It lies on State Highway 2, nine kilometres north of the city centre of Napier.

Bay View has been administered by the Napier City Council since the 1989 local government reforms.

[3] In 1826, the rangatira Tuakiaki ate the tongue of his brother-in-law Te Mautaranui of Tuhoe, whom he had killed in revenge for an earlier murder, at Bay View.

[4] William Colenso of the Church Missionary Society established a mission outstation named Bethany near the mouth of the Esk River.

[6] The name of the area was changed to Bay View in 1924 to avoid confusion with Petone in the Wellington region.