We can thoroughly recommend the Te Puia daytime guided tour and cultural show combo. It was a brilliant, unique experience and worth every penny: informative, professional, sincere, totally not cheesy, fun and not a little emotional. Our excellent guide Ms Takanahi thoroughly contributed to each of these attributes, as did the staff of the national school of Māori arts and crafts who freely broke away from their important work to provide deeper context. The cultural show was outstanding. Once observed, we can understand why it is so important to promote the Māori culture and to sustain the kiwi birds' population. Thank you to all at Te Puia for a completely worthwhile day.

We have been a few times, this was the best because of our guide Mikaere. His knowledge was good but he gave more it came from him he was not just taking tourists round telling them what he had told 100s before. This was his culture and he was proud of it Thank you

We very much enjoyed the different facets of this interesting tour. Our tour guide, "Mr. T" was funny, chatty, and informative. The tour includes visiting a Maori art school where artists were working on their crafts, a short walk through a modest wildlife sanctuary with kiwis, a further walk on paved paths to see thermal features, a scrumptious lunch, and Maori presentation of some of their ceremonies and rituals before the inevitable exit through the gift shop.

We enjoyed the guided tour around the geothermal area, as well as the musical performance and haka. The culture is so fascinating and the area is gorgeous. The staff were all kind and welcoming as well as very knowledgeable. We explored the other trails on our own and liked to get away from the crowds. You don't want to miss this stop in Rotorua!

Great experience and well narrated by our guide. We enjoyed the Māori cultural aspects of the tour. Interesting to see the art work being created.

Our evening on Saturday, 01/02/2025 was spent in Te Puia. In Te Puia’s Whakarewarewa Valley, there are bubbling mud pools and the 30m-tall Pohutu Geyser, which erupts many times daily. It’s also home to a living Maori village. There was a Show on Maori culture in Te Puia. The hot water geysers were a sight to behold. The tour included a dinner 🍽 which was no great shakes. Nothing in the dinner was served hot.

Excellent orientation tour to the kiwi birds, art school, geysers and location, then ample time to explore on your own. Would have loved more Maori art and culture education - lots imparted by the guide and there was some signage to guide self-learning but larger, diverse groups made it more of an orientation tour. We had 2 large groups going thru at the same time. As we wandered back thru a second time to take photos / look more closely at artwork we overheard later groups that were spending more time at stops and getting much more in-depth information. It was also raining in fairness and guide was trying to keep folks from getting soaked but it felt then rushed. Very large restaurant and gift shop. Easy to find. Lots of parking but we also saw people walking over from town. Would make an excellent school trip.

The guided tour was educational and we spent more time in the education center than looking at the gyser. Overall, it was a good experience, but if you have a car and are short on time, visit the other nearby parks.

We had an evening meal and maori show and it was very good. The meal was a buffet and included food cooked in the maori underground oven (hangi?) as well as a vast array of other dishes. The shower started with the formal welcome ceremony and once we were inside we were treated to traditional maori singing and dancing as well as the famous haka. Well worth a visit particularly as all funds raised go towards the education of young Maori to keep their culture alive.

Our guide was a native Māori. Because of her I fell in love with the people and their culture. The lands are beautiful. Their geysers are natural. Words can’t express it

The experience was fantastic! I did the Te Puia - Te Po combo. The walk of the geysers was fantastic, and the wood carving shop was very interesting. The buffet was delicious, and the performance was spectacular. Lots of other things to do, such as viewing the Kiwis, we're included in this parrtuliar tour. However, the guide John went above and beyond to ensure I had a great experience. Highly recommend!

Apart from the smell, this is a great place to visit. The guide was entertaining and knowledgeable. He was happy to talk and answer any question. It's educational and there's a lot to see. You can visit everywhere on your own as well as doing a tour. The Kiwi's were cute.

Great institute to learn about Maori culture. Neat to see the crafts and how they are made. We watched the Haka performance and that was awesome. The cafe has many options for food. The gift shop is well stocked. The geysers were neat to see in action.

Wonderful exposure to Māori culture. We booked the Te Po Combo, which included a tour of the kiwi conservation center, the Māori arts institute, the geyser, a dinner. Fantastic!

We did the Te Puia: Te Po - Indigenous Evening Experience with Hangi Dinner Buffet and it was hands down one of our favorite experiences of the entire trip. We absolutely loved the food - there were so many vegetarian options! - and learning more about the Maori culture from the Maori people was such an enlightening experience. Be respectful when you go and follow the instructions and I'm sure you will love it as much as we did. The geyser at the end with the sunset in the background was a beautiful bonus.