The first thing in Rotorua that you notice is the smell. The smell of sulphur everywhere. The town is in the middle of a geothermal region and that makes it quite unique and unfortunately also a top tourist destination so expect crowds everywhere you go.

That's how it looks in the city park:

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That's the museum:

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And Ohinemutu Village, the original Maori settlement in Rotorua:

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Very close is the thermal park Wai-O-Tapu, where you can expect lots of tourists and a geysir that erupts everyday at 10:15 like a trained dog. That moment is not very spectacular if you don't want to watch the huge crowd taking pictures on command.

So what you can do instead is visit the park between 9:30 and 10:30 when everybody is leaving to get a good place at lady knox geysir and then watch the geysir when almost everybody left, cause the eruption goes on for at least 30 minutes:

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If you are a fast walker you can do the park in 45 minutes so I got to see the crowd as well:

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The park itself is quite impressive, even after being on White Island.

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Outside but very close are big mud pools to see for free:

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