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Your guide to visiting Kaikōura Museum.

Kaikōura Museum Entrance

hours

Monday to Friday
9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Saturday & Sunday

10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Closed Christmas Day, Good Friday and ANZAC day

find us

Location

Kaikōura Museum is conveniently located on the ground floor of the landmark ‘craypot’ building in Kaikōura’s West End, opposite the iSite.

A short walk from the West End shopping centre.
Drive to the car park opposite.
Tour and service coaches stop at the bus stops adjacent.

Prices

Kaikōura Museum is a registered charity and independently funded. Your visit helps to pay for our ongoing work, projects and programmes.


Adults: $12.00
Community Service Card & Students: $10.00
Children: $6.00
Family: $30.00 (2 adults and up to 4 school aged children)
Kaikōura residents: Free with proof of ID and address (KDC library card accepted)
Kaikōura Museum members: free, membership info is here.
We have discounted rates for larger groups who pay together, please contact us for details.

Free Wifi

Free WiFi is available throughout the Museum for visitors. Please ask a staff member for the code.

Children’s Activities

We have a number of activities for children and families to enjoy together. Ask us about our I-spy treasure hunt and Museum Quiz or enjoy some old school fun with jigsaws, origami and drawing.

Free Language Translation

We have recently introduced a free language translation app called JourneyPal. It cleverly translates the text in our main gallery into the language that users phones are set to. By simply scanning the QR codes throughout the Museum, visitors can read or listen to our stories in their preferred language. Current languages available are: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German and Spanish.

Photographs

Please feel free to take photographs for personal use in the Museum. We encourage you to share the images from your visit and you are welcome to tag your images to our Facebook page. However, due to copyrights of Kaikōura Museum and others, please do not take direct photos of artworks or images in our photograph collection. Filming is not permitted. Please talk to a staff member if you are unsure.
Filming or photography for publication, media or commercial use requires prior permission and may incur a charge. Please contact us for details.

Access

We are easily accessible by wheelchair, and there are two accessible parks directly outside the building. We have a loan wheelchair so those with mobility or fatigue issues can enjoy a leisurely visit.
Guide dogs and assistance dogs are most welcome in the Museum.
Our Museum is a quiet space, except for a gentle background ocean soundscape.
We welcome visitors of all ages, and the Museum is easily accessed with a baby buggy. We have baby change facilities located in our visitor toilet.

Venues

We have a small auditorium in a unique setting available for hire for groups of up to 50 people. We have modern AV equipment available, making it suitable for presentations, talks and lectures.
Our research room can be booked for meetings of up to 8 people.
Please get in touch with us to inquire about the availability and costs of museum venues.

Schools and Groups

We warmly invite schools and groups to visit us as part of their teaching and recreational programmes. Our exhibitions and collections are a valuable resource to support learning across a range of curriculum areas and education levels. The Museum is also a relaxed and interactive space to explore if you are looking for a more fun activity for your group.
Our ‘Collections with Connections’ is a modular programme that can be modified to the learning needs of your students. From pre-schoolers discovering fossils, senior geography classes digging deep into the Kaikōura Earthquake to tertiary tourism students learning about historic development and current impacts of tourism, we can adapt our programmes to fit your requirements. 

The Collections with Connection programme outline can be downloaded here  →

The cost for school visits is $6 per student and $10 per accompanying adult.

Please complete this form to enquire, and we will contact you to discuss your needs, learning, and confirm booking.


Educational Booking Enquiry Form