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.

 

Cruise Ship Destination: Mt. Maunganui

Day 5: Radiance of the Seas arrived in Port Tauranga about 8.15 am. However, the port is actually situated at Mt Maunganui, a suburb of Tauranga. After breakfast we got our water and headed into Mt Maunganui. We picked up a map of the area at the pop-up info centre. We had planned to go across the harbour to Tauranga, but we spent most of the time at Mt Maunganui, so Tauranga will be next time.

Mt Maunganui is a beautiful place and appears to be a holiday town, although we only walked around the bay and the ocean side. The 'old town' of Tauranga is about 4-5kms across a bridge. Peter use to work in Tauranga, so he knows the place well. We walked from the port along The Mall on the calm side, where families were having picnics and swimming. It was a Sunday, so there were many people there. We walked around one side of the base of the Mount, Adams Avenue, to the  main beach side. 

There was a surf carnival going on so we stopped to watch. There was free wifi, a really good, fast, free wifi at different places along Marine Parade. Apparently most of the shops in the area come under a council free wifi area – good for us cruise ship passengers. Peter and Jonnie walked out to the blow hole on Moturiki Island, and I sat in the shade and watched the people walk past. Back on board we spoke with many people who didn't even know there was a blow hole, see it pays to do research before going to new places. There use to be a marine fun park on the island, but Peter said only some ruins remain.

Jonathan was quite taken with the tsunami warning boards and read each one as we passed them. The evacuation point is up Mt Maunganui, 232m above sea level. There is a walking track around the Mount and tracks to the top. Peter walked to the top when he worked here. There is a caravan park at the base of the mount, and also hot pools that are geothermally heated saltwater pools. We spoke with some passengers later who went into the pools and enjoyed it.

We walked alongside Mt Dury along Pacific Avenue to Maunganui Road where there are a lot of cafes, shops and galleries.

History tells us that early Maori settlers came here from Polynesia, and up until early 1900's only a few tiny cottages excited on the peninsula. The establishment of railway work yards lead to many more dwellings and the village of Maunganui was established. Mt Maunganui is a large dome shaped mount made millions of years ago by rhyolite lava. Maunganui is a Maori name 'maunga' meaning mountain and 'nui' meaning big. It was once a town in its own right, and it wasn't until the bridge across the harbour to Tauranga was built in 1988, that it became a suburb of Tauranga.

There are a few different types of vehicles one can take a short tour of Maunganui, from v8trike tours ($15 per person 10-15min ride) to Pepi Toot beach express ($25 each or two for $40 for an hour tour) There was a shuttle bus into Tauranga at a cost of $15 each. An alternative is the Hop On Hop Off bus, but a day is well spent walking around this 'port' end of town.

There are also a number of tours further afield to Rotorua (for Maori culture and thermal tours), and Lord of the Rings sites. These are probably better booked through the ship due to the long distances and time taken. One does not want to miss the ship - although we did talk about how easy it would be to get to Auckland, our next port if one did. 

Mt Maunganui is certainly a diverse part of Tauranga - calm bay, surf beaches, nature walks, thermal pools, boutique shops eateries and galleries - something for everyone.