Rotorua Geothermal Wonderland & Maori Cultural Excursion

Our guide (Rolf?) was knowledgeable, patient, accommodating and humorous, all while dealing with a packed itinerary and a headset with a faulty jack. What a trooper!

This was a delightful tour. Our guide was outstanding! We loved every minute!

Really enjoyed this tour scenic views of Tauranga and also the lakes. The tour guide was Rolf who was attentive and assisted older less able passengers on the excursion. The visit to the Māori village was awesome seeing the thermal pools and geysers. The guided tour was given by the chief of the village was informative and interesting. Loved the show which was included too. Good value tour.

Our tour guide Jan was very knowledgeable and made our tour enjoyable. She was very friendly and we learned a lot about the Maori culture, Kiwifruit farming and the geothermal and how the people use it daily for bathing and cooking. Would recommend Shore Excursions highly!

The trip was more focused on a Māori cultural experience. We’ve seen geothermal features at places like Yellowstone, so it was very interesting to see a village of people living among the geysers and fumaroles and using them to cook and bathe. The dance and music was nicely done. We also made quick stops at a kiwi farm, a park, a waterfall, and a shopping mall for a short lunch (not included).

Excursions were well organized. Transportation, drivers/guides were excellent and Pickup on time and they all got us back to the ship well on time. I will always use SEG on all my future trips.

The local tour group hosting this tour, Zealandia, has knowledgeable and accessible guides with great insights into the daily life and historical highlights of the area. Our visit to the Maori village was highly respectful of the peoples, and we left with much more interest in learning more. The experience was full of information with a personal touch by Jan, our guide!

I really enjoyed the cultural show. The tour had the right amount of people on it. The food stop was good. The tour guide very nice. A great day!

I loved the visit to the Maori Living village, seeing how the Maori lived. The visit to the kiwi farm was also interesting for me. It was a wonderful day.

Excellent, highlight of our trip. Our driver was excellent pointing out sights along the way. Our lunch stop was great.

The day with Duncan as our bus tour guide was great. Geothermal wonderland and the Village were amazing. Would encourage everyone to do this trip

This was a very fun excursion - very different from what I normally see. The Geothermal Wonderland is amazing, and how the people utilize it is fascinating.

With our excellent driver and guide Jan C, we saw so much, heard so much, and were made to feel more like friends than clients. Her local knowledge was superb, and she was happy to share it. She went the extra mile for us all. Thanks, Jan. Would recommend one of your tours to anyone.

Nice tour with a very good and caring our guide. The place visit was interesting.

We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful sights, and especially liked the Maori part. The guide showed us through the Maori village and the people sang and danced for us.

Probably the best indigenous tour I have had the opportunity to be a part of.

This is a wonderful small group trip to the heart of the Rotarua geothermal area. Aside from seeing more of the beautiful New Zealand countryside we visitied scenic waterfalls, were introduced to the silver fern, symbol of NZ, and had a very relaxed visit to a Maori village in the middle of the geothermal area. The guides at the village are Maori and they explain the culture and history of the village and the area. This is a wonderful excursion with a fair amount of walking and time to explore and sample things on our own.

what a wonderful tour. You get to experience the whole town and their unique living. well worth it

Length of time between stops was just right and the guide Les was very accommodating when another tourist had a minor problem. We were kept informed and he made sure that we understood the reason for delay. We were still able to see everything that was on the tour without feeling rushed.

A must see. The Geothermal springs are amazing as was the introduction to the Maori culture. Our tour guide was from the area and had vast knowledge of the culture and history of the Maori people.

What an outstanding tour. The driver was awesome and the Cultural tour guide was passionate/very knowledgable/funny.

We really enjoyed seeing the thermal springs and geysers, the Maori show was fun. The lunch break was very good place.

interesting place that every one should see. See the Maori culture and their living, cooking.

In comparison to my previous visit in 1975, I was disappointed in the geothermal village with the mud pools practically non-existent - much environmental restoration appears to be needed. The Maori guide and cultural experience was excellent.

There was so much to see and take in. Beautiful gardens, Maori culture, landscapes, forests and a knowledgeable and fun tour guide! Well worth the money and the time!

Fascinating visit to this Maori village. Existence and practical uses of the geysers is mind boggling . Cultural show was the icing on the cake.

Nov. 24, wonderful excursion! Long day but well worth it. Beautiful beaches(drive by) story of Makua honey(sample) must see Maori village(hot box cooking, steaming pool, geysers and a show, were all great.) Kiwi farm stop was fun and driver Grant was great

I enjoyed touring the Village, the Maori singers, dancers, and the guide. I wish we had more time at the Kiwi vineyard- would have liked to tour it more. Enjoyed the Geothermal part also.

The excursion was fantastic , the only down side was that the driver on the bus talks way to much .

We, a group of four really enjoyed the trip.

The tour involves a fair bit of driving, but it's worth it. The highlight is a visit to a real Maori village built in the area of hot springs. The Maori presentation was very interesting, and the local Maori (college-educated) guide was very personable and informative. We saw how they cook food in the intensely hot springs. The driver/guide provided an informative commentary between stops. I'm very glad that we went.

