Attractions in Taupo

Mount Ruapehu gives adventure fans plenty of reasons to don their hiking shoes. Although this is one of New Zealand's highest peaks outside of the South Island's Southern Alps, you don't need to be a mountaineer to experience its rugged, volcanic beauty. If you want jaw-dropping alpine views without the sweat, a scenic chair-lift ride can whizz you up to 2,020 meters above sea level to sit amid a landscape surrounded by Mount Ruapehu, Mount Tongariro, and Mount Ngauruhoe.

Adventure seekers are guaranteed an adrenaline rush during the white-knuckle Tongariro River White Water Rafting Adventure from Taupo. These epic three-hour excursions depart from Taupo and include a professional guide, a safety briefing, along with a wetsuit and waterproof gear, and plenty of fun.

Rich in minerals, the hot springs of the Wairakei Terraces are a great place to soothe travel-weary joints. Used by the local Maori tribes for centuries, these therapeutic waters are now a top Taupo spot for a few hours of relaxation. A series of thermal pools of varying heat sit below a white silica terrace with a gushing waterfall replenishing the aqua blue water.

The Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve features an excellent walking trail. Following an easy 45-minute loop that starts at the modern visitor center, you'll get up close with New Zealand's weird and wonderful geothermal scenery.

If you only visit one geothermal area in New Zealand, make it this one. Just 25 minutes north of Taupo, Orakei Korako-also known as the Hidden Valley-is an otherworldly place of geysers and bubbling mud amid surreal silica terraces coated in weird and wonderful splotches of green, yellow, and orange algae. Don't miss 40-meter-long Te Kapua Terrace, the "Golden Fleece Terrace," covered in a rippling, white sinter coating.

It's been called one of the top 10 day walks in the world for good reason. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing-19.5 kilometers in length and taking between seven to nine hours-is a slice of New Zealand's raw nature, where you can trek amid the volcanic craters and emerald-hued lakes of Tongariro National Park. Hikers traverse a barren yet beautiful lunarscape of craters and active volcanoes, pitted by ancient lava flows and speckled with steam vents and mountain springs.

In the 1970s, Maori carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell gifted the Taupo region with a dazzling display of Maori art when he crafted a series of Maori rock carvings into the cliffs of Lake Taupo's Mine Bay. The main carving towers 14 meters above the water's surface and depicts the Maori navigator, Ngatoroirangi, who brought the Maori to New Zealand in the 13th century.

While you can of course remain content with viewing the fast-flowing Waikato River from the shoreline, nothing says "been there, done that!" quite like a selfie taken aboard a thrilling Rapids Jet Waikato River Jet Boat Ride. These 35-minute high-speed adventures zip over the mighty Nga Awa Purua Rapids on the Waikato River and up through the narrow canyons at break-neck speeds, ensuring a heart-pumping, adrenalin-rush-of-an-experience you won't soon forget.

Although not a particularly high waterfall, the thundering Huka Falls is a majestic sight for the sheer force and spray whipped up as the waters of the Waikato River plunge over the rocky ledge into the gorge eight meters below. A startling 22,000 liters of water is funneled over the ledge every single second in a deafening fury of foam.

Created from the seismic forces of a supervolcano eruption, the vast and shimmering Lake Taupo lies in the volcano's caldera and is, at 616 square kilometers, New Zealand's largest lake.