Beautiful walk, if you are out on the road to Whatawhata or Raglan. It's a short walk around the…read moremain track, but worth a visit to take in the regional tree varieties, even in winter. Redwoods, oaks, flowering trees, along with a China section and bamboo forest, just to name a few, reflect a global arboretum collection. Free entry. Modest but clean facilities. UV purified well water available (nonflouridated). Lots of chickens (which little ones seem to love ). Nice trails (~90 minute including return).

This is a long stretch of park winding alongside the Waikato River. You can start the walk at an…read moreentrance off Riverlea Road, and there is another entrance off of Hudson Street. It's similar to other areas of "River Walk" in Hamilton, with a raised boardwalk pathway winding through the park. There are a few areas of expansive green space, where my kids love to just run around. There isn't a playground, but it's a lovely walk. I feel like this walk does not have as nice views of the Waikato as the walk in the CBD, but it is nice nonetheless and you can walk all the way to Hamilton Gardens, if you are so inclined. Most of the walk is stroller-friendly, but there are several places with stairs (these could be tricky if you were walking alone with a stroller and had no help lifting it up and down the steps).

The Hamilton Zoo is a favourite outing for our family. It is very affordable, and the animals seem…read morewell treated and live in relatively open spaces on the outskirts of Hamilton's western suburbs. Entry fees are very affordable for individuals and families, and we have a season pass. It is very reasonably priced! The zoo has undergone major renovations over the last five years, expanding well beyond where it was only five years ago (the time of our first visit). It includes an enormous, well-equipped children's playground, an upscale café and dining restaurant. In the near future, there will be a hotel on the premises where guests are welcome to stay and observe the animals after- and before-hours. To get to the zoo, visitors may drive to the facility or choose to take the city bus. The city bus is very convenient, since it leaves from the Hamilton CBD and arrives directly outside the front entrance to the zoo. A highlight for the kids include the tigers, ostriches, American buffalo, and, of course, giraffes. Also, they certainly like to use the slides located near the chimpanzee enclosure.

Not the largest zoo but what they lack in variety, they definitely make up in quality. There are…read moresome definite gems here like an extremely active red panda, ring-tailed lemurs that you can play with, the cutest bobcat and beautiful tigers. My boyfriend and I definitely had a lovely time here and I could be found squealing like a child about the cuteness of the animals. The zoo itself is not suffocating and the enclosures are well-maintained and adequately-sized to give the animals space to play in. There is also a playground for kids and lots of interactive experiences. There are also a lot of talks given by the zoo staff about the different animals which were informative and interesting. If I lived in Hamilton, I would definitely visit again.

Hamilton Lake is a great place for the whole family. The new children's park/playground…read more(established in 2019) is a substantial improvement over the one that was there before. Likewise, the five-km track around Lake Rotoroa is well travelled. A couple of drawbacks about Hamilton Lake are the number of people it attracts at any given time. Too many people usually come here not only at the weekend but also during the weekday. This makes for some uncomfortable interactions between runners and joggers, cyclists and children, jugglers and clowns, etc. Be prepared for a crowd when you go! Check out the café too. They're a hoot!

I usually come here at least once a week when the weather is permitting. The lake has a lovely…read morepath that circles the entire lake, about 5K in length. There are always some runners, some walkers, some moms pushing their babies, dog-walkers and other folks making good use of it. There is a cafe on site, The Verandah, where you can get cold/hot food, coffee and other drinks. It has a good amount of indoor and outdoor seating. The highlight of the lake, for us, is the newly renovated playground. It is just awesome! If only I could still pass for an appropriately-aged child and check this out for myself. Our 3-year-old loves it, particularly the long and winding water features near the playground itself. There is also a toddler playground, nearby, lots of swings and a crazy-long slide. There are also tons of ducks and other birds and we've spent many an hour here losing loaf after loaf of bread to the birds, but enjoying every minute of it. On the weekends, I have seen some sort of sailing classes here, but haven't participated in them myself. This is a great place to come for a walk, a run, a run around or a coffee. There are lots of grassy open spaces for playing whatever sport suits your fancy, and usually you'll find some soccer balls or rugby balls flying around. There are also lots of picnic benches and opportunity to spread out a blanket and have a ground level picnic. Toilets available by the toddler playground. Hard to say anything negative - we keep going back again and again.

Spent a great day here at the Southern Enclosure with the whole family (hubby, boys 7 and 4). I've…read moreheard a lot about this place, but it's taken us a while to finally make the short trek down from Hamilton. When you arrive, there is a car park and visitor centre. Pay for your tickets at the visitor centre. They have some souvenirs and a small cafe there as well. There are toilets near the visitor centre. They have passes for adults, children, a family pass, yearly pass and various options for guided tours. We opted for the self-guided experience (though, I might have chosen the guide if I went without the kiddos). We also had a coupon from the Entertainment Book (buy one get one adult entry). Mostly, this is a great bush walk and place to see native birds. Bring some binoculars if you have them. The pathways are all gravel or raised wooden walkways. We stuck to the Rata path on this occasion, which had some up and downhill parts, but nothing exceptionally strenuous. We packed about 3 bottles of water and brought our own snacks, which was good since the boys expended a lot of energy running around on the trails. I definitely recommend the viewing tower. It was there that we were visited by a kaka. It just landed on the railing of the tower and walked up and down, checking us out, before flying away. There was another toilet along the way. I just constantly encourage everyone to go when there is one, and we didn't run into any troubles by doing this. I also recommend going to the pond. My boys loved looking at the numerous crayfish scuttling along the ground of the pond - water was so clear you could see right to the bottom.

The idea of combining kayaking and viewing glowworms sounded like a great idea so I booked an…read moreouting with The Boatshed Kayaks. My husband and I (private tour) had a great time. We kayaked with our guide Sean for a while and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. While we waited for the sun to go down, we got out of the kayaks and hiked up a small hill to enjoy the views and a snack. Once it got dark, we got back in the kayaks and started paddling back; 1000's of glowworms were visible on the walls of the gorge. We saw very few people and the evening was very peaceful. I would highly recommend this activity.

I absolutely had to see a black sand beach on my trip to New Zealand and on our way to Hamilton we…read moredrove along the coast to Manu Bay. There are several small seaside towns to visit on the drive and though we didn't stay long to look around, it appeared there were some places for tourist shopping and some dining options. This beach was beautiful and I really wish I had more time to spend here. The black sand is striking yet soft on the footsies. There was a great menagerie of shells and rocks washed up along the beach that were fun to pick through. There are a lot of hills around, and there was a short little hike to a lookout point with a great view. Apparently one of the best surf sites on the North Islands west coast, it did have some surfers out there despite the weather being a bit nasty. There were places to rent gear if you're interested in some water activities. We also passed by several nice looking camping and recreation areas. Great stop and very glad I didn't miss it!!

I drove down to Hamilton for two of the Black Caps games against India earlier on this year and I…read morewas really impressed with the car parking facilities. There were several car parking areas set-up to accommodate for the influx of Black Cap supporters to the stadium. On both occasions, I paid a mere $5 to park my car in an area that was only a stones throw away from Seddon Park. The park itself has a village green sort of feel to it. The treeline along the embankment offers some shade but I prefer the seated stands. Plenty of food and drink options on site. I can't comment on the toilet facilities as I haven't used them - I don't like public toilets! Getting back to the cricket, the Black Caps are due to take on Sri Lanka for a five-day Test match from 18-22 December, then Pakistan for a T20 international on 17 January in 2016 and Australia for an ODI during the Waitangi weekend. Bring it on!