Auckland

Waitomo Glowworm Cave Experience - Small Group Tour from Auckland

Name: Waitomo Glowworm Cave Experience - Small Group Tour from Auckland
Brand: ExperienceKart
SKU: 168163P8
Price: 203.31 USD
Rating: 5.0 (25 reviews)

Auckland, New Zealand

Waitomo Glowworm Caves Day Tour Ex Auckland

From $203.31

Select Date and Travelers

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

8 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

The day tour is the easy way to visit the Waitomo Caves from Auckland. Save yourself the hassle of self-driving the 2.5-hour trip on a small-group guided tour. Admire the glowworms, stalagmites, and stalactites of the glowworm cave, go on an underground boat ride, walk through Cathedral Cave, and learn all about the history and geology of the natural marvel.

A fun tour for every member of the family
Receive personalized attention on a small-group tour
Pick-ups from central Auckland are included
Includes admission to the caves listed in the itinerary

What's Included

Fully guided return transfers from Auckland
Complimentary pick up and drop off from Auckland CBD
Complimentary refreshments and water on board
A local English-speaking tour escort throughout the tour
Luxurious temperature controlled transportation in a minibus
Complimentary High-Speed Internet onboard the minibus
Admission to fully guided 45 minutes experience Waitomo Glow Worm Cave
Boat ride on an underground stream through the Waitomo Glowworm Caves
Experience one of the best North Island destinations in one day on an all-encompassing tour
Marvel at awe-inspiring stalactites and stalagmites during the tour of the iconic Glow-worm Caves
Be captivated by the thousands of magical glow-worms as you glide silently by boat
Stare up at thousands of glowing glow-worms above you
Walk through the Cathedral Cave and experience the amazing acoustics
Immerse yourself in geology and history of the Waitomo caves with the help of a tour guide
Unrivalled boat ride through the spectacular Glowworm Grotto
Witness the history created over thousands of years
See more glow-worms than you could ever imagine all lighting up above your head
WiFi on board
Air-conditioned vehicle
All Fees and Taxes

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Meeting point

Mövenpick Hotel Auckland
8 Customs Street East, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010, New Zealand

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

06:30 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Near public transportation
Infant seats available
Most travelers can participate
This experience requires a minimum number of travellers. If it’s cancelled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.
Please wear comfortable clothing suitable for the conditions, Sun protection, jacket/warm layer, & any essential personal items.
Easy and good fitness level required.

This is a guided walking tour and sensible walking footwear is recommended.
No photography is permitted inside the Waitomo caves, and cameras and Go Pros cannot be taken on the tour.
No backpacks or large bags allowed in cave due to delicate formations.
Please do not touch the formation in the cave as it discoloured easily, please help us protect our cave.
You must be able to climb and descend stairs and walk on unpaved or uneven terrain.
Tours are suitable for people of all ages and average fitness.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 16 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Nancy_B

Our guide Ama was exceptional, informative, knowledgeable and eager to answer any questions. She made the trip very pleasurable.

Reviews

5.0

25 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 25 reviews

Our guide Ama was exceptional

Nancy_B, Apr 2024

Our guide Ama was exceptional, informative, knowledgeable and eager to answer any questions. She made the trip very pleasurable.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Kia ora Nancy, Thank you sincerely for choosing to book your travel to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves from Auckland with ExperienceKart, we really appreciate you taking your time to leave us with a glowing 5 star review. We are delighted to hear that you enjoyed your day with one of our exceptional guides Ama and glad you found our tours to be very interesting, and informational. We wish you all the best for the remainder of 2024 and look forward to hosting you again in the future!

