The town of Pauanui (Māori: Pāuanui, meaning "big pāua")[6] is on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island of New Zealand.

The area is a popular holiday destination, with an estimated summer holidaymaker population of over 15,000.

The settlement has an airstrip used by recreational light-aircraft pilots and is noted for game fishing, diving, surfing and its excellent beach.

The area was developed in the late 1960s with a focus on families and included features that were first of their kind in New Zealand, such as red-coloured roads to improve the visibility of pedestrians.

The results were 94.9% European (Pākehā); 6.7% Māori; 0.3% Pasifika; 3.9% Asian; 0.6% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 1.7% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander".