Rotorua walking tour & city guide

Geothermal wonders

Te Puia has the Pōhutu Geyser, which erupts several times an hour. Wai-O-Tapu has colorful pools like the Champagne Pool. The smell of sulfur is part of the experience.

Culture and nature

Cultural evenings include a hāngī feast cooked in the ground and a haka performance. The Redwoods forest has a treetop walk, and Lake Rotorua is right by the town.

A day in Rotorua

Visit Te Puia or Whakarewarewa to see the Pōhutu geyser erupt and bubbling mud pools. Wai-O-Tapu, south of town, has colorful thermal pools like the Champagne Pool.

In the evening, attend a Māori cultural experience with a haka performance and a hāngī dinner cooked in an earth oven.

Good to know

Rotorua smells of sulfur, a sign of the geothermal activity under the town. The Redwoods forest has a treetop walk.

Relax in the Polynesian Spa's hot pools by the lake.

Why it is unique

Rotorua sits on one of the most active geothermal fields in the world, and steam rises from drains, gardens and parks around the city. Kuirau Park, in the center, has free mud pools and hot foot baths. The area is also the heart of Māori culture in New Zealand, and the Ohinemutu village by the lake, with its carved meeting house and church, shows how geothermal heat has been used for cooking and bathing for centuries. Mountain bikers come for the Whakarewarewa Forest trails among giant redwoods.