A local’s guide to the best things to see and do in Rotorua
Rotorua is New Zealand’s geothermal hotspot, and the place I have ended up calling home.
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I came to Rotorua in early 2025 to visit a few attractions and maybe write about them; I met a guy and I’m still here, more than a year later. Living here was never part of my plan, but I can’t complain about having something new to do every weekend.
In Rotorua, the fabric of the earth feels thin. Steam, hot water, and boiling mud simmer right below the surface, and in many places, burst through. There must be few towns in the world that reek of sulphur the way Rotorua does, or that have scalding steam surging from storm drains. Sulphur-tinged moonscapes, mud volcanoes, and gushing geysers are all evidence of the heat beneath our feet trying to tear holes in the earth.
The bounty of naturally hot water means the area is layered in Māori history and legends – since their arrival in Aotearoa during the great Polynesian migration of the late 13th century, Māori settlers made use of the hot pools for cooking, bathing, and healing. After Europeans arrived, they too were lured in by the geothermal phenomena.
The local Te Arawa people became guides, sharing with visitors their cultural traditions, stories, and hospitality as well as the geothermal landscapes. To this day, Rotorua is the best place in Aotearoa New Zealand for travellers to get an introduction to Māori culture. It’s still one of the best places to visit full stop. As well as cultural and geothermal attractions, there’s lakeside hiking, whitewater rafting, and mountain bike trails. And the luge.
This guide is my attempt to steer you to the best things to do in Rotorua, that aren’t overwhelmingly touristy. As with all of my guides, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but the things I enjoy the most in Rotorua, as someone who lives here.
Rotorua at a glance
Lake Tarawera, looking towards Mount Tarawera at dawn
How long do you need in Rotorua?
Two nights is enough to cover the bare minimum in Rotorua (that’s enough time to visit one geothermal park and soak in some hot pools, with another adventure activity thrown in).
If you have more time, three nights gives you more time to explore the wider area. The Kaituna River is one of the best rafting locations in the whole country, and the lakes in the area provide beautiful opportunities for swimming and walking.
Getting there and away
Rotorua is usually the first stop for people arriving into the North Island — it’s a 3 hour drive south of Auckland, so you can either head straight here from Auckland international airport, or spend a night or two in Auckland before heading down.
If you’re short on time, Rotorua does have an airport that will connect you to Christchurch in the South Island, or back to Auckland (but it’s a short enough distance to drive).
My Rotorua highlights
Waimangu Volcanic Valley is my favourite geothermal park.
Te Puia’s Te Po Combo evening is my pick for the best Maori cultural performance and food experience
Wai Ariki is my favourite thermal pool
Rafting off a waterfall on the beautiful Kaituna River is my favourite adventure activity
Lake Tarawera Falls is the best off-the-beaten track walk — you’ll need water transport across the lake.
Where to stay in Rotorua
Larger hotel chains sit on the fringe of the town centre; just south of the centre, on Fenton Street, is a long line of motels and motor inns. Choosing a central location means an easy stroll to dinner, as the town centre is compact and easily walkable, while opting for somewhere on the busy Fenton stretch can mean cheaper rates.
Staying even further out, closer to one of the lakes in the area, is ideal if you don’t mind self-catering.
Of Rotorua’s central hotels, my top pick is Aura, located close to the lakefront and within easy walking distance to many restaurants
Blue Lake Top 10 Holiday Park is located right on the edge of Blue Lake, my favourite place to swim in Rotorua
The best things to do in Rotorua
See geothermal activity
Steaming cliffs near Rotorua
Your first introduction to New Zealand’s most dynamic thermal area is likely to be a whiff of sulphur-rich air as you drive into town. Rotorua is built right on top of a geothermal system which sends steam up through storm drains, and makes mud pools bubble in public parks. One of the main reasons to visit Rotorua is to see a geyser, a colourful pool of acid, or steaming cliffs.
Each of the geothermal parks in Rotorua offers something slightly different; whether that is combining the geothermal sights with hangi food cooked in the ground, a mud bath, or a soak in soothing hot waters.
Kuirau Park, in the centre of Rotorua, is free to walk around and features steaming pools and even thermal foot baths
Kuirau Park, lying just to the west of Rotorua’s town centre, is an easy and affordable place to start exploring geothermal sights. The park itself isn’t the most scenic, but it features steaming hot pools, boiling mud, and free thermal foot baths.
