Learn about Maori culture and see boiling mud pools, geysers, and hot springs by visiting Whakarewarewa Village in Rotorua. To save time waiting in ticket lines, prebooking your admission means you can select an entry slot to suit your travel plans. Then, once inside, join a Maori guide to learn about Maori traditions—including a chance to try food cooked in geothermal pools.

Get more out of your time in Rotorua: Visit Whakarewarewa Maori Village
Guarantee entry by prebooking your entry
Choose from different time slots to suit your schedule
Enjoy a guided tour to learn about Maori culture and traditions

What's Included

Entry Ticket

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

17 Tryon Street, Whakarewarewa, Rotorua 3010, New Zealand

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Ticket Redemption Point

Whakarewarewa - The Living Maori Village, 17 Tryon Street, Whakarewarewa, Rotorua 3010, New Zealand

What To Expect

Whakarewarewa - The Living Maori Village

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation

Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 20 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.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.5

267 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 267 reviews

Great view I to history an Maputo culture

Maria_V, Apr 2024

Our guide was great. She provided us with historical and insight on modern day village living. Despite pouring rain, the guide made the experience special.

Sweet people

NG_J, Apr 2024

Great experience! Our guide was the chief’s daughter and we could see she was proud of her homeland. Corn was really sweet!! Loved it

Surprisingly interesting

Willemien_V, Apr 2024

What an interesting place to visit! I was surprised by the knowledge and interesting stories of the guide. A very good introduction in Maori culture.

Māori Themo-living

Hui_J, Apr 2024

To have a better understanding is some of the Māori’s culture & life style living in the thermo-eco environment.

Great Experience

Ruth_H, Mar 2024

Our guide was genuine, humble and spiritual. He explained what was happening and why it happened. We had a tasting of a cob of corn cooked in the thermal pools.

Terribly experience with one front line staff.

Prasanna_V, Mar 2024

We live in auckland just went for a weekend trip to show my mum around who had come from india in Feb. We booked for 3 adults and 1 infant through viator a day before but it was poring so me and my 5 month old son decided not to go ,my mum and husband went instead. The 1st staff interaction with a lady was lovely. She even checked if I could get a refund but as we booked via viator they couldn't offer me refund which was fare. After 20 mins it stopped raining the tour didn't start so I thought we can also join the tour. I went up to the counter and asked for entry tickets. (Red colour bands )the guy at the counter apparently was a manager . His behaviour was appauling and racist refused to understand. He looked at his list and kept arguing with me about the colour of the band as it was orange according to him. I also purchased ponchos from him. Finally when he did find our names on the list he threw the bands and the ponchos at me and said I have to serve next customers and asked me to step away from the line. No respect for a customer who was standing in que with her 5 month old. Absolute disaster.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great tour with a personal touch.

Ted_T, Mar 2024

Great Tour appreciated by the entire group a perfect way to understand the importance of this area to the traditional owners. Our guide for the tour Dan deserves a mention as his approach to the tour while informative was also obviously heartfelt and humorous. Highly recommended, excellent value.

Poputu erupting

Tracey_H, Mar 2024

Informative tour of village life. Saw Poputu Erupt. Nice morning tour with tasty sweetcorn cooked in thermals

Excellent tour

David_B, Mar 2024

Excellent guide with so much information, a great in-site into how the Māori people live making use of geothermal energy.

Really enjoyable

barbara_c, Feb 2024

The guide was excellent and very knowledgeable as he once lived in the village. The performance was also very enjoyable. Would recommend

Visit to a Maori Village

Seamus_F, Feb 2024

Learning about Maori culture in a !real! village set up. Information given by a wonderful guide whose ancestors had set up the village in the l1870s

Don’t bother: go elsewhere

Eddy_T, Feb 2024

Disorganisation. We were booked for the 2pm show and the girl at the desk suggested we go on the 1pm village tour. Our guide told us we would have to leave the tour at 2:50 to make our own way to the concert. He was only half way through the tour! After the concert we just had to tag onto another tour when we found one. By doing this we still missed parts of the tour, while hearing repetition of other parts.. The first guide (an older gentleman) was totally dismissive of a valid question about how did villagers know in the past where the ground surface was too thin to walk on. The girl asked it in several ways after being told “just don’t walk there” She, like us had to leave the tour early to get to the concert, and understandably was very dissatisfied. At least the second guide we found was more informative and could acknowledge when he did not know an answer. In short, the tour and concert which we paid for was not coordinated at all. It was a rip off to have to pay more for a self guided walk through the geothermal area. We went expecting to see this as part of the experience. The village itself looked very tired and uncared for. To get any experience of geothermal landscape we had to go elsewhere, spending more money, to see what Rotorua is famous for.

Best tour!

David_R, Feb 2024

To experience the living culture of the village was just incredible. The care and love the guides have shines through and you can't help be touched by their warmth, passion and history.

Wonderful Whakarewarewa

Wendy_B, Feb 2024

I truly enjoyed refreshing my memory of the history of our place. My German friend who I brought absolutely loved the whole experience! Excellent guide Matua was too.

Loved this activity

Courtney_M, Feb 2024

Our tour guide was Daniel and he was fantastic. Very interesting tour and a must do when in Rotorua.

Not suitable for wheelchair users.

David_S, Feb 2024

We had a wheelchair for my wife but we were unable to keep up with the crowd as the circuit is quite rough. As a result we were left well behind as the tour progressed so we missed almost all of what the guide informed the crowd. Had we been walkers this would have been a lovely tour but this is not a good tour for wheelchair visitors despite it saying so.

Worth a 60-90 minute visit.

Sanford_F, Feb 2024

A good and quick way to get a glimpse of Māori culture if you don't like the big touristy eat-along, sing along cultural show alternative (Te Puia). This is a one hour guided walk through a village where 70 Māori live. There are no staged demonstrations (like at Te Puia) except for seeing corn cooked in a thermal hot pool (which you get to then sample). There are options to watch a 1/2 hour cultural performance, to get closer to thermal pools and geysers (no need in my opinion because you see them on the tour). In the day we went, there were up to 70 people in a group with one guide -- about 4 times the total number, said one guide. Our guide Daniel was very informative, funny without being corny and seemed to greatly enjoy sharing his people's culture and history. It would have been nice if he waited for folks at the back of the group to work their way closer before he started his narration. He started out doing this but as we got nearer the end, he would talk while walking instead of stopping and waiting for people to circle him and so folks at the back couldn't hear much. Not his fault they gave him 70 people. It was still worth the visit. We didn't attend the optional cultural show (modest additional fee) so can't comment on it. I definitely don't see the wisdom in choosing their optional all day pass -- definitely not enough to see and do to occupy more than an hour or two. Glad we went. It wasn't expensive and it's nice to be able to leave knowing a bit about Māori history and having the opportunity to support this living village.

Fantastic Culture

Rose_H, Jan 2024

When the Guide explained the Maori language and sang for us. The guide was informative yet entertaining!

Wonderful

VALERIE_J, Jan 2024

Tu our guide was lovely and very personable and shared her cultural with us group with laughter and warmth I recommend if you want a small glimpse into the Moiri people that won’t break the bank and the cultural show as well

Brilliant tour

John_P, Jan 2024

Learning about the village and how important family is to them all. Also their values and their heritage

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