90-Minute Guided Ruakuri Cave Tour Waitomo
Recommended by 97% of travelers
Waitomo, New Zealand
- 1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
- Offered in: English
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Overview
The Waitomo Glowworm Caves are among the most visited attractions of New Zealand’s North Island and Ruakuri Cave is the longest of the underground caves. Explore the magnificent cave on this 75-minute guided walking tour and marvel at the unique rock formations, subterranean rivers, and thousands of glittering glowworms.
- All entrance fees included
- Led by a local guide
- Soak up the atmosphere on a walking tour
- Small-group tour
What's Included
- Local guide
- Food and drinks
- Gratuities
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting points
Select a meeting point
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
1
Ruakuri Cave
1 hour 15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
- Wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- You must check in 30 minutes before the tour departs
- Due to high demand and limited capacity if you are late or miss your scheduled tour time your ticket(s) are forfeited and non refundable. New bookings will incur the full tour cost and are subject to availability
- Your own transport is required
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Julia_T
Informative and magical sights. Guide friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable. Gloworms were beautiful and the caves were stunning.
Reviews
4.8
based on 171 reviews
sheldonj52, Mar 2026
The cave itself, with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, completely accessible for walking easily or wheelchairs, well lit, and fascinating, is arguably the main attraction as opposed to the glow worms. You'll definitely see glow worms, and the filaments they hang down to catch food (not that there is any, so they basically resort to cannabilism to survive), but they are a minor part of the tour. Regardless, this is a stunning cave and highly recommended. The tour guides are terrific as well. (If you use a wheelchair, you can stay in the car while someone else in your party checks in (there is an accessible restroom in the check-in stattion as well as restrooms around back for everyone else), and then you can drive down to within 50 feet (17 meters) or so of the cave entrance so you avoid the short downhill walk/roll to the cave. Note that the spiral path in the cave you'll see in the pictures is completley accessible but a bit difficult to get back up with push chairs. The guide offered to help but we had an electric chair which I recommend bringing if you have one.)
Denise_v, Mar 2026
We are very glad we chose this tour. Our guide was so informative about the caves origins and the glow worms. We got to see them quite close up. The cave itself was interesting and an easy walk. The 90 mins went so quick. We have previously taken the glow worms boat trip but definitely prefer the cave tour.
Kim_K, Mar 2026
Educational, beautiful and mystical all at the same time. We came to see the glow worms and did that, but they probably were secondary to the beauty and education we received.
Mary_M, Feb 2026
I feel that we really got to experience the caves during this 90 minute walk with our tour guide. I would highly recommend this experience.
Jim_C, Feb 2026
It was a great experience and our tour guide was such a nice guy and knew his stuff. Well worth the visit.
Karl_K, Feb 2026
Wonderful experience and the tour guide was outstanding! Definitely recommend this tour to anyone. Enjoy
Penny_D, Feb 2026
A fabulous, informative guided walk through magical Ruakuri Cave. RICO was our guide and was so calm he really helped me feel at ease despite not liking being underground. The geology of the cave is stunning, well lit in most parts, and seeing glow worms an added bonus. So glad I
did this.
Ron_R, Feb 2026
Haven't been to Waitomo for about 40 years, the whole experience was fantastic. Our guide was really great and gave us so much insight into how this wonderful place came to be, and how it still functions.
It is of course a must for any traveller. It was so good to see it again.
Kayla_M, Feb 2026
Our guide was very entertaining— he provided ample education and information surrounding the cave and gloworms, while keeping things light and funny with his fun jokes throughout. We went on an earlier tour (8:30) do was only 4 pairs of ppl which was nice since it was a small group. Had tons of fun exploring the cave, and of course getting to experience the dark and quiet serene sections of gloworms! Well worth it
Stephanie_V, Jan 2026
It was epic! We somehow managed to book the 9 am tour (thinking it was the 12) and they easily rebooked us for the later tour. Once there, we decided to upgrade to the combo and do the Glowworm cave before Ruakuri. Both were beautiful and interesting! The guides were lovely, friendly, funny, and knowledgeable!
From $68.16
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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90-Minute Guided Ruakuri Cave Tour Waitomo
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1 hour 30 minutes
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