Snells Beach: Coast, Art and Walks

Snells Beach can be explored through a range of travel interests: the east-facing beach, walks along the shore and contemporary art at the Brick Bay Sculpture Trail. When choosing a hotel, it helps to decide what you want to focus on during your stay. Are you mainly looking for a morning view of the beach, hoping to include a flat path, or most interested in art and dining at Brick Bay? The specific differences below can help you find your way around without limiting your choice to just one activity.

Coast and waterfront paths

Snells Beach faces east and offers wide views at sunrise across Kawau Bay in the distance. For a stay where starting the day by the water matters, this view is a distinctive landmark. At low tide, warm, shallow pools form on the beach, where you can splash around. Sunrise and the tidal pools offer different experiences at the same beach: the wide view is a morning feature, while the pools appear at low tide. If splashing around is what you have in mind, plan your visit around low tide.

The Snells Beach Waterfront Walk is an easy, flat walking path along the beach, with several access points. Another option is the path at Te Whau Esplanade Reserve: it heads north along the shore and connects to Goodall Reserve. This lets you compare two described features: the Waterfront Walk offers an easy, flat beach stroll with several access points, while the path at Te Whau follows the shore to a named connection with Goodall Reserve.

Art at the Brick Bay Sculpture Trail

The Brick Bay Sculpture Trail winds for two kilometres through native bush and open pasture, with more than 50 contemporary artworks along the path. At the same time, the trail is an ever-changing outdoor exhibition featuring rotating large-scale works by contemporary New Zealand artists. Here, landscape and art are part of the same walk. For travellers who want to include contemporary art in their day as well as a coastal stroll, the trail is a clearly defined destination in Snells Beach.

The path is suitable for most age groups and people with varying abilities, but requires a reasonable level of physical fitness. Take both details into account when deciding whether the trail is right for your outing.

From Snells Beach, you can walk north along the beach to Whisper Cove and then head uphill via Arabella Lane to Brick Bay. This route takes you from the beach to Brick Bay, making it a specific option if you’d like to combine the coast with a visit to Brick Bay.

Restaurant and access details

Brick Bay is also home to the Glass House Restaurant, which serves contemporary New Zealand cuisine with fresh, vibrant dishes. The restaurant is wheelchair accessible, with a ramp at the entrance and two accessible parking spaces. If you plan to include a restaurant visit in your trip, these details give you specific information about access at this particular venue. The access details apply to the restaurant; the fitness requirement applies to the Sculpture Trail.

Snells Beach therefore offers different ways to choose between the beach, a walk and art: views of Kawau Bay at sunrise, shallow pools at low tide, an easy beach path, and the two-kilometre art trail with its fitness requirement. Other options include the path at Te Whau Esplanade Reserve and the Glass House Restaurant at Brick Bay. You can use whichever of these possibilities you’d like to shape your stay as a starting point for choosing a hotel.

Discover more destinations: Mangere, Puhoi, Piha, Sandspit, Kumeu, Pukekohe, Awhitu, Algies Bay.

For the overview of the wider region: Auckland.