Things to do in Rotorua

Rotorua sits on a lake in the middle of the North Island, and you can smell its geothermal activity as soon as you arrive. Steam rises from parks and drains in town, and the land around it is full of bubbling mud pools, hot springs and geysers.

The area is also a centre of Māori culture. The local Te Arawa people have welcomed visitors to their geothermal villages for well over a century, and an evening of song, dance, carving and a hāngī feast cooked in the earth is one of the best introductions to Māori life in the country.