A planted forest that became a mountain bike capital
Whakarewarewa Forest sits a short drive south of central Rotorua, wedged between the city and the geothermal country further along State Highway 5. It is not a natural forest. The Crown began planting it in 1899 as a trial ground for exotic timber species, testing what would grow fast and straight in New Zealand’s volcanic soil. In 1901, a block of Californian redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) went into the ground alongside eucalypts, Douglas fir and other imports. Most of the trial species were later logged or abandoned. The redwoods were kept, and more than a century on they form the stand most visitors come to see: straight, reddish-barked trunks running to around 60 metres, spaced with enough light between them for ferns and moss to cover the forest floor.
The forest is now managed jointly, sitting on land connected to Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao, the same iwi grouping associated with the geothermal village at Whakarewarewa Village a few kilometres away. The name is shared between the geothermal valley, the living village and this forest, which occasionally confuses first-time visitors booking activities online — they are three separate places, connected by name and by whakapapa rather than by a single gate.
What makes the forest worth a stop is not the redwoods alone. It is the combination: a genuinely world-rated mountain bike network built into the same land, a commercial canopy walkway running through the redwood stand itself, and a set of free walking tracks that cost nothing beyond parking. Few single sites in the Rotorua area cover that range of budgets and effort levels in one visit. It’s one of the highlights covered in the wider things to do in Rotorua overview.
The Redwoods Treewalk, day and night
The best-known paid attraction here is the Treewalk, a series of suspension bridges strung between the redwoods at canopy height, running roughly 700 metres through the stand. By day it is a straightforward, family-manageable walk with views down into the fern understorey and up into the redwood crowns — worth doing slowly rather than rushing through, since the interest is in looking rather than covering distance.
At night, the same bridges are lit with a sequence of hanging lanterns, and the walk becomes a different experience: quieter, slower, and reliant on the lights rather than daylight to show the trunks and canopy. It runs independently of weather in a way the region’s outdoor thermal parks don’t, since the redwood canopy provides some shelter from light rain. For a fuller comparison of the day and night versions, including which suits families and which suits a couple’s evening out, see the dedicated Redwoods Treewalk guide.
The Treewalk is a paid, ticketed attraction with its own operator and its own opening hours, which change with the season and occasionally for maintenance — check current times with the operator rather than assuming a fixed schedule.
One of the world’s rated mountain bike networks
The mountain biking here is the reason a meaningful share of visitors to Rotorua build a whole day, or several days, around this one forest. The network runs to well over 100 marked trails across a range of grades, built into rolling volcanic terrain under a forest canopy that keeps the ground rideable even after the region’s frequent rain — a real advantage in a place that gets rain most weeks of the year.
Trails range from gentle, wide gravel loops suited to a first-time rider or a family group, through flowing intermediate singletrack, up to technical black-graded lines with drops and jumps built for experienced riders. The variety, density and quality of trail-building here is a genuine draw for mountain bikers internationally, not just a local pastime — Rotorua has built a reputation as a biking base partly on the strength of this one forest.
Bike hire, shuttle services to the upper trailheads, and guided sessions are all available from operators based at or near the forest entrance, and a full trail-by-trail breakdown by grade and length sits in the separate mountain biking in the Redwoods guide. If mountain biking is the main reason for the visit, that guide is the better starting point than this page; treat this page as the overview of everything the forest offers, biking included.
Trail grading at a glance
| Grade | What to expect | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Green | Wide, smooth, gentle gradient | First-time riders, families |
| Blue | Flowing singletrack, some elevation change | Confident intermediate riders |
| Black | Technical features, jumps, steeper drops | Experienced riders only |
| Double black | Advanced features, higher consequence | Expert riders with the right bike |
Grades here follow the same broad logic as ski-field colour grading — green is easiest, black hardest — but a trail’s actual difficulty can shift after rain or maintenance work, so treat the colour as a starting point rather than a guarantee.
Free walking tracks
Not every visit to Whakarewarewa Forest needs to involve a ticket. Alongside the Treewalk and the bike network, the forest carries an extensive set of walking tracks that cost nothing beyond the price of parking at the main entrance off Long Mile Road. Loops range from a short 15 to 30-minute stroll among the tallest redwoods near the visitor centre, up to longer circuits of two hours or more that head deeper into the plantation blocks and native bush edges.
