Rotorua Highlights Tour: Waiotapu, Te Puia & Lunch from Auckland
Recommended by 90% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Auckland, New Zealand
- 12 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Experience Rotorua’s geothermal wonders and cultural treasures on a fully guided small-group day tour from Auckland that saves you needing to drive. Explore the geothermal and cultural attractions at Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and Te Puia, enjoy Rotorua city highlights, and travel through the scenic Waikato countryside with live commentary. Includes entrance fees, water, snacks, and hotel pickup and drop-off so you can just sit back and enjoy your day.
- Receive personalized attention on an intimate small-group tour
- See many key Rotorua city sights in just one day from Auckland
- Ideal for first-time visitors to the North Island, or anyone short on time
- The mix of natural and cultural attractions appeal to diverse interests
What's Included
- Small Group & Fully Guided Bus Tour from Auckland & Return
- Te Puia Guided Tour & Wai O Tapu Entry
- Water & Snacks available
- LunchFree choice from a set menu, provided on the day
- Complimentary Hotel Pickup & Drop off (Select locations only)
- Te Puia Cultural Show (time limitations)
- Children below 8 are required to travel in a booster/safety seat. Hire for NZ$20 or provide your own
- Restroom on board
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
*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.
Start time.6:30 am
Itinerary
Auckland Central (Pass By)
Waikato Region (Pass By)
Tirau (Pass By)
1
Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland
2 hours • Admission Ticket Included
2
Secret Spot Hot Tubs Rotorua
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
3
Te Puia
2 hours • Admission Ticket Included
4
Rotorua
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Auckland (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infant seats available
- Not recommended for travelers with back problems
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- 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. Please wear comfortable walking shoes and weather appropriate clothing.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.6
based on 88 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Michelle_C, Mar 2026
Liam was the best tour guide for this trip. Highly recommend this trip for anyone interested in Maori culture
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Kia ora!
Great to hear you had such a good day out! Liam will be pleased to know his guiding helped make the experience so memorable. Rotorua really is the place to connect with Māori culture, so it’s awesome that stood out for you.
We’d love to welcome you back for more adventures in the future. Until then, safe travels and thanks again for choosing Cheeky Kiwi!
Ngā mihi,
Cheeky Kiwi Travel 🚌🥝
Norma_V, Mar 2026
Good walking shoes and small light backpack or crossbody is best. Easy access to your camera a must. Ample stops for bathroom, snacks/food. Cheeky Pearl is an awesome driver/guide!!
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Kia ora!
Great tips for the day—comfortable shoes and easy access to your camera definitely make a difference! It’s awesome to hear Pearl helped make the experience so enjoyable as well.
We’d love to welcome you back for more adventures in the future. Until then, safe travels and thanks again for choosing Cheeky Kiwi!
Ngā mihi,
Cheeky Kiwi Travel 🚌🥝
Szymon_R, Dec 2024
Very rushed. Only got to spend an hour at the warm pools. Majority of the day was spent just traveling in the van.
JohnD_P, May 2024
What keeps this from being a 5 star experience is the fact that the Rotorua Museum (On Viator - "take in the sights of Rotorua on a coach tour with stops along the way ... Stop at key points in Rotorua ... guided driving tour seeing the most famous sites in Rotorua city including: Lake Rotorua, Rotorua Museum, Government Gardens, Whangapipiro (Rachel Spring) & the Blue Baths) is closed due to safety concerns about its ability to withstand earthquakes, as are several other buildings. Now technically, the verbiage does not say one gets to visit the museum (or any of the other sites), but one might get that impression. Indeed, the museum grounds are mostly fenced off. The Wai-O-Tapu part of the tour was quite nice. However, we are old and move slowly, so we could not take in the full path around the features in the time provided. More time there would have been MUCH BETTER than the time spent on driving by the closed buildings in Rotorua.
debra_n, Feb 2024
Grant was an excellent guide. He went out of his way to make sure we all could do the activities that we wanted. The 2 geological parks were great. Would definitely recommend them both.
Emily_S, Jan 2024
What a great day out to see the sights of New Zealand. Alessandro, our tour guide was fantastic throughout and set the tone for a great day right from the get-go.
The landscape was beautiful and there was flexibility to choose what activities we wanted to participate in during the tour.
Cherry_C, Jul 2023
Worst tour I’ve ever had on this platform. Whole tour was 12.5 hours but the only hours spent on activity was 3hr 15 mins, the remaining hours were on commute and sending and picking up customers from different locations. In the 3hr 15 mins, I had 2 activities - 1hr 45 mins in Waiotapu Thermal wonderland. Tour description mentioned it would be a guided tour, but there was no guide at all. We were just asked to walk alone. And then I was dropped off in the city for another 1hr 45 mins for free time alone. The guide was also not clear about assembly time hence the whole tour felt like a mess. No guide, no organization, not as described as in the description . Very disappointed for this expansive tour.
PATRICK_A, Mar 2023
A different and pleasant place. Especially Wai O Tapu. I felt the real volcano tour there. Incredible sulfur smell and warmth.
danielle_h, Jan 2023
I went with my friend, recommend bringing snacks and signing up for more than one activity. The tour guide was great.
