Redwoods Treewalk, Day or Night

One walkway, two very different visits

The Redwoods Treewalk sits inside Whakarewarewa Forest, the stand of California redwoods planted in 1901 that has become one of the most recognisable patches of forest near Rotorua. The walkway itself is a fixed structure: 28 suspension bridges, strung tree to tree through the canopy, built around the trunks rather than cut through them. That structure does not change between day and night. What changes is the experience built on top of it, and the two are different enough that it is worth deciding in advance rather than turning up and hoping.

By day, the treewalk is a short, elevated forest walk. You see the scale of the trees properly — most redwoods here are well over a century old and still young by the species’ standard lifespan — and the bridges give a vantage point on the canopy that the ground-level trails underneath cannot. By night, the same bridges carry a lantern installation designed by David Trubridge, a well-known New Zealand furniture and lighting designer, and the forest becomes something closer to an outdoor light walk than a nature trail. Both use the same ticketed structure; neither is free, since the walkway itself is the paid part, distinct from the surrounding trails through the redwoods that cost nothing to walk on the ground.

This guide sets the two side by side, then gets specific about timing, tickets and what to combine each one with, since Whakarewarewa Forest sits close to several other things worth doing on the same visit to Rotorua.

What the treewalk structure actually is

The 28 bridges are built at height through the redwood canopy, connected by a series of small platforms constructed around the trunks rather than attached by drilling into them — a detail that matters for tree health given some of these redwoods are approaching, but have not reached, their full mature height. The decking is flat and solid, with handrails the full length of the route, and there is no harness, clip-in system or climbing involved. This distinguishes it clearly from the high ropes course operated on an adjacent part of the same site, which does use harnesses and obstacles and is a separate, more physical activity.

Walked at a relaxed pace, the loop takes most visitors 30 to 45 minutes, whether during the day or after dark. The forest floor underneath is part of a wider network of walking and mountain biking trails that extends well beyond the treewalk’s footprint — Whakarewarewa is one of the largest such trail networks in the country, and the treewalk is only the elevated, paid portion of a forest that is otherwise free to explore on foot or by bike.

Daytime: a forest walk with a vantage point

During the day, the value of the treewalk is mostly about scale and orientation. Standing on a bridge at canopy height, with redwood trunks rising past you on both sides, gives a sense of the trees’ size that is hard to get from the ground trails alone. It’s a straightforward, unhurried walk — no lighting effects, no installation, just the structure and the forest.

Daytime visits work well combined with other activities on the same patch of forest. The site borders some of the region’s best-known mountain biking trails, and several of the free walking tracks around Rotorua start or pass near the same car park. Families often treat it as one stop on a slightly longer forest morning — walk the bridges, then take one of the shorter ground loops before heading on, which is one reason it comes up often in planning around Rotorua with kids.

Daytime is also the more weather-tolerant option in a genuine sense: Rotorua sees rain in every season, and a forest walk under cover of the canopy holds up better in drizzle than an open-air activity, which is part of why it appears on lists of rainy day activities in the region. Visibility during the day also means you can see the wider trail network and decide on the spot whether to extend the visit with a longer loop.

What daytime does not offer is any particular atmosphere beyond the forest itself. If you have already pictured lantern-lit bridges from a friend’s photos or from marketing material, that is specifically the night version — daytime is a plainer, more functional visit.

Nighttime: the David Trubridge lantern walk

After dark, the same 28 bridges carry a series of lantern sculptures designed by David Trubridge, a designer known in New Zealand for lighting and furniture work that leans on organic, sculptural forms rather than straight lines. The installation is not a simple string of bulbs along the handrails — it is built as distinct lantern clusters positioned through the canopy, with the surrounding forest left mostly dark between them, which is what gives the walk its atmosphere rather than flat, even lighting.

Because the forest away from the lanterns is genuinely dark once the sun is down, the night walk reads as a different kind of outing entirely. It is less about understanding the trees and more about the sequence of light installations themselves — closer, in feel, to a light-based public art trail than to a hike. This is also why night visits often take a little longer in practice than the day version, even though the physical route and distance are identical: people stop to look and photograph the lantern clusters rather than moving straight through.

For a broader look at the illuminated end of Rotorua’s forest offerings, some visitors pair this with the site’s canopy-height high ropes experience run separately during daylight hours, treating the two as different aspects of the same patch of redwoods rather than substitutes for each other.

a nighttime fast-pass ticket for the lantern-lit Redwoods Treewalk

Day vs night, side by side

	Daytime Treewalk	Nighttime Treewalk
What you see	Canopy, trunks, forest structure	Lantern installation by David Trubridge
Typical duration	30–45 minutes	30–45 minutes, often longer in practice
Atmosphere	Straightforward forest walk	Light installation, more atmospheric
Weather tolerance	Holds up reasonably well in rain, canopy cover	Depends more on visibility and comfort in the dark and cold
Combines well with	Walking trails, mountain biking, other daytime stops	An evening slot on its own, or after a day of geothermal parks
Best for	Understanding the forest, a first visit	A distinctive one-off experience, photography
Physical demand	Low — flat decking, handrails, no harness	Same structure, but footing is less visible in low light

Neither version requires fitness beyond a comfortable walk, and neither involves the harnessed climbing of the separate high ropes course on the same site. The genuine trade-off is atmosphere versus practicality: night is more memorable as an experience but leaves out the visual context of the forest itself, while day shows you the trees but skips the installation entirely.

a separate high ropes course through the same redwood canopy

So which one should you choose

If you only have one slot for Whakarewarewa Forest and want the more distinctive experience — the one that looks different from a standard forest walk and is harder to replicate elsewhere — night is the stronger pick. It is the version built around a specific, changing art installation rather than the trees alone, and it is the one most people mean when they mention the treewalk to friends afterward.

