Whaka Geothermal Trails Self-guided Tour

Absolutely loved it! Despite the weather, I had a great time. Because of the rain, there was more steam from the lakes. I have seen both the Pukeko bird and the New Zealand fantail, which made a great intro to my trip. I enjoyed reading about the Maori life and traditions on my tour.

It is a very interesting and informative tour. We can feel the connection between Maori people with the land. That is their home and their land. We appreciate their generosity of opening their home for visitors and welcome their guests.

Wear good shoes not open toes. Makes sure you have sunscreen and hat. Look in the shops before you go. For further Maori experience get guided tour.

Really lovely walk with great information all the way around we weren’t disappointed. Saw the geyser at the end

We went and did the thermal walk around the natural wonders of the village. We got to see some of the amazing buildings at the village as well. There are lots of stories of the Maori attached to the various parts of the natural thermals that are fascinating.

the mix of geysers, hot springs, and deeply fascinating Māori cultural performances. The guides are warm, knowledgable, and it feels very authentic — carvings, traditional songs, stories, hangi smells in the air.

We had great weather for our tour but the best part was our Guide Ngatiroirangi! What a comedian - we laughed our way around the geothermal area for two hours. Very interesting facts learned and we saw lots of bubbling mud pools etc. Well worth the money and a great coffee afterwards

An interesting walk looking at various facets of geothermal activity. However, I thought it was a little overpriced for what we saw. Lady at check-in saw us waiting to get tickets but took her time in serving us as if we were an interruption to her day.

A really good example of bad planning and over pricing! The natural mud and hot pools are great to see, but the city has been built far too close up to it. From every point you see houses and even a very ugly multi-story hotel. Entrance fees are ridiculous for such a gift of mother nature. If you want to see the geysers and the mud pools and hot pools, it will cost you 72 NZD. That for a short trail around gifts of mother nature. The track is not even that well maintained. Numbers on the map do not match the numbers on of the sights of the track. The entrance building where you have to buy the tickets is far over the top on luxury, while the toilets are dirty and falling apart. This is a shameful tourist trap. New Zealand, you can do better and should do!

The self-guided geothermal pool tour takes you around some geothermal pools. They’re interesting but there are lots of other places in the area where you can walk around geothermal pools for free. The map they give you is all messed up, with places given the wrong numbers on the map, more than one place given the same number placard, etc. You can also see the geyser (partly hidden behind a tree) maybe around 800 meters away from the end of the trail if you don’t want to pay the additional admission for the guided village tour that takes you to it. Kinda cool but not sure it was worth the price of admission.

After picking up our tickets, we approached the entrance to the Maori Village. The initial scene was quite ethereal with lots of steam venting continuously as we walked from the Memorial Archway, over the bridge and past the Wharepuni. After clearing the village, we walked the entire geothermal trail passing by a couple of lakes, mudpools and ended up on a hill with multiple lookout views. The map we picked up in the ticketing office did not match all the highlighted stops on the actual trail so it got a bit confusing what exactly we were seeing. In addition, while the gravel travel was in good condition some of the benches and fences could stand to be repaired. Overall opinion from the family that there was nothing that unique or exciting to see. Kuirau Park would have sufficed for our exposure to the geothermal activity in Rotorua and much cheaper.

The performance was so commercialised it felt like Disneyland. The village itself was not explained unless you had a guide and 30 people with you. Very disappointing.

One of NZ's oldest Maori tourism experiences. Options include the self-guided geothermal trail and the guided Village tour. We chose the former. It was a relaxed hour's stroll around a loop track, taking in boiling mud, bubbling water, and lots of steam. Fairly easy track with a modest hill providing some good vantage points. Only poor aspect is the subpar toilet block out by the ticket office.

Visited the village whilst in Rotarua and it was a real gem. The village is home to the geothermal springs and the hot bubbling mud pools. The people working here are very friendly. There are a number of options when visiting such as a self guided trail and a guided tour also there is a cycle trail. There is a cultural show also which was highly enjoyable. Highlight to us was a personal one where we had our photo taken with a photo from my wife's mother at the same place from 70 years ago.

