A scenic flight is one thing. Getting out and standing in the place is another.
Plenty of operators will show you Rotorua from the air. What sets a Volcanic Air flight apart is where we can put the aircraft down — on a volcanic summit, on a river beside a geothermal valley, on a lake with no road to it. These are the landing spots that come with our tours.
The summit of Mount Tarawera
The one everybody comes for. Our helicopters land on the rim of the maunga that erupted in 1886 and reshaped this landscape, splitting the mountain along an 8km rift. You step out for a guided walk with your pilot, looking down into craters and domes that are difficult to comprehend from the air, let alone from the ground.
This is sacred ground. Mount Tarawera is a taonga of deep significance to Ngāti Rangitihi, who are its kaitiaki, and we fly there as tourism concessionaires with their agreement. A portion of what you pay in landing fees goes directly into conservation on the maunga — most visibly the long-running removal of invasive wilding pines, which is steadily returning the summit to native cover.
Manupirua Springs, Lake Rotoiti
Seven natural thermal pools on the shore of Lake Rotoiti, tucked into a sheltered bay with no road access. The only ways in are by boat or by floatplane — and arriving by air means you are stepping off the aircraft and into the water within minutes.
It is New Zealand's oldest commercial hot springs site, in use since long before tourism arrived here. You get 90 minutes to work your way through pools of different temperatures, cool off in the lake, and generally forget the rest of the world exists.
Orakei Korako, on the Waikato River
A hidden geothermal valley reachable by either aircraft. By floatplane, we land on the Waikato River itself — a thrill in its own right — before you head ashore for a land-based tour of hot springs, geysers and silica terraces. By helicopter, it pairs with a Mount Tarawera landing for a dual-landing trip.
Tarawera Falls
Our Volcanic Heli Hike is the long one: a full day combining a summit landing with a guided walk out to Tarawera Falls, where the river emerges straight out of a rock face. It is the most time you can spend on the ground with us, and the most walking.
A lakeside beach, entirely to yourselves
For the Floatplane Lakeside Picnic Getaway we land on the water and put you ashore on a secluded beach with a picnic set up and no one else around. Around 70 minutes of complete privacy, then the aircraft comes back for you.
Planning a trip around a landing
Not every flight includes a landing, and that is a genuine choice rather than a lesser option — a shorter flyover is often the right call if time is tight. On our tours pages you can filter by whether you want to land somewhere, so you only see the trips that get you out of the aircraft. If you want help matching a landing to the time you have, call us on 0800 800 848.
