6.5 hour Small-Group Rotorua Naturally Shore Excursion - Tauranga
Recommended by 90% of travelers
Tauranga, New Zealand
- 6 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
What's Included
- Port pickup and drop-off (cruise-friendly timing)
- Professional local guide with live commentary
- Small-group transport in air-conditioned minivan/coach
- Redwoods Treewalk & Glow Worm caves guided tour admission
- Guided geothermal foot bath experience (towels provided)
- Traditional Hangi-inspired snack (meat or vegetable pie)
- Admission to commercial geothermal parks (not included)
- Lunch, drinks, souvenirs, personal expenses
- Infant/baby seats (must be supplied by traveler if required)
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Port of Tauranga Ltd2 Salisbury Avenue, Mount Maunganui 3116, New Zealand
The meeting point for passengers off the cruise ships is on the grass by the flag poll just outside the port pedestrian exit gate on Salisbury Avenue. If you are not travelling on a cruise ship then this is still the meeting point unless you have made an alternative arrangement with us.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
1
Kuirau Park
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Sulphur Point
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Government Gardens
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Redwoods, Whakarewarewa Forest
1 hour • Admission Ticket Included
5
Rotorua
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
6
Tauranga
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
7
Mount Maunganui
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Te Puke (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- Family friendly tour
- Tour departure time may change due to early and/or late ship arrivals and departures
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately. We suggest layers with hats and sunscreen
- You must provide your own infant/baby seat if required.
- The Tree Walk involves walking up a ramp to approx 20 metres above ground and then walking along up 28 swing rope bridges between the trees. It is safe and secure but good mobility is needed as there are steps in some areas.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 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 318 reviews
robyn_c, Mar 2026
Our guide Brian was so knowledgeable and friendly.
Nothing was a problem with him. The tour was awesome and covered a lot of ground. Recommend it highly!
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thanks for the kind comments and we are pleased you enjoyed the tour. Regards Ian
Piedade_S, Mar 2026
Excellent experience very inclusive. We saw a lot of things. Simon, the guide was amazing. Really enjoyed all the stops specially, the kiwi farm and the redwoods.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thanks for your kind comments and positive 5 star review. We are pleased that you enjoyed the tour with us. Regards Ian
Carol_S, Mar 2026
This tour provides you with a variety of locations to visit. Our guide was called Simon and his knowledge of the area was immense and he imparted it with great ease and it was obvious he loves sharing this knowledge with his clients. I enjoyed every aspect of the tour, especially the high ropes walkway through the redwood forest. The silver fern explanation was great. Thanks again Simon.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thanks for your kind comments and positive 5 star review. We are pleased that you enjoyed the tour with us. Regards Ian
Theresa_S, Mar 2026
Simon was the best! So much knowledge of the city and history the perfect driver and MC for the day. Drove us around to all the spots gave us short details about the location and enough time for pictures and walking around. Did a bonus stop to see native kiwis and try their ice cream since we had extra time at of the tour great adventure and tour.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thanks for your kind comments and positive 5 star review. We are pleased that you enjoyed the tour with us. Regards Ian
Maria_L, Mar 2026
This was a great excursion to see sights in the area. I'm sure our guide Richie made this even better, he was full of interesting information about the area and gave us enough time to enjoy the various stops. Loved the tree walk, glowworms, the stops at the thermal pools and lake and of course the kiwi farm.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thanks for your review and pleased to hear you enjoyed the tour with Cruise Tours Tauranga. Regards Ian
Dave_S, Mar 2026
A great trip with Richie our guide. The redwood walk was great and the glow worm cave although a bit of a novelty was interesting and well explained by our guide. The tour included a lovely commentary about the local area with an insight into NZ life. A great day out.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thanks for your review and pleased to hear you enjoyed the tour with Cruise Tours Tauranga. Regards Ian
Mrinal_S, Mar 2026
A very well structured tour of Touranga made specially memorable by Simon our guide who had very good knowledge of the history of the area.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thanks for your feedback, Simon will be pleased to know you enjoyed his tour, regards Ian
Linda_M, Mar 2026
The bus driver was funny and knowledgeable and we enjoyed him a lot. Walking on the bridges through the Redwood trees were amazing. Learning about and seeing the gloworms was very interesting. It was a great trip!!
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thanks for the great feedback, the new glow worm grotto that we now included in this tour has been a real success. Pleased you enjoyed it, regards Ian
Christine_L, Mar 2026
Learned a lot from Simon on this tour!!
The added impromptu stop in a Kiwi orchard was a nice treat.