These free tracks are shared with mountain bikers on some routes, so walkers should keep to signposted walking-only tracks where they exist and stay alert on shared sections — bikes move faster than they look under the canopy. A full breakdown of the free loop options, with rough distances and which ones suit strollers or young children, is in the standalone free walking tracks guide, which also covers other no-cost walks around Rotorua beyond this forest. Visitors stacking up more no-cost stops nearby can also check the free hot springs around Rotorua.
For visitors weighing up a full day of free activities against the city’s other no-cost options — the Lake Rotorua waterfront, Kuirau Park’s public geothermal features, or the lakeside walk at Ōhinemutu — the broader Rotorua on a budget guide puts the forest’s free tracks into that wider context.
Getting there and getting around
The main visitor centre and car park sit on Long Mile Road, roughly 10 to 15 minutes from central Rotorua by car, and close enough to cycle if arriving under your own power. There’s no public bus service running directly to the forest entrance at present, which makes a private vehicle, a taxi, or a bike the practical options — visitors relying on public transport around Rotorua should check the wider getting around Rotorua without a car guide before assuming they can reach the forest easily on foot from town.
Parking at the main visitor centre car park is generally straightforward outside peak weekend riding times, when the car park serving mountain bikers can fill. A secondary access point near Tarawera Road serves some of the upper trailheads for riders being shuttled to the top of the network. That same road continues on toward the Blue and Green Lakes and, further still, Lake Rotoiti.
What to combine it with
The forest sits close enough to several other Rotorua sights that a half-day here pairs easily with something else on the same trip, rather than needing its own dedicated day. The general Rotorua day trips guide covers more pairings like these, and visitors continuing on toward Matamata sometimes add the Hobbiton Movie Set to the same day.
Riders and walkers heading out afterwards toward the geothermal side of Rotorua often continue on to the thermal parks along State Highway 5. For visitors wanting the geothermal side of the region without driving themselves, an afternoon option covering some of that ground is the Rotorua eco thermal afternoon tour, which takes in geothermal sites elsewhere in the district on the same afternoon a forest visit might otherwise fill.
For visitors wanting an adrenaline add-on to a forest visit rather than more geothermal sightseeing, some Rotorua operators run a combined zipline and rafting day through native forest canopy with a sauna finish, which suits travellers who want tree-canopy time beyond the Treewalk itself, paired with a rafting run. For a wider comparison of operators, see the Rotorua ziplines compared guide.
The Kaituna River, home to the country’s highest commercially run waterfall drop at Okere Falls, sits a short drive from the forest’s northern edge. Visitors who want river time on the same day sometimes book the tandem kayak run down the Kaituna River and its waterfalls rather than driving separately to Okere Falls afterwards — the Kaituna rafting guide covers the rafting side of that same stretch of river in more detail.
History-minded visitors sometimes extend a forest morning with an afternoon at the buried village of Te Wairoa, the settlement destroyed in the 1886 Tarawera eruption. The guided visit to the Buried Village of Te Wairoa covers that site properly rather than as a rushed add-on, and connects logically to a forest visit since both sit on the same side of Rotorua, roughly along the same road toward Lake Tarawera and Mount Tarawera itself.
Families building a full day around the forest and its surrounds can find a ready-made structure in the Rotorua with kids, three days itinerary, while visitors prioritising biking and adventure activities across their whole trip should look at the Rotorua adventure, three days itinerary, which treats this forest as one stop among several.
Wildlife and forest floor
The forest floor beneath the redwoods and the surrounding native bush blocks carries typical North Island native forest cover — tree ferns, kāmahi and other native species growing in the understorey where the exotic canopy allows enough light through. Native birdlife moves through the forest, though as with most of the Rotorua area, sightings depend on time of day and a degree of luck; nothing here is enclosed or guaranteed the way an aviary or wildlife park would be. Visitors specifically hoping to see native species, kiwi included, are better served checking the dedicated Rotorua wildlife and kiwi guide, since kiwi are nocturnal and not something a daytime forest walk here will show.