Walking to Sulphur Point on Rotorua’s lakefront, at sunrise
Steam rising in the early morning sunrise, right on the lakefront in Rotorua
Sulphur Point, on the lakefront, gives you the chance to walk right alongside steam vents and mud pools. Start near the Polynesian Spa on Hatupatu Drive and follow the lake.
When the Mt Tarawera eruption in 1886 destroyed the Pink and White Terraces, it created the Waimangu thermal area (the terraces are thought to be beneath the waters of Lake Rotomahana in the Waimangu reserve).
Although more expensive than Wai O Tapu, Waimangu is also a lot quieter. I much prefer the gentle downhill walk at Waimangu, which takes around 1-2 hours through the valley. People spread out along the track, so although you’re not alone, it does feel much calmer. Along the path are thermal and volcanic features like Frying Pan Lake, a vast hot spring, and Inferno Crater Lake, which has pastel blue water in the right conditions (the intensity of the colour depends on the water level, which rises and falls in a 38 day cycle, and how much you can see depends on the amount of steam blowing around), and colourful silica terraces.
The walk concludes on the shore of Lake Rotormahana; you can opt for a boat trip on the lake, for a closer look at steaming cliffs, or catch a shuttle back up the hill to the beginning.
The details
Waimangu is 20 minutes south of Rotorua. Allow half a day to visit, with an extra hour if you want to stop by Hot N Cold stream, which is in the same area.
The park is located on the road to Taupo, so if you’re travelling from Rotorua to Taupo it can make sense to visit Waimangu on the way.
The ‘hellscape’ at Hell’s Gate
Digging mud for the spa
Although less colourful than Waimangu or Wai O Tapu, this geothermal reserve does have an impressive and barren moonscape of simmering pools, sulphur formations, and mud volcanoes. What makes Hell’s Gate truly unique is that this is the only geothermal park or spa offering the chance to slather yourself in mud dug from pools around the reserve.
Don’t let the ‘spa’ label fool you; this is a rustic experience, not a luxury one. I enjoyed the chance to cover myself in mud (this isn’t something you get to do very often) but I appreciate that it might not be for everyone. Although the mud bath and spa experience includes bathing in hot pools (the mud bath is limited to 20 minutes) they are far from the best in Rotorua.
The details
The cost of visiting the mud spa alone is $90; for $115, you can also explore the geothermal reserve. I recommend getting a combined ticket (and if timing allows, join one of the free guided tours at 10.30am or 2.30pm). The mud spa alone would have felt too rushed otherwise, and I appreciated the size of the geothermal area at Hell’s Gate.
First established in 1963 as an institute for teaching and preserving traditional Māori arts and crafts, Te Puia is a pillar of Rotorua. Set in the Whakarewarewa geothermal valley, the big draw at Te Puia is the mighty Pohutu Geyser. The largest and most active geyser in the Southern Hemisphere erupts up to 20 times a day. It’s only possible to visit Te Puia’s geothermal valley on a guided tour, which means you’ll be in a large group and hustled around fairly quickly (standard tours last 90 minutes).
The upside is that you also get to see Te Puia’s other attractions, the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute and a kiwi conservation centre. Frankly, I don’t think it’s worth visiting Te Puia for the guided valley tour alone – Waimangu and even Wai O Tapu are much more interesting in terms of geothermal features.
However, if you opt for a combination experience, with kapa haka (traditional Maori performances) added into the mix, it is good all round experience. I particularly enjoyed the Te Pō Combo, which includes watching the Pohutu Geyser in the evening, accompanied by hot chocolate.
The details
I recommend going for the Te Pō Combo
Pohaturoa Track to the Whaka Lookout
Geothermal areas bubble and steam right on the edge of town — the view from the Pohaturoa Track
If you’re on a tight budget, or just fancy a walk, a great option is to follow the Pohaturoa track to the Whaka Lookout, which has views across both Te Puia and Whakarewarewa Village. Time it right, and you might even see the Pohutu Geyser erupt.
The walk starts and finishes (you can walk it as a loop, but I prefer out to the lookout and back the same way) right by Eastwood Cafe.
The details
Wai O Tapu
From $47 per adult
Wai O Tapu, around 30 minutes south of Rotorua on the road towards Taupo, is famous for the Champagne Pool, a well of boiling geothermal liquid about 65 metres across. The rim of the pool is bright orange, while the steaming water is a deep green. Other features at Wai O Tapu include bright green pools and the Lady Knox Geyser, which is persuaded to erupt every day at 10.15am with the help of organic soap.
