Things to do in Rotorua New Zealand
Rotorua New Zealand is located inTe Puia’s Whakarewarewa Valley on the North Island & not too far from Taupo.
The Pacific and Australian tectonic plates collide beneath New Zealand creating quite a wonderful natural playground with Rotorua bringing this energy to life.
Well know for its Geothermic activity and Maori culture Rotorua New Zealand is a must visit destination.
Rotorua has an active Maori village and is home to the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute.
If you are interested you can sign up for a class teaching traditional wood carving or attend a weaving school.
What is it like?
In the heart of the volcanic & geothermic region you are never far away from eerie mists or steam oozing from the ground and vents.
A smell of Sulphur fills the air with mineral pools, bubbling mud pools, crater lakes and hissing geysers all awaiting your attention.
This crazy and exiting place is like nowhere else I have ever seen before.
Things to do in Rotorua New Zealand
There are many Rotorua activities on offer including but certainly not limited to the following:
- Scenic flights
- Mountain biking – you will just love the Whakarewarewa Forest
- Rafting
- Kayaking
- Haunted theme parks
- Surfing
- Kayaking
- River Jet
- Zorb Rotorua
- Thermal pools and Mud SPA’s
- Paradise Valley Springs wildlife park
- Skyline & Rotorua Luge
- Agrojet
- Rotorua Bungy
- Freefall Xtreme body flying
- Shweeb
- Walking / hiking
- Hells gate Geothermal Park – Get up close and personal with nature
- Tamaki Maori village, traditional meals, dance and cultural displays
Rotorua Luge, Zorb Rotorua, Maori Village and Hells gate are, we feel, must do Rotorua attractions..
If you have a better idea? let us know in the comments.
There are a whole array of SPA, Health and well-being, super foods and Maori healing, art & crafts and cooking opportunities for you to check out.
You can always stay at home and chill right?
Backpackers…
The local bars organise and host loads of backpacker parties in Rotorua town so you have loads of opportunity to meet new people, get boozy and have a laugh.
The hostels motels and apartments have loads of info about what’s on, when and the best way to go about it if you are not sure.
Alternatively contact a travel expert and let us check it out for you.
Festivals and Events
As a popular destination in the North Island there is plenty on offer all year round.
See if any of these tickle your fancy..
- Concerts and Gigs – wide ranging variety, check out local guides
- Festivals – markets & fairs to dog shows & museum horror walk there is something for every one
- Sports – Enduro cycling, trampolining, the ITM cup & tough gym challenge. Plenty for sports fans
- Performing arts – Dancing in the street to Theatre fest & more performing arts
We try to keep an eye on local events and add them to the backpack-nz facebook page. Worth a look..
Some History of Rotorua New Zealand
The history of Rotorua speaks of lake Rotorua which has quite a violent history.
Around 240,000 years ago one of the Rotorua Caledra a volcanoe in the Rotorua volcanic zone had a major eruption.
As the eruption subsided the magma chamber underneath the volcano collapsed.
This collapse created a circular depression and is now full of water and called Lake Rotorua.
