Rotorua Highlights Tour: Waiotapu, Lunch & Add-On from Auckland
Description
Discover Rotorua’s geothermal wonders, Māori culture and natural beauty on this premium small group day tour from Auckland. Travel through the scenic Waikato countryside to Rotorua, where you’ll visit Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland (included, morning), home to vibrant hot pools, bubbling mud and the famous Champagne Pool. In the afternoon, personalise your Rotorua experience by selecting one activity. Choose from a guided cultural and geothermal tour at Te Puia, unwind in the Deluxe Lake Spa at Polynesian Spa, relax among nature at Secret Spot Hot Tubs, or take in the forest from above on the Redwoods Treewalk. Highlights: • Small group tour from Auckland • Fully guided with expert commentary • Wai-O-Tapu visit included • Choice of afternoon activity • Scenic Waikato journey
Tour Options
Itinerary
Your tour starts in New Zealand’s largest city. As we drive out of the city your guide will not only set the scene for your adventure today but also point out and guide you past some of the city’s top highlights.
Exiting Auckland we travel south through the stunning Waikato countryside, the most extensive farming area in the world, encountering beautiful scenery, might rivers, great photo opportunities, impressive mountains and several farm animals along the way. During our adventure in the Waikato we will also stop for a quick coffee break at a special location.
Continuing our journey to Rotorua we pass through Tirau famously dubbed the 'Corrugated Iron Capital of the World' because of the many unique corrugated iron sculptures and buildings. This town never fails to get a look and a laugh and our guides will point out all the main highlights on the way through.
Spend around 90 minutes exploring the world-famous Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. Wander through this surreal geothermal landscape, with its steaming vents, bubbling mud pools, and the vibrant Champagne Pool.
We make our way to Secret Spot so you can enjoy lunch and recharge for your afternoon activity.
After lunch, your guide will take you to your afternoon activity (selected during the booking process). Options are a guided tour Te Puia, Redwoods Treewalk, Deluxe Lake Spa at Polynesian Spa or Secret Spot Hot Tubs.
Take a guided drive through Rotorua’s famous landmarks, including Lake Rotorua, the Government Gardens, Whangapipiro (Rachel Spring), the Blue Baths, and the historic Rotorua Museum.
Sadly we must start to head north again but your day is not over with a fully guided return trip to Auckland with secret stops along the way.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
*If no pickup is selected at time of booking, you will be allocated our default meeting point (SkyCity Hotel). You are welcome to update this at any time. If your location isn’t listed, please choose your nearest available option & meet us there. *Pick-ups can begin up to 20 minutes before the tour departure time, depending on location. To ensure a smooth start, please be ready and waiting outside 5 minutes prior to your specific pickup time. *Pick-up locations are carefully planned for each tour and may vary by day. If your pick-up location changes, kindly inform us in advance. *Our guides make multiple stops and may arrive within a 10-minute window. We are unable to wait for late guests.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Minimum numbers apply. There is a possibility of cancellation after confirmation if there are not enough passengers to meet requirements. In the event of this occurring, you will be offered an alternative or full refund.
- Due to uneven surfaces, this tour is not recommended for those with walking disabilities or using a wheelchair.
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately.
Reviews(419)
This ended up being my first tour in New Zealand. After grabbing coffee at a stopover, we started the day with a 90 minute trail at Wai O Tapu followed by lunch. We capped off the day with a dip at the different mineral pools in the Polynesian Spa. Amazing experience with a view of the lake just ahead. Thanks, Simon, for being such an informative guide!
Hanoz was the BEST- super knowledgeable on all things Aotearoa and was a pleasant and friendly driver/tour guide. Please give him a raise. Also, this tour was well worth the price. 10/10 would recommend. Book Cheeky Kiwi travel for any NZ tours
Thank you so much for this wonderful review! We're thrilled Hanoz made such a great impression — we'll be sure to pass on your kind words. We'd love to welcome you back on another Cheeky Kiwi adventure!
John our guide is full of nuggets of information about the Maoris and history of the places we visited. Gave us just the right amount of time to explore and also made sure that we got back to our hotels on time. While the entire trip was more than 12 hours in total, it didn't feel that long because of how engaging John was.
Thank you for this brilliant review! John loves sharing stories about Maori culture and history, so it's great to hear that came through. We're so glad the day was well-paced and enjoyable despite the long hours. Hope to see you on another tour with us!
It was a really great experience, iam really happy that I didnt miss it. Thanks
Thank you for the great feedback — we're so happy you didn't miss it either! It was a pleasure having you along and we'd love to see you again on a future tour.
Excellent visit. Very interesting. All organized perfectly. Simon was our guide, super attentive to all passengers. He explained what we saw accompanied us in every admission.
A great experience not to be missed! All was very well organised, pick up on time, making it a most enjoyable day with memorable highlights. My booked trip had to be re-arranged due to low numbers and the e-mail contact was excellent. Our driver Michael was brilliant and a great source of knowledge about NZ. It is definitely worth travelling in a small group and I shall be recommending Cheeky Kiwi to my fellow travellers.
Thank you so much for this wonderful review! We're delighted to hear everything was well organised and that Michael made your day so special. Your kind recommendation truly means the world to us! - GM, Cheeky Kiwi Travel
This was a great tour for our family. We had a Hobbiton tour day before and it was also very enjoyable but somewhat rushed. This gave us a plenty of time to enjoy natural hot spa and just relax, followed by the beautiful redwood walk. Liam was great, very informative and also gave us the quite time for the ride from and to Auckland. We finished a second part of tour early enough so he dropped us at Rotorua center where we explored streets of downtown while he went to pick up rest of the group from their activity. I would definitely recommend Cheeky Kiwi and this tour.
Thank you so much for this wonderful family review! We're delighted Liam made the day so informative and that you had a relaxing and enjoyable time at the hot spa and redwood walk. We hope to welcome your family back for another adventure! - GM, Cheeky Kiwi Travel
My tour guide John did an excellent job. Everything was well prepared. He also shared a lot of tourist tips. We enjoyed this day tour.
The tour guide, John, is more than excellent. He is professional, experienced and talkative. Apart from the tour information, he has also provided with us restaurants information, sightseeing places and most importantly delicious ice cream. My wife and I are extremely happy with the day tour organized by Cheeky Kiwi, particularly under John's tour guidance.
Our guide and driver, Mark, was fantastic. The things he shared were interesting and made my tour richer. At first I worried there wouldn't be enough time at the spa or the WaiOTapu but there turned out to be ample time. I enjoyed the stops on the way up and the way back. It would have helped to know beforehand we would make a stop for coffee and other stops so I didn't try to bring extra food and drink. We had a friendly group of tourists that were fun to meet.