The village was very welcoming and showed my friends and I a lot about the culture. Being a tourist in a foreign country can be intimidating, but the people here made sure we felt welcomed. I would highly recommend visiting the village to get a true New Zealand experience.

The self guided was great as we could take our time enjoying the geothermal sights. Well worth the price too. The car park can fill up so you may need to wait for a spot to free up.

Staff were extremely helpful and friendly. Enjoyed taking our time walking on the self guided tour. The view from the lookouts was amazing.

Rah was a great driver and entertainer. Very informative tour. Good food and great entertainment. The Maori village experience was great!

Great self guided tour around the hot mud pools and springs. The way that the geothermal wonders were integrated into everyday life of the local iwi was impressive!

Awesome experience. Active geothermal exhibits. Lovely walks that take you to different parts of the village. Experience how people lived in the past with history. Can see the geysers of Te Puia from here. Amazing gift shops selling intricately made and unique souvenirs. Guided tours are available as well as performances that you can watch.

Um..I wish I could be more positive about our visit to the self-guided thermal walk and concert at the Living Maori Village. We took our Malaysian guests and, to be honest, we all found the thermal walk disappointing - little to see in way of real thermal interest- over-priced for what you get. As for the concert, our thoughts were all the same - the girls had a pleasant manner and lovely singing. The big man was also a good performer but the young man looked like he didn't even want to be there. Very apathetic. Such a shame because I am sure he has talent but he radiated no enthusiasm whatsoever. People from all over the world come to these performances. Come on - show us your best attitude!

A few boiling mudpools. Nothing else to see. Very little information. Or much else to add No Geysers visable

Got the self guided tour as had been recommended it as you can go at your own pace. Felt it was expensive for the experience we had on the day. Had been told the sulphur smell would be strong and the mud pools amazing but sadly due to the heavy amount of rain experienced in the area the sulphur smell was only noticeable in certain areas and where mud pools should’ve been it was more pools of water even the steam wasn’t as much as seen in videos. I know the weather can’t be helped and still an amazing place but it still felt a bit of a disappointment

We generally prefer to 'find our own way' around things, and this was the perfect way to do that at the Whakarewarewa village. A really great value trip, and enjoyed walking around the trail (even in the rain!) and spotting all the various geothermal stops of interest, and also the fascinating parts of the Māori village.

Loved that we could spend as much time as we likes- 1hr 30 min was ideal. A beautiful experience. I wish the self guided map on paper matched the posted maps for reference. Very good descriptions of the uses for the pools. It was somewhat discouraging to some of the thermal pools full of trash. I am not sure the tour was worth what we paid for each person, but am hoping it goes to supporting the Maori Community.

Here you have a number of options to visit the geothermal site, and we were not disappointed. The self guided 1.5 km trek winds it’s way through bubbling mud pools, Steaming lakes and stinky sulphur and is worth every cent!

The self guided tour is a rip off. Went to the park to see the geysers. Couldn’t find it and finally find out it was in the part of the park where you are only allowed to come with the guided tour. We had spent so much time looking for it that the last guided tour had already been. So in the end we didn’t see the geysers and spent 150 dollars for the 5 of us, real disappointment and not worth the money.

rip off. swindling people if you go all Maori you get bankrupt like Rainbow springs. a lot these just walking places now being charge $25 family like the one in Taupo. craters of the moon and Hamurana Springs which $50

The walk is amazing So unique Bubbling mud, steam Historical houses A magical experience Highly recommend

I went with my 2 young kids,9 & 12, did the geothermal self walk which was great, we unfortunately wondered off the track and ended up in the living Maori part, there were no signs, or directions, and no one told us we couldn't be there! We were rudely told we were in the wrong area, and told to leave immediately! If we hadn't we were going to buy a load of souvenirs, and get lunch, probably costing around $100 !But was told to pretty much F#*k off! you lost out on money today, my apologies for being in the wrong space, but think you need more signage! Not a Friendly place or welcoming, will never advise anyone to go there, unless your Maori!

