Silverstream between parks and river

Silverstream combines playgrounds and picnic areas with river access and trails for walks, hikes and cycling. Silverstream Park is in the suburb, directly opposite Silverstream Village. Dunns Park, Silverstream Amenity Reserve and sections of the Hutt River Trail add a range of outdoor options. Near Silverstream, you’ll also find forest trails, challenging hikes and a heritage railway. For planning your trip, it helps to decide whether parks and play, river activities or longer trails should be the focus.

Play, shade and open spaces

Silverstream Park has space for picnics and shade trees. The playground offers opportunities for climbing, playing, sliding, swinging and jumping. The park combines a range of ways to be active with room to take a break together. Dunns Park is also in the suburb of Silverstream. It has a playground as well as flat and hilly open spaces. If you’re choosing between these parks when planning your day, they offer different features: Silverstream Park combines play opportunities with shade and picnic areas, while Dunns Park offers open spaces with varied terrain.

By Te Awa Kairangi and on the Hutt River Trail

Silverstream Amenity Reserve is on Te Awa Kairangi, also known as the Hutt River, and provides pedestrian access to the river. The reserve also has space for picnics. A section of the Hutt River Trail runs from Silverstream to Moonshine. It is four kilometres each way; the approximate walking time for the return trip is two hours. This gives you both the endpoints and the timeframe for this section.

The Silverstream section of the Hutt River Trail is popular for dog walks and picnics. The service road on the eastern bank provides good access for fly fishing. So, alongside the trail itself, river activities can also be a focus when planning your trip: a visit to the reserve combines the river with a picnic, while the trail offers a walking route with set endpoints and a stated return-trip time.

Forest trails, hikes and railway

Silverstream Forest offers the public unrestricted access to a network of trails through pine and native forests when pine harvesting is not taking place. The trails are used for walking, running and mountain biking. Near Silverstream, the Silverstream Scenic Reserve, together with the adjacent Keith George Memorial Park, has challenging hiking trails through bush and forest. The options range from trails for different activities to explicitly challenging hikes.

Another facet of the area is the Silver Stream Railway, a heritage railway near the suburb of Silverstream. On a restored section of the former railway line between Wellington and Upper Hutt, it regularly operates former New Zealand Government Railway locomotives as well as industrial steam and diesel locomotives. The railway and forest trails offer different experiences: here, the focus is on locomotives and the former railway line; there, on activities through pine and native forests.

The wider area: Upper Hutt City

The wider destination of Upper Hutt City offers other nature and recreational activities. Harcourt Park is a starting point for the Hutt River Trail, an easy scenic walking and cycling trail with access to the river for swimming, fishing and kayaking. These activities are in the wider Upper Hutt City area and provide another part of a trip alongside experiences in the suburb of Silverstream.

Upper Hutt City also has arts and culture: Whirinaki Whare Taonga is a free public arts centre for art, culture, history and entertainment. Five galleries showcase a changing exhibition programme. When planning your trip, you can complement nature and river activities at Harcourt Park with a cultural offering in central Upper Hutt.

Choose your search area based on your travel preferences

Your choice of hotel depends on which part of the area’s offerings you want to focus on. If parks, play opportunities and riverside trails are the priority, focus your search on Silverstream. If you’d also like to include Harcourt Park or Whirinaki Whare Taonga, consider Upper Hutt City as the wider destination when choosing a location. This helps you tailor your search to your preferred mix of parks, river, forest and culture.

For the wider travel overview: Upper Hutt.