Kaiti Hill is the bluff that rises above the eastern bank of the Turanganui River, the place where James Cook made his first landfall on New Zealand soil in October 1769. The 33-hectare Titirangi Reserve at the top gives you panoramic views across Poverty Bay, the city, and the Wainui Hills — one of the better panoramas on the East Coast.
The hill is also an ancestral site of the Ngāti Oneone hapū. You will find a Cook Monument at the summit (though the original statue was controversial and placed in storage at the Tairāwhiti Museum in 2019), a small observatory, a pohutukawa tree planted by Princess Diana in 1983, and four separate lookout points. It is a short, pleasant walk from the city centre and well worth the climb.