Marine Parade is Napier's seafront promenade, a long avenue of Norfolk pines running along the western edge of Hawke Bay. The pines — tall, straight, and distinctively shaped — were planted after the earthquake and have become one of the defining images of the city. Walking the full length of the parade, from the central city south past the National Aquarium, takes about 45 minutes and gives good views east across the bay.
The beach alongside the parade is shingle — grey pebbles rather than sand — and the surf is rough. It is a walking and cycling beach rather than a swimming one. At the south end of the parade, a series of Art Deco-era attractions survive from the 1930s and 1940s, including the Tom Parker Fountain, illuminated at night in rotating colours.