A harbour town in New Zealand, built around an unusual settler history inside a volcanic crater, offers one of the region's most distinctive small towns, while an inland village in South Australia adds a different settler heritage further north, equally compact and walkable.
The destinations on this list range from harbour towns with a genuinely unusual settler history to inland villages built around a single distinct cultural heritage. Both reward a slow walk through the main street rather than a quick drive-through.
Visiting on a weekday rather than a weekend tends to mean a noticeably quieter, more authentic atmosphere at both of these popular day-trip towns. Local cafés often double as informal information points. Wearing comfortable walking shoes also matters considerably given the steep, narrow streets involved.
