Rotorua Tour: Experience Te Puia Geothermal Park with Maori Cultural Village
4.3
19 Ratings
Auckland
Experience the wonders of Te Puia Geothermal Park and Maori Cultural Village on this unforgettable Rotorua tour. Explore nature's power and beauty while immersing yourself in Maori culture.
Duration: 12 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Auckland Central - Your tour starts in New Zealand’s largest city. As we drive out of the city your guide will not only set the scene for your adventure today but also point out and guide you past some of the city’s top highlights.
  • Waikato Region - Exiting Auckland we travel south through the stunning Waikato countryside, the most extensive farming area in the world, encountering beautiful scenery, mighty rivers, great photo opportunities, impressive mountains and several farm animals along the way. During our adventure in the Waikato we will also stop for a quick coffee break at a special location.
  • Tirau - Continuing our journey to Rotorua we pass through Tirau, famously dubbed the ‘Corrugated Iron Capital of the World’ because of the many unique corrugated iron sculptures and buildings. This town never fails to get a look and a laugh and our guides will point out all the main highlights on the way through.
  • Te Puia - Arriving at our feature destination, Te Puia, you will receive a fully guided tour to best experience the geothermal and cultural wonders including: Pōhutu Geyser, Māori Architecture, The National Māori Arts School, geothermal craters, geothermal events and even the chance to view a Kiwi bird in the Kiwi viewing house. Your ticket price also includes the Maori Cultural Performance and Traditional Maori Hangi Buffet Lunch.
  • Rotorua - To finish off our Rotorua experience we do a guided driving tour seeing the most famous sites in Rotorua city including: Lake Rotorua, Rotorua Museum, Government Gardens, Whangapipiro (Rachel Spring) & the Blue Baths. If there is time, we may even visit a special souvenir shop for some discounted shopping and to try Manuka Honey.
  • Auckland - Sadly we must start to head north again but your day is not over with a fully guided return trip to Auckland with secret stops along the way.
What's Included
  • Bottled water
  • Optional extra - One-way option from Auckland to Rotorua
  • Snacks
  • Small Group & Fully Guided Tour
  • Lunch
  • Entry Tickets
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

Experience the world famous geothermal and Maori cultural wonders of Te Puia. This unforgettable tour combines natures power and beauty with Maori culture all in one day.

Highlights:
• Te Puia Geothermal Park & Pohutu
• Maori Cultural Village and Arts School
• Rotorua City Highlights
• Waikato Farm Region

While the destinations you will be visiting are truly spectacular, Cheeky Kiwi Travel believe it’s our small groups, guides, the journey and the little details that set our tours well apart. Secret stops, wildlife viewings, specially designed vehicles and many other pleasant surprises ensure our tours are an experience to remember.

This day tour gives you the time to explore Te Puia fully and participate in the activities there, unlike many other tours. Led by our passionate tour guides, notorious for bringing your journey to life by sharing their stories and rich background knowledge, and run in modern, comfortable minibuses packed with extras ensuring your comfort and safety.

