held for the first time in Auckland in 2016 and has spring-boarded to a national event in 2017, will focus on reshaping our world through design, innovation and technology.

13. Whoa! Studios 

Whoa! Studios is a new state-of-the-art movie set based in Henderson Valley. Opened in December 2016, Whoa! will stage live pantomime-style shows, based on the movie Custard’s World now in development, and an urban park with an inflatable obstacle course, water slide and Australasia's first crochet play net crafted by Japanese artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam. It will also offer five-star family dining with a restaurant, The Grounds, headed by top chef Benjamin Bayly, noted for his work as executive chef at The Grove, Baduzzi and the TV2 show My Kitchen Rules.

14. Sofitel So

Opening 2017

Sofitel So boutique hotel will feature 131 rooms, a roof top bar, restaurant, gym, lap pool and spa, an executive lounge and state of the art conferencing.

15. DHL New Zealand Lions Series

7 & 24 June, 8 July 2017

Auckland will host three matches during the DHL New Zealand Lions Series 2017, including two tests. The 2005 tour brought nearly 20,000 visitors to Auckland. 

16. ASB Waterfront Theatre

The ASB Waterfront Theatre is Auckland's new state-of-the-art performing arts facility located in the Wynyard Quarter. Comprising a 660-seat, international standard theatre, bar, café, gallery space and lounge, the ASB Waterfront Theatre is a purpose-built venue and the home of Auckland Theatre Company. There will be an endless array of different events, including operas, contemporary ballet and theatre. 

17. Virtual Reality Studio    

New Zealand’s first virtual reality studio/entertainment centre has opened up in Auckland using HTC Vive, promising to offer the best VR headset available in the market today. Visitors can interact with the most immersive virtual spaces and environments unlike ever seen before.  

More of Auckland’s new events, attractions and openings for 2017 can be found on aucklandnz.com.