Whakarewarewa Village Guided Tour

Daniel was our excellent guide, a decendant of the maori family who built the village, he was very friendly and knowledgable. Awesome hot springs and geysers and working maori village. Haka and traditional show was amazing 🙂

What an interesting place! Loved the village and its history . The tour guide was excellent. Thank you Māori village for giving us a taste of your village.

A fantastic experience visiting an occupied Maori village. Our guide Daniel was amazing and we all felt very privileged to be guided by him around his actual family village. He even finished with a traditional My aori song. Thanks again Daniel

Great to learn about Maori culture first hand from someone who still lives within the village. Our guide was knowledgeable and happy to share her lived experience with our group. Highly recommend this tour...I wish we had more time to do the longer tour.

Shout out to Daniel for giving me and my friends an awesome tour of this village! It was great to get a tour from Daniel who’s a true Maori descendant and get a unique perspective of their culture. The information he presented was very easy to understand and I learned quite a bit, leaving the tour! He showed us the meeting hall, several geothermal methods of cooking, how the hot baths work, and even passed by a Catholic Church inside the establishment. It was nice to see the actual residents congregate and come together. I got to wave to some of them, and that was nice! If I wasn’t rushed to my next tour, I would have enjoyed spending extra time exploring the areas of the premise more! They have several gift shops there - so you feel like when you buy something, you directly help the people there. Also, Daniel gave us tutorials on Maori pronunciation! It was fun, and we got to corn, cooked Maori way under the water heated by geothermal heat!

A great commentary on the way the Maori people lived in this village environment. The guide was very good in his explanations

We found the place to be amazing. The guide was very informative and it gave us new insight into Maori Village living. The views of the thermal pools and geyser were great, and we enjoyed the corn pulled out from the pool they use for cooking.

Very interesting tour, our guide was exceptional. Lots of information about the history of the village and how it came to be. Loved getting to eat the corn cooked in the hot spring. The museum at the bottom is very informative too.

Daniel was incredibly knowledgeable and engaging throughout the tour. He remembered our names and asked questions along the way, making the experience interactive and personal rather than just a one-way commentary. He did a fantastic job and deserves a special mention for making the tour so enjoyable!

Had a wonderful cultural experience of the people and tribes of the Māori region our tour guide couldn’t remember his name highly respected and knowledgeable of the places he took us worth doing if you come visit

Our Tour Guide, Daniel was amazing! He was so welcoming and knowledgeable. He gave us a fascinating insight into Māori culture and history and everyday life for the people who live in the village. Seeing the geothermal activity up close was an experience we’ll never forget. We highly recommend this tour and visit.

My tour guide Fay was amazing! I’m so grateful for their generosity and knowledge. I highly recommend this tour!

Our guide, Daniel, was excellent and very friendly. He explained everything very well and showed us many details.

Very interesting to see a traditional Māori village still working the same today as it has done for generations !

Did the guided tour and Maori cultural show. Fantastic guide and really enjoyed the 3 hours we spent there

Our guide Daniel was fantastic. Lots of great information. Loved walking around even though we had done this years before.

We started our first day in Rotorua with this highly significant and sacred tour. I feel it's important to know about this special place before you explore the rest of this incredible area. John our tour guide with family heritage to this village, was amazing! He was extremely engaging and easy to listen to whilst thoroughly enjoying our walk around of this very special place. We loved his passion and personal stories which connected him to Whakarewarewa village. The village itself is rich with culture and beautiful and friendly descenents to truly embrace, thank you John and your lovely cousin Ange!

Our guide, Wari, was amazing. His knowledge of the history was outstanding. Enjoyed the tour, particularly the authentic village atmosphere. Highly recommended.

If you are after a genuine authentic experience, this tour was fantastic. We took the guided village tour. Our guide was Waimaaria and she is exceptional. We loved that the tour was very authentic as the guide lives in the village, and is a descendant of many generations of guides of this hapu. She explained the history of the tribe, the older ways of living and how the modern ways are now intertwined, also she is very knowledgeable on all the geothermal activity facts. She took the time to respond to our 5yo questions with kindness. She lead the tour with her heart and it was felt.

Incredible experience walking around a real village with one of the residents. Learning about the history and how the village works. The corn on the cob cooked in the waters was so cool!

We had an excellent guide who explained the village and its culture very well.

Awesome tour and experience. The tour guide was full of knowledge, timing was perfect

This was a wonderful experience! Loved seeing the village and how it was used during the day and evenings. Great to learn some history about the village and their ancestors. Even enjoyed some yummy corn! Was a wonderful experience.

The tour was outstanding. Learned a lot about the village, geysers, Maori culture and traditions. We even got to see the Indicator geyser Te Tohu erupt. Unable to see Pohutu go as we were already almost past closing time and had to leave. To our tour guide Wai, thank you for the experience!

​Whakarewarewa offers an incredible, authentic glimpse into a living culture. Walking through the active geothermal landscape, seeing how the community utilizes the natural steam, and viewing the impressive geysers was truly fascinating. ​The highlight, however, was the incredible hospitality. When the guy getting the sweet corn cooked fresh in the geothermal waters found out we were from Fiji, he immediately welcomed us with a warm and genuine "Bula Vinaka!" It made us feel instantly connected. ​Stunning geothermal wonders, rich history, and deeply personal, welcoming interactions make this an absolute must-visit in Rotorua.