Practical notes
Toilets, a car park, and a visitor centre with basic information and bike hire sit at the main Long Mile Road entrance. There’s no cost to park and walk the free tracks; the Treewalk and any guided or shuttled biking service charge separately, and prices vary by operator and by which trails or shuttle distance are involved — check current rates directly with each operator rather than assuming a fixed figure, since these change and this guide won’t quote one.
Weather affects the forest less than it affects the region’s open geothermal parks, since the canopy offers some shelter, but the same volcanic soil that makes the trails ride well when dry can turn slick after heavy rain, particularly on the black-graded technical sections. Riders unfamiliar with the network should check current trail conditions at the visitor centre or with a hire operator before heading to the more technical grades, especially after a wet spell — conditions can shift trail by trail and this guide can’t track them day to day.
Overtourism is a real conversation in parts of Rotorua’s geothermal country, but the forest doesn’t share that pressure in the same way: the trail network is large enough, and the draw split enough between bikers, walkers and Treewalk visitors, that crowding is rarely the issue it can be at a single small thermal feature elsewhere in the district. For the wider picture on crowds across the region, see is Rotorua too touristy.
Questions about visiting Whakarewarewa Forest
Is Whakarewarewa Forest the same place as Whakarewarewa Village?
No. They share a name and a connection to the same iwi grouping, but they are separate sites a few kilometres apart. The forest is the redwood plantation with the Treewalk, mountain bike network and free walking tracks covered on this page. The village is the living geothermal settlement at Whakarewarewa Village, where people live and cook using geothermal steam. Booking one does not give access to the other.
How much does it cost to visit the forest?
Parking and the free walking tracks cost nothing beyond getting there. The Treewalk is a separate ticketed attraction with its own pricing, and mountain bike trail access is generally free, though bike hire, shuttles to upper trailheads, and guided rides are paid services run by operators based at the forest. There’s no single combined ticket covering everything, so a visit’s total cost depends entirely on which of these a visitor chooses. For general spending expectations across the region, see the tipping and costs in New Zealand guide.
Do I need a mountain bike background to ride here?
No. The network includes wide, gentle green-graded trails suited to first-time or infrequent riders, alongside the technical black and double-black trails built for experienced riders. Bike hire operators at the entrance can advise on which trails suit a given skill level, and the full grading breakdown sits in the separate Redwoods mountain biking guide.
Is the Treewalk worth doing both by day and at night?
They’re different enough experiences that some visitors do both on separate visits, though most do one or the other. Daytime shows the scale of the redwoods and the forest floor below; the night version relies on the lantern lighting and suits an evening activity more than a mid-afternoon one. The comparison is covered in full in the day versus night Treewalk guide.
How long should I plan for a visit?
A walk through the free tracks plus the Treewalk fits into two to three hours. Anyone planning to ride the mountain bike network seriously should plan for closer to a full day, especially if using a shuttle to reach upper trailheads. Half a day is a reasonable minimum to get a genuine feel for the forest rather than a rushed pass-through. For how this fits into a broader stay, see how many days to spend in Rotorua overall.
Can I visit with young children?
Yes. The shorter free walking loops near the visitor centre are manageable with a stroller on the flatter sections, and the daytime Treewalk is generally fine for families, though the suspension bridges do move underfoot and won’t suit every young child comfortably. The green-graded bike trails also work for children old enough to ride independently. The broader Rotorua with kids guide covers how this forest fits alongside the city’s other family-friendly stops.
Does it rain out a visit to the forest?
Less than it affects Rotorua’s open geothermal parks. The redwood canopy provides shelter from light rain on the free tracks and the Treewalk, and the volcanic soil under the bike network generally drains reasonably well, though heavy or sustained rain can still make the more technical trails slick. For a day when rain looks likely across the wider trip, see the Rotorua rainy day activities guide for how this forest compares with fully indoor alternatives.
Is this the same forest people mean when they say “Redwoods, Rotorua”?
Yes. “The Redwoods” and “Whakarewarewa Forest” refer to the same site and are used interchangeably by locals, operators and signage around Rotorua. Some listings shorten it further to just “The Redwoods.”
