Nina Out and About contains affiliate links and is a member of the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you make a purchase using one of these Amazon links, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.
Hot Water Beach: A Guide to the Renowned Beach
Hot Water Beach is an iconic Kiwi experience that can be found on almost every tour itinerary and New Zealand must-do list. After experiencing it, I can understand why it’s one of the most renowned beaches in the world.
It’s almost unfortunate that it has become such a tourist destination, constantly covered in people trying to find the hot water.
It must have been so beautiful to experience it when there weren’t a hundred people vying for the thermal spring, barely even looking at the cliffs lining the beach or Castle Island in the distance. Imagine how relaxing it would have been to lie in a hot pool on the beach 1,000 years ago, when the local Maori tribe is said to have arrived and cared for the site?
The beach is no less of an oasis for a weary traveller now. There’s a reason Hot Water Beach is one of the top things to do in New Zealand’s North Island.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
What is Hot Water Beach?
Hot Water Beach, or Te Puia (“hot springs” in Maori), is a stretch of beach in Coromandel known for the geothermal pools beneath the sand. For 2 hours before and after low tide, a section of the beach is revealed where the hot springs can be reached.
They don’t bubble up of their own accord; you have to work for your spa experience.
Locals and tourists alike flock to Hot Water Beach with shovels and buckets to unearth their own pools of hot water from beneath the golden sand. Some spend a long time crafting the perfect pool. The lucky will find hot water at the end of their hunt, while others may only strike cold water (if they draw water at all).
It is a weird feeling to recline in a thermal spa pool next to the cold Pacific Ocean. But weird in the best way.
And at the end of the low tide, the myriad of holes are washed away to start fresh for the next batch of visitors.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
Why is the Water at Hot Water Beach Hot?
Hot water beach has a naturally occurring hot spring in the Coromandel peninsula that has quickly become a tourist hot spot. But where does the hot water come from?
New Zealand is a volcanic nation, so like most of the land, the hot water dates back to a volcano millions of years ago. The eruption of that ancient volcano created a slab of hot stone deep underground that naturally heats the water that flows over it, and sends it up to the surface.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
Where is Hot Water Beach?
Hot Water Beach is on the east coast of New Zealand, 175km southeast of Auckland. It is in the Coromandel Peninsula. You can reach it on a day trip from Auckland.
Combine a visit to Hot Water Beach with a trip to Cathedral Cove for a full day of spectacular beaches.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
Hot Water Beach Coromandel, New Zealand
Getting Spades for Hot Water Beach
You’ll need a shovel and a bucket to access the hot water at this beach. It comes up from beneath the sand, so there’s a bit of digging involved. The bucket is to put cold seawater in your hot water pool if it gets too hot.
If you don’t have your own shovel and bucket, you can rent them from the surf shop that’s across from the carpark (it’s clearly marked). The shovels are $5 NZD, with a $15 NZD deposit (I guess a lot of people steal shovels).
If you’re staying nearby though, most accommodations rent shovels and buckets for a similar price.
Can You Swim at Hot Water Beach?
Short answer: no.
Long answer: maybe, but only in the shallows.
Hot Water Beach, NZ has a pretty significant riptide. Swimming is prohibited because of the danger.
Lots of people ignore this and go swimming anyway, but that’s not recommended. If you do go in the water, stay waist deep and keep your feet on the ground.
Be very careful, especially if you’re not a strong swimmer. There aren’t lifeguards on duty.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
How Hot is the Water at Hot Water Beach?
The hot water is HOT. Temperatures rise as high as 64°C. I nearly burnt my toes off testing a couple of the pools!
Having a bucket comes in handy to dump cold seawater in the steaming pools to cool them down. Or you can try and dig an intricate path from the ocean to the pool (and waste a lot of time with little success), as my friends did.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
My Experience
Usually when you go to the beach, you try and get as far from other people as possible.
That’s not the case at Hot Water Beach.
People crowd their pools together, trying to tap into a similar vein of hot water. Strangers share their basins to allow everyone a chance to relax in the mineral water. A sense of community is built around constructing holes that will fill with hot water but not collapse.
Unfortunately, many holes have to be abandoned when they reveal freezing or boiling water, or no water at all. That’s usually the moment people break and flock towards open spots in other pools.
