Ultimate Self-drive Rail Car Journey

We had an awesome morning on the rail cruise! Super easy, great staff and lovely experience would recommend! I work with young people with disabilities and the staff were so great with them, patient and kind :)

Nice and relaxing. Good to learn about the history of the area. Recommended for train buffs. Value for money.

Absolutely fabulous adventure, great journey, great scenery and great fun. Great team too. A must do when in Rotorua.

One of the highlights of our trip to NZ so far. A very relaxing time and an opportunity to see the local nature from unusual vantage points. Everyone involved at the stations was friendly and informative.

A lovely relaxing ride through the countryside. Complementary tea and coffee at the other end .staff were very friendly. The rail cars had blankets if needed which was nice touch.

Great experience, really enjoyed it. The commentary was very good and the blankets came in handy. Very nice staff

What an amazing experience. Truly worth it whether it’s just two adults or a family with kids. Everyone can enjoy this great ride.

Enjoyable relaxing trip with interesting commentary on rail and local history, with short stop for tea and coffee at Mamaku. A little work on maintenance of rail cars would be nice, a little tired. Overall a good experience, thank you.

Overall the experience was lovely and the operator at either end of the rail were very friendly. The blankets were a nice touch as it was a wet and cold day. It would have been better if the front windscreen was clearer so you could see through it better. The little surprise about the log cabin was cool.

Its was Very good till our cart broken down half an hour back to the meeting point and we had to get rescued.

A great trip. It was a cold and windy day, but blankets were supplied and hot drinks at the turnaround point. Good way to see the country and fun.

If you want just a quiet time with nature, this is the trip to go to. You get a quiet time in between some interesting voice overs. I was immersed with the beauty of the forest, the vast mountains and a good hot choco at the other end. 😉

The carts are a bit loud but other than that a great way to spend 2 hours and enjoying the views from farms to forest.yoy could totally imagine a dinosaur wandering out of the bush!

Such a neat experience! Great way to spend a couple of hours! Staff are warm & welcoming - just wonderful.

always wanted to do one of these rail tours . as we were down in Rotorua for the weekend we thought we might go and check it out . we did the 12:30 trip . was a tad cold but we rugged up and they supplied a blanket which was nice . we took the first cab off the rank and made our way to the top . was a nice little trip i wished i had one of those thomas whistles as we went through the crossing lol. any way at the tip we were greeted with a nice hot cup of milk and a biscuit in a very nice canadian log cabin wheel we waited for the other people and also watch the building of the railway and the restoration of the track . well done team i'm sure it will keep on growing

If you like travelling on the open rails then I think you will enjoy this. Why even Francis Bourgeois might enjoy this. The rail car can fit up to 4 people and drives itself along the 25KM (there and back). The stop halfway was at a relocated train station and you can get some a hot drink and a cookie. It was a lot of fun. Just fast enough and low stress.

This is an awesome idea and hope it spreads throughout the country. Would be 5 star if there was a little more commentary, or maybe an option to put some light tunes on as the journey does go for longer than expected! Wear warm clothing as it can get chilly. Nice touch with the hot drink in beautiful log cabin at the top 🙂 highly recommend!

This was a nice little trip. A bit over priced. The guy at the beginning and end were great. Was cold so wear warm clothes. Blankets provided. The audio was limited, could have had much more information on it.

Friendly informative staff, would have liked to have seen more about the railway at Mamaku - history of the railway

The scenery was amazingly beautiful and just being able to sit back and enjoy everything around you was a bonus. be cold but the blankets provided were a nice touch.

Very interesting, we did the 3 pm trip and would suggest you wrap up warm as it can get a bit chilly especially when you’re reaching the top, but the blanket supplied were a bonus !!! unfortunately for us we found the commentary very muffled by the sounds of the rail car itself, especially on the way up but a little clearer on the way down and would suggest that maybe some ceiling speakers? The staff were amazing and nothing was a problem for them. would highly recommend going on a clear day.

Truly one of a kind experience and so so so fun!! I went with my family and we all had a blast. The scenery was amazing and our guide was the best! 100000/10 would recommend 🤍

Very poor , wasn’t evident that price was in US dollars so cost us lot more. Wouldn’t recommend trip advisor to anyone. But rail trail was great and their service was great also. Pity we didn’t book direct.

Overall experience fantastic. Loved the self driving railcar with warm blankets to wrap up as it was cold. It was beautiful blue sky day in winter. Loved riding on forgotten rail lines. Able to see parts of the Mamukus you normally just drive through. Excellent staff, very friendly and knowledgeable. We both felt it was worth the price.

It was a blue sky winter's day. Both of us love any type of train travel. It is part of the original train route to Rotorua. Easy to book over the phone. We were offered senior citizens rate, which was much appreciated. Our trip began leaving from Ngongotaha and traveling through the Mamaku ranges. It was cold, but there were thick blankets. The rail cars are self driving and well ccontrol them All you had to know was how to put on the hand brake. All railcar are GPS tracked, so they would know if you break down or have an emergency. Plus the bonus was the hot drink at the Mamaku station. The views are stunning.

Nice view on farm animals and forests, the lake view was also stunning on the way back, could be a little bit cold during winter. Staff were so friendly and we were offered some hot drinks on the destination which helped to warm us a lot in this cold winter.

