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Looking for Free Hot Springs in New Zealand North Island
New Zealand has numerous natural hot springs because of underground volcanic thermal water. At most hot springs they build fancy hot pools but you can still find some free-to-access hot springs in New Zealand North Island.
Since it was raining a lot during our time in New Zealand, we tried to visit as many hot springs as we could find. But it turns out some of them don’t stay hot when it rains for too long.
1. Hot ‘n’ Cold Hot Springs
Hot ‘n’ Cold hot springs were the first hot springs we visited and they were amazing. They’re right next to the road, so you can leave all your clothes in the car if you can manage to get a parking spot.
At the Hot ‘n’ Cold hot springs there are two streams merging, one hot and one cold hence the name. So you can move between hot and cold water without leaving the water.
I was really surprised by just how hot the hot water was. It was that kinda hot where it’s super hot when you get in and even after being in the water for a while it still feels nice and warm.
The Hot ‘n’ Cold hot springs are very close to Kerosene Creek, a hot river near Rotorua, which is close to Hobbiton.
2. Otumuheke Stream
Near Taupo is the Spa Thermal Park at the Otumuheke Stream. A short walk from the car park you can find a little hot waterfall creating small hot pools before the water runs into the cold river.
The hot pool is free to enter and there are even changing rooms and public toilets available.
The only downside of the Otumuheke Stream is that it cools down a lot during rain, so when we visited it was too cold to soak in the water. Too bad, otherwise these would have been amazing with the scenic surroundings.
3. Hot Water Beach
At the hot water beach in Coromandel you simply dig a hole into the sand and with that, you create your personal hot pool. Sounds absolutely amazing!
Unfortunately, during my holiday in New Zealand, it rained so much that we skipped Coromandel. So I don’t have any first-hand experience with these hot springs but I know most people love them.
4. Tokaanu Thermal Pools
Online you can see amazing pictures of a natural hot spring at Tokaanu. We didn’t read the online description too closely though, so we missed that the pictures online are from the actual hot spring.
The actual hot spring is about 100ยฐC, so way too hot to swim. You can see the hot springs for free behind the building. Because of the rain, these hot springs in New Zealand North Island looked rather brown than the stunningly blue-green we saw in the online pictures.
You can swim in the Tokaanu thermal pools which is a public swimming pool. Since we were already there we got a cheap ticket to the public pool, they also have more expensive private pools.
Well… it wasn’t what we expected at all. It just looked like a normal swimming pool with an ice-cold shower next to it. At least the water was super warm. And you could rent a towel there, so we didn’t have to use ours after swimming in sulphur water.
Tips for Bathing in Natural Hot Springs
Most natural hot springs in New Zealand North Island contain sulphur and that’s why they smell not that great.
So it’s best to wash your towel and swimwear soon after visiting the hot springs. Sulphur can also change the colour of your swimwear, at least it gave my bikini a permanent orangey colour.
Watch me spend a week on the North Island:
Read more:
- The Absolute Best of New Zealand South Island
- 1 Day in Auckland: Best Things to Do
- 5 Best Hobbiton Tours from Auckland
- Epic 2 Week Itinerary for South Island New Zealand
- Looking for Free Hot Springs in New Zealand North Island
- New Zealand
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