Waitomo Caves Tour: Glowworms and Ruakuri Adventure

Experience the magic of the Waitomo Glowworm Caves and the stunning Ruakuri Cave on this small group tour from Auckland. Discover the unique Arachnocampa Luminosa glowworm species and explore the beauty of these underground wonders.

Duration: 11 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Auckland Central - We pickup travellers from most locations in the Auckland CBD location. If your pickup location is not available on the list, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do our very best to accommodate your request.
What's Included
  • Experience the majesty of nature in the Waitomo Glow Worm and Ruakuri Caves
  • Gaze at thousands of glow-worms lighting up the caves
  • Complimentary refreshments, water, and High-Speed Internet on board
  • Luxurious, temperature controlled transportation with pickup and drop-off from Auckland CBD
  • Fully guided tours of Waitomo Glow Worm Cave (45…
What's Not Included
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
Additional Information

Maximize your excursion by opting for a package that allows you to explore more than just a single remarkable cave at Waitomo on this intimate group day trip from Auckland. A visit to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves is an essential experience, where you’ll encounter the Arachnocampa Luminosa, a species of glowworm unique to New Zealand. This highly favored…

Location
Mövenpick Hotel Auckland
Customs Street East
Our central meeting point in Auckland City is in front of Movenpick Hotel (8 Customs Street East, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010). This meeting point is well connected with Auckland's public transport network. Kindly advise us if you will be meeting us at this location.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(24 Ratings)
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Vita_t
Dec 14, 2024
Best time at NZ - Trip was great. Driver was very good. We were very happy with the trip. Everything was excellent . Really enjoyed the trip
Review provided by Viator
Keith_b
Dec 12, 2024
Great experience - Our guides were excellent. Marty was our driver and was a wealth of information. We made an extra stop or two to learn more about the small towns on the way. Additionally, our cave guides were incredibly knowledgeable with great personalities. Lockey in particular was super. We enjoyed the Ruakuri caves more than we expected and they ended up being our favorite!
Review provided by Viator
Eliane_p
Oct 23, 2024
Perfect title the "Twin Caves" - Ama our tour guide and driver gave an excellent history of the Maori people. She made sure that everyone in our small group (6) were happy, comfortable in the mini-bus, had plenty of breaks to buy food, go to to the toilets, stretch our legs. She was very well organized, efficient, and a fun person to have during the full day tour.
Review provided by Viator
Wentzus
Oct 21, 2024
Highly recommend ! - The driver Ama is knowledgeable and helpful, she makes 5 hours drive (round trip) in bus very vibrant and lots of fun and laughter. The tour inside of cave is an unforgettable experience, must try once in a life time!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jeff
Oct 21, 2024
Great day all round - Our tour guide, Ama, was engaging and had a focus on the customer. She gave us a great all round experience and added some great Māori history and stories which helped whittle away the long drive to Wiatomo.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kellywl686un
Sep 29, 2024
Amazing Day Trip - My boyfriend and I took this day trip with Experience Kart to the Waitomo Glowworm and Ruakuri Twin Cave. We have been driving all around the North Island and wanted to give my boyfriend a break from driving. The pickup and drop off from our hotel in central Auckland was smooth and the drive to the cave was relaxing in the van. Our driver and tour guide, Karthik, gave a great tour with fun little tidbits of New Zealand. The glowworm cave itself was amazing, but the addition of the Ruakuri Cave made the drive worth it. I would recommend this tour company to anybody who wants to see the cool sights of New Zealand, but is weary about driving all the time.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Susanmosaics
Sep 23, 2024
Double cave tours - Our tour operator Karthik was wonderful start to finish. Very informative with lots of details about the history of the area and interesting landmark details. We started the trip with our hotel pick up and were each given a “snack care package” (water bottle, drink, snacks etc) before getting started. The stops we made were well timed. The caves were both fabulous and well worth the long journey. My daughter and I were both very happy with the trip experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
