{"id":310,"date":"2014-10-03T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T06:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/rotorua-guide\/"},"modified":"2022-04-21T00:43:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T00:43:29","slug":"rotorua-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/rotorua-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"The Essential Guide to Rotorua"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The very core of New Zealand bubbles up and breaks the surface in\u00a0<a title=\"Expedia Rotorua Travel Guide\" href=\"http:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/Rotorua.d6048125.Destination-Travel-Guides?brandcid=blog.article.rotorua_300914\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rotorua<\/a>, one of the big tourist hotspots of the North Island. Rotorua is quite literally alive. It breathes steam through cracks in the road, shoots soaring water geysers beside spectacularly coloured lakes and bubbling mud and boiling hot pools are dotted all around this geothermal town.<\/p>\n<p>The town is surrounded by 18 lakes and native forest. You\u2019ll find plenty of adrenalin-inducing activities to make you long for a hot spring soak at the end of the day.<\/p>\n<p>To spend a weekend in Rotorua is hardly enough time to scrape its remarkable surface, but here some highlights that Expedia travellers love.<\/p>\n<h2>The Smell<\/h2>\n<p>Lets address the elephant in the room. Yes, the scent of sulphur wafts through the air in Rotorua. It stings the nose of the first-timer but locals aren\u2019t bothered. And after a few days in town, you\u2019ll hardly notice it either. As long as the fiery depths let off steam all day, every day, there isn\u2019t any risk of a big blow out.<\/p>\n<h2>Te Puia<\/h2>\n<p>Rotorua is also home to some of the best Maori cultural attractions in New Zealand.\u00a0For a great insight into Maori culture, visit this cultural institute for at least a few hours or even dinner.\u00a0<a title=\"Expedia Te Po tour\" href=\"http:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/pubspec\/scripts\/eap.asp?GOTO=TSHOPSDETAIL&amp;LocationID=6048125&amp;OfferingID=11739?brandcid=blog.article.rotorua_300914\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Te Po<\/a>\u00a0is described as a \u201cfeast of story telling, entertainment and Maori cuisine\u201d. You\u2019ll be officially welcomed with a powhiri and experience the haka (warrior\u2019s challenge) up close and personal. If you stay for the evening show, you\u2019ll have food cooked in a hangi (earth oven) along with more contemporary cuisine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The very core of New Zealand bubbles up and breaks the surface in\u00a0Rotorua, one of the big tourist hotspots of the North Island. Rotorua is quite literally alive. It breathes steam through cracks in the road, shoots soaring water geysers beside spectacularly coloured lakes and bubbling mud and boiling hot pools are dotted all around&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/rotorua-guide\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Essential Guide to Rotorua<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,4,6],"tags":[49,281,10],"authors":[],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destination","category-experiences","category-explore","category-oceania","tag-new-zealand","tag-rotorua","tag-tips","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Essential Guide to Rotorua | Expedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.co.nz\/stories\/rotorua-guide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Essential Guide to Rotorua | Expedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The very core of New Zealand bubbles up and breaks the surface in\u00a0Rotorua, one of the big tourist hotspots of the North Island. 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