Te Rata Bay (Hot Water Beach) Hot Pool Details :: Lake Tarawera, Rotorua :: nzhotpools.co.nz for the hot pools, hot springs, geothermal pools of NZ

Situated in the western corner of Lake Tarawera. The hot spring trickles down a small stream and into the lake. As you can see in the picture, you may need to work at collecting large rocks and place them in a circle to keep the hot water in. Rather labour intensive and the sandflies are very annoying! Easiest access is by boat - just look for the steam!

Directions

Only practical access is by boat from landing place, or catch the tourist ferry, head straight out then when you see Mt Tarawera in front of you go right to as far as you can go, its on the right hand side, has camping there as well at the doc camp, can also walk up to Mt Tarawera if your fit, good clean water for swimming and very hot water near the cliffs, very nice place. [Bill Cox, Rotorua]

Interactive Map

My Experience

I've been here once, and that was enough. To get to this remote Lake Tarawera beach involved 30 minutes driving, 45 minutes off-roading (in a non-off-road-worthy car!) and another 45 minutes tramping! As shown in the 1st photo above we built a little ring of rocks to hold some of the hot water in, but for all the blinkin sandflies, driving, tramping and labour, it wasn't really worth it.

8 Bather Reviews

Beautiful peace of hidden paradise. Sit and relax on the beach, swim or wake board. The hot pools were something we were looking forward to see. The temperature can vary from being cold to boiling hot. Definitely worth going to and we shall be returning again but this time with insect repellant!!!

Vicki - Tauranga
Rating: 8/10 8th December 2012
Based at a DOC water access only campsite at the southern end of Lake Tarawera. Popular with families with water taxi access. Water edge is thermal. There is a hot stream merging with the lake water surrounded with rocks that form the actual pool. Can cook trout in the nearby sand. There is a small rock edge and stream thermal pools nearby.

David Walmsley - Rotorua New Zealand
31st December 2011
This is a truly beautiful spot, however we found it really difficult to find a spot in the lake where the water wasn't either freezing or unbelievably boiling hot. This is still worth a trip though. You can lie in a small man made rock pool if it's free...just a few people were there the day we went...so if you can get in a rock pool or make one to keep the temperature more controlled you will enjoy this experience. Beware the close you get to the cliffs the more boiling the water is. Ask anyone who's there to help you get into the water as you may get a real fright from the heat. Ease your way in from the beach then slowly across to the cliffs where you'll see the water trickling down into the lake. A beautiful spot as I said, and amazing view of Mt Tarawera. I also understand you can camp the night. boat access only!

Jen - Auckland
Rating: 8/10 25th April 2011
we have been coming here for years now and absolutly love it. for us it is definatly our family holiday spot. we love jumoping off the rocks around in the next bay and sitting in the hot natural spa. an awesome spot to relax, wakeboard, ski, skurf and just swim. if your up for the challenge swim to the boy about 200m out. overall of the best places in new zealand!!!!

jaz reid - Te Puke
Rating: 10/10 15th May 2008
pretty cool place, we had the place to ourselves, although if you head around the bays to the west of this beach there appears to be a larger ring of stones below the cliffs that is a natural spa bath [without the bubbles unless you amke your own]

another anon - sth island/new zealand
Rating: 7/10 19th March 2007
We have been going to Lake Tarawera for holidays for more than 10 years. We are waterskiers so for us one of the highlights is a soak in warm/hot water after a days skiing to soothe the worn out bodies.

Ann - Wellington NZ
Rating: 10/10 23rd March 2006
We are so lucky to have a place to warm up after a hard day tramping so its not a spa pool it is nature at its best

Sean
Rating: 5/10 11th August 2005
Hot water can be found along most of the beach. Stand at water level, wriggle your feet and If not careful, burnt feet can result. At the western end of the beach, hot water is present from depth, not just the stream. Its a matter of finding the interface between hot and cold sections for bathing. Unfortunately the interface can be quite sudden so it can be difficult to find comfort between the too hot and the too cold. There is no road access, so is typically accessed by boat. The camping area there is administered by Dept of Conservation (I think) and is very popular during summer holidays.

anon
11th August 2005