Waitomo Caves and Kiwi House for Families
Families do well in Waitomo because the main event, a boat ride under glowworms, asks very little of small legs. The village itself is tiny, so a good day is one cave, a lunch stop and one animal or museum visit. This page is organised by age band, because age limits drive most decisions here. Amounts are New Zealand dollars at 2026 rates and change by season.
Toddlers and pre-schoolers
- Troll Cave: run by Waitomo Adventures for children aged 1 to 14 with an adult. It lasts 1 to 1.5 hours and costs $180 per booking of up to 8 people. Children work through puzzles and riddles in a troll’s lair reached by lift.
- Ruakuri Cave: the best cave for prams. Chairs and pushchairs up to 65 cm wide can do the full tour, which takes about 2 hours. A child ticket is $46 and a family ticket is $296 for 2 adults and 2 children.
- Otorohanga Kiwi House: about 20 minutes from the village, with children under 5 admitted free. Details are in the next section.
The Waitomo Glowworm Cave has no wheelchair access, so ask the operator about pushchairs before you bring one. Spellbound does not allow prams.
Ages 4 to 11
The Glowworm Cave tour is 45 minutes and ends with a silent boat ride, with a family ticket at $217. Because phones and cameras are not allowed, children have nothing to fiddle with and tend to watch the ceiling.
Spellbound suits children from about 4. Up to 12 people take part in a 150-minute outing through two caves, with a 20-minute boat ride, and tickets are $109 adult and $38 child. It meets at Oparure, about 15 km from the village.
Otorohanga Kiwi House opens 9am to 5pm daily, except 25 December. The 10:30am and 1:30pm keeper talks are included in the ticket. Kea, kākā and tuatara live there. Adults pay $29.50, children 5 to 15 pay $13.50, and a family of 2 adults and 3 children pays $75, with $8 for each extra child.
The Waitomo Caves Museum, at 21 Waitomo Village Road, is a good wet-weather stop. Adults pay $10 and children 4 to 14 go in free with a paying adult.
Ages 10 and up
Adventure tours open up as children grow, and each has a firm floor.
| Activity | Minimum age |
|---|---|
| Lost World Half Day (abseil) | 10, and at least 40 kg |
| Zipline park (Te Anga Road) | 7 or 8, sellers differ |
| Black Labyrinth cave tubing | 12 |
| Black Abyss | 16 |
Black water rafting also needs a body weight of 45 kg or more. Families aiming for Black Labyrinth can buy a family price of $589.
Practical points
- Arrive at check-in 30 minutes before a cave tour, and book ahead in busy months.
- Limestone country hides vertical shafts under ferns and grass, so keep children on marked tracks.
- A small general store serves the village, and no fuel is sold west of Waitomo.
- Caves can close in floods, so check operator notices if the weather has been wet.
Read more: animal activities in Waitomo and day trips from Waitomo . For an overview of the area, see Waitomo Caves .
Family ticket pages: Waitomo Glowworm Cave and Troll Cave . To compare options, search Viator for Waitomo family tours .