Using the day ticket
The Treaty Grounds by day: what your admission covers
The Treaty House, the museums, the carved waka and the grounds themselves — what's worth seeing before the evening begins.
See the Hāngī and Concert on GetYourGuide ↗Day admission covers
| Site | What it is |
|---|---|
| Treaty House | James Busby's 1834 residence, where the Treaty text was finished |
| Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi | The Treaty Grounds' main museum |
| Te Rau Aroha Museum | A second museum on the grounds |
| The ceremonial waka Ngātokimatawhaorua | Built in 1940, one of the world's largest ceremonial waka |
The Treaty House
The Treaty House was pre-cut in Sydney from Australian hardwood and shipped to New Zealand for assembly on site in 1834, as the residence for the British Resident, James Busby. The Treaty of Waitangi was given its finishing touches inside this house before being read to the assembled chiefs on 5 February 1840, and the same building saw New Zealand's first flag chosen in 1834 and the 1835 Declaration of Independence drafted.
Te Whare Rūnanga, by day
By day, Te Whare Rūnanga hosts its own thirty-minute cultural performance — separate from the evening's concert — running at set times through the day (11am, 1pm and 3pm outside the busiest summer weeks). It's a shorter, earlier taste of the kapa haka the evening builds a whole concert around, and visitors can watch it as part of day admission without booking the evening at all.
The waka Ngātokimatawhaorua
The ceremonial waka Ngātokimatawhaorua was built in 1940 by members of northern and Waikato iwi to mark the Treaty's centenary, and the Grounds describe it as one of the world's largest ceremonial waka. It was restored in 1974 ahead of a visit by Queen Elizabeth II and is launched every year in February as part of the Waitangi Day commemorations — otherwise it rests at Te Korowai ō Maikuku near Hobson Beach, where day-admission visitors can see it up close.
The two museums
Day admission covers both Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi and the separate Te Rau Aroha Museum, which between them carry the bulk of the Grounds' historical exhibits. Splitting the story across two buildings rather than one means it's worth budgeting real time for both rather than treating either as a quick five-minute stop on the way to the waka.
The guided tour
A guided tour of the Treaty Grounds, roughly fifty minutes long, is included with day admission alongside the shorter Māori cultural performance. Taking the guided tour first, before wandering the museums and the waka independently, is a reasonable way to get your bearings on a site with several separate buildings spread across open grounds.
Timing it around the evening
Because this ticket bundles day admission with the evening Hāngī and Concert, the two halves are easiest to enjoy in full if you treat the day as its own visit rather than an afterthought squeezed in before 5:30pm. Arriving in the early-to-mid afternoon leaves realistic time for the Treaty House, both museums, the waka and the guided tour before the evening's programme takes over the grounds.