If you’re not interested in the geyser (and there are other, naturally erupting ones to be seen elsewhere) try to avoid visiting Wai O Tapu in the mid morning, as the crowds gathered to see Lady Knox blow then all shuffle into the park.
The crowds, of course, are the main downside to visiting Wai O Tapu. The park is not large, so unlike Waimangu, visitors aren’t as dispersed. With the beautifully photogenic Champagne Pool as a drawcard, Wai O Tapu is the busiest of Rotorua’s geothermal parks (at least, it feels that way).
Also worth noting is that one spectacular feature of the Wai O Tapu geothermal area is free to visit. Located a few minutes from the park is the Wai O Tapu mud pool — the largest mud pool in New Zealand — located right by the road. Even if you opt to visit another geothermal park, it’s worth swinging by this impressive mud pool.
The details
Experience Māori culture
Rotorua offers some of the most accessible Māori cultural experiences in the country; after all, Māori guides have been greeting visitors here since the 1870s, when they came to visit the Pink and White Terraces. The pastel-coloured silica terraces were destroyed when Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886, but the custom of local Māori sharing stories and traditions with manuhiri (visitors) lived on. T
hese days, the main formula for cultural tourism experiences in Rotorua includes kapa haka (song and dance), and hāngī, a traditional earth oven meal. These kinds of packaged experiences cater to large volumes of tourists, which might not be to everyone’s taste. If you’re short on time, even these introductory experiences will give you a window into Māori culture, history, and present. But for more in-depth understanding of Māori culture, I recommend checking out a smaller group activity like Whirinaki Forest Footsteps.
After the geothermal attractions, Rotorua is most famous for offering some of the most accessible Maori cultural experiences in the country.
As mentioned above, Te Puia is located in a geothermal valley, so you can visit to see the impressive Pohutu Geyser. But, as a cultural centre, Te Puia is also an excellent place to experience hāngī food, and a traditional kapa haka performance.
The basic experience is a 90 minute guided tour on which you can see Māori artists and carvers at work, live kiwi birds, and erupting geysers (Te Rā Guided Experience). During the day, you can choose to add on a 30 minute cultural experience (Te Rā Guided Experience + Haka), and a hangi lunch (Te Rā Combo). In the evening you can start with the 90 minute valley tour, followed by a buffet dinner, a 45 minute cultural performance, and a hot chocolate down by the Pohutu geyser (Te Pō Combo), or skip the valley tour and just go for the dinner/performance/geyser by night (Te Pō Experience).
The food was better than I expected – not life changing by any means, but it is a good chance to try some traditional Maori food; there is a range of hāngī meat and vegetables on offer, along with things like fried bread. As far as a buffet goes, it was pretty good. And the cultural performance was an excellent display of a traditional pōwhiri (welcoming) ceremony, waiata (songs), and haka.
If you want to see a haka, taste hāngī food, and see some geothermal activity into the bargain, Te Puia is a great choice. In terms of value for money, it’s hard to beat. Of the ‘dinner and a show’ options in Rotorua, this is the one I would go for. For me, the extra things like seeing a kiwi, and seeing the geyser both during the day and after dark, make Te Puia’s Te Pō Combo feel more comprehensive than Te Pa Tu’s evening of dining and kapa haka performances.
The details
You can opt for just the dinner and cultural performance with the Te Pō Experience
For the full range of experiences, go for the Te Pō Combo; this is what I chose, and I loved the variety
Te Pa Tu
Taking an interactive approach, Te Pa Tu welcomes guests for an evening of interactive experiences, performances, and food. The night begins with a traditional powhiri, before giving visitors the chance to explore the village and try their hand at poi, carving, and weaving, with canapes made from local ingredients as sustenance.
The sit down meal is family style, with heaped plates of food shared at each table. The food is prepared in a hangi, a pit filled with hot stones with baskets of meat and potatoes on top. The smoky, steamed food can be an acquired taste; try it anyway.
One of the host's family members is stationed at each table, sharing food with guests and answering any questions. Kapa haka performers play throughout.
