Rotorua

Rotorua sits directly on one of the most active geothermal fields in New Zealand, and that activity is genuinely impossible to ignore. Hydrogen sulfide gas released continuously from the area's geysers, mud pools, and hot springs gives the whole town a persistent rotten-egg smell, one locals have largely stopped noticing but that catches nearly every first-time visitor off guard, earning the town the long-running, mostly affectionate nickname "Rotten-rua."

Kuirau Park, a free public park right in the middle of town, makes that geothermal activity strikingly visible without any entry fee: steaming ground, bubbling mud pools, and small geothermal pools sit alongside ordinary park paths and playgrounds, a genuinely unusual juxtaposition of everyday municipal park and active volcanic feature.

Further out, Te Puia combines geothermal sightseeing with something considerably deeper: it's home to Pohutu Geyser, one of the most reliably active geysers in the Southern Hemisphere, alongside a genuine working institute for traditional Maori arts and crafts, where visitors can watch carvers and weavers actively practicing skills passed down through generations rather than viewing static museum displays.

Rotorua functions as one of New Zealand's most significant centers for experiencing living Maori culture directly, and evening cultural performances combining haka, traditional song, and a hangi feast, food cooked using geothermal steam and heat in an underground earth oven, give visitors a genuine, still-actively-practiced tradition rather than a purely historical reenactment.

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, a short drive from town, rounds out the geothermal sightseeing with some of the most vividly colored mineral pools in the country, ranging through greens, oranges, and yellows produced by different mineral concentrations in the water, a genuinely striking sight that photographs consistently struggle to fully capture.