Tongariro National Park is handy to Ranfurly Cottage and gives visitors a wide range of outdoor activities to choose such as skiing, snowboarding, tramping and walking, sledging, tobogganing, sightseeing, scenic flights, horse riding etc.
The main activities are hiking and climbing in summer, and skiing and snowboarding in winter at Mount Ruapehu and Mount Tongariro especially. There is also opportunity for hunting, game fishing, mountain biking, horse riding, rafting and scenic flights. Mount Tongariro and its surroundings are one of the several locations where Peter Jackson shot the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy; tours to view these places are commonly arranged by the tour’s operators. Tongariro National Park was home to the most sinister of the Lord of the Rings locations, Mordor, which is the strong hold of the dark Lord Sauron.
Tongariro National Park is extremely popular with visitors of all inclinations whether it is tramping, walking, including doing the Tongariro Crossing, cycling or just want to enjoy stunning and unique scenery.
Tongariro National Park covers approximately 80,000 hectares. The park’s most well recognised activity is the ‘Tongariro Alpine Crossing’, a one-day trek that traverses the other worldly terrain along the slopes of all three mountains. Steaming craters, old lava flows and the Tama thermal lakes make the walk an unforgettable experience.
Tongaririo National Park is a place of extremes: a place of great tranquility, a place to discover, explore and treasure – from colourful herb fields to lush native forest, from clear blue crater lakes to desert-like terrain, from pure snow covered mountains in winter to boulder strewn volcanoes in summer. Emerald lakes, alpine meadows and hot springs surround the largest volcanoes in the North Island, offering an environment of stunning diversity.