Whanganui National Park showcases one of New Zealand's most distinctive river landscapes. Established in 1986, the park covers about 286 square miles across the central North Island, with the Whanganui River tracing long, quiet bends through dense forest. Although the river is not officially within the park's boundaries, it shapes nearly everything around it, including the Whanganui Journey—one of New Zealand's designated Great Walks.

Much of the terrain is wrapped in lowland podocarp–hardwood forest anchored by native trees like kahikatea, rimu, and tawa. Wildlife is common along the river valley, where visitors may see the North Island brown kiwi, the endangered blue duck, and other native birds that depend on stable forest cover. The region's broad ridges, steep drop-offs, and uninterrupted greenery make the park feel larger and more remote than its boundaries suggest.

History appears in small but striking features, including the Bridge to Nowhere—a concrete bridge built for a former settlement that was later abandoned and reclaimed by forest. Access points and river routes reveal how the area blends natural scenery with traces of earlier communities.