Dunedin, New Zealand

Dunedin is the Edinburgh of the Antipodes — not merely because Scottish settlers named it after the Gaelic form of Edinburgh, but because this South Island city at the head of Otago Harbour has preserved its Victorian and Edwardian architectural heritage with a fidelity that sometimes surpasses its namesake. The Dunedin Railway Station, completed in 1906, is quite possibly the most beautiful railway station in the Southern Hemisphere, its Flemish Renaissance facade decorated with Royal Doulton porcelain tiles and a mosaic floor depicting a steam locomotive.

The Otago Peninsula, extending northeast from the city like a protective arm around the harbor, is one of New Zealand's most important wildlife sanctuaries. The Royal Albatross Centre at Taiaroa Head is the world's only mainland breeding colony of northern royal albatross — birds with three-meter wingspans that return to this headland each year in one of nature's most faithful homecomings. Below the colony, a hide provides viewing of yellow-eyed penguins — one of the world's rarest penguin species — as they emerge from the sea each evening and waddle up the beach to their nesting sites.

Dunedin's cultural life punches dramatically above its weight. The city's student population — courtesy of the University of Otago, New Zealand's oldest university — sustains a music scene, café culture, and arts community that would credit a city five times its size. The Toitū Otago Settlers Museum traces the region's history from early Māori settlement through the gold rush era, while the Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds one of New Zealand's most significant collections, including works by Frances Hodgkins, the country's most celebrated expatriate painter.

Azamara, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, and Viking call at Port Chalmers, the harbor town that serves as Dunedin's cruise terminal. The city's Scottish heritage manifests in ways both obvious — a statue of Robert Burns presides over the Octagon, the central plaza — and subtle, particularly in the local attitude toward whisky, haggis, and the absolute necessity of a proper afternoon tea.

November through March provides summer conditions ideal for wildlife viewing and exploring the peninsula's dramatic coastal scenery. Dunedin is New Zealand's most underrated city — a place where Victorian grandeur, world-class wildlife, and university-town creativity converge at the bottom of the world.