Not much to see for this money. And when we choose wrong way by mistake, one of the staff was verry!!!! rude to us and we felt like criminals. Visiting was big disappointment.

Warm welcome from staff and residents. Beautiful walk and plenty of places to rest and enjoy the views and surroundings. Easy enough for 2 kids (5 & 3) to do. They enjoyed reading the map!

Incredible experience, we felt so welcomed by all we dealt with. The geyser was a spectacular highlight, but we also loved the way the team (& the experience) engaged our hyper active 5 year old!

We chose the self guided tour in order to go slow and take pictures - the day was overcast, which helped with getting pictures of the steam. Staff was friendly and helpful in providing directions for the trail.

We enjoyed walking around and through the misty landscape and seeing all the hotpools. It is really worthwhile doing. FYI we booked with the bike place set up next to the reception there and rode bike through. This was a really great way of doing this.

Highly recommend a visit. It's a beautiful intimate walk where you get to encounter the surroundings close up. The walk along the walkway engulfed by the steam was an amazing experience. Also, to visit the little Maori community was intriguing because it was like stepping back in time. Well worth the visit.

Really interesting to learn the history of the local tribes and the geothermal activity in the area, while at the same time walking through some really unique landforms.

I wouldn't recommend anyone waste their time doing the self guided tour. There was no information sign posted anywhere along the way so didn't learn anything about history or geography of the area. For what you actually get to see you'd be better off visiting Kuirau Park where it's free to see geothermal activity.

Whakarewarewa has long been a favourite place for me to visit but I have to say this time I found it disappointing. I got the $30 self-guided tour, which I was surprised to discover didn't included access to the village or the main geothermal area. The only way to see this area now is through the $40 guided tour. And, ok, I appreciate that this is a place where people live and they may no longer want random tourists traipsing around their streets, but the self-guided tour felt like a disappointing alternative. Yeah, it was a pleasant walk and I saw the steam lakes that I'd never visited before, but it felt overpriced. Perhaps Whakarewarewa needs a revamp to really highlight what makes it unique and not just another Rotorua tourist attraction.

Terrible terrible,over charged to walk around and see nothing do not recommend this activity at all so so disappointed and feel ripped off.

After experiencing many other geothermal type walks in Rotorua we were somewhat disappointed with this one. We found the most interesting views were right at the end of the trail and until that point it was not very exciting. You cannot see the Pohutu Geyser on this self guided tour. The guided tour of Whakarewarewa Village appears to show you it though and I would recommend doing a guided tour of the village as a more interesting and valuable alternative. For the geothermal self guided walk alone, the price is quite hefty, at $30 per adult, but we were able to book discounted tickets through BookMe.

A great walk through a Maori village with a meeting house and churches. The walk includes walking around a thermal wonderland of boiling hot pools and boiling mud, sighting a geyser. A magical experience, well worth it.

Staff are very friendly and helpful. Highly recommend doing this activity. We had the best time walking around and looking at the thermal pools snd part of the village. The cafe was the perfect stop after our walk for a local Hangi made steambox pie and cuppa. Covid has hurt a lot of places and it was so good to be able to support this wonderful village.

The self-guided walk was pretty good but overall we had a sour taste due to the false advertising. The web page for the self-guided walk states that you'll "find yourself face-to-face with Nature, Hot Spring Lakes, Mud Pools, Geysers and native manuka bushlands". It also specifically mentions the Pohutu Geyser and has a photo of it. But it turns out the Pohutu Geyser is not included in that tour. Only the more expensive guided tour. So we left disappointed and annoyed. It was the attraction we wanted to see most of all. We noticed a number of people with the yellow self-guided stickers were coming back from the geyser path. They obviously decided to go anyway. But we're the type of people who stick to the rules, even when the rules are wrong. The rest of the attractions were ok and we enjoyed it enough. If they fix up the website then we would've been much happier, or paid more to see the geyser.

The great thing about this walk is the spectacular views of Rotorua and the village. The walk was really fun and enjoyable. You walk of the lakes and you get to embrace the wonders of the village and its history.