TripAdvisor declared Rotorua Canopy Tour’s Ultimate Experience the 11th best experience in the world in 2021. That’s pretty high praise.

You need to allow yourself 3 and a half hours to experience this activity which is surprisingly suitable for almost everyone.

After meeting at their base on the outskirts of Rotorua where you meet you guides who ooze professionalism and fun times you’ll be transported up to a magical forest that appears to have been lost in time. You’ll immediately be struck with how you feel as you are transported to another world full of amazing trees, ferns, smells and noise.

Perhaps the most impressive feat by the team at Canopy Tours is over the past 10 years they have removed all the possums and rats from this once unloved and forgotten slice of New Zealand forest and restored it to a pest free environment – so much so that you can spot many bird species and in an amazing highlight of the expereince, even handfeed wild robins.

The experience consists of 6 ziplines for a total of 1.2 kilometres. They vary from shooting you through tight gaps in the forest layer to giant swooping flights through deep forested valleys. There is even a 400 metre tandem line so you can race you partner….but this tour is so much more than an adreneline rush.

In addition there are a number of suspended bridges that span wide valleys, floating staircases and one of the highlights – the 50 metre high cliff walk – that appears seemingly out of no where as you arrive perched high on it after a zipline flight out of the forest canopy.

It’s a truly special experience, suitable for anyone with a okay level of fitness. It operates in all weather but does suspend operations when high winds exist.