This sharing of space is a necessity for everyone to enjoy the beach. The 20 metres where you can create these hot pools are always full of people – rain or shine, winter or summer. There’s really no way to avoid the crowds since getting there early can mean the hot water isn’t close enough to the surface.
Hot Water Beach offers a unique people-watching opportunity. You’ll see various ages, cultures, and personalities crowd into hot pools together. Some relax happily in the sandy pool, while others dig with gusto to engineer the perfect bathing spot. Children build sandcastles beside the pools and a bus of twenty-somethings soak up the sun.
Honestly, it’s fascinating.
I didn’t even try to dig a pool at Hot Water Beach.
I lost my camera bag (but, luckily, I didn’t lose my camera!) on the walk to the beach, so I’d had to backtrack trying to find it. No luck.
By the time I reached the beach, the shovel I’d rented had passed to some guys from our you bus that I didn’t know who were trying to construct what looked like an irrigation system to cool down their boiling hot spa pool.
I knew I was having no part in that.
Instead, I followed Sarah, an American girl I’d met that morning, to slip into free spots in someone else’s pool.
Freeloading is so much easier than the architectural feats the others were trying to accomplish.
The water was barely warm and the sand immediately stuck to every part of me, but I didn’t have to work for it. So it was worth it.
While our friends tried valiantly to make their masterpiece less of a cauldron and more of a jacuzzi, we reclined in the sun and shared stories. I got to know Shona and Teresa, two Irish girls who would quickly become my close friends. We smiled pleasantly at the other travellers in our little pool until they decided to head out, leaving room for our friends.
Finally, the spa pool engineers were actually able to go in a spa pool.
While it can be hard work to get the hot water out of hot water beach, once you get to enjoy it, it’s much more fun.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
Fun Facts About Hot Water Beach
- Although the water is high in salt, it isn’t saltwater.
- The water can rise 15L/minute in the pools people dig.
- Apparently, the best time of year to visit is during the cooler season to really embrace the warmth of the pools, but people go all year round.
- Hot Water Beach is also known for its surfing on the north side of the beach.
- 700,000 visitors come to relax in the hot pools every year
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
Best Time to Visit Hot Water Beach
There are a few versions of this question, so I’ll address them all.
You can visit Hot Water Beach in any season. In fact, it’s a lovely refresh in the winter since it’s a lovely warm pool. I visited in spring, before the tourist rush of summer, and found it already beginning to flood with tourists. Summer time is the busiest season, which makes it very difficult to find an unoccupied area.
Find out more about the best time of year to visit New Zealand.
Weekends are far busier than weekends. Tour buses have started visiting hot water beach in recent years, so you’ll always have them popping by. But now weekend day-trippers make the journey out to Coromandel to visit hot water beach, too. If you’re able to visit on a weekday, it’ll be much less busy.
Hot water beach is only useable during low tide. Otherwise, the part of the beach where you dig pools to get the hot water is actually underwater. Come about 2 hours before low tide (I’ll tell you how to find out when that is in the next section).
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
Hot Water Beach Tides
It’s best to arrive at Hot Water Beach 2 hours before low tide so you can start digging.
To find out when to visit Hot Water Beach, New Zealand, use these helpful sites with constantly updated tide times:
Is Hot Water Beach Hot in Winter?
Yes! The hot water at Hot Water Beach is a year round treat.
In the winter, it’s too cold to swim in the beaches near Coromandel. So hot water beach is one of the few activities you can do in the winter. It’s also a great time because it’s the off-season for tourists and most locals find the 10C temperatures too cold to bear.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
The Unspoken (and Spoken) Rules of Hot Water Beach
- No eating or drinking in the pools
- Wear a swimsuit (this isn’t a nude beach, people!)
- Share the spa pools
- Be careful swimming in the ocean due to strong riptides and the rocky coast
- Use the designated bathrooms
- Don’t litter
- Don’t blast music and disturb those around you
- Be open to conversations – the pools are a communal experience, like a Turkish Bath or Moroccan Hammam
- Be careful of boiling hot water, as some pools aren’t as cool as others
- Don’t wreck someone else’s pool to make your own
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
What To Bring to Hot Water Beach
You don’t want to arrive unprepared, so I’ve created a quick list to help you pack for Hot Water Beach. Most of these apply to any beach in New Zealand as well.
