Roughly once a fortnight, somebody standing on the Taupo lakefront hits a golf ball 100 metres onto a floating pontoon and wins NZ$10,000. That’s the kind of town this is: New Zealand’s great inland sea out the front, volcanoes on the horizon, and a straight-faced willingness to be fun. Doing it properly means booking almost nothing, walking the lakefront often, and letting the water decide the schedule. Here’s the plan.
First, understand what you’re standing next to
Taupo sits on the shore of Lake Taupo, the country’s largest lake, and works as the base for the central North Island: steaming geothermal valleys with hot springs on one side, the three volcanoes of Tongariro National Park on the other, and the Māori rock carvings cut into the cliffs at Mine Bay reachable only by water. The Love Taupo listing covers the regional sweep, and the honest advice is to accept you won’t fit it all into two days. The town has grown into an action-adventure base with hiking, boating and river rafting radiating out of it, so a weekend is a sampler, not the album.
Saturday: coffee, then get airborne
Fuel first. Body Fuel Cafe at 67 Tongariro Street has been at it since 2007, cooking with locally sourced organic produce, with breakfast until 11.30am, lunch until 2.30pm, and smoothie bowls, wraps and paleo options for the virtuous. Baked With Love, the family café run by Kim and Scott Forsythe, is the indulgent alternative: eggs benedict, ricotta pancakes and a big kitchen doing everything fresh. And Cafe Baku splits the difference with Allpress coffee, Harney & Sons teas and a licensed bar, in case the weekend starts early.
Then to the water. Big Sky Parasail flies you 1,000 feet above the lake from purpose-built nine-metre winch boats, with a dry takeoff and landing from the flight deck and an optional free-fall dip where they slow the boat and let you parachute to the water’s edge before winching you skyward again. Flights run single, tandem or triple up to 200 kilos, hourly, in season from October to April.
Prefer the deck under your feet? Taupo Boating & Fishing Charters, based at the Redoubt Street berths, runs fishing, kayaking, jet skiing, parasailing and even skeet shooting, which covers most definitions of a good time from one jetty. Between the two operators, the only real question is whether you want the lake below you or beneath the hull.
The culture hour, cheap as chips
The Taupo Museum and Art Gallery hides behind the Great Lakes Centre, a short walk through the car park, and costs NZ$5 for adults, NZ$3 for seniors and students, and nothing for under-5s. It’s open 10am to 4.30pm every day except Christmas Day, and the collection runs from early-Taupo artefacts to a genuinely great Kiwiana caravan. The Ora Garden of Wellbeing outside is the quiet exhale before you rejoin the lakefront, and groups of ten or more can arrange a guided tour in advance.
The ten-thousand-dollar swing
Now the Lake Taupo Hole in One Challenge, running since 1993. The deal is simple: land a ball on the floating pontoon 100 metres out and collect NZ$10,000 in cash. More than 1,000 people have done it since, at an average of one hole-in-one every two weeks, winners ranging from locals to tourists from the other side of the world, and the challenge is open to all ages. Since 2017 it has also been the first tourism acquisition of the local iwi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, which makes your bucket of balls a small contribution to a Māori-owned tourism story.
Saturday night: volcanic stones and glacial water
Taupo’s drinking is unusually good. EATERY @ Crafty Trout Brewery brews its Alpine Crafted range with Waikato glacial water, keeps 14 beers and ciders going, and lets you nose around the brewery operation downstairs before a hearty dinner upstairs, where the kitchen leans into beer and cider infusions and seasonal specials.
Cornerstone Taproom on Tongariro Street was the first independently owned Good George bar in the area and the first bar in Taupo to pour espresso martini on tap. The view takes in Lake Taupo and Mt Ruapehu, the outdoor tables are recycled from the Holy Cow, a departed local bar famous for dancing on tables, and the Stonegrill lets you cook your own meat on hot volcanic stones at the table, which is very Taupo.
If the night needs a third act, Finn’s Bistro and Beer Garden does the Irish-pub-in-NZ thing with pub classics, specialty pizzas and kids’ plates, plus live music from touring bands and DJs, big screens, pool, foosball and darts on the sun-drenched deck. There’s a gaming room too, if the golf swing left unfinished business.
Sunday: the long lunch and the drive-away pie
Book ahead for Brantry Eatery, a small room in Brantry House that it shares with the ZeaYou Gallery. The menu is concise but well crafted, dinner runs Tuesday to Sunday with summer lunches, and the smallness is the point: call first or miss out. For the view-with-everything option, Dixie Browns sits in the heart of town facing the lake and mountains, opens early to late across breakfast, lunch and dinner, covers vegetarian and gluten-free diners, and carries about 2,800 TripAdvisor reviews’ worth of goodwill.
Finish like a local: gelato from 3 Little Kiwis Gelato Cart on the lake shore, open daily from noon to 5pm, then a classic New Zealand meat pie for the road, baked fresh on the premises, from Beaut Bakery at 179 Spa Road, which also does steaks and Philly cheesesteaks for anyone whose weekend still has appetite left in it.
Before you go
Two days in Taupo is really just an argument for booking a third. The rest of the region waits on the full list of things to do in Taupo, the Taupo food & drink listings and the Taupo local guide. Bring togs, bring a jacket, and practise your 100-metre carry before you arrive.