10teresaj
Jun 21, 2024
Every detail fantastic! Great day experience! - This was a great experience! Our guide, Ama was so wonderful! She arrived promptly and was warm and welcoming. She shared lots of interesting information about the Māori culture and area as we travelled to the caves. We were given a lovely goodie bag when we settled in the car that contained a bottle of water (and there was more available onboard), cookies, tissues, snacks and a local favorite - L & P. The car was very comfortable and had onboard WiFi. Regarding the cave adventure, the Ruakuri was very informative and interesting. We learned alot and the guide was informative and helpful answering many, many questions. He also allowed ample time for pictures. The Waitomo Glowworm tour was much more touristy. The experience in the cave was very brief. The experience on the boat staring up at all the glowworms was amazing. After the caves, we stopped at The Thirsty Weta Bar in Otorohanga and it was delicious! Overall, it was a great day.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Culture118674
Apr 20, 2024
Marvelous Experience - Good service and very organized guided tour . On time for pick up and drop-off . The vehicles was very convenient and clean .
Review provided by Tripadvisor
C3343jdmargaretw
Feb 26, 2024
Is the long drive worth it? Yes, but just barely! - My review of Karthik, ExperienceKart is 5/5. If you want to book the Twin Caves, I have no complaints! Biggest point of review is more - is the drive down there and back worth it. After doing the trip, my husband and I (in our late 30s) debated if this trip was worth the 10-11 hour day made up of 5-6 hours driving. We decided this was worth it, but just barely. If you have any way of breaking up this drive, to avoid the out & back, I would suggest doing that! We were not in great spirits by the time we returned to our hotel at 6PM. The Waitomo Glowworm cave was so incredibly spectacular and we felt a must-see & was the only reason this trip was worth it. 100% need to do this. The Ruakuri caves are much more vast with the stalagmites and stalactites, formations, and it has more walking around. FWIW, my husband has done a few cave walks and felt it wasn't anything more remarkable than caves he had seen in the US. This was my first cave experience, so I was very awestruck. You can take photos in Ruakuri - be warned there are a handful of glowworms in Ruakuri, but no chance your photos will produce anything besides some dots - haha. I do feel that if we just drove down, saw Waitomo Glowworm cave & drove back, it would feel way too short. However, the Ruakuri cave added another 1.5-2 hours to the day. Our tour guide (who owns the company) was Karthik. At pickup (6:45AM), he provided us with a bag of water and NZ snacks which was a nice treat. The drive down seemed pretty painless, we stopped halfway for coffee & toilet break. During almost the entire 2.5 hour drive down, he provided us with seemingly endless facts and trivia tidbits that he used to fill the drive down, he had a great sense of humor. (Unfortunately, we sat in the back of the bus and the guests in the middle were not engaging at all, which was regretful, but not his fault!) I would have loved to ask him question after question to pick his brain. He has been a tour guide for over 6 years and was a great story teller. After the cave tours, you eat lunch in Waitomo area, a cafeteria esque meal, and can order from an array of options. It was decent enough food, but nothing special. (The fish & chips were pretty bad, but the burger was great). Be warned: The drive back into Auckland felt painfully long. We hit traffic so it took over 3 hours. We arrived to our hotel around 5:30PM. So a 11 hour day in total with only 45 min tour in the Waitomo Cave & 1.5 hour tour in the Ruakuri cave. The bus only seats 10 so its a nice size tour and makes the breaks less time consuming. The only con is that the seats are not super comfortable at all. My husband is 6'-2" and it was a tight squeeze for him. I'm 5'-2" and my butt felt pretty flat by the end. All in all, Karthik did a great job of making this tour the best of the options. He was a great tour guide, prompt, and really engaging. The biggest question you should ask yourself before booking is if you can manage the drive - 2.5 hours there and 2.5-3 hours back. If yes, I would definitely book this tour!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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