- Swimsuit/Togs
- Towel
- Flip flops/Jandals
- Sunglasses and/or a hat
- Wear sunscreen
- A water bottle
- Bucket (you can rent)
- Shovel (you can rent)
- Waterproof camera (optional)
- A cover-up or outfit
Note: There are public restrooms, change rooms and outdoor showers available on site so you can clean up before getting in a car or heading back to your accommodation.
Is Hot Water Beach Worth Visiting?
For all the hype of the experience, it’s actually a really good time. It’s not as clean or well set up as an actual spa or man-made hot springs, but that kind of adds to the fun of it.
Hot Water Beach isn’t meant to be a spa or an oasis. It’s part of the experience to enjoy some warm water in a gorgeous setting surrounded by way too many people. Like most of New Zealand culture, the people are what makes the experience. Sitting in the pools allows you to chat with locals and tourists alike, hang out in the sun, and get a little bit dirty.
I mean, it’s free. You get what you pay for, right?
And in this case, you’re probably still getting more. The views alone are worth a fee.
Hot Water Beach makes you feel like a kid again, heading to the beach with your shovel and a bucket. (I highly recommend bringing a bucket so you can cool off the hot pools. One of the reasons our friends failed at building their pool was because they couldn’t cool the boiling water.)
If, like us, you don’t travel with a spade and a plastic bucket in your suitcase, don’t worry! Hot Water Beach has surrounding cafes that rent all of the equipment you’ll need. Or ask some friendly folks down at the beach to borrow their tools.
Part of the reason most people visit Hot Water Beach in New Zealand is definitely to say they’ve had the experience and been to the Hot Water Beach.
Even if you don’t want to go in the water, it’s still worth seeing. Amuse yourself watching people flock towards empty spots in sandy pools like seagulls, then head to one of the cafes or art galleries nearby to hide from the crowds.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
Getting to Hot Water Beach
Auckland to Hot Water Beach
Coromandel is 172.5km from Auckland, or 2 hours and 15 minutes by car.
The easiest route is to take State Highway 1 South from Grafton.
Take exit 477 for State Highway 2 towards Coromandel Peninsula.
When you hit the roundabout on State Highway 2, take the 1st exit onto State Highway 25 (follow signs for Coromandel Peninsula). Follow State Highway 25 to a roundabout. Take the 3rd exit onto State Highway 26 (signs for Tairua and State Highway 25A). At the next roundabout, take the 1st exit onto State Highway 25A (heading to Tairua). Continue onto Pacific Coast Highway/Tairua Road/State Highway 25 (following signs for Whitianga/Whangamata).
Turn right onto Hot Water Beach Road. Follow the road until it turns left and becomes Pye Place.
You will see signs for Hot Water Beach and the parking lot.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
How far is Cathedral Cove from Hot Water Beach?
Cathedral Cove, the other most popular destination in the Coromandel Peninsula in New Zealand, is about a 15 minute drive from Hot Water Beach.
To drive, you will need to head East towards Grange Road from Cathedral Cove. Turn right onto Grange Road. Turn right onto Hahei Beach Road. Continue for 3km then turn left onto Link Road. From Link Road, you will turn left onto Hot Water Beach Road. Follow the road until it turns left and becomes Pyr Place.
You will see signs for Hot Water Beach.
You cannot easily walk between these two destinations. Cathedral Cover is 2.5 hours north of Hot Water Beach, with a lot of elevation. Since you have to hike to access Cathedral Cove, you’re likely to already be quite tired. Plus, you’ll need to hike all the way back for your vehicle.
Parking at Hot Water Beach
There are two car parks at Hot Water Beach: one is paid and one is free.
The signs lead you to the pay-and-display car park, where you will have to pay hourly for a spot. It is slightly closer to the beach and has closer access to the toilets.
However, if you’re looking to save a few dollars, opt for the free car park instead. It’s a 5 minute walk to the beach.
There is some parking available on the street as well nearby the beach, but this fills up quickly during the busy season.
Hotels Near Hot Water Beach
Things to Do Nearby in Coromandel
If you’re looking for other things to do in Coromandel near Hot Water Beach, check out these hot spots.
Cathedral Cove
Cathedral Cove at Hahei Beach is a stunning must-see spot. The beach is a short hike down the cliffs, where you’ll find the stunning blue oceans that you may have noticed featured in a Narnia movie. The area is gorgeous, but does get very busy during peak tourist season. Visit earlier or later in the day to avoid the midday rush.
View the cove from a different point of view by taking a kayak or a sea cave explorer experience.
