Places to Explore

• Gisborne

  The Maori name for the Gisborne district is Tairawhiti (tye-ra-fee-tee), "the coast upon which the sun shines across the water," and Gisborne is indeed the first city in New Zealand to see sunrise. Although... (more)

• Gisborne-Opotiki Loop

  Soak in the beauty and remoteness of Eastland driving the Provincial Highway 35 loop between Gisborne and Opotiki, the northwest anchor of the East Cape. Rolling green hills drop into wide crescent beaches... (more)

• Hawke's Bay

  Not for nothing is Hawke's Bay, bounded by the Kaweka and Ruahine ranges, known as the fruit basket of New Zealand. You can't travel far without seeing a vineyard or an orchard, and the region produces... (more)

• Napier

  The earthquake that struck Napier at 10:46 am on February 3, 1931, was—at 7.8 on the Richter scale—the largest quake ever recorded in New Zealand. The coastline was wrenched upward several... (more)

• Rotorua

  One thing that many New Zealanders and visitors share is a love-hate relationship with Rotorua (ro-to-roo-ah), but every year thousands of local and overseas visitors either brave or ignore the vibe to... (more)

• Rotorua Environs

  The countryside near Rotorua includes magnificent untamed territory with lakes and rivers full of some of the largest rainbow and brown trout on Earth. Fishing is big business from here down through Taupo... (more)

• Taupo

  The tidy town of Taupo is the base for exploring Lake Taupo, the country's largest lake. Its placid shores are backed by volcanic mountains, and in the vicinity is more of the geothermal activity that... (more)

• Te Urewera National Park

• Tongariro National Park