After the Auckland Marathon: Rotorua
The Route: Auckland → Rotorua → Auckland Airport Logistics: Hire car or InterCity coach, about 3 hours. Rotorua also has its own airport with flights to Auckland. Marathon Month: November Duration: 2 nights
Auckland CBD ──(approx. 3 hrs by car, SH1 / SH5, or InterCity coach)──> Rotorua
│
Auckland Airport (AKL) ◄──(approx. 2 hrs 45 mins by car)──────────────┘
or Rotorua Airport (ROT) ──(flight to Auckland)
The Auckland Marathon ends at Victoria Park in early November. Rotorua, three hours south-east, is the North Island's geothermal capital, a city built on the edge of a volcanic caldera, where steam rises from drains and the whole place smells faintly of sulphur. Nobody comes for the smell. They come for the hot water, and after 42 km that is exactly what the legs want.
November in Rotorua is late spring. Days are mild, usually in the high teens or low 20s, and nights can still be cool on the plateau. Rain passes through often. The geothermal parks and pools are open all year, and the steam shows up best on a cold morning.
A car gives the most freedom; the drive heads south on State Highway 1 through the Waikato before turning east. InterCity coaches run from central Auckland to Rotorua several times a day and take a little longer. Check times at intercity.co.nz. Rotorua is compact enough to manage without a car once there.
Nights One and Two: Rotorua
Rotorua lies in a caldera formed by a huge eruption about 240,000 years ago, and the geothermal field under the city still heats the ground, the lake and the pools. Te Arawa, the iwi of the area, have lived with and used the hot springs for centuries, cooking in them and bathing in them long before the Victorian spa town was built.
The first day should be about water. The Polynesian Spa, on the lakefront beside Government Gardens, has hot mineral pools overlooking Lake Rotorua, graded by temperature. Sitting in them is the whole activity. Entry varies by pool, so check current prices. Government Gardens next door, laid out around the Tudor-style Bath House, has flat paths and lawns for a gentle walk, and the lakefront boardwalk runs north from there along the water.
The second day can take in the geysers. Te Puia, at Whakarewarewa on the southern edge of the city, is home to Pōhutu, the largest active geyser in the Southern Hemisphere, which usually erupts several times an hour, along with mud pools and a national school of Māori carving and weaving. Next door, Whakarewarewa, The Living Māori Village, is a community where families still live among the geothermal features and guides explain how. Both involve walking on paths and boardwalks with some gentle slopes; take them slowly. Check prices and tour times.
Whakarewarewa Forest, on the eastern edge of the city, is a stand of Californian redwoods planted in 1901. The Redwoods Treewalk suspends a walkway between the trunks, and the forest floor has flat, well-made trails. The shortest loops take 30 minutes.
Where to stay: Novotel Rotorua Lakeside sits at the lake end of Tutanekai Street, a short walk from the Polynesian Spa and the restaurants. For somewhere quieter with its own hot pools, several motels along Fenton Street have private geothermal spas in their rooms; check what is included before booking.
Where to eat: Eat Streat, the covered pedestrian section of Tutanekai Street near the lakefront, gathers a dozen restaurants and bars under one roof, useful on a wet evening. Several Rotorua venues offer a hāngī, food cooked in an earth oven, often as part of an evening cultural performance; book ahead.
Getting to Auckland Airport
Auckland Airport (AKL) is about 2 hours 45 minutes from Rotorua by car, and the route avoids central Auckland. Allow extra time for traffic on the southern motorway. Rotorua Airport (ROT), a few minutes from the lakefront, has flights to Auckland for connections, which saves the drive entirely.