A blend of outdoor fish ponds, huge and beautiful rainforest trees that go up for miles and so much…read morelush vegetation. Part of a tour stop, it's a nice place for an hour of peace and reflection. Take some time to take a turn. Never know what kind of fishes you will discover. I watched a duck dive in for some small bites at the bottom of the water during my watch.

As a vegan (which is about animal rights and environment as much as it is about food), I have mixed…read morefeelings about animals in captivity. However, and despite being a commercial run entity, Rainbow Springs does an excellent job of presenting native flaura and fauna, and there are no large animals in captivity (which NZ hasn't had native versions for hundreds of years). We went here just after opening, and it was pretty quiet - just a few people in the park and a few tour groups. We got to walk around the plants and see much of the park before joining the Kiwi encounter - a must see if you care at all about NZ wildlife - and since there were only 6 of us on that tour, it was pretty good - and we got to see junenvile kiwis with their raising program. We did also the water ride, and although fun, I really felt like it could have done a better job of presenting NZ's prehistory, since that is a pretty interesting topic by itself, but it was still fun. We rushed off early morning to see the show at the Agrodome, not having seen everything, but being able to come back until 10pm. When we did come back around 7pm, the place was strangely deserted - it turned out we were the only visitors in the park, and had the run of much of (some of it's closed after dark) for ourselves for the best part of an hour! So we got to revisit some parts we'd skipped, and went on the playground and the flying fox (zip line) all by ourselves. Who else has been to a theme park all alone? All in all, an essential park of the Rotorua experience. Hardly a comprehensive look at NZ's ecology, but interesting neverthless.

If you've never been through a cornfield maze, don't miss this chance. This attraction actually…read moremakes for a calm alternative to the rest of "RotoVegas", so head this way if your kids are overly wound up from luging and zorbing. The place claims that they have a petting zoo, though it's only a few rabbits that they take out of hutches on request. Still, it's a solid option if you find yourself with a few spare hours on a nice day.

We got the ticket for the full guided tour, dinner, and the show. It's pricy but we enjoyed it very…read moremuch and it's a unique experience. The tour starts with some quick stops at the traditional way the food is cooked and at a carved canoe to give a glimpse of Māori life. You get to see some kiwi birds, then cruise around the geyser area. Lots of lookouts and viewing sites. You finish the tour in the art center where the intricate carvings and weaving are done. Next is dinner. The buffet has a ton of meat (meat coma) along with vegetables, salads, desserts, etc. so many options. You are given a seating assignment so we conversed with folks from Denver and California. Funny we go all the way to New Zealand and end up hanging with folks from the US. Finally, you end with the show. It is well done. You get a good variety of battle, love, and storytelling songs. It was an educational and enjoyable experience.

Great place to learn about Maori culture. Highlights & Recommendations for Te Puia:…read more1) NZ Maori Arts & Crafts Institute (NZMACI) - A fascinating school that allows Maori adult students to study (tuition free) traditional crafts such as wood, stone, and bone carving and weaving, using tradtional methods. This allows the students to perpetuate Maori culture. Recommendation: NZMACI should offer classes (for a fee) for Pākehā (non-Maori people) who could also learn the techniques, and their fees would also help subsidize the school. The classes could range from the full course for NZ residents, to shorter courses for tourists. 2) Geyser- Spectacular! 3) Cultural Show - Interesting, Informative, Entertaining. Recommendation: Do a full Haka, and outside where everyone can see. Also, give a more full explanation of all the parts. 4) Maori Staff - All of the staff were superb! I was with Kia (sp?) and she very patiently answered all my many questions about the Maori language. Recommendations: I would like to have known a little about each Staff member- origin, tribe, etc. 5) Maori Culture- I cannot imagine a better place to learn about Maori culture! Recommendations: I would like to have known more about Maori tattoos - designs, placement, symbolism, etc. It's such a visible part od Maori culture that it should be featured. If it would be offensive to do so, I would withdraw this comment. Overall, and exceptional visit to a very entertaining place. Nga mihi!

I absolutely loved my experience here! The mini golf course itself is fairly standard, but the real…read morehighlight is the chance to see and interact with the adorable flemish giant rabbits. We stayed here for about an hour or so. A few of the rabbits were happily hopping around the course while we played, while several others were tucked away napping under a tree trunk. For a small fee, you can also purchase a bag of food to feed them. Definitely worth a quick stop!

This park has a lot of variety, a beautifully landscaped blue lake, geothermal areas, flower…read moregardens, green space, many varieties of trees and scrubs, and a developed geothermal foot soaking station and wading pool. The water levels were low in several of the geothermal areas versus the last time we visited, but the park is still a great, free asset.

By far the best experience within Rotorua. If not on our entire trip, this place cannot be more…read moreunderrated. It's a huge park with cool geothermal activity. Lots of interesting wildlife and birds and just a nice park in general to be around. Plenty of parking. It was pretty empty when we went. Definitely stop by if you're in the area and walk by the hot pools.

Great park in the heart of the city with a huge playground for children and lots of room to run…read morearound. Big, beautiful trees, the lake nearby, and space for families to relax. Highly recommend.

This is a great place to hike with trails of all types and levels. We parked at the main…read moreinformation center where the elevated Redwoods walk is located and hiked the Pohaturoa Track which initially runs through the redwoods, then along Tarawera road for a short distance then steadily goes up to viewpoints of the City and also Te Puia Dan the Pōhutu Geyser basin with lake views. We added on the joint use mountain bike track Mud pool loop which had one active mud pool. Loved that the plant life was so diverse with many different pine, fur and even eucalyptus which smelled wonderful.

Beautiful forest! The questions you need to answer is whether to visit during the day or at night?…read more And if you visit as night, do you do the (expensive) tree walk? I would highly recommend visiting at night. It is truly special. I can't speak to walking through the trees at night on the ground, as we paid the US$20 to walk through the tree tops. The view at night is like fairy lights; easy to imagine this as the setting for every elf story I have ever read.  BF liked the engineering aspects; it is cool how the tree walk has been hung without damage or drilling into the trees. Would definitely recommend this as an unusual way to spend an evening.

We were looking for an easy and inexpensive way to enjoy Rotorua's geothermal activity and this…read moreplace popped up in our search. We were so happy we stopped by for a brief viewing because it's a nice little walk along the lake and was another fantastic and free NZ tourist spot. There are several places to park along the road and then you can walk along the lake and enjoy the geothermal steam, little bubbling holes, and the fantastic aromas! Be warned if you are particularly sensitive to sulfur and eggy smells you may want to skip the geothermal adventures in NZ. The steam rises from the scenic lake and beautiful birds are positioned everywhere you look. There is one spot along the road with little rocky craters with bubbling water and a touch of the beautiful colors that is classic to geothermal Rotorua attractions. It's a great stopping point and doesn't take too long to enjoy and snap a few photos before you continue on your way.

It's a good spot for some striking photos in various directions. There's water and spits of land…read moreand city skyline and various fairly photogenic birds around. The black swans with red bills are great. You drive all the way through the garden to the end of the road to get here, and there's a parking lot with plenty of parking (unlike the rest of the park, at least when we were there--we actually ended up at the point as we looked for parking to crack out the gardens but couldn't find any). Itdoesn't smell any more sulphury than anywhere else, and less than in some places in the region. There's not anything to do other than take pictures, including hiking or even much walking, so it's more of a place to drive out to, hop out of the car, and hang out for 15 minutes or so. But the views are nice so it's not a bad place to do that.