Taupo: the lake, the falls and the volcano next door

The essentials

1. Huka Falls: the Waikato River squeezed through a 15 metre channel at up to 220,000 litres a second. It is less a waterfall than a firehose, unreasonably turquoise, and free. Walk the riverside track from town if you have ninety minutes; drive if you have fifteen.
2. Spa Park hot stream: the Otumuheke Stream meets the Waikato at bath temperature, in a public park, for nothing. Locals soak here after work. Bring jandals and leave valuables in the car.
3. Orakei Korako: our quiet pick of the region’s geothermal valleys, reached by boat across a lake, with silica terraces and a cave. Twenty five minutes north and consistently underrated because it is not in Rotorua.
4. The Maori rock carvings at Mine Bay: ten metres of carved cliff rising from the lake, only reachable by water. Kayak trips make half a day of it; cruises make an easy two hours.
5. Skydiving: Taupo is one of the busiest drop zones in the world for a reason. Falling towards a lake in a volcano with Ruapehu on the horizon is the country’s best view you cannot photograph yourself.
6. Trout fishing: world famous, and rightly so. Brown and rainbow trout thrive here, a licensed guide sorts everything, and because selling trout is illegal in New Zealand, catching one is the only way you will ever taste it.
7. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing: the best day walk in the country starts an hour south, and Taupo is the most comfortable base for it. We wrote a full guide to doing it properly.

When to come, and how long

One or two nights fits most itineraries: falls and hot stream on arrival, a lake morning or the crossing the next day. Summer is peak lake season; winter turns Taupo into the accommodation overflow for the Whakapapa ski field and the crossing gets alpine and serious. The town sits on every Auckland to Wellington route worth driving, so it rarely costs a detour: see our North Island itinerary for how it slots in.

A day and a half, timed

1. Arrive from Rotorua, 45 minutes north, by lunch. Huka Falls from the car park, then the riverside track back towards town if the legs want it.
2. Late afternoon: Spa Park’s hot stream, jandals on, valuables locked away. Dinner on the lakefront.
3. Morning: Orakei Korako by boat, 25 minutes north, or the Mine Bay rock carvings by kayak. Then south to National Park Village for the Crossing, or on to Napier for Hawke’s Bay.

Taupo is the easiest town on the North Island to under-plan, because the best two things in it are free and take an hour each. Give it a night, and the Crossing its own two.

Where to stay

The lakefront motels along Lake Terrace have the view and the road noise; the streets behind Acacia Bay have the quiet and a ten minute drive. Families do well at the holiday park with its own hot pools on the hill above town. For the Crossing, sleep the night before in National Park Village or Whakapapa so the shuttle is a walk rather than a 5am drive, then come back to Taupo for the recovery soak. One night in Taupo, one at the mountain, and the lake on both ends.