Golden Bay lies at the edge of the junction between the Tasman Sea and Cook Strait. It stretches for 45 kilometres from the long sand spit of Farewell Spit in the north to Separation Point in Abel Tasman National Park at its southern extremity. Beyond this point, the larger of the two bays at the top of the South Island, Tasman Bay, begins.
The northern part of the bay is largely devoid of population; the southern part contains the populous but small plains around the mouth of the Takaka River. Between the two lies the small town of Collingwood. Other than the Takaka River, the Aorere River is the main watercourse to reach the sea at Golden Bay.
Dutch explorer Abel Tasman anchored in this bay in 1642. However, resulting the hostile encounter with the local Maori when a party from his ships tried to land caused him to bestow upon it the name Murderers Bay. English explorer James Cook renamed it Golden Bay during his voyage of discovery in 1769.