Best known for its beachy lifestyle, the Bay of Plenty’s biggest city hides some stunning parks and gardens in its interior thanks, in part, to its famously sunny climate.

From a mission garden with a nearly 200-year-old oak tree to a statue-studded maze of themed gardens built on a former quarry, these are five well worth adding to your itinerary.

The Elms Te Papa

Set on a hectare of carefully tended gardens overlooking central Tauranga, this kauri mission house is one of the oldest buildings in the country.

Guided tours tell the story of how local Māori chiefs invited English missionary Alfred Brown and his wife Charlotte to establish the mission in the 1830s, and the many adventures – and misadventures –that ensued.

Tours cost $20 per adult, and is free for kids aged 17 and under, but the grounds are free to enter. You’ll find an oak tree grown from an acorn Brown brought from England in 1829, plenty of other mature trees, and gardens built in the style of Scottish botanist John Claudius Loudon, also the most influential horticultural journalist of his time. theelms.org.nz

15 Mission Street, Tauranga

Robbins Park

A short walk from The Elms Te Papa, this waterfront park contains a 28-bed rose garden framed by an ivy-covered Italian renaissance-style colonnade.

The neighbouring greenhouse is filled with begonias and orchids, and there’s a camellia shrub planted in honour of Kate Sheppard, the leader in the fight for New Zealand women’s right to vote.

7 Cliff Road, Tauranga

McLaren Falls Park

Take a short, easy stroll to the waterfall in this 190-hectare park after dusk, and glow-worms are likely to light your way.

You’ll want to visit in daylight too though. It boasts one of the best botanical collections of trees in the North Island.

About a 10-minute drive from Tauranga, the park is a photographer’s dream, with trees casting reflections on the surface of Lake McLaren, and pathways snaking through fairytale-like groves.

If you’re there in spring, be sure to visit Cherry Bay – a little slice of Japan in the Bay of Plenty with its sea of pink blossoms. Popular for camping, fishing, kayaking and disc golf, it also hosts concerts in summer.

190 McLaren Falls Road, Omanawa

Te Puna Quarry Park

Located in the foothills of the Kaimai ranges, this 32-hectare wonderland of themed gardens and native bush is the love child of local resident Shirley Sparks, who grew tired of looking out her kitchen window at the scarred rocks of the abandoned quarry it then was.

Volunteers began clearing the quarry in 1997, gradually transforming it into a park filled with walkways and sculptures by local artists.

Highlights include the heritage rose and butterfly gardens, Australian zone, palm grove and native plant area. It takes about 45 minutes to complete the main circular track, but it’s well worth venturing up the steeper ones for views stretching from the Coromandel ranges to the eastern Bay of Plenty.

110 Te Puna Quarry Road, RD7, Te Puna

Tutarawānanga – Yatton Park

A popular wedding venue, this suburban park contains a nationally significant arboretum with trees which have competed for light since they were planted in 1866, making them some of the tallest of their species in the country.

Planted with colourful perennials, the flowerbeds are particularly pretty in spring, while a stream, pond and water features add to its photogenic credentials. Sweeping lawns and a playground also make it a favourite for family picnics.

Fraser Street, Parkvale, Tauranga

- Lorna Thornber/Stuff.