GO NZ: Cycling holidays and bike trails in Taupō

Sarah Bennet

Firstly, let's add Taupō to the list of towns that claims it has "some of the best mountain biking in New Zealand". There's a pattern emerging here.

But this tasty resort town shows it knows what side its bread is buttered on by spreading bike-love across all slices of life. "From scenic cycling and family fun, to technical trails and epic descents, Taupō has it all," the visitor guide states.

The optics are good. This is the home of the legendary Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge. It has a giant-sized 10-speed sculpture and bicycle art in the parks and gave birth to the national Big Bike Film Night festival. It's home to the Huka Trails, Craters MTB Park, pump tracks and BMX parks, as well as the Great Lake Trail. In all, it boasts several hundred kilometres of trail.

The lay of the land

A dramatic, volcanic mosaic shaped by fire and water, Great Lake Taupō has stacks of natural wonders and many grand backdrops for outdoor adventure. There's a lot to see.

The marketing bumf says: "There are few better ways to enjoy Taupō's epic landscapes than from the saddle of a bike." Looks like a fair call, because most of the town's main attractions can be reached on two wheels.

Getting your bearings

The excellent visitor website (lovetaupo.com) has a user-friendly trail guide (search "bike trails and parks"). The free town map features the main arterial cycleway across town.

Bike Taupō produces fab $5 maps for both Huka Falls/Craters Mountain Bike Park and the Great Lake Trail, and has interactive Trailforks maps embedded on its website (biketaupo.org.nz).

Craters Mountain Bike Park, in Taupō's Wairakei Forest. 

A town tour

The must-do is the Great Lake Pathway, which traces the water's edge from town to Two Mile Bay, to Three Mile, Four Mile and Five Mile Bays. Despite these yardsticks, the pathway is actually 13km one way.

The trail was recently revamped as far as Three Mile Bay. It's wider, smoother, and just better all-round for all its different users. Messages etched into the concrete path read "Aroha atu, aroha mai – share with care".

Along the way are refreshment stops and picnic spots, and a lovely park and playground at Wharewaka Point. The trail gets a bit rougher from there but it's worth pedalling on if you like a leg stretch and lashings of late afternoon sun.

There are few better ways to enjoy Taupō's epic landscapes, like Huka Falls, than from the saddle of a bike. Photo / Todd Eyre

Further afield

On the edge of town, Spa Park is where you go for a free soak in hot springs. It's also the starting point of the Rotary Ride to Huka Falls, a leisurely 2–3 hour return ride along the Waikato River. Allow a whole day to go all the way to Aratiatia Dam and watch the spill gates open, a spectacle well worth seeing.

Craters MTB Park is close to Huka Falls. Constantly evolving thanks to solid community support, the park has around 50km of singletrack spread across a privately managed pine forest.

The main entrance is the "the Hub" where the bike-mad FourB crew hire bikes and run shuttles, and offer local knowledge including suggestions for intro rides. They also issue the Bike Taupō membership necessary to ride the trails ($10 for a week).

Our ride highlights were the fun features on Scraggs and the pine-flavoured flow of Mr & Mrs, but our top pick was the freshly dug Megalicious, a brilliantly crafted intermediate downhill flow trail that seemed to go on forever.

For more scenery and less sport, head to the Great Lake Trail. One of Ngā Haerenga New Zealand Cycle Trails' 22 Great Rides, this 83km network has four tracks connecting for various day rides as well as a 2–3 day point-to-point featuring scenic boat transfers.

We recommend two-day rides, both of which start from Kinloch. The first is the Headland Loop, a 2–3 hour ride that climbs moderately strenuously to various lookouts over the lake.

The second is the K2K–Otaketake Loop, which is a couple of hours longer, more rock and roll, has superior scenery and a particularly fun descent.

Both make an even better day out when topped off with a tipple at Kinloch's Tipsy Trout.