  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • Children aged 7 years and below are required to travel in a child safety car seat. If you don’t have a car seat one can be provided (with 24 hours notice).
  • Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately and wear comfortable walking shoes
Location
SkyCity Auckland
Federal Street
Please be waiting outside the main entrance of SkyCity hotel
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.3
(19 Ratings)
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Shalonda_s
May 29, 2024
You must see the show!! - The trip to Rotorua was amazing. You have to see the show from the Māori people. It was excellent. The geysers were also very cool.
Review provided by Viator
Kevin_k
May 4, 2024
Great day. - Great tour, performance and food. The main geyser was spectacular. Landscape was breathtaking. Highly recommend.
Review provided by Viator
Kimberly_h
Feb 19, 2024
Definite Must Do! - Brandon was awesome! The tour had 14 people who were doing different experiences, but Brandon managed it all perfectly. He also helped rearrange the van when we had a couple of motion challenged riders. Rotorua and Te Pui were wonderful experience and we are so glad we did this trip. Highly Recommended!
Review provided by Viator
Jaymee_t
Jul 2, 2023
Rotorua group tour - Awesome. From on-time pick up of the tour guide to the whole trip, we had a blast! The concert, visit to the kiwi, weaving, sculpture, geyser, and lunch, were amazing. We had so much fun. Thank you for the experience :)
Review provided by Viator
Deltas585
Apr 8, 2023
Your highly recommended! - Went on this tour with Grant and had the best time ever! Always made sure we were comfortable throughout and that we stopped to stretche. He also provided our group so much more information that was very educational too! Thank you Grant! Lora and Rashida Edmonton, Canada 🇨🇦
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Johnely16
Mar 14, 2023
Rotorua Fun - Our trip to Rotorua lived up to all our expectations. The Te Puia park was a beautiful example of volcanic hot springs complete with an impressive geyser and boiling mud pools. The opportunity to observe kiwi birds was special as well. The Maori cultural show was very informing even if I can't perform the Hoka after the fun lesson. The traditional luncheon was very good and a nice end of the tour. We also got a special show of Polynesian music and dance which was a treat. Our guide, Grant, was very accommodating to everyone's desires for the trip and provided interesting New Zealand history and current practice information along the way. It was wonderful in all aspects.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ericb350
Feb 23, 2023
Awesome experience you should experience - Awesome excursion to Rotorua geysers/cultural center. Totally cool seeing the geysers, mud pool, and Cultural Center. It was made even more spectacular with our experience guide Grant. He's a native Aucklander and knew everything. He made sure everybody had a great time and importantly enough time to see the site and experience all the bubbling and steam..Truly breathtaking. It was a very organized trip and comfortable and clean vehicle.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Daisy_l
Apr 23, 2023
Māori cultural show - Māori cultural show is highly recommended for first time visitor. Buffet lunch is normal. Hence, not recommended. Not enough time for gift shopping. Overall rating is good.
Review provided by Viator
602hk
Jan 13, 2024
It has its good moments but poorly organised - The overall day was interesting and enjoyable enough but could be better! I suggest Viator review the model of how this tour is run. The tour started in a slightly strange way. You get picked up in a mini van and then get transported to Rotorua with virtually zero commentary. Our driver was a somewhat strange character and spent most of the trip over sharing about his personal life rather than sharing any tid bits about the landscape and history. It was good to have a chat but not sure it's appropriate for the tour. Once we arrived in Rotorua, things went all over the place. We were told to go into a waiting area, which was packed, to wait for our tour guide. There was no clarity on how long were waiting but eventually the guide showed up. He was young and friendly and knew a lot about the cultural history of the geisers and the area. The geisers are so cool. There's a slightly pungent smell from the minerals but it's not as bad as everyone warned me. There's lots of opportunity to take photos. We were taken to the kiwi conservatory which is interesting but you get to see one kiwi, two if you're lucky. A bit disappointing! We were then led to the arts cultural museum but those who were attending the Maori concert were told we had about 6 mins only because we then have to run to the concert. I asked the guide why the arts experience was double booked with the concert and just got told that we can come back after to have a look for ourselves. But that meant we miss out on the commentary... so I basically could have just booked transport to Rotorua?! Why then pay a premium for a guided tour?! The concert was great and well worth it. But I was starting to get frustrated at the poor organisation and lack of communication. After the concert finishes there's no guide or anyone around. You don't know how long you have at the arts museum, you dont know how long until lunch. Pretty poor for the cost of the overall experience. Eventually our original driver showed up to gather us for the buffet lunch. The food is fantastic I give you that! Lots of healthy and delicious options. However didn't appreciate being told we had under 30 mins for lunch. I told this to the driver that that's not sufficient time for a family with children. By the time you go around and help kids with their food and sit down to eat you have barely 15 mins. Another example of poor organisation and oversight. After rushing through lunch we get told that we have an extra 15 mins. Honestly...we felt like sheep being herded all day. A pretty crappy way to treat tourists who are paying over $1000 for a family of four! After lunch the tour takes a completely different pace. We got picked up by another mini van by a guide called Hermes who was lovely. He drove us around Rotorua and stopped at lots of scenic spots...Blue and Green lake, a lookout of volcanoes, a beach, Redwood trees, etc. And everywhere you stop you only have a few mins and then you're back to another spot. In and out of the van. I appreciate that it is what it is. But it's a messy, choppy, poorly run tour. I wouldn't recommend it. I think there's better, more enjoyable ways to see Rotorua.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Getaway19398536368
Jun 18, 2023
Beautiful Rotorua, not so pleasing tour experience. - Dearest gentle readers, Poor communication,30 minutes delayed pickup while standing in cold temperatures and overtly unapologetic staff plagued our trip to the marvelous Rotorua. What could otherwise have been a pleasant experience ended with sadness, anxiety and lack of empathy from the staff and guide towards all 12 guests on this tour group. One would suggest considering some other travel company over Cheeky Kiwi, unless of course one hopes they change their way of operation. In the words of Cheeky Kiwi, “don’t book tour with us via Viator.” One disagrees with this statement where a tour company blames their aggregator for their lapse. It’s cheeky but truly un-kiwi. One cautions that this is a review of the tour company and not the beautiful Rotorua and other places where your truly experienced natural wonders and respectful Māori culture by the Māori people. One wishes the fellow readers and fellow travelers a beautiful trip to Newzealand.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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up to 15 guests
1 Adult
June 2024
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