Tongariro
Holiday park · North Island
Lake Taupō
Taupō
A lake the size of Singapore in the middle of the North Island, with hot springs and volcano views.
Lake Taupō fills an ancient volcanic caldera at the heart of the North Island, with the snowy peaks of Tongariro on the horizon. There's swimming, trout fishing, the roaring Huka Falls and free hot-spring streams to soak in nearby.
Lakeside camping makes a central base for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Rotorua's geothermal parks and the drive south. Easy, sunny and well set up for campers.
Taupō sits in the caldera of a volcano that produced one of the largest eruptions of the last five thousand years, which explains why the lake is the size of Singapore. Huka Falls is ten minutes north and takes fifteen minutes to see. The lake is at 350 metres, so nights are colder than the coast even in summer — and the Tongariro Crossing is an hour's drive south from here.
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