I just wasn’t aware the tour was for “the young at heart.” Lol!!!🤣🤣🤣
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Sorry about the van, we have another brand that targets seniors and we use this on the cruise day tours as well. Regards Ian
Cynthia_M, Mar 2026
Great way to see a variety of NZ specialties in one day! Richie was awesome! Comfortable. A bottle of water would’ve been a nice option on the van.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Thanks for your great feedback, we used to supply water but have decided to not do so any more and hope that passengers are able to use a re-usable bottle that can be filled up. With upwards of 300 passengers on our tours some days that was a lot of plastic bottles we had to deal with. Regards Ian
Mark_G, Feb 2026
This was ROUGH. Don’t get me wrong, the locations were cool and we enjoyed that but the guide was pretty dreadful. Could not hear a single word of commentary on the bus after asking him to turn up the volume several times. He was just not that considerate about us hearing him or bathroom breaks. The whole experience felt so rushed. Would not recommend this.
Response from Host, Mar 2026
Hi Mark, sorry you did not enjoy the tour, this is a very uncommon review as almost all are 5 stars. We dont know which date your booking was so we can not investigate what went wrong. If you would like to email me at CruiseToursTauranga we can then look into this further. Our guides are well know for their high level of customer service so its a surprise that you had such a bad time, regards Ian
Christopher_J, Feb 2026
Good trip. Lot of cool things to and the driver was great . It takes a few minutes to get off and The ship down to meeting point
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks for the review. Yes, it's a short walk [less than 5 minutes] from the gangway along the pier to the meeting point just outside the port gate. Great to hear you enjoyed the tour. Regards Ian
Shannon_T, Feb 2026
Richie was fantastic and a wealth of knowledge. He picked us up from the Port and got us back on time. Rotorua is gorgeous and the countryside is absolutely beautiful. The Kiwi farm was very interesting and the kiwi ice cream was delicious. The Bridge tree walk was a wonderful experience and the 10 min foot soak was glorious. Excellent day!
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Sounds like you had a good day!!
Regards Ian
laura_m, Feb 2026
It truly is a long day but so worth it. We had the pleasure of Simon as our guide. Very knowledgeable and prompt. Staying on time gave us the opportunity to enjoy extra time at a kiwi farm. So much fun. Lots to experience but just a taste. Makes us want to come back and explore more of this area.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks for the review, we fit as much in as we can on this 6.5 to 7 hour tour. Please come back and do some more trips, regards Ian
Donna_M, Feb 2026
Excellent tour! Loved all the sites! Tauranga was amazing! Tour guide was so knowledgable! Would highly recommend!
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks for your very kind review, regards Ian
Debra_C, Feb 2026
It was very rushed. We drove to the Maori Village, but didi not go into it, just visited the gift shop and had a terrible pie at the cafe. No stops or pauses along the way to enable scenic photos. We also visited some Rotorua hot springs and saw some mud pools which was nice, but also very rushed. We then went to the redwood forest and glow worm cave, which was the best part of the trip. Lastly, we visited a kiwi fruit farm, which was also good. We were back on the bus quickly and racing back to Tauranga where we arrived half an hour early, so our driver drove around the block to kill some time - it would have been better to be let off at the beach instead........ There were no opportunities to take photos of the countryside AND we had time to spare, so we could have slowed down at a few lookouts or something.....photos through the bus window at highway speeds do not work well. The commentary was not entirely appropriate to the trip as we learnt a lot about the driver and his family, schooling, retirement options and some agriculture, but not much about the history of the areas we went through. Overall, I did not enjoy the trip.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Hi Debra C [sorry but we do not know your full name so can not check which date or tour guide had]. The tour you booked DOES NOT enter into the Living Maori Village as this would entail the $100 entry fee. We do visit their cafe to pick up a snack for your lunch, this is like a Cornish Pastie, with pastry filled with meat and or Vegetable and we also offer a locally produced drink. The pie is usually well liked by our guests and we are sorry it was not to your liking. We stop so you can at least see the village, visit the gift shop and make use of the rest rooms. We are pleased that you did enjoy the Redwoods Treewalk and the new Glow worm grotto. The tour runs around 6.5 to 7 hours and we have to keep to the schedule as the ships will not wait for us should we get back late. We try and show you as much as possible in the time we have. If you had wanted to actually visit the Maori village then you should have booked the more expensive tour that we offer where this is included, so its not fair to complain about not seeing something when it is not actually included in the tour. Our driver/guides try and give as much info about the region you are in, the places you visit and a little general info about NZ, we are sorry that you did not enjoy the tour. If you would like to contact me at info@cruisetourstauranga.co.nz with details about your date of travel we can then discuss your comments with the guide on the dat. You will see that our tour usually gets 5 star reviews, hence our surprise to receive your 2 star review. The drivers do not kill time by driving around the block, but we use the best routes based on traffic conditions and also on what we can show you along the way. Regards Ian
Alla_S, Feb 2026
We had a wonderful scenic drive to the city of Rotorua
Our guide Richie as very Indians funny
