Hotels near Palmerston North International Airport - PMR, Palmerston North

We had a particular reason to be in Palmerston North with the Speedway Team Champs on the main reason for our visit. Plenty to see, beautiful gardens and lots of eating places and socialising. Very easy to get around. Enjoyed Daytona with the Go Karting, always a hit with the lads of all ages.

I was there to catch up with family and we spent a lot of our time at the Esplanade, as the weather was great and we could participate in the activities and walk around the gardens etc. Cafe was great, mini golf and train etc.

Still nice shopping in the Mall and surrounding streets. Love KMart being open until midnight. Some empty shops, but that is everywhere at present. Square still looking nice with gardens, mature trees, nice grass areas. Good restaurants, lots of variety. But they need to keep their prices as they are or face going bankrupt. They cannot just keep putting up meal prices. People just won't go out. The Rose & Crown are a good restaurant and bar. They've kept their prices fair. The steak house (name not given but they specialise in steaks in the square) with the best steaks is just too expesive for ordinary people to eat there. Wonder if they'll last much longer... Other bars and eateries are all pretty good. Usually go for a walk along the riverside which is always nice. Didn't have time on this visit. Enjoyed the visit overall.

Palmerston North has no night life. Climate is windy and cold but can get some nice autumn weather . Has some street beggers who can be threatening. The malls have great shopping but are spoiled by nasty youth gangs who want to beat you up if you don't have smokes for them. The Square is nice but again ruined by teenage thugs and boy racers. Stay away from The Square after sunset. Great art gallery.

Palmerston North, known to other New Zealanders as 'Palmy' in a mildly disparaging way, is a surprising inland city. One striking thing is that nearly every street is tree-lined, with a range of beautiful mature trees. (Would be nice if more of them were native species though). This is because the local council has undergrounded all the services. Parks are great. One has an impressive miniature railway which kids love to ride (even if their parents/grandparents look a bit overscaled!) Massey University is in a beautiful setting, like a botanical garden, with many interesting buildings. I was there on a site visit as architect of the two major bridges on the soon-to-open Te Ara a Turanga 4-lane highway, SH3, which reconnects Palmerston North with Wairarapa/Hawkes Bay, after the old highway through the Manawatu Gorge had to be abandoned in 2017. The bridges and the shared walking/cycling path over the Tararuas is sure to become another tourist attraction in itself.

We were in PN because of treatment at the hospital for recently diagnosed cancer. On discharge from the hospital we choose to go to the cafe Thyme and Fig. We spotted a car park right outside the cafe. Perfect as my wife had a catheter in tow and was wearing her pyjama bottoms. When we had hydrated we decided to head home to Greytown. You guessed it- we got a parking fine. I'm afraid that soured our stay in PN. We were frassled and never thought about a parking infringement. There are no parking meters in Greytown so it certainly wasn't on our radar. I'm astounded that the fine is $70. That is steep for pensioners.