Cruise Ship Destination: Tauranga and Mount Maunganui , New Zealand

Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, is the largest city in the region and boasts many cafes and shops along a waterfront and and park area.

However, the ships actually dock at Mount Maunganui, 10 minutes (6km) from downtown Tauranga, and it has beautiful beaches, parks, walks as well as cafes and shops.

Getting from Cruise Port to Tauranga:

- Public Bay Bus

- taxi 

- private transfers from the port

The Tauranga and Mount Maunganui area is a beautiful place that we have been fortunate enough to visit a few times, and Peter many many times, as he use to work there. Our first two visits we walked around Mount Maunganui and there was a bus to take passengers into Tauranga at a cost of $4 return. The next time there was a courtesy bus paid for by the businesses at Tauranga. We took that bus and had a look around Downtown Tauranga. Since then we stay at Mount Maunganui and enjoy the walks and the beach. Last cruise there we thought about getting the public bus - Baybus - into Tauranga. So that may be an option for future cruises. Buses also have free wifi. Payment is by BeeCard, credit card (via the Baybus App) or cash - correct money, no change. Cost in March 2025 was $4 each way. 

Downtown Tauranga

The prettiest part and worth visiting is the Strand Waterfront. Peter took us to all his old cafes, restaurants and places he would go when he worked in Tauranga. There are a lot of cafes and eating and drinking places and shops. There are many sculptures and murals also.

Our favourite place was the Strand and the Waterfront parklands. There are many cafes along the Strand and the tidal water at high tide comes right up to the park walls. I was pleased to see statues of Hairy Maclary as they were characters from books I used regularly and I didn't know they were from New Zealand, let alone Tauranga.

There are lots of tours from the cruise port in Mount Maunganui and Tauranga, if you are not doing a ship tour. Some are quite long - 7 hours or more, so make sure you know what time the ship leaves. There are glowworms tours (also from Auckland), long day trips to Rotorua, short cruises in the bay. Just do your homework online, and if you book make sure you can either pay on the day, or the tour is fully refundable - just in case the ship is late, or the port is cancelled (for one of many reasons).

 

Mount Maunganui

Mt Maunganui is absolutely beautiful. There are beaches on both sides of the peninsula, calm bay waters on the port side and a surf (little) beach on the other side. The mount is a 232 metre (760ft) and is a volcanic dome. This is a good site for the legend of the mount. It is an easy 1.2 km from the ship to the hot pools at the base of the mount.

Walking along the calm side, just as you leave the port, there is a great fish and chips. It wasn't open when we left the ship mid morning, but was open mid afternoon. If you can fight the seagulls away it is lovely to eat while watching the water. Also along the calm side is a lot of water sport hiring - kayaks, wind surfing, one trip we even saw paddle boats, but they were not there in March. We have visited here on weekends and it is very busy with families having picnics. There is a wooden walkway all along both beaches.

There are many walks one can do, but the best walks are around and up Mount Maunganui. There is a base walk that is a little rocky on the surf side, but still an easy walk. The walk up the top is more strenuous - Peter and Jonnie did that one - and the views were spectacular.

There are hot pools at the base of the mount, entry fee $27 adult. The development of the pools began in the 1950's, but the history goes back a lot further than that.

On the surf side of the peninsula is and at the base of the mount is a life guard club, and a long beach. Across the road are many cafes.

Further along the beach there are information boards about the beach, marine tides, birds and history. There are plenty of seats and shade along the path, and more cafes.

At the other end of the beach is Moturiki Island, accessible from the the beach it is also known as Leisure Island. It is an easy walk around the island and can take as little as 15-30 minutes to walk to the end and back along the path. Took us longer as we kept stopping to look at the view, and if you are lucky you may even see the blowhole if the tide is right. There was evidence that the Maoris had used the land in the past and early 1900's the land was used as a quarry, with the granite used in many of the railway lines in the area. In the 1960's the island became a marine fun park with animals, aquariums, swimming pools, water slide and bumper boats seen. There is little evidence of the fun park, but one can look at some of the cut out rock formations and imagine where the aquariums would have been.

Walking back to the ship we came across a few painted - are they electrical boxes? - very funny. Next time we visit we will search out some more.

We like Mount Maunganui, and the lovely walks.