Best Hot Pools in Rotorua

For a first soak in Rotorua, book the Polynesian Spa Deluxe Lake Spa: five mineral pools on the edge of Lake Rotorua, open to every age, with towels and lockers included, from $48 per person. The right answer changes with who you travel with and what you want from the water, so below are eight places to soak and the traveller each one suits, with a link to the page that covers it in depth.

Pick this pool if…

You want the safe all-round choice

The Deluxe Lake Spa at Polynesian Spa is the pool we would send most visitors to first. It has four shallow alkaline pools from Rachel Spring and one slightly acidic pool from Priest Spring, at 36 to 41°C, plus a cold plunge, ten heated recliners and an indoor lounge. Children are welcome and infants under two go free. Bathing on this spring dates back to 1878 and the current spa opened in 1972. It rates 4.6 from 409 reviews. Read our review or the full Polynesian Spa guide.

You are adults on a budget

Book the Pavilion Pools at the same spa, from $31 per person. Guests must be 12 or older, and you get eight hot pools at 38 to 41°C, including a deep stand-up pool and a pool facing the lake, plus a foot reflexology walk. Towels and lockers cost extra here. It rates 4.4 from 447 reviews. The Deluxe vs Pavilion comparison sets the two side by side.

You want a design-led spa without children

Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa, on the lakefront a short walk from the first two, takes guests aged 16 and over only. The Restorative Journey is a two-hour, seven-step circuit through waterfall showers, a fire and ice room, geothermal and herbal pools, a mud lounge and a steam room, with locker, robe and towel included, from $100 per person and rated 4.7 from 125 reviews. A shorter 1-hour Restorative Bathing session costs from $56. Pregnant guests cannot take part. If you are torn between Wai Ariki and Polynesian Spa, read Polynesian Spa vs Wai Ariki.

You want a mud bath

Hell’s Gate at Tikitere, just outside the city on State Highway 30, is the mud bath most visitors come for. The Geothermal Walk, Mud Bath & Sulphur Spa combines a walk through the active reserve with a mud bath, sulphur spas and a cool plunge pool, from $65 per person. With 1,277 reviews and a 4.7 rating, it is the most-reviewed bathing ticket on this site. The mud is limited to 20 minutes per person per day. See Hell’s Gate or our wider guide to Rotorua mud baths.

You want a tub to yourselves

Secret Spot, beside the Whakarewarewa Forest, rents private cedar hot tubs filled with heated fresh spring water. It is not a geothermal pool, but it is the simplest private soak in town: the 45-minute forest hot tub costs from $26 per person, takes up to six people per tub, and rates 4.8 from 634 reviews. Children must be five or older. More on Secret Spot and other private hot pools in Rotorua, or see geothermal and freshwater pools compared on our thermal spas page.

You want a countryside soak

Waikite Valley Thermal Pools sit about 30 minutes’ drive from Rotorua, beside Te Manaroa, which the operator calls the largest single source of boiling water in New Zealand. Six pools run from 30°C to 41°C and are drained and refilled every night. There is no platform ticket: you pay at the gate, NZ$27.50 for an adult. See our Waikite Valley guide.

You want a soak you have to reach by water

Manupirua Springs on Lake Rotoiti can only be reached by boat or air. The Lake Rotoiti evening kayak paddles there for a soak, a barbecue and glowworms, from $131 per person, rated 4.9 from 65 reviews. It runs from 1 November to 30 April only.

You want something free

Rotorua has free foot pools in Kuirau Park in the city, and Kerosene Creek, a warm stream about 30 km south near Waiotapu. Natural pools have no lifeguards or facilities, access and conditions change, and the safety rules below apply. Our free hot springs page covers them, and the natural hot springs guide ranks them beside the paid geothermal pools.

The eight places at a glance

Platform prices are in US dollars as the booking sites show them; the Waikite figure is the operator’s own gate price in New Zealand dollars. For every ticket price, child rates and what costs extra, see Rotorua hot pools prices.

Families and couples

With young children, the Polynesian Spa Family Pools are the easy answer: a freshwater pool with a hydroslide, two alkaline mineral pools at 33 to 40°C and lifeguards on duty, from $19 per person, the lowest per-person price on this site. Children under five are free at the gate. Our family hot pools guide compares the options by age.

For two adults, Wai Ariki and a private tub at Secret Spot are the usual choices, and the romantic hot springs guide goes through them. If you want to soak after dark, Polynesian Spa takes its last pool entry at 10pm; the hot pools at night page lists every closing time.

Before you get in

Keep your head above the water in natural pools. Rare but almost always fatal amoebic meningitis can enter through the nose in untreated geothermal water, so do not dive, splash or duck under, and never enter unmarked or fenced geothermal water, which can be scalding.

If you are pregnant or have a heart condition, check with a doctor first; Wai Ariki will not admit pregnant guests to its thermal experiences at all. Take off silver jewellery, because the minerals tarnish it. Polynesian Spa advises no more than fifteen minutes at a time in the hotter pools, alternating with cooler ones, and asks for proper swimwear, not cotton or denim.

Ready to go? Check Deluxe Lake Spa availability.