Novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz, who was in Auckland for the recent Writers' Festival, has written a glowing account of his time in the city for the Telegraph.

Headed "Why Auckland is worth flying 25 hours for" .. he's talked up the eateries, Waiheke vineyards, the Auckland museum and his day hiking in the Waitakere Ranges.

Horowitz says the festival itself was well attended and he ranks it among the best in the world along with Dubai, Sydney, Toronto and Jaipur.

He's not so flattering about the central city, saying it somehow fails to impress ... Queen Street is "on the edge of seedy" and the harbour edge feels like a missed opportunity.

Calling it a patchwork of architectural styles: colonial, modern, gaudy, shabby, occasionally chic and resolutely old-fashioned.... he says the awnings over the pavements and the half-empty convenience stores hark back to the Fifties.

The distance travelled for the British penman of the Alex Rider children's novels is also a flight too far .. Horowitz saying that even in business class you arrive feeling as if you have just been exhumed.

However he raved about fabulous meals at Cibo , the O’Connell Street Bistro and Depot.

He also described being exhausted and exhilarated after tramping a stretch of the Hillary trail above Karekare.