We saw lakes, hot springs, redwoods and tasted kiwi! It was so cool , never saw them grow before
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks for your feedback, great to know you had a good time on our tour. Regards Ian
pat_a, Feb 2026
Amazing! If you do no other excursions do this one! We did so much in a day. Thermal lakes, traditional village, glow worm caves, redwood forest, kiwi fruit farm. And our guide, Richie, was wonderful. So friendly and well informed. A truely memorabke day.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks for your review, so pleased you had a good time, regards Ian
Chrissy_H, Feb 2026
The driver was knowledgeable but not organized. Do not sit in the back of the van, you will miss all of the information by the time you get off. Most stops were very quick and some areas seemed unnecessary. You get a quick preview of a lot of things but do not get to do anything within the areas…except the redwoods tree top adventure…which was AWESOME. It’s just 6 hours of lots of sitting on a van with a driver who is a bit like “get off my lawn” vibe. Good information, but boring.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
This is a very unusual responses as normally we get 5 star reviews. If you had just a 6 hour tour then that would be due to time constraints with the ship departure times. The travel to Rotorua does take 75 minutes each wat but then there are 5 places we visit in Rotorua with a drive of around 5 minutes between each. If you could not hear the drivers commentary then you should have told him to adjust the front/rear balance of the PA system. Sorry you did not appreciate the tour as much as the other travellers. Regards Ian
Barbara_B, Feb 2026
Great tour! Wide variety of activities ranging from soaking our feet in a hot pool to traversing a lot of swinging bridges in a redwood forest to visiting a kiwi orchard to seeing some really cool boiling mud pools and more. Lunch was pretty good as well, though I enjoyed my beef pie while my husband wasn’t so keen on his chicken pie. We also appreciated the small group - there were only 16 of us. The van was nice and the driver/guide worked real hard to make sure we all had a great day.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks for the great review, its become one of our most popular tours. Regards Ian
Alan_P, Feb 2026
It was a very informative tour around Rotorua lead by a gentleman named Ritchie who had a great knowledge of the area and also spoke of other matters about New Zealand that was very informative.
The tour was not rushed with plenty of time to observe the various areas visited
Response from Host, Feb 2026
So pleased you enjoyed the tour with Richie this week. Its a great tour. Regards Ian
MRSD_J, Feb 2026
Excellent tour with a humorous and knowledgeable guide/ driver. Included "lunch" which was a small savoury pastry and a cold drink at 11.15am
By 2pm i was hungry!
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks for the kind review, we only provide a snack but there is always more food at the cafe where you can buy more. Regards Ian
Anita_D, Feb 2026
It was a great trip offering lots of different things to see and do. The tour was well organized and the van very comfortable. I would highly recommend.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks Anita, we really appreciate your feedback, regards Ian
GlennWilliam_H, Jan 2026
Great guide and well timed. The itinerary was fantastic. The van was roomy with large windows for viewing the landscape as we passed by.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
So pleased you had a good time on our tour, thanks Ian
leightonmaryt, Jan 2026
Lots of sights covered in a short time . We saw steaming pools, but the geysers are not part of this tour. I wanted to see the giant redwoods and do the elevated walk and that was included. The glow worm caves are artificial caves by the redwoods.. snd you can see what it’s like without going to a cave by the ocean . We also stopped at a kiwi fruit farm.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
We try and fit in all the main sights in Rotorua on our tours. Thanks for your feedback and review. Regards Ian
CARRIE_R, Jan 2026
Had a wonderful time. Our guide Richie, was very informative.We leaned and saw a lot. A favorite was walking a over the trees
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Pleased you had a god time. regards Ian
Kathleen_H, Jan 2026
Allistar our tour guide was great. The trip to the tree top hanging bridges and the glow worm cave were tremendous. Definitely a highlight. The trip is worthwhile if only for those two activities. The stop at the geothermal areas was nice but nothing like visiting the paint pots of Yellowstone. Overall, I’d recommend this tour, but it won’t blow your mind.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks for your feedback, we show you as much of the geothermal sights in Rotorua without paying the $100 entry fee to see the geyser, but we do have tours that include that option if you have the budget, regards Ian
danevaldez, Jan 2026
Perfect way to see as much as possible when visiting Tauranga by cruise ships. Richie our guide was aware of our ships arrival time and was waiting for us just outside the port gate, only a few mins walk from the ship. Richie was excellent, a retired school teacher who is very passionate about showing visitors his country. He was very knowledgeable about the sites we visited as well as sharing other stories and interesting facts about the NZ.
Response from Host, Jan 2026
Thanks for your very positive review, we are pleased you enjoyed the day with us, regards Ian
mary_s, Jan 2026
Mr Richie was wonderful! Very knowledgeable and great with kids! We really enjoyed our time. Thank you!
Response from Host, Jan 2026
Pleased to hear that all the family had a great time. Regards ian
emaritamac, Jan 2026
Very informative, awesome place to visit… highly recommended . Brian is a very good tour guide …the tour is reasonably price
Response from Host, Jan 2026
Thanks for your kind comments, Brian will be pleased to know you enjoyed your day with him. Regards Ian
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