The guided tour of the Whakarewarewa Maori Village and the live cultural performance were exceptional. John was our guide through the village. He did a wonderful job of describing Maori cooking, bathing, spiritual, and ecosmart practices. You felt his passion for the Maori way of life. We even sampled corn that was cooked the Maori way. The live cultural performance is also something not to miss! Maori men and women performed in traditional costumes, as they portrayed their emotions through song and movement. They held the full attention of the audience! The grounds, gift shop, restaurant and rest rooms were immaculate. There was ample room for parking at the site.

The guide was very knowledgeable and gave a thorough insight into the history of the Māori people.

We had a great experience at the Māori village. Our guide, Daniel, was friendly, warm, and very knowledgeable. During the one-hour tour, he made us feel very comfortable. We learned well about Māori culture and traditions from him. We also enjoyed a peaceful walk along the beautiful thermal trail, which added to the overall experience.

Me and my 4 kids attended this morning our guide was Manawa and she was absolutely fantastic, amazing good knowledge, to top off we were treated with a kapa haka performance and that was also amazing. Highly recommend Whakarewarewa and all it has to offer, thank you for the experience.

Daniel our guide was awesome, he was very informative, interesting and funny.

Great experience good value for money

It was a fantastic experience. It was incredible to learn about how the whanau and tribe/iwi lived and continues to grow. Mai broke Māori language into bite size pieces of understanding we all appreciated. One thing that came across loud and clear was her passion for her people and whanau and that she loved bringing us into a glimpse of her whanaus life. It was truly our privilege. He aha te mea nui o te ao - What is the most important thing in the world? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata - It is the people, it is the people, it is the people. Kia Ora!

It was absolutely amzing! Our tour guide Daniel was so nice. We had some delicious sweet corn, learnt about great Mouri culture. It was such an amazing experience.

We had a great guide who was very knowledgeable and friendly and gave us a bit of a laugh here and there. We learnt a lot about the village culture and it was very enjoyable.

Fabulous cultural experience. We did the 1 hour guided tour. Our guide Faye was friendly and very knowledgeable about the culture, traditions and the land. We also did the 30 minute cultural performance which was wonderful. This is a smaller company than the one next door but a more genuine slightly less touristy feel. Early morning tours have smaller crowds.

The tour of the village was very informative and interesting. Understanding some of the history of the location and how they use the thermal heat in everyday life plus being able to have a taste of what cooked food tasted like was very interesting.

Great experience and very informative

Interesting and intelligent look at Māori way of life in a modern country. That said not stuffy and great guide - learn about the Māori microwave!

We came with a friend and did the guided tour around the village. The guide was very friendly and explained everything so well, I feel very privileged this beautiful place is accessible to everyone and the people so generous in sharing their village. A must-do experience if you are in Rotorua!

We did the guided village tour and then the cultural experience. The guided tour was an interesting and informative experience. We were guided by a Māori (Te) from this village. He told us about the history of the people and his village, their lifestyle and how they used the thermal water for cooking, bathing etc. We were given a piece of sweetcorn cooked in the thermal pool. He was informative, friendly, funny and went at the pace of all. We also did the cultural experience. This was set in an auditorium which was packed. It consisted of information about the Maori’s their culture, language etc, all in dance, song and traditional actions. Again information and entertaining and very enjoyable.

This tour has many options for all different experiences. Our tour guide Wawi was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining. He spoke with confidence well beyond his years, and made us feel welcome throughout. It was great to have access to the Geysers as well. Well worth adding on the performance if time.

Our guide was a knowledgeable member of a local tribe. He provided insight to the history and traditions of the village and dazzled us with their complex language. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Great experience. It was so fascinating learning about Maori and Polynesian culture in modern day New Zealand. The geysers were cool too.

This was a highlight of our stay on North Island. We were shown around by a Mauri lady called Lindy (spelling?) who had lived on the site as a child. So interesting and informative. The geothermal activity was fascinating, great to have the opportunity to try foods cooked in the thermal spring. Very atmospheric place. Trip labelled as an hour but we weren’t rushed and had the chance to wait and see the geyser erupt, which we did.

Interesting thermal village with some villagers still living site. Excellent viewing platform for Pohotu Geyser

We made a deliberate choice to book the Whakarewarewa village tour to support a place where locals are working to maintain traditional life - and everyone in our family (two parents and 23-25 year old kids) would recommend it not only for that, but also for the excellent tour, history, and context that it provided. Seeing the hot pools, cooking areas, hearing about the history of guides altar date back to the 1800s - it was all well presented and extremely informative in an accessible way (not sure what I mean by that except to say that it was easy to understand). All in all an outstanding experience!

It was a very inspiring and fascinating tour. Our guide, Tia, was absoluteky fantastic. It was heartwarming to liten to her. She spoke from her heart, with an enchanting voice. We could feel the authentic expression in every word. Tia is a wonderful and talented guide. We whish to thank Tia and the organizers, as well as the people of the vilage

This is a wonderful experience, the show is brilliantly put together with the performers seemingly enjoying showing their cultural skills and traditions to their audience. The guided tour was expertly handled with the right amount of knowledge and humour, all of the stopping places were interesting, I would recommend anyone visiting the North Island of New Zealand to go to Rotorua and see for themselves.

Our guide gave us a really interesting introduction to the Maori way of life and the significance of the Thermal waters to them. Highly recommend