Lonely Planet reignites capital debate

Thursday, 11 November 2010

After calling Wellington 'the coolest little capital in the world', travel guide Lonely Planet is now suggesting that Auckland should be New Zealand's capital city.

In the weekly Best of Lonely Planet email, the lead article discussed 10 great cities that should be capitals.

Along with New York, Sydney and Toronto, Auckland was talked up as a far better alternative to the incumbent.

'Auckland has the best weather, the fanciest restaurants, and the coolest bars. So what if Wellington has the famous Beehive parliament building and an internationally acclaimed film industry, Auckland's got the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. So there!'

Earlier this month, Lonely Planet referred to Wellington under the banner of 'coolest little capital in the world'. It also named the capital the fourth best city in which to travel in the world.

A tongue-in-cheek Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said Wellington was an easily navigable city that was not bogged down with traffic problems.

'Auckland used to be the capital, but it wasn't up to the job then and there's no reason to think it would be now.

'I'll stand by the report that called Wellington the coolest little capital – that was based on a wide range of Wellington's attributes, not dubious claims about the weather, fancy restaurants and the Sky Tower.'

A more tactful Auckland Mayor Len Brown said he was unsurprised by the list but Aucklanders had no aspiration to have the political capital return north.

Mr Brown said he would rather Auckland became the world's most liveable city.

Lonely Planet Asia-Pacific spokesman Adam Bennett said the list was an extract from an article published on its website before the Wellington announcement.

It related to large cities that people worldwide would normally assume were capitals.

However, Lonely Planet was still backing Wellington as the coolest capital.

'That's what we said in Best in Travel … and we're certainly sticking by that.'