Coromandel, New Zealand

Coromandel highlights

Karangahake Gorge
Waihi Beach
Whitianga
Hot Water Beach

Why visit Coromandel?

For fun and beautiful towns with kid-friendly outdoor activities and beaches.

Getting there and around

We hired a small SUV car from Apex for 28 days. We booked the hire car 9 months in advance, and paid £1517, which worked out at £54 per day. The car came with a full tank of petrol and the price included car seats, unlimited mileage, zero excess, roadside assistance, and ferry tickets for us and the car from North to South Island.

We drove to Waihi Beach which took 2 hours. We had been advised there might be delays due to a land slip caused by recent flooding. But we saw no land slip and there was very little traffic.

Accommodation

Tasman Holiday Park, Waihi Beach

Tasman Holiday Park consisted of a large campsite and a small number of cabins next to the beach. We stayed in a two bedroom cabin and took advantage of having a kitchen to cook our own meals and save on eating out. We stayed for 4 nights (£195 per night).

We visited over a bank holiday weekend and it was crowded and busy with young families. On the Monday the site emptied out and the families were replaced with a small number of older people in caravans. The difference in noise levels was remarkable!

Our star rating: 4

Our cost rating: 3

Tasman Holiday Park Waihi Beach

Karangahake Gorge

On the way to Waihi Beach we visited Kharangahake Gorge where we intended to cycle Part C of the Hauraki Trail. We hired two electric bikes and two kids bikes from Hauraki Bike Hire in Paeroa, for £160 for the day (not cheap, and, as it turned out, sadly not worth it).

As we left the town of Paeroa, the landscape started to get more dramatic and once the trail left the road it was much more enjoyable.

Unfortunately just as the trail left the road, about 4km into the 28km bike ride, one of the kid’s bikes broke and couldn’t be fixed without tools. We had no option but to turn around and walk the long hot road back to the bike hire, disappointed that our ride had ended prematurely.

We got back in the car and proceeded to drive the road through the gorge, stopping at some of the places we had intended to cycle to.

We stopped at Owharoa Falls which was a pretty and symmetrical waterfall. Then we had lunch at Waikino Station Café which is where we had hoped to cycle to. After lunch we proceeded to our next accommodation at Waihi Beach.

Waihi Beach

Waihi Beach is a touristy seaside town with bucket and spade shops and people walking around in swimsuits and flip-flops. It didn’t take us long to get into the vibe! The beach itself was wide and sandy. The kids attempted body boarding but the sea was quite rough.

As well as the beach, the holiday park had free wi-fi, a heated swimming pool, sauna, laundry, playground, jumping pillow, and games room. Our kids absolutely loved it at Waihi Beach because there were lots of kids to make friends and play with.

Whitianga

We drove for two hours from Waihi Beach to Whitianga, a coastal town in the north of the Coromandel peninsular. The road was steep and winding but took in beautiful hills blanketed with forests including magnificent giant tree ferns and palm trees.

At Whitianga we had booked a glass bottom boat tour (£180 for a family of four). The 2 hour tour took us around Mercury Bay, to the Te Whanganui-A-Hei marine reserve. The rock formations were dramatic and the crew did a great job explaining the geology.

Cathedral Cove is now a famous Instagram spot and receives thousands of visitors each year. It was an attractive place for sure, but actually the whole coastline was beautiful and we loved seeing some of the other features from the boat, which we wouldn’t have seen had we opted to just walk the track to Cathedral Cove.

We had our snorkelling gear with us but decided we were happy seeing the fish from the boat. The glass bottom part of the boat was really cool because in shallow water we could see lots of fish including some really big snapper. The crew let the kids feed the fish and when they all came to the surface we could see their pretty colours and markings.

We’d highly recommend the 2 hour glass-bottomed boat tour in Whitianga for kids. The crew were engaging and fun and the scenery was magnificent.

Glass Bottom Boat Whitianga

Hot Water Beach

After the boat tour we ate lunch at Espy’s Cafe, where we refuelled with all day breakfasts and milkshakes. We then drove for 30 minutes back towards Waihi, stopping off at Hot Water Beach.

Visiting Hot Water Beach was a surreal experience. In certain spots if you dig down into the sand, scalding hot water bubbles up to the surface. It was crowded at the beach, with lots of people wielding metal shovels and vying for the best places to dig.

The kids did really well to use their plastic spades and dig themselves their own spa pool with makeshift sand walls to keep the cold sea water out.

We spent 2 hours at the beach, enjoying the strangeness and novelty of sitting in hot thermal spring water while being hit by cold sea waves!

Final thoughts

This area in Aotearoa New Zealand is stunningly beautiful, with rolling hills covered in lush trees, ferns and wild flowers. We loved the chickens roaming free at the roadsides. We had a lovely time with our kids here, playing on the beautiful beaches and soaking up the laid back seaside vibes.