Best Museums and Galleries in Rotorua

Local Recommendations from our My Guide Rotorua team

Rotorua is full of Maori history, so there are plenty of places to catch a bit of culture at Rotorua Museums. There are also a couple of other places exploring different times in world history, with plenty of interactive exhibits for kids.

Museums in Rotorua are quite comprehensive for such a small city. The main museum is in Government Gardens, and is a packed full of exhibits about Rotorua's Maori heritage. They also hold regular art shows, and you can easily spend half a day here exploring. The gardens are beautiful to walk around, too, so perhaps you can take a picnic and make a whole day of it. There's also an interesting museum on Eruera Street, which recreates what life was like in Biblical times (not in Rotorua, though!). You can smell frankincense and myrrh, play a replica lyre, all kinds of fascinating things. For something a little quirkier, check out the bulldozer museum in Fairy Springs Road.