The details
Ōhinemutu Māori Village
If the packaged village experiences don’t appeal, a much more unstructured option is to village Ōhinemutu, a Maori neighbourhood located on the lakefront. Start at Rotorua’s War Memorial Park and turn left along the lake shore, continuing until you see the Tama-te-Kapua meeting house – you can’t miss the building with its exquisite carvings. St. Faith’s Anglican Church, across the square, is another standout building, decorated with whakairo (carvings) and tuktuku (woven panels). The village has plenty of visible geothermal activity; the boiling pools and steam vents are still used for cooking.
Outdoor adventure activities in Rotorua
After Queenstown, Rotorua may be New Zealand’s biggest adventure hub. The Whakarewarewa Redwood Forest has a vast number of running and mountain biking trails, while the spectacular Kaituna River sets the stage for epic white water rafting. The lakes in the area make for great hiking, swimming, and kayaking.
Hike Mt Tarawera
From $209 per person
Mt Tarawera – the volcano responsible for the eruption that erased the Pink and White terraces back in 1886 – is a formidable sight, rising above Lake Tarawera. The land is privately owned, so the only way to hike Tarawera is on a guided tour with Kaitiaki Adventures.
The half day option runs for around 4 hours, but it takes around an hour each way to reach the starting point of the hike from Rotorua, with the last 30 minutes along a bumpy 4WD track up the mountain. That leaves roughly 2 hours to walk around the rim of the volcanic crater, trekking through scoria with the option to run down a very steep slope of the loose gravel towards the end.
On a clear day, you can see out to smouldering White Island off the east coast, and down to Ruapehu and Ngaruahoe in Tongariro National Park. You get a real sense of how volcanic the North Island is. Mount Tarawera itself is vibrantly red in places. Circling the crater provides plenty of stunning views. Although the hike can be strenuous in places, it doesn’t feel like it merits a guide, and there wasn’t a huge amount of storytelling (although I did like that the guides opened and closed the walk with a karakia, a Maori prayer).
But, it did feel worth going just to be able to access an area that I would otherwise never see, and it's nice to know that profits from the guided walk go back towards pest control on the mountain. It’s a particularly great option if you don’t have time (or the energy) to walk the Tongariro Crossing; this hike will give you a great look at the North Island’s volcanic landscapes.
The details
Kaitiaki Adventures are the only company running hiking tours up Mt Tarawera
Some parts of the walk are steep and on loose rock — a moderate level of fitness is needed.
Glow worm kayaking
From $225 per adult. I was kindly hosted by Taiao Adventures
Photo by Taiao Adventures
A unique way to see glowworms in New Zealand is to paddle across a lake under cover of darkness, and nose your way into small caves along the shoreline. Although the caves are not to the same scale as Waitomo Caves (picture a space not much bigger than a kayak), there’s a definite magic to kayaking around at night, and seeing the glow worms’ light reflect off the water
The details
Ziplining with Rotorua Canopy Tours
From $199 for an adult. Rotorua Canopy Tours kindly hosted me for this experience.
Rotorua Canopy Tours has a very cool business model; in exchange for operating their ziplines in an area of beautiful native forest, they take care of predator control. The result? The forest there is thriving. and the birds that live there are thriving. A highlight of the trip was having a little native North Island robin eat a worm out of my hand, and seeing the werewere-kōkako – bright blue native mushrooms.
The ziplining itself was fun, but the story of how the company has helped weed out pests from this forest is what really made this experience stick in my mind. During the ziplining tour, the guides explain all the work that has gone into pest control in the slice of forest where they operate (they have 650 traps along 22 kilometres of trap lines).
They also make it clear that every guest helps to support the ongoing restoration of Ōkoheriki (the Dansey Road Scenic Reserve), which is a pretty neat thing to be able to say when you get to have a great zipline experience into the bargain.
The details
There are two tours to choose from; the Ultimate Tour (3 hours) and the Original Canopy Tour (2.5 hours)
Hike the Tarawera Trail to a Hot Water Beach
One of the best hikes in Rotorua takes you to natural hot springs on the edge of the lake. The Tarawera Trail is 15 kilometres one way, so allow a full day to walk the track, enjoy the hot springs, and catch the water taxi back to the start.
The trail starts with beautiful views of Lake Tarawera, and passes by quiet lakeside bays, through native bush, and travels up to a fabulous lookout point before arriving at Hot Water Beach.
The hot springs on the edge of the lake are excellent novelty value, but not the most relaxing thermal springs you’ll ever experience; the water tends to be either scalding hot or freezing cold.
