Activities & Things to Do in the Area- Rotorua

What's there to do at Rotorua? Let us know what you did and saw while staying at this resort.

I would definitely be interested to hear about activities and things to do in the Rotorua area from folks that have been there. We are planning to go.

We just returned from a week at Rotorua. It was amazing! Lots of things to do and see. Here's a short list of what we did. If you want any more description don't hesitate to message us...all the activities were within an easy drive--the most being about 3 hours one-way. We had a 9-yr old and a 20-yr old with us.

Skyline Rotorua--Downhill mountain biking, luge, zipline; Redwoods Tree Walk--nighttime elevated walk and then a daytime walk through one of many hiking(tramping) trails; Agrodome--animal interaction and education; Waitomo and Ruakuri caves--glow-worms and amazing cave tours; Marokopa Falls--short hike and beautiful falls (short drive to the Tasman Sea shore and black sand beach if you continue west on this road); Lake Taupo--Ernest Kemp Cruise (relaxing but kind of boring, native Maori rock carvings are only 20 years old or so--not ancient); Taupo Prawn Park--addictive prawn fishing (did not catch even 1!, but lots of action), kids activities; Huka Falls--very beautiful; Rotorua Canopy Tours--Ziplining for everyone, original old-growth NZ forest and fantastic guides! (Thanks Tom and Pip); Tamaki Maori Village Cultural Experience--truly enlightening and educational evening learning about the native Maori culture (a definite must do); Rotorua City Centre has lots of touristy shops and we attended a Thursday night 'street fair' full of different foods and crafts and music; Buried Village--partially excavated remains of an 1800's era town that was covered by an eruption.

Definitely a lot to do here. We didn't even scratch the surface of the Volcanic Attractions. We're close to Yellowstone so we skipped alot of these activities. Good luck with the names and pronunciations of places. We just kind of winged those...haha.