Top things to do in Waitomo

The best things to do in Waitomo happen underground, in limestone caves lit by glow worms and carved by streams you can float down on an inner tube. The village sits in the Waikato off State Highway 3, a 2.5-hour drive south of Auckland, and Waitomo tours are the usual way into the caves.

Waitomo tours: glow worm caves, limestone caves and black water rafting

Waitomo's caves belong to one limestone system, built from fossilised corals and shells laid down under the sea around 30 million years ago. Each of the main caves feels different once you are inside.

The Waitomo Glowworm Cave is the famous one. Its 45-minute tour passes the Cathedral, a chamber known for its acoustics, and finishes with a boat ride through the Glowworm Grotto. Ruakuri Cave is a 90-minute guided walk that starts with a spiral descent, and local Māori found it 400 to 500 years ago. Aranui Cave is dry, a short drive from the glowworm caves, with a colony of cave wētā near the entrance and a richly decorated interior.

Combo tickets bundle the caves, whether that is the Glowworm Caves with Ruakuri Cave, the Glowworm Caves with Aranui Cave, or all three in the Triple Cave Combo.

For more adventure, black water rafting takes you through a cave on an inner tube. The 3-hour Black Labyrinth trip is beginner-friendly, with wetsuits and footwear provided, and the 5-hour Black Abyss adds abseiling, climbing and a flying fox.

Smaller-group trips skip the main track altogether. On a guided walk with Down To Earth near Te Kūiti, groups of two to eight wade a freshwater stream into a private family-owned cave with no concrete paths or artificial lighting, then finish with a hot shower and tea, coffee and biscuits.

Boat rides and cruises in Waitomo

Waitomo is inland, so the boat ride here is underground. In the Glowworm Grotto, a cave about 30 metres long and 10 metres wide, the guide pulls the boat along an overhead wire, which lets it glide quietly beneath the glow worms. The glow worms are Arachnocampa luminosa, a fungus gnat found only in New Zealand. Combo tickets such as the Glowworm Caves and Ruakuri Cave combo include the grotto boat trip.

That is why cruises in Waitomo mean something different from a lake trip. For open water, Lake Taupo and Lake Rotorua are each about a 2-hour drive from the village.

Walks and sights around Waitomo village

The walks above ground are worth building into the day. The Ruakuri Walk is a 45-minute loop from the Ruakuri car park, 4 km from the village, through a forested gorge to a viewing platform over the Ruakuri Natural Bridge. At night, glow worms show beside the main bridge, so bring a torch. The Waitomo Walkway starts opposite the Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre and also leads from the village to the Ruakuri Walk.

Further out on Te Anga Road, Mangapohue Natural Bridge is a 17-metre limestone arch and all that remains of an ancient cave system, reached on a 700-metre return boardwalk about 25 km from the village. Marokopa Falls is a 20-minute walk through native forest to a viewing platform, around 31 km west of Waitomo.

How Waitomo fits into a North Island trip

Waitomo is a 1-hour, 75 km drive south of Hamilton and about a 2-hour drive west of both Rotorua and Taupo. From Auckland it is a 2.5-hour drive, which is why many visitors come on a day trip. Things to do in Auckland include Waitomo day tours that pair the caves with the Hobbiton Movie Set or with Te Puia in Rotorua.

Rotorua is the natural next stop, with geothermal valleys and lake cruises that suit a Waikato road trip. Things to do in Rotorua make a good second half to the journey.

Planning a day in Waitomo

Cave trips run from a 45-minute tour to a 3-hour walk or a 5-hour rafting trip, and the walks above ground take 20 to 45-minute loops, so a day in Waitomo can hold a cave in the morning and a bush walk in the afternoon. The Down To Earth cave walk departs at 9.30am and 1.30pm, with check-in half an hour before.

Evenings in Waitomo are crisp, so pack a jersey, and insect repellent is recommended. A small general store in the village covers basic supplies.

Pick the cave that suits the day you have, add a walk, and book your Waitomo cave experience online with Experience Oz.