What's the best glowworm cave experience around waitomo and rotorua?

Forums › Travel (planes, train, cruise) › What's the best glowworm cave experience around waitomo and rotorua?

xzdyahoo

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#299398 5-Sep-2022 00:33

I'm heading to rotorua from auckland for a 3-day retreat, and when I search for glowworm cave tour I find out there are a lot of glowworm caves around the area, the most famous waitomo cave, and Footwhistle Glowworm Cave, Spellbound Glowworm Cave down the road. And there is a Glow Worm Kayaking and Paddle Boarding called [PADDLE BOARD ROTORUA], seems interesting too.

I believe there are more caves around but I have never been to any of those caves before, it would be too much cave tour if I choose to visit all of them.

Does anyone know which cave is a must see and with the most unique or stunning view of all?

Please give some advice, thanks😝

SATTV

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#2963224 5-Sep-2022 07:40

Waitomo like Rotorua is a tourist trap and is designed to extract as much money out of your wallet as they possibly can.

For me, the best experience was black water rafting, you are in a wetsuit and floating in a car inner tube with no lights looking at more glow worms than you can imagine.

There used to be a couple of companies do this, I dont know if there are any more or not but it was well worth it.

John

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Handsomedan

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#2963365 5-Sep-2022 10:00

We did this with the family a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In the same day, we also did Hobbiton, I believe (it was certainly in the same trip).

https://www.waitomo.com/glowworms-and-caves/waitomo-glowworm-caves

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alavaliant

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#2963380 5-Sep-2022 10:33

I personally really liked

https://www.glowing.co.nz/

when I did it over the main caves

It's a lot more natural feeling than the bigger caves. Might not be for every-bodies taste though as it's a lot more raw/rough than the places that have been done up for tourists with stairs, lights etc. You are walking with a small group through a rough cave with no modifications that has a small river running through it, so you do end up with wet feet and lower legs (the company provides gumboots and overalls for you to wear) and have to do a bit of clambering over/up rocks.

There might not be quite as many glowworms as some of the caves, but you do get some areas quite full of glowworms towards the end of the tour.

Gurezaemon

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#2963392 5-Sep-2022 10:56

SATTV:

Waitomo like Rotorua is a tourist trap and is designed to extract as much money out of your wallet as they possibly can.

For me, the best experience was black water rafting, you are in a wetsuit and floating in a car inner tube with no lights looking at more glow worms than you can imagine.

There used to be a couple of companies do this, I dont know if there are any more or not but it was well worth it.

John

^This. Black water rafting is a blast. I did this over 30 years ago, and still remember it to this day. I was an avid caver back in my uni days, crawling through 6-9 hour caves covered in mud, and still, the black water rafting impressed me immensely.

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Earbanean

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#2963394 5-Sep-2022 11:01

Gurezaemon:

SATTV:

Waitomo like Rotorua is a tourist trap and is designed to extract as much money out of your wallet as they possibly can.

For me, the best experience was black water rafting, you are in a wetsuit and floating in a car inner tube with no lights looking at more glow worms than you can imagine.

There used to be a couple of companies do this, I dont know if there are any more or not but it was well worth it.

John

^This. Black water rafting is a blast. I did this over 30 years ago, and still remember it to this day. I was an avid caver back in my uni days, crawling through 6-9 hour caves covered in mud, and still, the black water rafting impressed me immensely.

Yep, ditto on the black water rafting. I did it back in the late nineties, but remember it well - including them throwing you chocolate fish. It was a great experience.

Kraven

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#2963425 5-Sep-2022 11:51

We did Spellbound back in January and it was great (2 adults, 2 kids). I would recommend taking their Glowworm and Cave Explorer package, the second part goes into the history of the Waitomo cave system and the history of the property you're on in some detail and is quite interesting. Also, driving out to their base on a narrow gravel road is part of the experience!

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josephhinvest

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#2963525 5-Sep-2022 15:44

Handsomedan:
We did this with the family a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed it.

In the same day, we also did Hobbiton, I believe (it was certainly in the same trip).

https://www.waitomo.com/glowworms-and-caves/waitomo-glowworm-caves

We did the same a few years ago and it was really surprisingly very good. Much better than I had expected.

Cheers,
Joseph

RogerMellie

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#2963894 6-Sep-2022 15:26

Glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks the same about Waitomo & Rotorua.