Hillsborough: Holden Museum and leisure activities

Hillsborough’s main attractions are automotive history and a range of leisure activities. If you’re looking for a hotel in Hillsborough, consider whether you’d like to include a vehicle exhibition or more active pursuits in your trip. The Hillsborough Holden Museum is a clear point of interest, while mini golf and luge offer a different focus.

The Hillsborough Holden Museum

The Hillsborough Holden Museum preserves and displays a private collection of Australian Holden vehicles and memorabilia. It includes well-preserved early models, carefully restored models, and newer vehicles from more recent years. The collection therefore brings together vehicles from different eras and in varying states of preservation, all connected by their association with Holden.

The museum welcomes car enthusiasts, who can enjoy and appreciate classic and modern vehicles there. As you explore, you can take in the early models, restorations, and newer vehicles as distinct highlights. This lets you focus your visit on the aspects of the collection that interest you most.

Leisure activities with different highlights

The Hideaway Soundshell is a new live music venue in the gardens of the Hillsborough Holden Museum. Mount Panorama Mini Putt offers 18 mini golf holes; the entire course is modelled on the famous Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst. The Bathurst connection therefore shapes the course as a whole, not just a single hole.

The Hideaway Luge offers a different kind of activity: its downhill track is 240 metres long and is located on the property on Egmont Road, next to the Hillsborough Holden Museum and Mount Panorama Mini Putt. You can distinguish between the three options: a vehicle exhibition, an 18-hole mini golf course, and a downhill track. Which one suits your interests depends on whether you’re more interested in vehicles, the course design, or a downhill ride.

Getting there, the café and parking

The Hillsborough Holden Museum is a ten-minute drive from the centre of New Plymouth. Parking is available on site at Hillsborough Hideaway. The Hideaway Cafe is a fully licensed café serving homemade meals, sweet treats, wine, and beer. If you plan to visit the café, check whether it is currently open before you travel.

New Plymouth District as a wider setting

In the wider destination of New Plymouth District, the Coastal Walkway offers a different perspective: this 13.2 km coastal path runs from Pioneer Park at Port Taranaki to the eastern side of Bell Block Beach. The Puke Ariki Historic Walk is a guided tour through central New Plymouth. It is about 3 km long and takes two hours. The two options differ in length and format: a coastal walk and a guided city tour. Tour times and booking conditions may change, so check the latest information in advance.

Puke Ariki in New Plymouth District also offers its own cultural focus. The museum has three permanent exhibition galleries covering the region’s history, taonga, and natural world. These themes complement the automotive perspective of the Hillsborough Holden Museum with a regional look at history and nature.

Discover more destinations: Egmont Village, New Plymouth, Oakura.

Return to the wider travel overview: New Plymouth District.