Rotorua – 3 Day Tour

One of the most beautiful and must visit places in New Zealand is Rotorua. If you are traveling to New Zealand. Make sure you cover both North Island & South Island.

Rotorua is the place to be in the North Island. We traveled to Rotorua from India (Mumbai). Although there are few direct flights, but we took the flight to Auckland, and then drove down to Rotorua. I would suggest to take a direct flight as it becomes really tiring although you might miss out on the scenic landscapes.

We stayed at a Bread & Breakfast place. It was a nice place with a really warm host. He would suggest us places, guide us about travel and also give us a nice breakfast.

Following are the places that we recommend you to cover in Rotorua:

• Waitomo Glow worm caves
• Hobbiton Film Set Tour
• Waiotapu Geo Thermal Reserves
• Mud Bath Spa

Waitomo Glow Worm Caves: Not many places around the world would you get to see glowworms. As they can only been seen in dark, these glowworms are in a cave. They take you through a boat and in quiet serene environment you get to see these worms glow.

The glow worm caves does not allows for photography. Hence all you can click is on the outside. The caves are really dark on the inside, so anyways the clicks wont help.

But the experience is amazing. You dont get to see this in many places.

Hobbiton Film Set Tour: The movie Hobbit was shot at this very same location. This set was specifically made for the movie and when the movie was completed, they made this set into a tourist visiting place. The beauty of this place is breathtaking.

The house of Hobbit as seen in the movies can be seen all over this place. There are many such houses here and you can also go inside a few of them.


The landscaping is just breathtaking. You should enjoy the peace and serenity of this scenic place.

Also they have tried to retain the aspects of the movie. Here you could see the clothes of Hobbit hanging on the rope to dry.

Another detailing that you can see is the farming aspect. Vegetables and fruits kept outside the house.

Waiotapu Geo Thermal Reserves: The Geo thermal reserves are a must visit.

You will be blown by the sheer beauty of this place. Different colors of water and the natural geysers can only be experienced and not explained.

This is a 2 minute tour where you can experience how the water erupts from the geysers. It literally sprays out from beneath the earth.

After this you can go around the Geo Thermal Reserves walk and explore how the geo thermal reserves are and the different geysers along with lakes of different colors.

Classy views that you come across from different sides of this walk. Do not miss to click these photographs as you see the natural steam rising.

While you take a walk around the reserve, you will come across many more small and big natural geysers and lakes of different colors.

Mud Bath Spa: You can relax at this amazing place in mud bath. The spa comprises of two types of baths, both of which you should experience. The first one is the Mud Bath which has mud from the natural geysers full of minerals and the other is a sulfur bath, the pool is full of sulfur water.

We went to the Hells Gate Spa. The gate itself looks like entry to hell. But trust me it is full of fun.

The mud used here is the actual natural mud from the geo thermal geysers. It is full of minerals and really good for the body.

From this place they collect the mud and make it available in private pools for you to bathe. Remember it is a short duration bath only for 20 mins. Hence once you are in, quickly take the mud and cover yourself and let it dry. Then get back into the pool and relax before you wash off.

Hope you too have a good time in Rotorua.

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