• Background & Quick Facts

    Background & Quick Facts

Our Background

About Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Created following the Mount Tarawera eruption in 1886, Waimangu Volcanic Valley is an eco-tourism experience featuring spectacular volcanic craters, enormous hot water springs, beautiful geothermal features, rare and unusual plant life, brilliantly coloured microbiology and a wide array of birds.

Amongst its many highlights is Lake Rotomahana, formerly home to the ‘eighth natural wonder of the world’ – the Pink and White Terraces, which were buried in the eruption.

Today, Waimangu welcomes visitors to explore its unique geothermal system on foot, or by boat, to discover its 22 volcanic craters, one of the world’s largest hot water springs and the site of the Pink and White Terraces.

Waimangu is owned by a partnership between Tūhourangi Tribal Authority and Te Puia NZMACI Limited Partnership.

  • So impressive and wonderful to tramp through...fantastic vapor whirls on the magnificent colorful lakes...great ferns with thousands of different shades of green.....amazing viewpoints to look down into the valley...awesome hues of ever changing volcanic terraces in different lights of the day....a great bus service for weary people or elderly ones to appreciate this veritable gem of…

    Thomas Rhöse
    Google Review

    Read testimonials
  • What an unbelievable walk, really good information on both the brochure and on boards at strategic points. Lots of activity from the thermal vents and the lakes, it took us 3 hours to walk down, and after the boat around the lake we took the free bus back to the top, but you can walk back. A great day…

    Andy
    Hatherleigh, United Kingdom

    Read testimonials
  • Another amazing spot to visit, very informative with great photo opportunities, the walk down through the valley to the boat jetty is rather easy, but about 4kms, the boat cruise on lake Rotormahana was great, again very informative with great photo and video…

    Peter
    Melbourne, Australia

    Read testimonials
  • We had a beautiful morning here. I love the sulphuric smell & the geothermal wonders. Volcanic activity is always interesting. The walk is perfect &…

    Karen
    Paddington, Australia

    Read testimonials
  • We had a great trip here - very organised walk with lots of information and fascinating views of the craters. The boat trip on the lake was very relaxing and timed to allow us to catch the bus back up. We had a good lunch back at the…

    Penny
    Brisbane, Australia

    Read testimonials
  • Can’t recommend this highly enough. Our family of two adults and a 7, 10 and 11 year old absolutely loved it. The walk through the valley was gorgeous. The self guided map tour was awesome, our kids took turns reading the info at each spot. It was perfectly planned out with the walk down (we used the full two hours and had to power walk the last 15 minutes to make the boat), followed by the boat trip and then a ride back up to the top. The…

    Charlie
    New Zealand

    Read testimonials
top