Rotorua sits on a volcanic plateau where the ground steams, the mud boils and a geyser goes off every hour, and it is the Maori heart of New Zealand. Two nights here with children does more than a week in a city.
Te Puia is the geothermal park with the Pohutu geyser, which erupts twenty times a day to thirty meters, and the kiwi house where the kids see the bird in the dark. Wai O Tapu is the other one with the champagne pool and the colored lakes. Kuirau park in town has free mud pools and a foot bath.
The Maori cultural evening is the night to book. Tamaki or Mitai, a welcome ceremony with the warriors, a haka, a concert, and a hangi dinner cooked in the ground. Kids are picked to go on stage and learn the poi. It is the best introduction to Maori culture in the country and it is built for families.
The luge, the lake and the hobbits
Skyline Rotorua has the gondola and the luge, the same as Queenstown, with a longer track. The redwood forest has a treewalk on suspension bridges between the trees, lit with lanterns at night. Lake Rotorua for a kayak, and the hot pools at Polynesian Spa for the evening soak.
Hobbiton is an hour north. The film set from the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, forty four hobbit holes in a green valley, a guided walk, and a drink at the Green Dragon inn. Kids who have seen the films will lose their minds. Kids who have not will still like the doors. Book weeks ahead.
Two or three nights. Then the Bay of Islands for the beaches, or Wellington for the ferry south. The smell of sulfur stops being noticed by the second morning.
Planning New Zealand with kids? Start with the full New Zealand family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.
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