Underwhelmed

Jespal_G, Apr 2024

Only 45 minutes from entry to exit of caves but had to leave at 6.15am and return at 2.30 pm. The drive to and back was rough - 8 hours for less than 45 minutes for some cave worms that glow

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Kia ora Jespal, We are sorry that you felt the experience underwhelmed when several guests who have been on our tours have rated how incredible and informative our tours are. First you complained about the early start of 06:15 am even before you got on our tour and even tried to change our tour schedule. This is despite our tour schedule clearly indicating an 8 hour day and our pickup starting 30 minutes before departure time of 06:30am. As you have booked a small group tour, these run on a set schedule and we suggest if you need more flexibility and if you need to go on tours with a later departure time to book a private tour instead and not try to change the schedule of our tours if you cannot meet these times. Upon further investigation, we understand that you were the only person in the group who did not enjoy your day. The glowworms are very unique to New Zealand and we take pride in showing the unique natural phenomena of the glowworms and the caves which are millions of years old, something all of us are really proud of and protect our environment. Our listings are very detailed and accurate in terms of what to expect and clearly states a 45 minute tour of the glowworm caves. This is something beyond our control and the duration is set Discover Waitomo, the company who operates the guided tours inside the caves. This is also why we are offering the Waitomo Glowworm & Ruakuri Twin Cave Experience and the Triple Cave Experience to enhance your travel experience, but clearly you have booked the shorter tour when other tours were available to be booked. Please don't try to blame the operator running the tour when you clearly chose to ignore all the information available on our tours and you chose to book a tour based on what you wanted and how you wanted to spend your day. Our tour guide assigned to run this tour has been driving coaches for more than 35 years and is very experienced and we are sorry to hear that you felt the driving rough. Although when you wrote your review, you probably meant "roughly 8 hours" instead of just "rough". We are sorry that you did not have any appreciation for our nature, when you wrote "some cave worms that glow". Wishing you all the best for 2024 and enjoy the rest of your travels.

Glowworm Caves

Mary_L, Apr 2024

Our driver picked us up from our hotel exactly on time. Pre-trip communications was excellent. He provided a snack bag including a water bottle which I appreciated. Throughout the drive he gave us a running narrative about the country and the sights we were seeing. I was grateful that he scheduled bathroom breaks and food stops as we had a long drive. When we arrived at the caves we had a Maori guide who explained the history and led us through the caves. He was very knowledgeable. Overall it was an interesting and enjoyable experience.

Response from Host, Apr 2024

Kia ora Mary & Sharon, Thank you so much for leaving us such a lovely 5 star review, we are so delighted to hear that you enjoyed your overall travel experience with ExperienceKart. We strive very hard to provide a great positive experience to all our guests and it was our privilege hosting you. Thank you for sharing about the pre-trip communications being excellent, we are deeply humbled by your comments. We wish you all the best for the remainder of 2024 and look forward to hosting you again!

Glow Worms Bring Christmas Lights to the Caves

trishchad, Mar 2024

A five hour round trip was a long way to go for a 45minute glow worm experience. However, Ama our Māori guide made the journey so interesting by sharing and explaining her culture to us. Ama took care of each guest and made sure we stopped for coffee, lunch etc. At the start of our journey we all received a simple but pleasant brown bag packed with water, juice and snack foods This gesture was much appreciated during the ride. Thank you!

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Kia ora Trish, Thank you for taking your time to leave us a review and we thank you sincerely for choosing to book with ExperienceKart and we are very delighted to hear that you enjoyed your trip to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves with Ama, one of our exceptional guides. We agree the five hour return trip to visit the Waitomo Glowworm caves is long, so we have the Twin caves experience which makes the journey a lot more worthwhile, so is always something to add to your bucket list next time around you visit us in NZ! We'd love to host you again!

Great first tour in Auckland.

Jim_S, Mar 2024

Great tour and visit to see the glow worms The guide was knowledgeable and friendly. The tour pickup was prompt. All the arrangements were seamless to us and resulted in a nice enjoyable visit.