We enjoyed our rail car journey, but because we did this in winter I would recommend wearing extra warm clothing. We were provided with blankets, which came in very handy. The views throughout the journey were lovely and there were hot drinks and biscuits waiting for us in a warm shelter at the turn-around point. I would recommend this to families with younger children.

The experience itself was good. Booked through trip advisor and discussed that my debit card was charged $160 dollars for what we saw and booked as a $90 trip for 2 people. Claiming a US$ to NZ$ transition. Absolutely disgusted by the fee.

Love this cruise along the tracks, it was nice to be able to choose something different and out of the norm. Commentary was great, nice touch with the blankets 👌 as it was cold. Was great to have a coffee and a bickie half way. Enjoyed the trip.

Rubbish It didn't help us at all in the end. We also didn't enjoy the ride. One way was manageable, but on the return trip we wanted to take a taxi instead because we had our 4.5-year-old child with us and didn't have any other options. What we saw in the photos was completely different from the reality. Certain areas were dirty, and the seats were dirty as well. It was definitely not worth paying that much for the experience.

We were disappointed overall. The blankets were appreciated & the reception & toilets at Mamaku were very nice, but the start had a grotty porta-loo, the hand washing room was locked, & the receptionist/guide was not very friendly. Because the weather was wet we put the plastic sidings down, but they were very old and faded so we couldn't see through them. The sound system was terrible & couldn't be heard over the train. The view is dull most of the way, it could be greatly enhanced by getting local sculptors to put up some installations or similar. Overall a waste of money.

Commentary a little muffled. Personal headphones would be helpful

Lovely experience. Blankets are a nice touch. Staff friendly and kind. Tidy. Just be sure to dress warmly.

To those who love nature, green scenery and something unique, this is a good experience for you. It was raining on the day we booked it but the staff were friendly and helpful, process was easy to understand. We enjoyed the whole trip. there were some areas that could do some bush trimming as they were blocking some good views. None the less, definitely worth a try. you'd even get complimentary hot drinks and biscoff when you reach Yogi bear's hut!

Such a lovely and relaxing way to spend a few hours seeing and learning about Rotorua's history! The workers (lady with pink hair, softly spoken man with glasses) were lovely to us aswell making it a better experience all around! Would go again 😊

Good for all kinds of weather. When we went it was raining and we still had an amazing time they provided blankets and tea/ coffee

It was a fantastic journey and the tour commentary was informative.

It was great we all enjoyed it nice secenry

We thoroughly enjoyed this laid back experience. We had a few laughs and the cart worked wonderfully. The only issue was the speaker on the way up, which caused the narration to be barely audible over the rail noise. The countryside was beautiful and changed as we went along. We stopped in Mamaku for a hot drink and a stretch, which was welcome in the cold weather. On the way back, as the speakers worked properly we enjoyed the commentary. Overall, for the price and distance covered, we found it value for money.

Really lovely and unique self drive rail experience. Beautiful scenic views, interesting commentary and the staff were really friendly.

Thank you for our little rail journey. We both really enjoyed it . It was a very cold foggy morning, but It did clear pretty quick so we could get some views. Got a bit exciting when a cow decided it liked the tracks as well.

We had fun doing this. It was chilly as most of the track was in the shade but the blankets provided fixed that. Definitely recommend this for something different

Great experience and amazing fellas operating today on 16th of may we had a booking for 3pm highly recommend great price for the experience learned alot that we didn't know so overall 10/10 for everything

It’s a great family bonding experience. Blankets in boarding you forget your jacket it can get a bit chilly this time of the year. Cafe at the end of the track for free biscuits and hot drink.

A long uninteresting trip looking at gorse and farms in a noisy cart that sound like carnival Dodgems. The 360 view of lake and forest is just a quick glimpse of the lake and farmland. I have had far better walks viewing New Zealand's beautiful natural bush for free than on this rail excursion.

The experience was great. Great that blankets were provided as it got quite cold. Be sure to go toilet before as there is none at the Ngongotahā station. Only portaloos and no running water to wash your hands

Very enjoyable experience. Quite rustic however did not realise that this rail line was revamped by volunteers and development of the car was also developed by a piece of kiwi ingenuity. This needs to be included in marketing as the commitments and volunteers hours are incredible.

Unfortunately our group had a few problems with the whole experience from the booking process and the ride experience. We booked through their website and I had through I had booked for multiple adults and 1 7-15yo, but when we arrived, they had the  booking as multiple adults and 1 child, so 1 cart had been allocated. We had not received an email with a confirmation and the charge to my card did not match any combinations. We were lucky that one of our group was happy to sit the trip out. Once on the trip the vegetation around the tracks is not very well maintained, I was hit in the face with a branch, plus my husband was struck in the arm by a thorny weed. In the advertising it says that at the top of the trail there is tea, coffee, milo and biscuits, available, after everything else we had gone through it was this simple mistake that just made the whole thing a horrible experience.

Very disappointed as the first day it was cancelled and we rebooked for next day then that was also cancelledbut wasnt told till late and we left the place we were at to go when we could have stayed longer if known. We wont be in a hurry to go back