Hell's Gate Geothermal Park and Mud Bath Spa

Nice mud bath experience as well as a tour of a geothermal area if you want to pay a bit extra. The staff here really made the experience as the mud bath themselves were not that special and the hot goals actually made my eye sting a bit.

I would definitely recommend stopping by if you are going to luge or ride the gondola next door but don't know if this spot warrants going out of your way on your trip

My husband and I visited Tarangua but only for about less than 7 hours. We arrived via Holland America cruise line. We have limited time in the city and we decided to rent a car from Riteprice. It took us only one hour to get to Hell's Gate. I Googled the review before coming in here and it had 4+ stars. We went on a Monday morning right before the other cruise passengers arrived.

We only have limited time and wanted to see the Okere falls so we decided to do the Walk experience that cost about 40+ new zealand dollars per person. Other than my husband and our parents, there were one couple on the trail.

The trail will take about one hour more or less to tour depending on how long you stop at one place.

I included a price of the choices of experiences with their costs in this review. They front desk gives you a map of the place that explains each site with their temperature.

It is interesting that this place has the largest hot springs falls in the souther hemisphere of New Zealand.

After our walking experience, there was a carving station to carve your choice of your design. There were about 5 different design choices. I chose the fern and my husband chose the kiwi. You carve this design on a wooden like coaster. There is a guy at the carving station that gives you a brief description on how to use the mallet and chisel. This is an amazing experience from this place not to mention the wooden coaster souvenir that we get to bring home with us.

After the carving station, we dipped our feet in the mud pool. They provide you towels to dry off. There is a rinsing station to make sure all the mud is off your feet.

I love this experience.

We were on a cruise ship and it was so worth paying a taxi to get there. We loved the hour walk to see the geysers and a beautiful water fall and more. I enjoyed it so very much! Then, the mud on your skin for 20 minutes and you could stay in the hot pool as long as you want. They had baskets to hold your things. Everyone was so very friendly. It is a highlight on our vacation. I highly recommend going here. A++++++++ Enjoyed it so very much!

I recently booked the Twilight Spa Package at this fine establishment. I very much enjoyed the entire experience. When I was ready for my husband to come pick me up, he was delayed by about twenty minutes past closing time due to road construction. The proprietor waited with me inside the building, so that I wouldn't have to wait alone outside, in the dark, alone. He was happy to do so and chatted with me about all that New Zealand has to offer. It's clear this business cares for its customers. I would love to come back!

Really neat place to see the geothermal stuff as well as get your natural springs experience. They really ought to warn you how strong the sulfur in the mud is, however! Just walking along the path caused my friend's wedding band to change color. It went from white gold to yellow gold. Eek. We will need to go to the jeweler to see if they can reverse the reaction.

After doing the walk through the park we got our things together and put belongings in our "locker" a plastic storage bin that we carried from one tub to another during our time there. An odd concept but felt secure since we could always see it. I loved the mud baths except that we had no idea how acidic it would be. My friend's bathing suit got eaten up by the strength of the acid in the mud. Luckily the mud stains all over my bathing suit were rid of after handwashing them twice, the second time with stain-remover prior to washing.

We enjoyed the snacks in the main building after or soak and left with the stench of sulfur fresh in our noses. They did say the sulfur remains in the pores for 24 hours. And they weren't joking! We smelled AWFUL for 24 hours. Other than that it was pleasant and the facilities are really nice. Showers abound!

We went for the $105 package. As a result of "staff shortages" their was no narrated tour, no Maori carver, no carving and the "eatery" was closed. The self guided walk was interesting but I would give the mud bath a miss, the facilities are spartan.

We did the Mud Bath 1st thing in the morning right when it opened. Here are the 3 reasons why I'd recommend doing it like this:

1. There are less people there so you will have the pools to yourself. You don't need to pay extra for the private rooms

2. We were in NZ in January (summer) so got hot later in the day and you don't want to be sitting in a hot mud bath with the heat beating down on you.

3. You can rent a swimsuit which you should definitely do. I heard a couple of people had to throw out their swimsuits after they did this because the smell didn't go away. When we were there in the morning there were only a few selections of swimsuits available. So if you go in the afternoon you might be out of luck.

Also, try to bring a towel from the hotel so you don't need to rent one.

We walked around the park too. It was cool seeing all the bubbling hot pools but it was so stinky that we started to get a head ache. I would probably skip doing that next time and just go straight for the mudbath. Skin felt amazing afterwards. Just try not to put any of the mud above your eyes. We ignored their warning and put the mud all over our face and ended up getting some in our eyes when we were taking a shower to wash the mud off. It stung like crazy so just listen to them even though it looked cooler to put the mud all over your face.

Although the sulphur smell was harsh, this was still a great place to check out during our vacation. The mud bath felt amazing. My skin was so soft and smooth after.

They offer 10 different packages to choose from. We decided to go with the Hell's Gate Special Combo ($90 NZL) this package comes with park entry, mud bath, and sulphur spa.

We got pretty lucky with the timing. After we finished walking around the park, they had a special Haka (Māori war dance) performance. That was really cool to see.

I recommend to anyone who comes here to bring a bathing suit to just throw away after. It's just a lot easier to do it that way then to try wash the smell off of your clothes.

LADIES - Be aware not to wear make up, cream or sun screen if you are planning to go into the mud bath. This is to prevent any reaction between the makeup or creams and the mud. Also don't wear any jewelry because it will tarnish.

I don't think I would recommend anyone to this place, and instead, I wished I ventured out to another geothermal place in the area. There are many many natural geothermal pools in this area, and there are many signs leading you to them. I picked this place because it is on Yelp, and I didn't want to be disappointed, but I was disappointed that I didn't venture out to another place.

About this place, its pools are very small. You have to pay for towels ($5 each) even though you are paying at least double compare to other places. The security guard are watch you and monitoring you constantly- uncomfortable.

They will give you a large plastic container to put your stuff, and you must carry with you at all time- inconvenient with slippery floors.

By no means I feel this place could be better than any places around this area, as this place is very simple, ordinary, and uncomfortable.

Try somewhere else, and no need to make a special trip out here.

What a delightful way to spend three hours! Found this spot online and decided, since I'm celebrating my hubby's birthday, should get the best package available: the Tikitere Experience which includes guides walk, carving, twenty- minutes mud bath and then semi-private sulfur hot spring. Perhaps timing is important. I could imagine it gets busy on weekends. We started with the interpretive walk. While you can walk the track on your own self-guided tour, I think the tour guides provide so much value to the experience. Our tour guide was great- he provided many stories and had a lot of knowledge about the sulfuric waters. The private mud bath space is small and includes a shower. The interior is a bit rough to sit on. The experience is still awesome. Make sure the mud supply in bath is stocked. Ours was low but satisfactory. At one point I got quite dizzy and had to get out of the water. My skin felt awesome after! The semi-private bath was actually private thanks to good timing. There are changing rooms and showers. While I enjoyed the mud bath and sulfur waters- which will leave you off-gassing for 24-48 hours, I think the value is surprisingly in the interpretive walk. Witnessing the magnificence of nature is priceless.