The details
Hike to Tarawera Falls
At Tarawera Falls, an underground river pours right out of the cliff face
The spectacular Tarawera Falls burst out from a cliff face, fed by an underground river. The waterfall is 35 metres high, fed by the Tarawera River flowing out of Lake Tarawera. The river disappears underground, into flooded caves formed by old lava, before surging out through fissures in the cliff face.
Although close to Rotorua as the crow flies, the falls are tricky to get to via road. If driving, you’ll need to stop in the small town of Kawerau to get a forestry access permit from the Information Centre ($10). Permits are only available on weekends or during school holidays. After Kawerau, you still need to drive for around 45 minutes on dusty, unsealed roads. The total drive time from Rotorua is around 1.5 hours.
The walk from the carpark to the falls is only 20 minutes, but you can carry on along the river to Lake Tarawera. The trail is relatively flat and gentle. Keep an eye out for whio (an endangered native duck) swimming in the river, or North Island robins hopping about in the bush.
A faster way to get there is across Lake Tarawera. Totally Tarawera operates a water taxi across the lake, dropping you off at a beach beside the outlet of the Tarawera River outlet. From there, the return walk is 3.5 hours along the river.
The details
Rotorua’s thermal hot springs
All the geothermal activity beneath the surface means Rotorua has an abundance of hot springs. These range from hot rivers, lakefront hot pools, and rustic pools where the water is straight from the ground.
Skip the Secret Spot hot tubs (which are heated with electricity, instead of being fed with geothermal water) and soak in one of the area’s many naturally thermal pools.
Wai Ariki
From $175 for 2 hours
Wai Ariki’s thermal pools overlooking Lake Rotorua
Having opened in 2023, Wai Ariki still seems glossy and new. The lakefront hot spring facilities are the most luxurious on offer in Rotorua. As well as thermal pools, there are three saunas (with buckets of cold water or ice chips for hot-cold therapy) and a mud experience, where you lather yourself in mud and wait for it to dry, before entering a steam room to melt it off.
The layout is designed to take you on a ‘Restorative Journey’ from sauna, to hot pools, to mud room; the overall effect is emerging out the other end extremely relaxed. The price is on the higher side, but includes a locker, towel, and robe.
The Restorative Journey is billed as 2 hours, but I wasn’t hustled through – overall I spent around 2.5 hours there, so it seems like the time is more or less what you need, and not a strict limit.
Importantly, Wai Ariki is Rotorua’s only thermal spa to be Māori owned and run. Māori artistic and cultural elements are woven throughout, from a karakia (blessing or prayer) offered by the Te Hihiri (blessing stone ) at the beginning of the experience, to the symbolism in the architecture (for example, the sweeping roof referencing a waka (canoe).
The details
Wai Ariki is right in the centre of Rotorua, and open into the evening, so it’s very convenient to visit. The lake view is even better around sunset.
Polynesian Spa
In terms of convenience, it’s hard to beat the Polynesian Spa, which is located on the lakefront right in the centre of Rotorua.
There are several pool options to choose from; the Pavilion Pools have a standard swimming pool aesthetic, but nice lake views. The Deluxe Lake Spa has pools that are fringed with rocks, to make them appear more in tune with the natural environment, as well as towels, lockers, and a cold plunge pool, but the views are the same.
Ostensibly, some pools are alkaline and others acidic, but the only discernible difference for me was the variations in temperature.
With slightly dated facilities, the Polynesian Spa isn’t going to be the most luxurious thermal pool experience, but you can’t complain too much about soaking in hot water lakeside.
The details
I recommend going for the Deluxe Lake Spa option
Avoid going during the heat of the day, particularly in summer; most of the pools are uncovered, so it can get very hot in the sunshine.
Waikite Valley
Waikite Valley
Te Manaroa Spring
These open air pools are a 30 minute drive south of Rotorua (but only 10 minutes from other attractions nearby, such as Wai O Tapu and Waimangu Valley) but they are worth the trek.
The hot pools are fed by the impressive Te Manaroa Spring, the largest single source of boiling water in New Zealand. Follow a short trail from the hot pool complex to see the roiling waters of the spring for yourself. Water from Te Manaroa flows continuously through the pools, with the only modification being to cool the water to different temperatures. Highlights are the Pergola and Garden pools, both surrounded by lush foliage and offering views of the valley beyond.
