Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Last updated on 25 March 2024

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We took a trip to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves New Zealand

Do you ever find yourself wondering just why on earth you haven’t been to some of the most popular parts of your country/state/county? I do. Quite often. Living in New Zealand, where every few hundred metres there seems to be something that draws the tourists here, it’s odd if you haven’t done some things. On this specific occasion, I’m talking about the Waitomo Glowworm Caves.

These beautiful caves are in Waitomo, a small town in the Waikato here in the North Island of New Zealand. Glowworms aren’t scarce in NZ, and if you’ve lived here even for a short time, then it’s quite likely you’ve seen them. They hang out in the native bush, as well as in big caves like Waitomo.

I had a good friend who was heading back to America where she was from, after a few years in NZ, and one of the things she really wanted to do before she left was head to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves and check out the pretty bugs. Because I hadn’t been to Waitomo before (though I have seen glowworms), I headed along with her. We were lucky enough to score a ‘buy one adult ticket get one half-price’ deal when we got there, so save about $10 each. Bonus!

“Waitomo is a Māori word made up of two parts. ‘Wai’ which translates as water and ‘tomo’ which means entrance or hole. Waitomo can be translated as the ‘stream which flows into the hole in the ground’. This meaning is reflected through its fantastic geological history and landscape, however it also has a rich tourism and cultural history. As a region it is one of New Zealand’s original tourist destinations.

The Waitomo District, encompassing the main town and service centre of Te Kuiti and the townships of Waitomo, Mokau, PioPio, Awakino, Marokapa and Benneydale amongst others, is home to around 9,700 people. The prosperous local economy is built around tourism, farming, mining and forestry.” – from the website

It’s about a 2.5 hour drive from Auckland (unless you get stuck in traffic on the way back because of incidences on the motorway and then be prepared to sit there for hours…it was not a happy trip back, let me tell you), and the tours vary in what you do and how long they take. We opted for just the Waitomo caves, which was a 45-minute tour, led by a guide who told us about the caves and their history as we followed steps down into the depths.

The tour ends with a boat ride through the darkest part, not lit by the lights that are the bigger caves, and it’s there from the water that you can look up and see thousands or glowing dots. It was truly beautiful.

Unfortunately (but understandably), there was no photography allowed while we in the caves, so I don’t personally have any photographs. However! There are some that I discovered on Canva, so, to give you a bit of an idea as to what it’s like, take a look at these ones.

Looks beautiful, right? You can check out the prices for the Waitomo glowworm tours on the website, or have a google for any discounts or coupons that you can get.

If you do get the chance to go, then it is very pretty, and really neat to hear about glowworms and the history of the caves too. I’m definitely glad that I went along, and can now tick that one off the New Zealand bucket list.

Have you been to Waitomo Glowworm Caves? What did you think?