Palmy is a half-day or full-day stop rather than a multi-night destination, but it has more to offer than first appearances suggest. The Square anchors a compact downtown of cafes, shops, and the handsome Regent on Broadway theatre. A short walk south brings you to Te Manawa, the combined museum, art gallery, and science centre, with the adjoining New Zealand Rugby Museum — the country's only museum dedicated to the national sport.
The Victoria Esplanade on the river is the city's best park, with the Wildbase Recovery wildlife centre and a miniature railway. The Massey University campus, just south of the river, is the largest university campus in New Zealand by area, set on a former Department of Agriculture experimental farm. And, in the local-curiosity category, Mt Cleese — a rubbish-dump hill named after the British comedian who once called Palmerston North "the suicide capital of New Zealand" — is something only a few towns in the world could claim.