Havelock is a coastal village at the head of Pelorus Sound, one of the Marlborough Sounds.

The State Highway from Nelson to Blenheim passes through the town, heading south, but a shorter though very tortuous road to Blenheim proceeds east along the edge of the Sounds.

Among the town's former residents were rocket scientist William Pickering and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Rutherford.

Havelock should not be confused with Havelock North, in Hawke's Bay in the North Island.