About | Skyline Rotorua
Skyline Rotorua is all about having fun and you can easily fill your whole day up there. The day will speed by quickly as you enjoy the Rotorua luge and mountain bike tracks, enjoy some downtime by grabbing something to eat while taking in the views, or stroll around the area and go for a wander along one of the short nature trails. When you’re ready to get back into it again, the Zoom Zipline and Skyswing is a fine way to end the day.
When you arrive at the bottom, grab your tickets, then take a seat on the gondola that will take you 900 metres further up the hill and there’s great views to be enjoyed on the ride up. Take in the sight, you’ll be able to see the city with Lake Rotorua lying in the background.
When you reach the top, there’s heaps to do so take your pick:
For thrills
- Luge
- Zoom zipline
- Skyswing
Get amongst nature
- Mountain biking
- Nature trails
Browse
- INZPIRED Store
- Jelly Belly Store
Eat / drink
- Volcanic Hills Wine Tasting
- Market Kitchen
- Stratosfare Restaurant
Stargaze
- Skyline Rotorua Stargazing
Both kids and adults alike will love the Rotorua luge, which was first designed and built here in Rotorua but now gone international. Climb into a luge cart which is something like a go-cart and toboggan. Choose your course, and hit the trails. The carts are easy to use, you simply need to pull back to slow down/come to a full stop, or release to gain speed. Little ones can climb in with their parents, but will need to be able to walk unassisted.
There are three tracks, the Scenic Luge Track, Intermediate Luge Track and the Advanced Luge Track. The scenic route is a great starting point for those just starting out and is really lovely as it goes through a Redwood Forest. Ride the chairlift back up to the top, and do it all over again. Once is never enough!
Stop in at the Jelly Bean Store and check out the amazing artwork – all made from jelly beans! A replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ uses over 17,000 jelly beans, and Vincent van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’ has over 11,500 beans but the Skyline superhero, Captain Gravity, takes the win with a whopping 25,000 jelly beans. Pretty impressive stuff. And with over 100 jelly bean flavours, you’re spoilt for choice. Grab a Pick ‘n Mix box and choose your favourites. Have a go at spinning the Bean Boozled spinning wheel and tasting the different flavours, they may look the same but some taste amazing and others, horrible! We’ve played this game at home and it’s lots of fun.
Go for a little explore through the forest on one of the nature trails. There are information boards, weta hotels and great views along the way. Walks take 20 – 60 minutes to complete.
If you’re a bike-loving family and have come for the trails, you won’t be disappointed. Skyline Rotorua Mountain Bike Gravity Park is the world’s first year-round, gondola accessed mountain bike park so you can spend more time enjoying the thrill of honing down the trails and less time making the grilling ride back to the top. There are 12 trails that begin from intermediate and go all the way to pro. When you reach the bottom, ride the Gondola with your bike back to the top to do it all over again. Bike passes are available.
If you’re looking for a bit of excitement and thrill, try out the Zoom Zipline or Skyswing. Go zipping through the treetops on the 400metre dual zipline (must be within 27 – 125kg). Or try the SkySwing, which is like a swing, but on a way bigger scale (children must be 5 years or older and be at least 110cm). Go swinging high up in the air and up to 150kph!
When you’re feeling a little famished, take a break and seat yourself at a table with a view. There are two places for you to eat at, the Market Kitchen or the Stratosfare Restaurant, both great choices.
Should I make a booking?
Only for Stratosfare Restaurant & Stargazing at Skyline, otherwise, bookings are not essential.
How old do the kids need to be for the luge?
If they can walk unassisted, they can ride in tandem with an adult. 6-year-olds and older (and at least 110cm) can ride by themselves on the Scenic Luge Track, and if 135cm or taller they can ride the Advanced Track, too.
Opening times and days
Open every day of the year, from 10am until 10pm.
Nearby
Mini Golf Rotorua
Location
Photos
We were all pretty excited for this, even before hopping in the gondola and heading up to the top. I’d previously told them stories of how my siblings and I would ride down on the Rotorua luge, always having the best fun it was always one of those things we had to do when in Rotorua – no matter how many times we’d been before. It seems like that tradition will now pass on – the kids soon found out what I had been rambling on about and quickly shared my love for the place.
There’s nothing that quite beats the speed and thrill of speeding down a curvy track in a cart. Wind blowing through your hair, others following behind or racing ahead, zooming through lush forest and quickly taking in breathtaking views before whizzing past, it was quite the ride. When they say ‘one time isn’t enough’, they mean it and after experiencing it for yourself, you’ll know what I mean, too.
This was actually the first time on the Rotorua luge for the boys and they had done nothing quite like it before. We took the easiest route, the Scenic Route and they took it slow but with more experience and confidence, they were soon pros at it and were whizzing past others. Making it down to the bottom I loved seeing the huge grins on their faces and the pure happiness that it brought. They quickly put their cart away and rushed in line to hop on the chairlift back to the top, eager for yet another go.
We ended up having way more go’s on the Rotorua luge than we’d thought we’d need and ended up back at the ticket office a few times because when you go once, you really do never want to stop.
