Give Rotorua three days. Spend the first on the geothermal parks, Te Puia for Pōhutu and Whakarewarewa for the village that still cooks in the steam, then soak at the Polynesian Spa on the lake edge at dusk. Day two is the forest: ride or walk the Redwoods, then raft Tutea Falls on the Kaituna. Day three runs south to Wai-O-Tapu and Waimangu, or west to Hobbiton.
Rotorua sits on a live geothermal field on the shore of a crater lake, and it has been Te Arawa country for some 600 years. That combination is the trip: geysers and mud pools a walk from town, and the iwi who have hosted visitors here since the 1800s telling you what you are looking at.
Pōhutu is the southern hemisphere’s largest active geyser and it fires up to twenty times a day. The reason to give it half a day is that Te Puia is also the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute, so carvers and weavers are training in front of you.
The Champagne Pool is the photograph everyone comes for, a 65 metre crater rimmed in bright orange mineral deposits and steaming all day. Three loop walks cover the park in under two hours. Lady Knox Geyser is set off by hand at 10.15am, so arrive by 9.45am for it.
Families still live inside this geothermal valley and still cook in the boiling pools, which is what separates it from a staged show. The guided hour is led by residents. Corn steamed in the Parekohuru pool is sold at the gate, and it is the cheapest thing you will eat here.
Californian redwoods planted in 1901 over one of the world’s better mountain-bike networks, free to walk or ride. The Treewalk strings 28 suspension bridges between 27 of the trees at canopy height, and after dark the Nightlights installation turns a pleasant walk into the best hour in town.
Mineral pools on the lake edge fed by two springs: the acidic Priest Spring, long used for aching joints, and the alkaline Rachel Spring. The adults-only Pavilion terrace looks straight down Lake Rotorua, and the last pool entry is 10pm, which makes this the one thing in town worth doing late.
The 1886 Tarawera eruption created this valley, which makes it the youngest geothermal system on earth and the only one whose whole life has been recorded. It holds Frying Pan Lake, the largest hot spring there is. The walk runs downhill to Lake Rotomahana and a boat over the lost Pink and White Terraces.
The gondola climbs Mount Ngongotahā for the widest view of the lake, and the luge has run here since 1985 on five tracks that get progressively faster. Take the gentlest one once to learn the brakes, then commit. A chairlift carries you back to the top between runs.
Tutea Falls is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world at seven metres, and it drops inside a narrow bush gorge twenty minutes north of town. Reckon on three hours door to door for under an hour on the water. No experience is needed, and you will go under.
The lakeside village where Ngāti Whakaue have lived for more than 400 years, steam rising between the houses. St Faith’s is Tudor outside, carved and woven inside, and its etched window shows Christ in a Māori cloak appearing to walk on the lake. This is a working marae, so keep to the public paths.
Te Wairoa was buried by the 1886 Tarawera eruption and dug back out of the ash, and it is the closest thing New Zealand has to Pompeii. The museum holds what was recovered; the path past it runs down through the village gardens to a waterfall. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
The Champagne Pool and the hand-triggered Lady Knox, 30 minutes south on SH5.
The youngest geothermal system on earth, walked downhill to a lake and a boat.
A village people live in, guided by the people who live in it.
A working lakeside marae, free to walk, with a carved church at its edge.
Around 180 km of purpose-built mountain-bike track, free and open daily.
Ziplines strung through 500-year-old native forest that is being trapped back to life.
Paddle two hours to a beach where the sand runs hot under the shallows.
Stairs down to the Kaituna gorge, with a viewing rock over Tutea Falls.
A geothermal mud bath followed by a sulphur spa, the only one outdoors in the country.
Fed straight from Te Manaroa Spring, 30 minutes south and rarely busy.
Trail ultra through the lakes and forest, with distances up to 160 km.
A free outdoor concert on the Village Green, closing with fireworks over the lake.
The mountain-bike festival’s southern-hemisphere stop, based at Skyline.
New Zealand’s oldest marathon, a 42.2 km lap of Lake Rotorua run since 1965.
The Māori new year, a public holiday marked here with dawn ceremonies.
Māori Language Week, felt harder in a district where te reo is everyday.
A week of rides, races and events across the Whakarewarewa trail network.
Tutanekai Street closes from 5pm for food stalls, crafts and live music.
Ten minutes east of the centre on SH30. Air New Zealand flies to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch; Sunair serves Gisborne and Napier.
Route 10 links the centre and the airport every half hour from 7am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, and hourly on Sundays.
Daily coaches from Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Gisborne, Napier and Wellington, stopping at the i-SITE on Fenton Street.
The geothermal parks, the lakes and every day trip sit outside town, so a car is the difference between three sights and ten.
It cannot legally be sold here, so you catch it or a guide’s kitchen cooks it.
The meringue argued over with Australia, served with cream and kiwifruit.
Meat and root vegetables cooked in an earth oven, and in Rotorua often in geothermal steam.
Boiled in the Parekohuru pool at Whakarewarewa and sold at the village gate.
Māori potato-leavened bread, dense, faintly sour and best warm with butter.
Freshwater crayfish from the lakes, long a Te Arawa delicacy and still served small.
Barely more than egg and inanga, in season from spring and priced accordingly.
Vanilla shot through with honeycomb toffee, the national scoop.
Get our one-page Rotorua cheat sheet plus a fresh destination every Thursday.
New Zealand 