These pools are rarely busy and offer excellent value for money. There’s even a campground if you’d like to stay overnight and have exclusive access to the pools, before the rest of the public, first thing in the morning.
The details
You can book online or just turn up and pay at the gate
Waikite Valley is around 15 minutes from other attractions nearby (Waimangu Valley, Wai O Tapu), so it can make for a good stop after visiting one of the geothermal parks south of Rotorua town.
Rotorua’s free hot pools
Located around 30 minutes south of Rotorua, off the highway heading to Taupo, is Kerosene Creek. The hot stream is Rotorua’s most well-known spot for bathing in thermal water for free, but it’s far from the prettiest. To reach the stream, you’ll need to bump and rattle 2 kilometres down a potholed gravel road and park in an area known for vehicle break-ins (lock your car and keep valuables out of sight).
A short trail leads to the creek, through pine forest and bramble thickets. The path can be muddy and rubbish is not uncommon. If you make it past all of these obstacles, you’ll be rewarded with a soak in a pleasantly warm stream, which features several deeper pools and even a small waterfall. For a quieter pool, explore the areas a little upstream of the waterfall, which is where most people swim.
I prefer bathing in Hot and Cold, another hot stream a further 10 minutes south (right next to the Wai O Tapu geothermal area). Despite the fact these hot pools are more or less under a road bridge, and there is a sign warning that there could be syringes, condoms, and broken glass in the water, the water at Hot and Cold is much clearer than the brackish stream at Kerosene Creek, and feels hotter as well .
Most people like to sit at the confluence of the hot stream with a cold stream (hence the name) so you can alternate temperatures, but I prefer wading upstream to the quieter pools which have been deepened with unobtrusive rock landscaping.
Unique to Rotorua activities
Redwoods Treewalk and Redwoods Nightlights
From $45 for an adult
The Redwood forest in Rotorua started out as an experiment at the start of the 20th century, to see which exotic trees would grow in New Zealand. More than 120 years later, the trees reach up to around 70 metres in height and the forest is a beloved recreational destination for locals, with walking and mountain biking trails weaving throughout. It’s one of my regular running routes; for visitors, it is a pretty place to get some fresh air, but the homogenous nature of the forest – it was started as a plantation, after all – means it’s not the most interesting place to go on a long hike.
The main focal point for visitors is the Redwoods Treewalk, which opened in 2016 as a canopy walk through the impressive trees. Personally, I don’t think the Treewalk offers a lot during the day. It’s much better at night, when lanterns hanging from the trees glow in all different colours, turning the walk into a wander through a fairytale forest.
The suspension bridges and platforms of the walk range from 9-20 metres off the ground; the entire walk is 700 metres long and takes around 40 minutes. That makes it a fairly expensive walk, but the lights and lanterns are visually spectacular.
A word of warning – for General Admission tickets, you’ll need to wait in line when you arrive. This is a very popular attraction. Over summer, and during school holidays, the lines can be very long – you might be standing around for more than an hour. There is a Fast Pass option, which will let you skip the queue, but I would also recommend just going for a walk on terra firma.
The lights are still very pretty seen from the ground, and it’s nice to be able to go at your own pace and away from the crowds. The trails are wide and well marked, so even in the dark you won’t get lost. Start from the Visitor Centre and follow signs for the Mokopuna Trail.
The details
The Redwoods Treewalk is best at nighttime, when the sculptures and lights create an enchanted forest. This is also when it’s busiest; it’s worth paying for the Fast Pass to skip the long queue.
Or, just go for a stroll on the ground.
Wingspan Bird of Prey Centre
The Wingspan Bird of Prey centre is dedicated to the protection of New Zealand’s birds of prey.
We have one endemic falcon, a small bird that loves to hop around on the ground, despite being a fantastic flier — New Zealand’s birds are beautiful, but many years of isolation made them evolve in some not-so-smart ways. Their ground-dwelling habits means they are now endangered, with far fewer left than the kiwi.
If you have the time, go and check out the Flight of the Falcon, a one hour demonstration from 11.30am, every day except Monday.
Thank you for reading
You being here is what makes my life as a travel writer possible, so thank you. I hope this has helped you find things to do in Rotorua.
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AUTHOR BIO
I’m a freelance travel writer from New Zealand with bylines in National Geographic Travel, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and more.
I’ve travelled up and down beautiful Aotearoa and I love sharing my recommendations for the best places to visit in New Zealand.
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