Te Puia - Rotorua, NZ

An incredible and cultural experience that you have to do when visiting New Zealand. A guided tour round the mud pools, kiwi bird house and erupting geysers. Then a cultural Maori performance finished by an all you can eat buffet! We really enjoyed it all. Nothing like you would see anywhere else! The gift shop was the best part 😉

Great buffet with amazing views! Friendly staff. We met some incredible people while we were there. We did both cultural centers and this is more for the masses but it’s a well oiled machine. The show afterwards was great and I truly enjoyed how much pride the Māori take in their culture and the heart they have in sharing it with us. It’s a special kind of feeling. The tour at the end of the night with the hot chocolate is the cherry on top. Definitely recommend this place.

We went on a 90-minute guided tour (which is mandatory with your ticket purchase), and it was absolutely worth it! The guide shared fascinating insights about Māori traditions, kiwi birds, and the geysers. The highlight of the tour, without a doubt, was seeing a kiwi in real life—it was an unforgettable experience. I highly recommend this tour!

It was totally worth the money we paid. We saw Kiwi just in front of us, just behind the glass, I could touch it if there was no glass, so close it was. The kiwi bird is amazing. I am so glad I was able to see it. This place is totally awesome. There were erupting gazers, mud pools, and we learnt about Māori culture, traditions, saw them carving and could buy some amazing gifts from the shop. The toilets are super clean, by the way.

We did the evening experience which involved 3 things bundled up. The tour leaves on time. The Guide seemed very new to this, so we didn't get as much cultural learning that we expected. It was short sentences. Felt rushed through the whole thing. It is an expensive experience and one would expect that it will be more informative. We looked at the wood carving place, the geothermal activity, cultural performance and dinner. The cultural performance was the highlight. I would highly recommend just doing that part. The dinner was over priced for vegetarian and vegan folks. Not many options. The other folks had a plethora of options. Drinks are not included so you have to pay extra.

This is an absolutely do not miss experience in New Zealand. Don’t even think twice about doing the full package!! It was amazing. It starts at four with a tour of the incredible center where people are carving and weaving and real time. It was so amazing to learn about Māori culture and hear the story of Maori arts and crafts. This trip included a visit to a kiwi bird nursery. It also included a visit to the Hot Springs during the day, on foot, and at night on a cute little tram. After a tour of the grounds you go to the gift shop, which was so good with lots of different items of all type with good prices. That is followed with an incredible buffet at the very nice restaurant. This buffet was so much more than we ever imagined it would be and much more classy and well curated than we thought it would be. We were seated at tables with strangers and that was actually super fun, we made some friends. After dinner, seeing the haka was absolutely exhilarating and felt like an honor. And after that, we hopped on a tram and got to see the geysers and hot springs at night with the cool colors, that was just incredible. They even had hot cocoa for us. I would do this again on a return trip to New Zealand absolutely.

This beautiful place is well worth a visit to gain more insight into the Māori culture. Our guide Kahu was great - very informative. Lovely to see two kiwi in the Nocturnal House. Very impressed by the artisans at the NZ/Māori Arts & Crafts Institute; how they are keeping their artistic heritage alive. The Meeting House welcome & ceremony was wonderful too. The passion & enthusiasm in these young people were very inspiring; but all staff throughout Te Puia made us feel very welcome indeed!

Fantastic blend of geothermal attractions and Maori cultural showcase. Very happy the way the tour of 2 hrs was laid out with no rush, controlled group and expert guides. Cultural performance was amazing.