I’d seen the Ruakuri bush walk listed as one of the eight best walks on the North Island in a hiking magazine and I wondered how a track of less than 2km could really be that good. It turns out that it can! What it lacks in length it makes up for in variety, with caves, tunnels, stunning forest and the incredible gorge.
All of that alone would be enough to call it a must do when visiting Waitomo, but the Ruakuri bush walk has one more trick up its sleeve. Return at night and you’ll find a whole new world, when the track is illuminated by the light of thousands of glow worms! You won’t need a guide, just a torch and a sense of adventure.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Ruakuri Walk, one of our favourite things to do in Waitomo.
The Ruakuri bush walk
The stats
Distance: 1.6km loop
Elevation: 67m
Difficulty: Easy
The Ruakuri walk is a leisurely 1.6km walk made up of two loops. The first takes you around a stunning chasm, the second to a cave.
The whole walk only took us 45 minutes to complete, and this was stopping to take in the views and photos! It has a few stairs, but otherwise the walk is almost entirely flat.
What you’ll see on the trail
The walk heads straight into the forest and it’s only minutes before you pass the first water-filled cave. It’s not one you can go into but it’s a pretty entrance way to look at.
You’ll continue in the bush before passing through a small tunnel and out into a huge chasm. The walkway takes you all the way round the gorge with incredible views into the rushing water below.
It’s surrounded by mossy forest and absolutely beautiful.
You’ll then continue following signs for the natural tunnel and come to the viewing platform inside the cave after 550m (from the start of the track).
The walk is predominantly flat but there are some ups and downs on well maintained staircases and the path is generally in excellent condition and mud free!
The viewing platform inside the cave is phenomenal, allowing you to look down into the river with the top of the cavern towering above your head.
It’s all very dramatic and incredible to see on such a short easy walk.
The walk then continues through the bush, which is stunning in and of itself, with plenty of moss and twisted vines. Most of the way you’re following the river and there are several cascades and other sections with more of the tall gorge walls, which gives it a real feeling of majesty.
Just over a kilometre into the walk you’ll come to a waterfall which is completely surrounded by foliage, giving it real jungle vibes.
You’ll then pass through another small cave before you start heading downhill and back through the forest towards the car park.
All in all this walk definitely lives up to its reputation. It’s absolutely beautiful with plenty of variety and very little in the way of climbing to do which keeps it accessible to most people.
If you’re visiting Waitomo, this walk is a must do and a true highlight of the area.
Ruakuri walk by night: where to find the glow worms!
If you’re game for the whole walk again you’ll find glow worms throughout the majority of the track, albeit in varying numbers. However you don’t actually need to go far at all to see the densest patches.
You’ll see your first glow worms just a couple of minutes into the walk, along the cliff walls on the left - as long as you stop to let your eyes adjust this is actually one of the best spots along the trail.
If you don’t mind going just a little bit further though you will get to the best glow worm viewing area of the whole Ruakuri walk.
They are located along the walls of the last part of the loop track, where the boardwalk and bridge are. You can reach it in a few minutes from the first glow worm area - just keep walking and avoid the turn to the natural tunnel.
You’ll see the best patch just before the bridge that crosses the river. The wall is quite exposed and doesn’t have too much foliage so you get a really fantastic view.
If you are happy to walk the whole track then you’ll find them sprinkled throughout, though there are a few favourite spots. The first being the natural tunnel, although there aren’t huge numbers in there like the top spots I mentioned earlier, they are in a cave, so conditions are great. There is no natural light (from stars or the moon) and they are also above your head which is always extra special.
You’ll find them on the ceilings and in the crevices of all the little caves and tunnels along the trail and some of the smaller ones mean the glow worms are just inches from your face which is quite novel!
The last particularly notable point is along the gorge walls and cave mouth where the last viewing platform is, just before you reach the staircase with the sign directing you back up to the car park.
All in all Ruakuri is a fabulous glow worm viewing experience, I personally loved doing the whole walk and regularly stopping to turn my torch off and let my eyes adjust, but as mentioned you definitely don’t need to do the whole thing to still have a magical experience.
Whilst Ruakuri is the best free glow worm experience in Waitomo itself, there are even more glow worms at the Mangapohue Natural Bridge if you’re happy to drive a little further. Both experiences were incredible so you can’t go wrong with either!
If you’d like to know some more amazing spots to see glow worms around New Zealand, we have you covered in this guide.
Tips for the best glow worm experience
Make sure you leave it at least an hour after sunset. If you’ve been exploring the area by day rather than making a special evening trip it can be tempting to head into the bush just after sunset, but you really need full darkness to see the majority of the glow worms.
You’ll see some earlier but only a fraction of what’s really there. The darker the better, so ideal conditions would be little moonlight too, but it’s hard to get things that perfect when you’re only in the area for a limited amount of time.
As mentioned, you need to turn all light off to enjoy the glow worms, not just for your eyes to adjust, but also because you shouldn’t shine light on glow worms. It can stop them feeding and also encourage them to stop glowing which in turn ruins the experience for you. You will see more and more glow worms the longer you stand in the darkness, give it at least five minutes to really get a sense of how many are there, but the longer the better.
For photography bring a tripod and plan on taking long exposures. You don’t need any light to photograph them.
Getting to the Ruakuri bush walk
The Ruakuri bush walk is just 4km and roughly a 5 minute drive from Waitomo Caves. There is plenty of free parking available. If you don’t have your own car you can also get there using the Waitomo Caves Walkway which adds on an additional 3.3km from the village.
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