Vacation rentals in Waitomo Caves

Located 2.5 hours south of Auckland, deep in the green rolling hills of the North Island, the Waitomo Caves are a subterranean wonderland. The complex is made up of Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Ruakuri Cave, and Aranui Cave. You can experience striking stalactites and the twinkling glow from the resident glowworms during a boat tour.

Waitomo Caves Village is a small collection of shops, tour companies, and accommodations spread across a handful of streets leading up to the caves and the nearby town of Otorohanga. Full of brightly colored murals highlighting New Zealand culture and an enormous roadside kiwi sculpture made of corrugated iron, Otorohanga is a great home base for exploring the area.

Waitomo experiences relatively mild weather year round, with warm summer days (December through March) and cooler winters (June through September) that require thick sweaters. Summer through fall (which occurs between March and June) are great seasons for hiking or bike riding in the nearby forests. The area can get busy, especially during the school holidays, due to the proximity to Auckland, so keep this in mind when booking your Waitomo Caves holiday rentals.

During the winter, things quiet down a lot, so this is a great time to visit the glowworm caves if you want to explore with fewer visitors. Keep in mind that the air and water temperature in the underground caves remains brisk and cool year round, so make sure to pack warm layers even if visiting in the summer. For safety reasons, all caves must be visited as part of a guided tour, and there are plenty of operators available to take you on an underground adventure. You will be given a wetsuit and booties if you try any of the water-based activities in the cave.

Ruakuri Cave

Ruakuri Cave offers a unique blackwater rafting adventure, which includes climbing up and over rock formations before floating down the underground river in an inner tube as the glowworms light the cave above you. If you’d like to explore the outside of the cave, you can take a stroll along the half-mile long Ruakuri Walk, which takes you through dense native forest and past limestone rock formations.

Waitomo Great Walk

One of New Zealand’s epic pathways, Waitomo Great Walk is a multi-day 25-mile hike that leads through the lush Tawarau Forest across the Tawarau Falls and Marokopa Falls before eventually following Waitomo Stream through limestone gorges down to Waitomo Village. Along the way, you’ll witness sweeping views of Mount Ruapehu, an active stratovolcano.

Waitomo Museum of Caves

This museum introduces you to the majestic Waitomo Caves system through interactive exhibits, fossils, and archival footage. You can learn how the caves evolved and how they became one of the region’s most popular attractions.