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Home >> Hot Pools >> Tarawera Hot Springs
 Tarawera Hot Springs
Taupo Region
Taupo-Napier Highway
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Description Not an amazing place really but worth a trip for avid soakers or to rest your bones on a motorbike run. A small concrete tub off a rough track. Water was a bit on the slimey side but the last time I went there was before 2000. Not sure how it is now. Ask at the tearooms. [Mike, NZ]
It's still the same as of Feb 06. [Sheldon]
On the main highway between Napier and Taupo is the Tarawera tearooms (Phone 06 834 9755, open 7 days). There is a rough track from there leading to the pool. Park at the tea rooms and have a bite to eat and ask them where the track is. [Mike, NZ]
The tubs are a 15 minute walk down the only gravel track. You can actually drive two thirds of the way there if you don't mind scratching your car up a bit. [Sheldon]
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13 Bather Reviews Write Your Review Now
- Tarawera Trip 17-18th April 2010
Arriving at Tarawera Saturday afternoon about 4pm and pulling up in the car park to book a campsite I noticed a couple heading down a track with a homemade sign beside the gate saying "pool", I could not make out at the time what it was they were carry. On making a visit to the hot pool site just before dark it was obvious the they had cleaned out the pool and it was now filling. It appears to take about 3- 4 hours to fill from the way the level was rising during the short time I was there.
On my return visit about 6.30am next morning it was full and hot, most pleasant. The walk to and from the pool is also enjoyable especially the bush part with interesting glimpses to the valley and hills beyond. There are two pools, only the one nearest to the track appears to be used at present. The thing that caught my eye was the genuine kiwi DIY pool plug, made from an old glass beer flagon wrapped and fitting perfectly into the plug hole and flush with the pool bottom. Also the sheet of old black plastic between the pool and the changing area to protect ones bare feet. It gives a feeling of the way New Zealand once was.
Credit must also go to the crew who did the very professional work to reinforce the bank below the pools. It is really an expression of the dedication of the locals to their hot pools. I'm sure every visitor to the the area must feel this and respect the fact that the locals are happy to share the pools with visitors.
The stop is really worth a visit if travelling the Napier-Taupo highway. I can also recommend the tea rooms/cafe, excellent food, friendly staff/owners with lots of interesting knowledge of the area.
Phil Tarrant - Wanganui
17th-18th April 2010
Phil Tarrant - Wanganui
Rating: 10/10 20th June 2010
- Amazingly peaceful! I would recommend taking a bucket and rope to haul up water from the river though cause it is freaking hot! Plus take plenty of drinking water as you will need it!
Coral - New Zealand
Rating: 9/10 13th May 2010
- Have just been to the pools: great, just like on the most recent photo. The setting's gorgeous and worth the walk.
The traffic noise (lots of trucks in low gear plus engine-braking) is significant, and that's why we didn't stay for a night. It's probably really quiet when the SH is closed...
Tom Butz
Rating: 8/10 16th February 2010
- Always wondered why the Tavern has that name, stopped off there last week and found out! Wonderful place. When I was there it was during a spectacular thunder storm, great to sit in the tub with the cold rain on my shoulders and the lightening flashing in the clouds. If you want clean and man made go to Waikite, if you want naked (optional), natural, basic and free then this is for you. DOC I'm sure you have better things to do, let the locals care for their historic pools for ever!
Andy - Rotorua, NZ.
Rating: 7/10 29th January 2010
- There are two concrete pools which you fill with the aid of an pvc pipe from a small waterfall. pools are in a bad state,rough concrete and leaf litter, but surroundings are great. a quick clean then enjoy.
bob - Hastings NZ
26th August 2009
- What a wonderful relaxing place with a amazing feeling being on the side of the hill. The locals maintain this and have been bathing here for centuries. Just stop into the Tavern and the new owners Jim and Maree will give you directions. (They have excellent coffee and free camping and campervan parking in their grounds too now). I recommend you take a few minutes to study some of the amazing history of this area and the pools which is displayed on the walls of the tavern/cafe. This is the first I have heard about the healing but it does not surprise me. Please visit and log your support on this site.
Carla6 - Napier
Rating: 10/10 4th August 2009
- Thanks Ngaire for making these pools available, they are brilliant. We felt priviliged to use them.
Duncan Jones - Auckland
Rating: 10/10 21st February 2009
- As the proprietor of the Tarawera Tavern I would like to add my comments.
Cyclone Bola removed the house over the pools and undermined part of the hill the pools are located on then when the Cave Creek disaster happened DOC and OSH went into their hysterical phase and in their wisdom decided to close the pools down believing they would fall into the river they are still their and nothing has changed in sixteen years the locals have been using them for over one hundred years and we will not allow DOC and OSH to dictate to us so when they take away the hose that lets the hot water run into the pools we just go buy another one
Cleaning of the pools is reliant on one of our locals and gets done on a reasonably regular basis however these pools unlike commercial ones are not filtered so the water is natural as it comes from the spring in the hill any greening comes from sunlight we ask tourists to please empty and put hose into second pool to try and keep them as clear as possible we also advise everyone not to put their head under the water which should never be done in thermal water unless like the commercial ones they are chemically treated and filtered I believe the breathtaking views and remoteness of the pools make them something very special and hope people can enjoy them for many years to come
Ngaire Midgley - Tarawera
Rating: 8/10 6th December 2007
- These pools are so relaxing out in the middle of the bush you can hear the river flowing down below. definetly woth a stop if your passing through.
Ashlee Diamond - Auckland
Rating: 7/10 8th May 2007
- What a shame that it's been closed!!!
I have been trying to find it's location ever since I heard about this amazing event. About 5 years ago I met an Maori man in Waipukurau when we were doing a computer course together. We were talking about our belief in Angels.
He told me that about 15 years before he had stopped at the local pub there one day. His, then, 3 year old son wanted to go to the toilet, so dad had stopped and decided to have a bite to eat while they were there. He told me that while he was up at the bar, he meet a old Maori man he asked him why his son couldn't walk. He told him that his son had a crippling condition, and that he had never been able to walk and that Doctor's said he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The old man suggested that he take the young boy down to the hot pool. When the boy got out of the pool he had gained movement in his legs, which increased over the next month and eventually resulting in the boy walking normally. As he still did as an 18 year old young man. The father had driven back to the pub to tell the man and to thank him, but something really strange happened because when he spoke to the Tavern owner and his wife. They said that they had never seen anyone who fitted the description of this old Maori man but that other people had also told them similar stories. So wish is that another miracle happens and the pools get reopened.
Dianne - New Zealand
Rating: 10/10 27th December 2006
- these pools ARE officially closed, they have been drained so not able to be swum in, not sure if they're ever going to be refilled, locals in the pub said that doc were A**holes for doing it...:)
sam - New Zealand
Rating: 1/10 29th April 2006
- In fact, it IS an amazing place thanks to the river right below where you can cool down and then return back to the warm water. And no people at all- it is officially closed!
Ondrej - Czech Republic
Rating: 9/10 22nd March 2006
- Certainly off the beaten track, but thorougly enjoyable.
Sheldon
Rating: 8/10 8th February 2006
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Photos
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Donated by Phil Tarrant, Wanganui (17 Apr 2010)
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Donated by Phil Tarrant, Wanganui (17 Apr 2010)
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Donated by Phil Tarrant, Wanganui (17 Apr 2010)
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Donated by Pippa Harris. Photo taken 10 Feb 2010
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Donated by Sheldon Nesdale
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Donated by Sheldon Nesdale
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