Tis was a rally good excursion. The bus trip and commentary were really good. The cultural experience was an experience and although felt a bit rrushed in someways it was still very enjoyable.

After reading the details of the excursion it sounded like we would be visiting 2 different locations the Geothermal Spa where we thought we would be able to use and then a visit to an active Maori Village. It was a wonderful tour and visit to the Maori Village which sits on Geothermal Grounds, and although not what we expected it was still a wonderful excursion and would highly recommend it.

Wonderful tour, very interesting, tour guide was informative.

Excursion delivered what it promised but could have been so much better. Tour guide and van accommodation were good. Van full but still a reasonably small group. Kiwi farm stop was far too long. Lunch stop in town was not necessary and too restrictive- no personal choice of venue and could not explore the area on our own. This took 1 hour of the tour time. Maori village tour and geothermal sights were very good and worth seeing. The Maori show however was too short.

This started with a 1 and 1/2 hour drive to Rotoura which included a stop at a kiwi orchard which was very interesting. I enjoyed seeing the New Zealand countryside on the ride to the Maori village. We then saw a cultural performance by the village people, followed by a tour of the village and geothermal geysers.

Both sites were very interesting and enjoyable.

The guide tried to make we have fun on the sightseeing tour. The subjects of the tour were very interesting.

If you would like to get a very "local" experience, this excursion is for you. "The Living Maori Village" where a "local" show of the Maori was preformed at it was awesome. The walking tour of "their" village was very unique.

Had a memorable excursion, excellent guide and lots of laughs. Beautifully presented, wish we had more time.

We were on a Holland America cruise of NZ in early Nov, 2018. We chose this option over the cruise ship excursion alternative which cost $100/ person more. Very glad we did This tour didn't include lunch. Since our port time was shortened by 1 hr, our tour guide modified the tour to stop for a quick 30 minute lunch at a food court of (rather than a 1 hr stop at a nicer place). The guide covered the entire itinerary & a bonus stop. A long lunch would have meant missing parts of the tour. My wife and I were very happy we save about $200 and took this tour. THIS IS A MUST DO TOUR IF YOU ARE IN THE AREA. The actual tour was run by the company ZIELANDIER. The Maori Cultural Village was fascinating. Don't expect to see Yellowstone, but you will see how the Maori's use the thermal features in their daily life - cooking, bathing, etc. Whether your do the cruise ship excursion or this one, you see the same village and the same thermal attractions. I highly recommend this excursion.

Very informative tour, our guide was lovely and I noticed how well he looked after an elderly lady who was on her own. Really liked the village tour and concert. He had us back to the boat in plenty of time Highly recommend this tour from Tauranga

I was disappointed at the amount of time spent here. We did visit comvite and an kiwi fruit farm but I thought we would spend more time at the village. I do realise there was a funeral happening at the same time and this couldn't be helped. Otherwise this was a great tour and our amazing tour leader Jan was fabulous.

maori was nice but seems for torists

3 of a 4 port package & Shorex brought on plenty in the Bay of Plenty. Full 6 1/2 hrs taking in beautiful lakes, falls & rapids, a fascinating living Maori village with hot springs & more. Our guide was first class for the day & highly recommend a Shorex tour.

This tour included a great Maori cultural performance and tour of their geothermal areas. They were informative and loved sharing how they incorporated the geothermal activity into their daily living. Highly recommended!

We were met promptly by Stephen our tour guide for the day. He was extremely knowledgeable and personable and made our trip special. We visited the ComVita factory and learned about Manuka honey, a kiwi farm where we sampled fresh kiwi including the golden variety which were excellent, and a living Moari village where we learned about how they used the geothermal waters for heating, cooking, bathing, etc. We also watched a performance of the Hakka there as well as some of their songs. All in all it was a great day, made special by Stephen and all of his information and quick wit.

Our tour guide made this trip fantastic. We learned about honey, kiwi fruit, geothermal areas and the highlite was the Mauri village tour and cultural show. Wonderful tour with an excellent guide.

One of our best tours, Stephen gave us more information than we can remember! The kiwi farm stop was interesting, but the highlight was the Maori village built atop the thermal hot spots in Rotarua. We were led by a local Maori woman, Girlie, who was very informative, amazing to look into their wooden cooking box placed over a steam vent. The cultural songs and dances were well done and not too long.

Nice excursion to learn the Maori culture

This is one of two tour excursions we took and this was the most interesting if you are into native cultures. The Maori people put on a nice little show 20 min. with pictures afterwards.

A wonderful day spent with Jan the driver/host/guide. Knowledgeable, kind and fun!,

Excellent tour, our tour guide was professional and knowledgeable and funny.

The pick-up process was very smooth. This was a very interesting excursion that we got to tour an actual living village and learned how the natives utilize the existing geothermal holes to cook and bathe. The welcome show put on by the natives was great.