Reasons to visit

Newcastle and its surrounds are home to an emerging café society and a multitude of foodie venues, from fine dining to tapas and pizza. Not to mention the food and wine trails and sensational fish and chips. Darby Street at Cooks Hill is a bohemian delight with funky cafés, outdoor dining, art galleries, eclectic shopping and alternative music.

The beaches around Newcastle are some of Australia's finest. From Nobby's in town down to Caves Beach south of the city, there's varying surf, white sand and rock formations to explore.

The Newcastle Memorial Walk offers incomparable views of Newcastle and the coast. A stairway connects the walk with a six kilometre stretch of coast known as Bathers Way.

The Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia in Shortland is a 45-hectare site boasting more than 250 species of wildlife plus walking trails, guided tours, canoeing, feeding talks, bird watching and a playground and Segway tours on Sundays and holiday Mondays.

A local's top tips

Eleni Georgiou, Manager, Nina's IGA Hamilton

"We try to carry specialty lines that are difficult to get hold of and we chase gourmet foods from all over the world. Being of Greek origin we stock a lot from that part of the world but we also buy from local farmers.

We package a lot ourselves, including rusks and olive oil from Crete and a massive range of Kalamata olives and fetta cheeses.

Our vegan range is huge and includes artisan tree nut cheese from Sprout & Kernel, blocks of lactose-free vegan 'mozzarella' cheese from Notzarella and imported cheese from Vegusto and Daiya.

We also have lovely pre-packed home-made Greek-style meals from Our Taste of Greece."

More: Best places to eat and drink in Newcastle

Every IGA is independently owned, discover the local difference at iga.com.au/discoverlocal.