Hotels near Craters of the Moon Geothermal Walk

Craters of the Moon is the volcanic walk you can do in trainers before breakfast. The full circuit is about 2.7 km of boardwalk and fine gravel with roughly 60 m of gentle climbing: the main loop takes 40 minutes and the upper walkway to the lookout adds another 20 minutes over a flight of steps. Difficulty: easy, and the main loop is manageable with a pushchair. What you walk through is a live geothermal field inside the Taupō Volcanic Zone, part of the wider Wairākei system - steam vents, boiling mud pools, collapsed craters and bare, sulphur-stained ground too hot for anything to root in. The largest crater is roughly 40 m across. The field only became this active after the Wairākei power station began drawing on the underground reservoir in the late 1950s, dropping pressure and pushing steam to the surface.

The entrance is at 140 Karapiti Road, Wairakei, about 6 km north of central Taupō and a 10-minute drive from the lakefront, which makes it the obvious substitute when the Tongariro forecast falls apart. Entry in 2026 is NZ$10.20 for adults (about EUR 5.30), NZ$5.10 for children aged 5 to 15 and for seniors, NZ$25.50 for a family of two adults and up to four children (about EUR 13), and free for under-5s; Taupō residents get 50% off with proof of address. The site opens 9:30 am to 5 pm, 364 days a year, with last entry at 4 pm and only Christmas Day closed. Stay on the boardwalk without exception - the crust is thin, the ground beneath it sits near boiling point, and the surface genuinely changes from year to year as new vents break through.

Pro Tip: Arrive within an hour of the 9:30 am opening on a cold morning. Below about 8°C the steam plumes are dense enough to hide the far side of the main crater, which is the shot everyone comes for, and the low sun picks out the yellow sulphur crusts that wash flat by midday.