Must-see attractions in Waikato & the Coromandel Peninsula

The guided tour of the Glowworm Cave, which is behind the visitor centre, leads past impressive stalactites and stalagmites into a large cavern known as…

The excellent Waikato Museum has several main areas: an art gallery; interactive science galleries; a Waikato River exhibition; and Tainui galleries…

Waihi’s superb Gold Discovery Centre tells of the area’s gold-mining past, present and future through interactive displays, focusing on personal and…

Spread over 50 hectares southeast of the city centre, Hamilton Gardens incorporates a large park, a cafe, a restaurant, and extravagant themed and…

Te Awamutu Museum has a superb collection of Māori taonga (treasures) and an excellent display on the Waikato War. The highlight is the revered Te Uenuku …

Walk through a mine tunnel, watch a stamper battery crush rock, learn about the history of the Cornish miners and try your hand at panning for gold…

Beautiful Cathedral Cove, with its famous gigantic stone arch and natural waterfall shower, is best enjoyed early or late in the day – avoiding the worst…

Long, lovely Hahei Beach is made more magical by the view to the craggy islands in the distance. From the southern end of Hahei Beach, it’s a 15-minute…

A community trust has erected 47km of pest-proof fencing around the triple peaks of Maungatautari (797m) to create the impressive Sanctuary Mountain…

Due to copyright, all the movie sets around NZ were dismantled after the filming of The Lord of the Rings, but Hobbiton’s owners negotiated to keep their…

Ruakuri Cave has an impressive 15m-high spiral staircase, bypassing a Māori burial site at the cave entrance. Tours lead through 1.6km of the 7.5km system…

Bush-covered walkways run along both sides of the river and provide the city’s green belt. Jogging paths continue to the boardwalk circling Lake Rotoroa,…

One of Hamilton’s more unusual public artworks is a life-sized statue of Rocky Horror Picture Show writer Richard O’Brien, aka Riff Raff, the time-warping…

The big-three Waitomo Caves are all operated by the same company, based at the spectacular Waitomo Caves Visitor Centre (near the Glowworm Cave). Various…

Around seven million years ago Paaku was a volcanic island, but now it forms the northern head of Tairua’s harbour. Ngāti Hei had a pā here before being…

This bird barn has a nocturnal enclosure where you can see active kiwi energetically digging with their long beaks, searching for food. This is one of the…

A community hub, the Old School Arts Centre has changing exhibitions and workshops, including weaving, carving, yoga and storytelling. Movies screen here…

Three kilometres west from the Glowworm Cave is Aranui Cave. This cave is dry (hence no glowworms) but compensates with an incredible array of limestone…

Apart from its Spanish Mission town clock, Jubilee Gardens is a wholehearted tribute to the ‘mother country'. A British lion guards the cenotaph, with a…

Located in the same building as the Te Kuiti i-SITE, this interesting exhibition of sporting memorabilia is a tribute to Sir Colin Meads and his brother…