Other Experiences
- Go Surfing near Hot Water Beach
- Scuba dive along the Coromandel Coast
- Waiau Kauri Grove
- Northern Coromandel Walkway
- Hike the Pinnacles Track
- Snorkel Orua Sea Cave
- Cycle the Hauraki old railway trail lines to see waterfalls
- Take a scenic 1 hour train ride through Driving Train Railway
- Whenuakura Wildlife Sanctuary cove by kayak
Wrap Up Of Hot Water Beach in New Zealand
I visited Hot Water Beach in November. It was one of my first stops on my road trip across New Zealand’s north and south islands.
At the time, I was sunburnt and complaining of the heat for days on end. Now, writing this in New Zealand’s autumn months when the temperatures have begun to dip, I miss the crazy heat that had me sweating from every pore of my body.
But more so, I miss the geothermal pools.
New Zealand is full of geothermal activity. You can find hot springs all over the place, with free ones in Taupo and Rotorua for you to visit. But none are quite like Hot Water Beach. None bring you back to childhood the way this stunning spot does.
Don’t let the notoriety of this place prevent you from visiting. Hot Water Beach is worth a stop, especially if you’re a fan of a warm bath like I am.
🌊 I recommend this hot water beach tour from Auckland!
Related Posts:
- 101 New Zealand Fun Facts To Know Before You Go
- Must-Have Beach Essentials to Pack for Summer
- 20 Things to Do in Waiheke Island For the Perfect Day Trip
- The Complete Guide to New Zealand: North Island
- The Complete Guide to New Zealand: Tips and Tricks
- Visiting the World’s Smallest Penguins in Dunedin
Pin this for later!
Living Abroad Travel Planning Guide
🚑 Should I buy expat travel insurance?
100% YES! — With basic coverage averaging just $5-10 USD per day, enjoy peace of mind with a plan from Safety Wing!
🌎 What is the best country to live in as an expat?
It depends – the best country to live in as an expat will depend on your unique needs. I developed this free quiz to help you figure out where is right for you!
📍 How do I pick a country to live abroad?
It depends – picking a country to live in is hard. That’s why I developed this $7 course to share all of the steps I’ve taken when deciding to move to 20+ different countries, and how I handle homesickness when I get there.
Ultimately, making the choice of where to move is going to be hard. But the hardest thing is deciding to move abroad at all!
💼 How do I get a job as an expat?
You can find work abroad via local job boards or temp agencies. My favourite way to work is remotely, so I always look for jobs on FlexJobs.com when I live abroad. They hire for 100% remote roles only.
If you’re looking to teach English abroad, Premier TEFL has the best online course to get you great work!
💰 How do I open a bank account abroad?
Wise.com offers free global accounts, and the cheapest money transfers. Since it can be a headache to open bank accounts in different countries (it took me 2 months in the UK!), Wise.com is a great solution.
I actually use it as my primary bank now worldwide due to the multi-currency debit card. (Read more)
👯♀️ How do you make friends abroad?
Meetup.com – Meet likeminded people who share a similar hobby with Meetup! It’s free to join, but some activities may cost money, like if you go to a cafe and get a coffee.
🙀 I don’t speak the language. Can I still live abroad?
Learn languages in no time with iTalki! Moving abroad is an opportunity to learn the language. You don’t need to know it before you leave home.
💻 Do I need a VPN?
Yes! – VPNs allow you to access more of the internet. From US Netflix in the UK to social media sites banned in Asia. It’s a really helpful and cheap thing to ensure your online activities aren’t restricted.
🧳 What’s the best luggage for living abroad?
This is my favourite luggage set for long term travel. You can read more about my review of types of suitcases for travel here.
🏡 How do I tell my friends and family I want to live abroad?
Take this $7 course and learn the exact script I used to tell my family I was moving abroad … and then when I did it again. I even include tips for prepping your family, and for how to handle family who aren’t supportive.
✈️ What’s the best site to buy cheap flights?
To find cheap flights, I recommend Skyscanner. (Read more)
🏨 What’s the best site to find cheap hotels?
To find cheap hotels, I recommend Booking.com. (Read more)
Or stay for free with Trusted Housesitters!
🚗 What’s the best site to rent cars abroad?
To find cheap rental cars, I recommend Discover Cars.
🚗 What’s the best site to find tours?
To find epic tours, I recommend Viator.