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Kia ora Jim, Thank you sincerely for choosing to book with ExperienceKart and we are glad that you had a great tour and found our guide very knowledgeable and friendly and all arrangements handled in a seamless manner. We strive very hard to deliver exceptional travel experiences to our guests and your lovely review is very much appreciated. We wish you safe travels and best wishes for 2024!

Must See Experience!

Craig_K, Mar 2024

Karthik did a great job! He got us efficiently but not rushed through our day. The glow worm cave is such a unique must see experience!!

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Kia ora Craig, Thank you very much for taking your time to leave us with a lovely review! We are very pleased to hear that you had a great day and rating the glow worm caves as a unique must see experience which we totally agree! Thank you sincerely for choosing to book with ExperienceKart and recommending our services!

Perfect

Dalia, Mar 2024

Highly recommended tour - very impressive. Our tour guide Karthik From ExperienceKart was superb, provided a lot of information about NZ

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Kia Ora Dalia & Arvydas, It was our pleasure to host you on your epic day trip from Auckland to Waitomo Glowworm caves and thank you so much for taking your time to leave us a glowing 5 star review, it means the world to us. We are very pleased about your travel experience along with our guide Karthik, and glad that you found the day very informative and entertaining. Thank you sincerely for choosing to book with us and recommending our services! Wishing you enjoyable travels and best wishes for 2024!

Wonderful Māori Guide!! Very fun trip!

Laura_P, Jan 2024

The caves and glowworms were a unique and very fun experience but the highlight of the trip was our guide, Ama. Ama is a delightful, lovely Māori woman who was willing to educate us on Māori life and culture and shared her very interesting travels and life experiences. It’s a two hour coach ride each way to the caves - which could have been very boring, but Ama really made the whole trip so worthwhile. Thank you Ama!!

Response from Host, Jan 2024

Kia Ora Laura, Thank you so much for your excellent 5 star review of our Waitomo Glowworm Cave Experience from Auckland and lovely comments about Ama, our exceptional tour guide. We are very pleased to hear that Ama shared delightful information and kept you entertained making your entire trip amazing and exceptional. Thank you sincerely for choosing to book with ExperienceKart and recommending our services. We look forward to hosting you again in the near future. Until then safe travels and best wishes from our whanau to yours!

Try ExperienceKart for yournext Auckland tour!

Marcus_K, Sep 2023

This was a small tour and that made it very flexible. We added a second cabe tour on the day and it made the tour better. Karthik was a very knowledgeable guide and we recommend his company (ExperienceKart). The van was clean, cold water was provided. I recommend doing a 2 cave tour. Waitomo Cave only wasn't the best cave. That honor goes to Ruakuri cave.

Response from Host, Sep 2023

Kia ora Marcus, Thank you very much for your lovely 5 star review, we are very glad to hear that you found our small group tour very flexible and enjoyable and that adding the Ruakuri caves made all that difference! Thank you very much for recommending our services and to leave a comment regarding our driver guide and van, we are super stoked to have made your day enjoyable and memorable! We look forward to hosting you again and until then we wish you safe travels!

Do this tour

Lynn_W, May 2023

We had the best time with Karthik. There was only 4 of us on the tour. It was so much better with a smaller tour group. Karthik was very knowledgeable of the area and he was very personable. If we come back to Auckland. Would definitely go on a tour with Karthik tour company - Experience Kart.

Response from Host, May 2023

Kia Ora Lynn& Maria, Thank you very much for your lovely comments and a 5 star review. We are super stoked to hear that you had a lovely day travelling up to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. We look forward to hosting you on some of the other tours next time you are in Auckland. Wishing you safe travels and kindest regards!

Glowing glowworms

Drew_L, Jul 2022

Driving through the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand and learning the history and hearing about different places in the region.

Response from Host, Jul 2022

Kia ora Drew, Thank you so much for your lovely and kind words. We very much enjoyed having you onboard our tours and we are very pleased that you thoroughly enjoyed your day, we recall, it turned out to be a gorgeous day! We certainly look forward to serving you again in the future!