Rosa_B, Jan 2023
Champagne Pool really is that wonderful to see with your own eyes! I could spontaneously add on Te Puia to the trip to see the cultural maori thing (not everyone had exactly the same activities)
We were a cool group, which made the day even more amazing!
Stphane_B, Nov 2022
First of all, Simon, our tour guide was fantastic!
However, I got an email from the company the day before that Wai-O-Tapu was currently closed Tue-Fri (my trip was on Tue) and was offered to go to Te Puia instead. Lovely place but not what I had travelled half across the world for to see.
Whilst I do understand that there is currently a shortage of staff which is obviously not Cheeky Kiwi's fault, it's a shame that they didn't contact me a day earlier to offer me to go on Mon.
A shame as I'll now never be able to see what for me had been the most important thing on North Island.
Elizabeth_P, Mar 2020
We were really well looked after by our tour guide, Grant. He went out of his way to give us a wonderful day and ensure that everyone was happy. Rotorua speaks for itself as it is stunning!
Only disappointment was to discover that the availability of wifi meant that we would have to pay extra to actually have it (on a day when we were still trying to be in contact with our travel agent re flights back to the UK because of changes due to the Coronavirus). Paid extra to see the park with the geysers, which was worth it.
Carlos_P, Feb 2020
They promised a Mercedes bus. They sent a Ford. They promised snacks, wi-fi, and cell phone charging ports; they lied again. Instead of Cheeky they should call themselves Cheapy Lying Tours. Make your own travel arrangements and go see Wai-O-Tapu on your own.
Response from Host, Feb 2020
While majority of our vehicle's are the 12 or 16 seater Mercedes Sprinters we do have a Ford Tourneo in our fleet. Ford Tourneo are a smaller vehicle again (7 seater) designed for private tours and are fit out for a even more boutique experience. You only have to google this vehicle so see all the features it comes standard with however and that it built for high end comfortable tours. We do offer WiFi access, water and snacks in our all vehicles also. The water and snacks and offered to every client every trip, the charging points and WiFi access are a feature build into the vehicle that if not know how to use or access the driver would be happy to show you. We are very sorry if this client was not aware of a vehicle feature we just wish if they are upset with something that it’s brought to our attention on the day so it can be taken care of rather than writing a dishonest review. If he was in our private tour vehicle then the group would have been a maximum of 6 people so any issues the customer had would have been very easy to solve and ensure they had a great day if bought to our attention.
Guenter S, Nov 2019
We had time enough to see all the attractions at Wai O Tapu. After this I decided to visit Paradise Wild Life Park, also a great experience.
Melissa is an excellent tour guide and very helpfully.
Shawdi_M, Aug 2019
Great tour! Long day. Mike was very knowledgeable and experienced. Would have liked to know beforehand that both tepuia and wai otapo were recommended, rather than told to buy the second attraction the day of the tour
Reshma_C, Dec 2018
I would not suggest to use "Cheeky Kiwi Travel". In all the tours we used for NZ, each and everyone of them were professional, well educated in tourism and reasonably priced. I think Cheeky Kiwi Travel was a family run business that ran it as nothing but a business operation. Here's an account of why I'm writing this 1) Although my booking was made & confirmed on 7th Nov for 2 people, the company sent an email on 16th Nov to say they haven't made enough numbers and would be cancelling my booking for 19th Nov and would provide a full refund. They provided alternative tours (ran by themselves) for the same date which I wasn't interested in, as I set out what I wanted to see and do before arriving into NZ. They didn't consider providing alternative dates for the rest of my duration. I had to propose that before someone came back to me to confirm that. I had to switch another tour for the only alternate date available which cost me $60 out of my own pocket, which I made a point to inform "Cheeky Kiwi Travel" on email but no one responded to that, not even as a form of remorse. 2) When the driver finally arrived and had us standing on the main road of our hotel on a cold early Saturday morning, they 20 mins late and had only picked up one other passenger, which meant we were going to be significantly late going forwards. 3) The driver (and her chaperone) had no experience of the city and how to get around, but used two gps to get around as they were lost by the 'new one way system' of the city. As it happens, the two individuals later identified themselves as husband and wife. 4) They had no idea where the intercity bus terminal was and what WAS the Intercity bus! 5) They had no depth of knowledge aside of what they had memorized about the road they took to get to our destination or the place they were going. They had no knowledge or understanding on the history of New Zealand nor Māori culture, when asked but made a point to google such in the vehicle whilst driving. They were however extensively knowledgable and forthcoming about the farming & dairy industry because they were once farmers themselves. 6) They weren't considerate to the foreign passengers where english wasn't their first language. They basically used sentences like 'would you like an upgrade to visit the geysers' rather then saying, it's an extra $40 to see the Geysers, would you like to go too? 7) There is MORE... They basically ripped me off $444 and I'm not happy.
Monica_S, Jul 2024
La visita al parque geotérmico es increíble e imperdible. Algo muy fuera de lo común. A pesar del largo viaje de ida y vuelta vale la.pena. Nuestro guía y conductor Michael de Chiwi Kiwi fue extraordinario. Con mucho conocimiento de cada uno de los rincones visitados
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