Skyline Rotorua is one of the most popular attractions in New Zealand. It is famous for the variety of adventure activities & the highly sought-after restaurant – Stratosfare. We visited skyline Rotorua during our trip to New Zealand & here’s our complete experience at this wonderful place.
There are many ticketing options & combos available online or directly at their office. We went ahead with Half Day Adventure Passes. It included Gondola ride, 5 Luge rides, Skyswing & Zipline. We also went for Volcanic Hill Wine Tasting & finally to the Stratosfare Restaurant for dinner.
Skyline Gondola
It all began with Gondola. We took our tickets from the counter & went to the Gondola station. Gondolas do not stop so you have to sit in it while it is in motion. Take extra care & do not worry as there are staff members always around to help you. Each cabin can sit 8 people. The gondola is about 1 km long & just takes a few minutes to reach the top.
Once you are in the moving Gondola, you can see the stunning landscapes of Rotorua. The panoramic view that we got from Gondola were really amazing.
People who want to go mountain biking can take their bikes in the Gondola. There are separate Gondola cabins with clear marking on it for that.
Skyline Luge
I was very excited about Luge rides because of my friends’ experiences. Our half day adventure pass included 5 Luge rides so that was the first thing we went for. We were a little late, so we could only do 2 Luge rides.
Honestly, I didn’t know anything about it so for the first few seconds, I was doing my own trial & error. Their staff makes sure that you understand the basic instructions about the Luge first. The gravity is its fuel because it goes downhill. The best part about a Luge ride is that anybody can drive it.
We went through 2 tracks. The first one was the scenic track which, as the name suggests, was very beautiful. It was perfect for first timers like us. After we reached the finish line, we kept our Luge in the mechanism & sat in the chairlift. That got us to the top again & we were ready for our next track in no time. The second track we chose was the Advanced track. It was a bit more difficult than the first one but we enjoyed it a lot. There were bridges & road blocks on the track where we had to slow down & subsequently speed up our Luges. It was an amazing adventure for sure. By the team we finished the Advanced track & got up to the starting line, the time was over & we couldn’t go for the Intermediate track.
We highly recommend that you go for Luge rides because it is a lot of fun. Go for at least 3 Luge rides because 1 is never enough!
Skyswing
Next up was the Skyswing! We had seen a frontal video of Skyswing so we didn’t actually know what was in store for us. Once we sat in it, Skyswing started pulling back. In no time, we were 50m above the ground, hanging at 90*. Now comes the best part. On Skyswing, you choose when you go down so you need to pull the cable. We couldn’t understand the mechanism at first but then we finally managed to pull it AND!!!
Screengrab from the video that we purchased at Skyswing
It was CRAZY! There was so much of adrenaline rush that literally can’t be explained in words. We were screaming in excitement! The sense of adventure was too high in Skyswing! It was swinging back & forth for quite a few minutes & those were indeed amazing. The panoramic view of Rotorua was so mesmerising!
Volcanic Hill Wine Tasting
Volcanic Hill is a tastefully created wine tasting room. Parampara went for the 5 Volcanic Hills wine tastings & she absolutely loved it. The view that you get from this room is unmatched. The gondola, city of Rotorua & wine in your hand, what else do you require?
Stratosfare Restaurant
Our final destination at Skyline Rotorua was the famous Stratosfare Restaurant. People reserve tables here as early as 1 year in advance. All the places at Stratosfare are good, but the best ones are near the window. We were lucky enough to get one near the window & the night view of Rotorua was absolutely breathtaking.
For the dinner, there were so many different cuisines. Right from the selection of bread to cheeses to soups to salad, all the basic appetizers were available. They had taken care of people with different diets like Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-free. There were so many dishes in Italian, Mediterranean, Asian & other cuisines that we got confused.
For non-vegetarians, it is literally a feast because there are all kinds of meat & local seafood available at Stratosfare. After a hearty meal & drinks, we went for the desserts. There were more than 10 items available for desserts alone! Wish they had more of egg-free desserts though. After 2 hours of feasting at Stratosfare, we were more than satisfied & decided that literally everybody visiting New Zealand come to Stratosfare to eat at least 1 meal.
Other Activities At Skyline Rotorua
We missed a major activity called Zoom Zipline due to the time constraint. There are many other activities at Skyline Rotorua like Stargazing, Mountain Biking, Night Luge etc. If you want to do every activity at Skyline Rotorua, make sure to keep an entire day only dedicated to this. In the morning, you can go zorbing with ZORB Rotorua. 😉
Book all your Skyline Rotorua adventure directly from their official website.
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