Mākara Beach
Mākara Beach is the small settlement where Makara Road meets the sea on Wellington's western coast, a stony beach with a boat ramp at the stream mouth and the Mākara Walkway climbing to the Fort Opau gun emplacements.
Why people love it here
Mākara Beach is the end of the road. Makara Road follows the stream north from the Mākara settlement and stops at a car park, a boat ramp, a toilet block and a stony beach on Ohariu Bay, with the houses of the village behind. The 2023 census counted 189 people in 69 dwellings, and the one business is a cafe.
It has been a fishing place for a long time. Ohariu Pā stood here in the 1840s, a community of fishermen worked from the bay through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in clinker-built dinghies, and the boat ramp still puts small boats and kayaks into the water for Boom Rock and the reef offshore.
The Mākara Walkway starts at the beach, a 6.6 km loop that climbs past a Ngāti Ira pā site on the headland to the World War II gun emplacements at Fort Opau, then drops to Opau Bay and comes back along the coast. From the cliffs you can see Mana, Kāpiti and the South Island. Cross the stream the other way and there is a two-hour coastal walk to Boom Rock.
The beach is an off-lead dog exercise area, and the tiny foreshore reserve behind it is being brought back by the Makaracarpas, the local restoration group, after the dunes were bulldozed in 1942.
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Mākara Beach, counted
Stats NZ figures for the statistical area Mākara and Ōhāriu, Place summaries. Population is the estimated resident population; the rest are the 2023 Census. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
The best of Mākara Beach
Every pick checked against its own listing on 21 September 2026.
What you can buy here
The bach on the shore
The small weekend places along the beach front, some of them from the village's fishing days.
The house along the stream
On Makara Road as it comes into the village, with the valley behind and the beach a short walk.
The house on the rise
Above the village, with the bay and the headlands in front of it.
The end of the road
The beach and the ramp
A stony beach on Ohariu Bay with a car park and a small boat ramp at the stream mouth, and dogs allowed off the lead.
The walkway
Up from the beach past the pā site to Fort Opau, then down to Opau Bay and home along the coast.
What people ask about Mākara Beach
Where is Mākara Beach?
Mākara Beach is on Wellington's western coast at the mouth of Mākara Stream, at the end of Makara Road, north of the Mākara settlement and about twenty minutes' drive from Karori.
How far is Mākara Beach from Wellington's city centre?
About 16 km, roughly half an hour's drive through Karori, and there is no scheduled bus to the beach.
What is Mākara Beach known for?
The stony beach and the boat ramp, the Mākara Walkway to the Fort Opau gun emplacements, and the fishing.
What kind of homes are in Mākara Beach?
Baches and small houses along the beach front, houses on Makara Road as it comes into the village, and a few on the rise above the bay.
What schools are in Mākara Beach?
There is no school at the beach. Mākara Model School, up the valley at 399 Makara Road, names Mākara Beach in its home zone, and Onslow College names Makara Road in its zone.
Tell me your street and I will send you your Mākara Beach performance report, with specific sales and data.
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