1. Visit the redwoods
Just W.O.W. Even if you’ve already witnessed big trees (like we did during our time in California where we saw its enormous Sequoias), you still must go to the Whakarewarewa Forest. It’s completely free to walk around its many trails, but we suggest you pay the ticket to visit the incredible Redwoods Treewalk: an award-winning series of 28 eco-suspended bridges and platforms, that allow you to walk from one tree to another while being 20 meters from the ground! It’s utterly beautiful and worth the money.
Sneakpeek Tip: Start the walk around an hour before the sun goes down and stay there until the night lights are turned on. This way, you only need to buy one ticket and get to see the two versions of the Treewalk. Also, you’ll notice a considerable amount of people arriving at nighttime, when you’ll be practically leaving the place!
2. Hobbiton
If you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, this one is a no brainer. In Hobbiton, you can relive the scenes of your favorite movie series by exploring the movie set of the Shire! They’ve made everything with remarkable details, including the lovely house of Frodo Baggins. Unfortunately, this was one of those things we had to skip since we didn’t have enough time to do it all. However, we got the feeling that even if you’re not a tremendous fan of the trilogy, it is worth the detour and the ticket price.
They strongly advise that you book your visit well in advance as the place gets crowded every day. Choose your experience through their website and get prepared for a magical tour.
3. mountain bike
Although we had never tried to ride a mountain bike before, this is among our top recommendations to do while in Rotorua. It was SO much fun! We’ve rented our bikes through a company called Mountain Bikes Rotorua, located about a 5 minutes drive from downtown. Its staff helped us set everything up and even gave us a few tips to tackle the area. The trails are simply amazing, very well-identified along the way, and with different difficulty levels according to your experience. You’ll pass through the most scenic places ever during your ride!
Sneakpeek Tip: After finishing, head to the wood house in the parking lot. It’s called Secret Spot Hot Tubs Rotorua, and it’s a cafe with outdoor hot tubs to soak up your sore legs after the intense ride. Take a rest while enjoying a deserved fresh beer.
4. Go to a Geothermal pARK
It might as well be the main reason why you’ve decided to visit Rotorua in the first place: its geothermal activity. It can be quite challenging deciding which park to visit, especially since you probably don’t have more than a few days to spare. Here are our top 2:
- Wai-o-tapu: its largest trail has around 3km, you can see it all without taking up too much time. It’s a fascinating place with hot bubbling mud, the incomparable vividly colored lakes, and even a geyser that erupts once a day. It’s very touristic but also features a unique scenery.
- Waimangu Volcanic Valley: with the option of taking both a walking and a boat tour, plan to spend half a day in this stunning park. Being a much less crowded option, it feels more authentic.
Since it was not our first time visiting a place of this kind (Iceland got us pretty spoiled on this matter), we’ve decided to visit just one of them, having chosen Wai-o-tapu. Our decision was mainly because of its lakes with unique out-of-this-world colors.
5. MAORI CULTURE
Rotorua is widely known for having a deep Maori heritage. This means that if you’d like to engage in some Maori cultural experience and get to know more about its history, you should do it while you’re in town. There are a lot of Maori Villages for you to choose from which include activities such as meet and greet the locals, live cultural performances, traditional meals, or walking trails through native bush.
We always have mixed feelings about these kind of authentic experiences and how much of them are genuine. It’s easy to feel like you’re in a people-zoo, and that the whole thing is just another tourist trap. We’ve decided not to book any of these tours, but we’re not sure we did the right thing because so many people recommend this “once-in-a-lifetime experience”. We leave you here this note, trust your gut feeling, and let us know your thoughts!
Add a Comment