If your priority is understanding the forest itself, or you are combining the visit with mountain biking or one of the free walking tracks on the same site, day makes more sense: you can see the wider trail network, judge conditions, and extend the visit on the spot if the weather and time allow it. Day is also the more practical choice for very young children who might find full darkness between lantern clusters unsettling, and for anyone visiting in winter, when a night visit means dressing for genuinely cold evening air.

Doing both, on the same trip if time allows, is not unreasonable given the low individual time cost of each visit — 30 to 45 minutes apiece — and it is the only way to properly see the difference the two guides in this comparison are describing rather than taking either version on faith.

Tickets, timing and getting there

Both versions of the treewalk are separately ticketed, and tickets are generally date- and time-specific for the night version in particular, since the lantern installation runs on set operating hours that shift with sunset across the year — check current hours directly with the operator before planning around a specific evening, since they move with the seasons rather than staying fixed year-round. The Rotorua weather month by month guide is useful context here, since darkness falls earlier in winter and much later in midsummer, which shifts when a night visit is even practical for families with an early bedtime.

Whakarewarewa Forest sits just outside central Rotorua, close enough that most visitors reach it by car in well under 15 minutes from town, and it appears regularly on lists of things to do near Te Puia and the geothermal valley given the proximity. If you are relying on Rotorua without a rental car, check the options in the guide to getting around Rotorua without a car, since the forest is a common day-trip add-on but not always directly served by frequent public transport.

What to pair it with

Because the treewalk is short — 30 to 45 minutes either way — most visitors build it into a longer day rather than treating it as a standalone outing. A day visit pairs naturally with the mountain biking trails on the same land, or with one of the shorter items on the list of free walking tracks around Rotorua. A night visit pairs well as the closing activity of a day that started at one of the geothermal parks, since it needs darkness and therefore sits naturally at the end of the day rather than the middle of it.

Some tour operators also combine a treewalk stop with wider forest and lake experiences on the same outing, or with cultural stops elsewhere in the district — worth checking if you would rather have transport and timing organised than self-drive and book tickets separately.

a combined outing covering the Redwoods and a soak by Lake Tarawera a day tour linking the Redwoods with a glowworm cave and Te Puia

For anyone still deciding how the treewalk fits into a broader Rotorua stay, the general planning question of how many days in Rotorua is worth reading alongside this one, and the 2-day itinerary gives a concrete example of where a forest stop like this typically lands in a short visit. If you are weighing this against Rotorua’s geothermal sites for a rainy afternoon, the geothermal parks comparison and the honest verdict on Rotorua both give useful, unvarnished context on how the region’s paid attractions compare to each other.

Redwoods Treewalk questions: day vs night

Is the Redwoods Treewalk the same forest during the day and at night?

Yes, it is the same 28 suspension bridges strung between the same California redwoods in Whakarewarewa Forest. What changes is what is lit and what is open: by day you see the trunks, canopy and surrounding trail network; by night the lantern installation replaces general visibility, so the forest floor and side trails mostly disappear into darkness.

How long does the Redwoods Treewalk take?

Most visitors walk the circuit in 30 to 45 minutes at a relaxed pace, both day and night. Night visits often run longer in practice because people stop more often at the lantern clusters to look and take photos.

Are the 28 bridges scary or difficult?

The bridges are a walkway, not a high-ropes course: flat decking, handrails on both sides, and platforms built around the tree trunks at each end. There is some gentle sway underfoot, but no climbing, harness or balance skill required. It is manageable for most fitness levels and for children old enough to hold a rail.

What are the David Trubridge lanterns?

They are a set of lantern sculptures designed by New Zealand furniture and lighting designer David Trubridge, hung through the canopy along the bridge route for the nighttime version of the walk. They are not simple string lights: each cluster has a distinct sculptural form, and the installation is refreshed periodically rather than left static year after year.

Can children do the nighttime treewalk?

Yes, families do the night walk regularly, and the flat decking and handrails make it manageable in the dark. The main consideration is temperament rather than ability: some younger children find full darkness between light clusters unsettling, so a first visit is easier for a child who is comfortable in low light.

Is the daytime treewalk free?

No. Both the day and night versions of the Redwoods Treewalk are paid, ticketed experiences run on the walkway structure itself. Walking the free ground-level trails through the same redwood forest underneath the bridges costs nothing; the elevated walkway is what you pay for.

What should I wear for the nighttime treewalk?

Closed shoes with grip, since decking can be damp, and a layer warmer than you think you need — Rotorua evenings cool quickly once the sun is down, in any season. A torch is not necessary since the route is lit, but a phone light can help on the connecting paths to and from the car park.

Can I do both the day and night treewalk in one trip?

Yes, and it is a reasonable way to see the difference for yourself: walk it once in daylight to understand the forest and the bridge structure, then return after dark on the same trip, or a different day, for the lantern version. Same site, same ticketed structure, two separate visits.