Bike town rating

I bet Taupō folk are glad that highway bypass went in all those years ago. Cycling and walking around the CBD is pleasant, and there are plans afoot to make it even friendlier. And with the exception of the Great Lake Trail, it's also possible to bike to other places you want to go, off-road. Every time we visit, another path has been created or improved.

This isn't an accident, or reactive management. Taupō shows what you can achieve when you organise, collaborate, plan and execute with intelligence and foresight. There are benefits for everyone.

Logging around connection is now completed and the logging crew is just cleaning up some windfall near the old chain link track so we will be rebuilding the tracks and catching up on Maintenance ASAP. Logging crews should be gone by middle of next week

All of Outback and Steamfields are open and so is access in out of the hotel grounds. The current track system takes you back to the old link road horse crossing. Then you are required to do a bit of road riding to get around the logged area just follow the signs but you can ether go down the road and out of the park or up the road and head for Waipouwerawera or cut out around the back of craters of the moon. It’s all sign posted – please read and follow the signs!

We will be rebuilding the tracks as fast as possible and just need to tidy up some tracks first. The current plan is Walters first, then Tank Stand Down-hill as that will give access to the connection. Later we will attack the rest of the tracks to get the routes up and running There is going to be a period of time when we have to use the road around the connection.

We are thinking of running a few working bees to get them open earlier as we have no PD crews at the moment but we have to wait until we know the rules on level 2 in regards to social distancing and then flick out a notice.

Waipouwerawera has a wee slip sitting on the track at the half way point but it’s all passable Bruce is giving the track a tidy up at present We were about to do this as we went into lockdown so it’s a bit overdue.

All the rest of the tracks seem to be OK and have seen lots of traffic but please keep reports coming in as it saves a lot of time and money being able to plan our response. To report an issue please use Trailforks, the BT website or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A year or more ago when they announced the gums around the Connection were coming down the boys and girls of Bike Taupo know it was going to mean a big mess and lots of work. By the time the last logs had gone it was a toss up between putting in a few trenches and doing a WW1 movie or rebuilding the tracks. Luckily, the tracks are restored but with obvious modifications. Rebuilding tracks on forestry slash is not ideal. We have done the best possible job with the time and resources available, but people will need to accept that the rebuilt tracks will take time and continuing work before they are back to the standard of the tracks they have replaced. Please be aware of slash hazards on and off the track. Our printed maps are due to be updated but, in the meantime, the online map on Trailforks has had a makeover and we will continue keep it as current as possible. Trailforks track reports are great as they go directly to our track crew enabling prompt response to any issues. Get the Trailforks app on your phone!

Changes you may notice:
After coming down Mr from Debs, the Mrs runs continuously to the Connection. So, as sometimes in life, the Mistress has become the Mrs.

The new tracks, Up2topte and Megalicious, are on the map, joining at the top of the hill at Old Farts Lookout. Pre-logging this area was accessed by Retro (up) and Luge (down). Watch for future developments here as a new track is planned heading west into the old horse paddocks.

Outback is now on Trailforks as one 11 km loop. It is split into six sections as shown on the map below. The last three sections have names – Outback and Beyond, Slalom and Jim Berm.

You can access the trailforks map here.

 2018 route shown - 2020 may have minor changes.

Tour Aotearoa is one of the world's great bike packing trips, stretching 3,000 km from Cape Reinga to Bluff it follows a combination of cycle trails, tracks, paths and lanes connected by the most enjoyable country roads available.

This is a self-supported 3,000 km brevet from Cape Reinga to Bluff. A brevet is not a race. It is a ride following a set course, via 30 photo checkpoints, which you must complete between 10 and 30 days – no more and no less.

 From Monday 17^th of January 676 riders will start from Cape Reinga in daily waves of about 70. Each of these riders has donated at least $100 to a charity of their choice and Bike Taupo has been one of the charities to receive funding. In turn BT contributes by doing maintenance and upgrades on the trails on the route.

Check out the link below which is to the site providing information and progress of the participants.

https://touraotearoa2020.maprogress.com/