Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. The Dunedin urban area lies on the central-eastern coast of Otago, surrounding the head of Otago Harbour. The skyline is dominated by a ring of (traditionally seven) hills which form the remnants of a volcanic crater.

The city suburbs extend out into the surrounding valleys and hills, onto the isthmus of the Otago Peninsula, and along the shores of the harbour and the Pacific Ocean. The hinterland encompasses a variety of different landforms. To the southwest lie the broad and fertile Taieri Plains of the Taieri River. These are moderately heavily settled, and contain the towns of Mosgiel, East Taieri and Allanton. Close to the plain, much of the land is forested, notably around Berwick and Lake Mahinerangi, and also around the Silverpeaks Range, to the northwest of the city.

A high, broad valley, the Strath-Taieri, lies in the far northwest and contains the town of Middlemarch, one of the area's few concentrations of population. To the east, Dunedin City includes the entirety of the Otago Peninsula, a long finger of land that formed the southeastern rim of the Dunedin Volcano. The peninsula is lightly settled, almost entirely along the harbour coast, and much of it is maintained as a natural habitat by the Otago Peninsula Trust. It contains several fine beaches, and is home to a considerable number of rare species, such as penguins and seals, and most importantly, it contains the world's only mainland breeding colony of Royal Albatross.

Among other places of interest in Dunedin are Larnach Castle, Cargill's Castle, Meridian Mall, The Octagon, Otago Museum, Otago Settlers Museum, the Botanical Gardens and the Dunedin Chinese Garden. The city is home to the University of Otago, New Zealand's first university, founded in 1869. Dunedin is the farthest city in the world from London at 19,100km (11,870 mi). It is home to Baldwin Street, which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the steepest street in the world. Its gradient is 1 in 2.9.

Accommodation in Dunedin’s university colleges and halls

The biggest university if Dunedin is the University of Otago, which offers casual accommodation in residential colleges on and around the main campus in the city centre. It should be understood that the university residences amd colleges are designed primarily for students and not children or adults expecting a high level of luxury. However, with this in mind, they do meet a level of comfort that we expect most visitors to be happy with, and we will welcome any feedback where this is not the case.

Getting around Dunedin

The Dunedin urban area is served by two State Highways, with the main one being State Highway 1, which runs in a north to south-west direction through the middle of the city, connecting Dunedin with Invercargill to the south and Timaru and Christchurch to the north.

Dunedin is the northeastern terminus of the Southern Scenic Route, a tourist highway connecting Dunedin to Te Anau via The Catlins, Invercargill and Fiordland. The Taieri Gorge Railway currently runs tourist-orientated services from Dunedin Railway Station, the most prominent of which is the Taieri Gorge Limited, a popular and famous train operated daily through the scenic Taieri Gorge. Dunedin International Airport is located 30km (19 mi) southwest of the city, on the Taieri Plains at Momona. It is primarily used for domestic flights, with regular flights to and from Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, and flights to and from Brisbane year round and seasonally to Sydney and Melbourne.

Archaeological evidence shows the first human (Maori) occupation of New Zealand occurred around AD 1250–1300, with population concentrated along the southeast coast. William Tucker became the first European to settle in the area in 1815. Permanent European occupation dates from 1831, when the Weller brothers founded their whaling station on the Otago Harbour. By the late 1830s, it was an international whaling port.

In 1844, the Deborah, captained by Thomas Wing and carrying a representative of the New Zealand Company, Frederick Tuckett, came south to determine the location of a free church settlement. After inspecting several areas on the eastern coast of the South Island, Tuckett selected the site which would become known as Dunedin. Significantly, he turned down the site, which would become Christchurch, as he felt the ground was far too swampy. The Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland founded Dunedin at the head of Otago Harbour in 1848 as the principal town of its special settlement. The name comes from “Dùn Èideann”, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Charles Kettle, the city's surveyor, instructed to emulate the characteristics of Edinburgh, produced a striking, “Romantic” design. The result was both grand and quirky streets, as the builders struggled and sometimes failed to construct his bold vision across the challenging landscape.

In 1861 the discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully, to the southwest, led to a rapid influx of population and saw Dunedin become New Zealand's largest city by 1865. In the 1890s the economy grew steadily, but by 1900, Dunedin was no longer the country's biggest city. Influence and activity moved north to the other centres ("the drift north"), a trend which continued for much of the following century. Despite this, the university continued to expand, and at the same time people began to notice Dunedin's mellowing and the ageing of its grand old buildings. After World War II, prosperity and population growth recovered, but the city trailed as the fourth 'main centre'.

During the 1980s, Dunedin's popular music scene blossomed, with many acts, such as The Chills, The Clean, The Verlaines, and Straitjacket Fits, gaining national and international recognition. The term "The Dunedin Sound" was coined to describe the 1960s-influenced, guitar-led music which flourished at the time. By 1990, population decline had steadied and Dunedin had re-invented itself as a 'heritage city' with its main streets refurbished in Victorian style and the Municipal Chambers in the Octagon handsomely restored.