Where to Meet for Our New Zealand Hiking Tours

If you’ve never heard of Walking Legends you’re no doubt wondering where we are and how you get to us! We have been running guided North Island hiking tours since 2003. Walking Legends is based in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand’s North Island. Rotorua City is our nearest service town so this is where our mainland tours begin and end.

Where we are depends on which guided walk you’d like to do. There are 7 North Island guided hiking tours in our range – these are the standard pick-up and drop-off locations, below, that are available for each. We are the only North Island guided hiking company that accesses all of these locations.

Custom Pick-up Service for Private Groups

For large, private groups we’re happy to make special pick-up arrangements, so where we are is less of a factor because we can come to you. Please enquire about your particular needs.

Pick Up and Drop Off Locations

Tour	Picks up from	Drops off to
Bucket List Walk	Rotorua or Matamata	Turangi, Taupō or Matamata
Great Barrier Island Escape	Great Barrier Island	Great Barrier Island
Coromandel Explorer	Rotorua or Matamata	Rotorua or Matamata
Waikaremoana Discovery Tour	Rotorua	Rotorua
Tongariro Hiking Tour	Rotorua, Taupō or Turangi	Rotorua, Taupō or Turangi
Tongariro Northern Circuit	National Park Village	National Park Village
Taranaki Discovery Tour	Rotorua	Rotorua

 

When Should I Arrive?

Our tours start first thing in the morning. If you’re on a tour that is departing from Rotorua we recommend you arrive the day beforehand and spend the night in Rotorua. We’ll send you a list of helpful places to stay in your booking confirmation email.

When Should I Arrive for the Great Barrier Island Escape walk?

You can fly into Auckland and then connecting with a local flight to Great Barrier Island on the same day. We recommend a healthy window of time to complete the connection. Auckland Airport recommends at least 3 hours in order to clear customs, transfer to the domestic terminal, then check in for your Barrier Air flight.

Barrier Air requires all passengers to check-in at least 60 minutes before a flight. Their check-in closes 30 minutes before departure.

You can find more information on navigating between the International and Domestic Terminals at Auckland Airport.

Arriving by Air

If you’re flying into New Zealand, please note that Rotorua Airport is not an international airport. If you’re landing in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Queenstown you’ll need to get a connecting domestic flight to Rotorua from there.

City of Departure	Arriving	Duration (approximate)
Auckland to	Rotorua	45 minute flight
Wellington to	Rotorua	60 minute flight
Christchurch to	Rotorua	1 hour, 30 minute flight

Getting from Rotorua Airport into Rotorua City

Rotorua Airport is a small regional airport located approximately 10 minutes drive from central Rotorua. There are taxis and shuttles available to take you into the city as well as a local bus service. There is no rail connection between the airport and the city centre.

Rotorua Airport has rental car offices, but these are not staffed 24 hours a day so we recommend you book any rental cars before you land.

Arriving by Car

If you’d like to drive yourself to Rotorua to meet us, you’re most welcome to do so. We don’t have any dedicated parking facilities in Rotorua so we recommend:

• Parking your vehicle at Rotorua Airport
• Selecting a pre-tour accommodation location that is happy to have your vehicle parked on site. For example, the Novotel Lakeside Hotel, the Ibis Rotorua  or Sport of Kings Motel.

You’re also welcome to drive yourself to meet us in any of our tour locations, for example, you might like to drive yourself to meet us in New Plymouth or the Tongariro National Park. Depending on how Day 1 of the itinerary is planned, you may miss the first or last walks, so please get in touch if you think you’d prefer to do this and we can explain how that might affect your tour experience.

Getting to Rotorua by Bus

Rotorua City is well-connected via the Intercity bus service. Here’s where you can view and book tickets with Intercity.

Getting to Rotorua by Train

There is no passenger train service to Rotorua.

Getting To Great Barrier Island

If you’d like to join us on the Great Barrier Island Escape walk, the easiest way to get to the island is to fly with Barrier Air. Barrier Air has regular departures from Auckland Domestic Airport, in Mangere, Auckland.

Barrier Air also offers departures from Tauranga, Whitianga, Kaitaia; and North Shore Airport, Auckland. These smaller centres often have fewer flights that aren’t well-timed with the beginning of the Great Barrier Island Escape walk and therefore may require either a night spent on the island before or after the tour. We can happily make recommendations to you on where to stay on the island before or after your walk with us.

Our reservations team can book flights on your behalf that are well-timed with the tour. You’re most welcome to make your own flight bookings as well. You can book online through either Barrier Air’s direct website, or through Go Great Barrier, the main tourism ticketing agent or Aotea/Great Barrier Island.

Taking the Ferry to Great Barrier Island

There is also the SeaLink ferry which departs Hamer St Wharf in downtown Auckland and arrives at either Port Fitzroy or Tryphena on Great Barrier Island. This ferry tends to be more of a cargo & vehicle ferry, but passengers are very welcome. If you’d like to travel to Great Barrier Island on the SeaLink ferry, please plan an additional day either side of your tour for ferry travel. We strongly recommend travel insurance to cover you or any cancelled sailings due to inclement weather, and for any unforeseen additional costs that may be incurred by either a delayed arrival to, or an extended stay on, the island.

Aotea/Great Barrier Island is a remote, off-shore location – for all the tips and tricks on visiting Great Barrier Island check out our handy guide; “How To Visit Great Barrier Island.”

For more information on your particular situation, please contact our friendly team on:

NZ Freephone  0800 925 569

AUS Freephone  1 800 646 584

International  0064 7 533 3157

Or send an email to [email protected]