Every walk lists all the places it passes, so you can see what you get before you add it. Picked walks go straight into your trip; the route on the right adds up as you go.
27 walks in 5 areas
Base: Whakapapa Village (SH48) · 9 walks
Past Taranaki Falls and across the Tama Saddle to two crater lakes between Ruapehu and Ngāuruhoe. The best big-scenery day walk from the village.
from Whakapapa Village
Taranaki Falls famous #5
Lower Tama Lake famous #4
Upper Tama Lake famous #1
Mount Ngāuruhoe The classic Whakapapa walk: open tussock with volcano views, beech forest, a gorge, and a 20 m waterfall over an old lava flow.
from Whakapapa Village (Ngauruhoe Place)
Whakapapanui Stream Taranaki Falls famous #5
Ridge Track Lookout famous #9
© Krzysztof Golik · CC BY-SA 4.0 Beech forest, Punaruku Falls and a golden stream bed lead to white silica terraces beneath a lava flow. Return down Bruce Road or do the short 1.5 hr version from the upper car park.
from Whakapapa Village (or Bruce Road car park for the short version)
Punaruku Falls Silica Rapids famous #10 Whakapapanui Stream © NightOwlCall · CC0 A steady climb through forest to an alpine ridge with the best quick view of Ngāuruhoe and Ruapehu.
from Whakapapa Village, opposite the visitor centre
Ridge Track Lookout famous #9 Mount Ngāuruhoe A quieter loop into a remote valley beneath Ruapehu’s western lava flows, with a hut, moraine ridges and big mountain views.
from Whakapapa Village
Whakapapaiti Valley & Hut Silica Rapids famous #10
© Blueromulan · CC BY-SA 3.0 A ten-minute forest stroll to a lava-lip waterfall and the plunge pool used as Gollum’s Pool.
from Tawhai Falls car park, SH48 (4 km below Whakapapa Village)
Tawhai Falls famous #8
© Michal Klajban · CC BY-SA 4.0 A short climb onto a landslide hummock for a panorama of all three volcanoes.
from Mounds Walk car park, SH48
A sheltered forest walk beside a boulder-strewn mountain stream, ideal when cloud sits on the peaks.
from Whakapapa Village (or the Whakapapanui car park on SH48)
An accessible interpretive loop through alpine shrubland and beech forest.
from Whakapapa Village, above the visitor centre
Base: Top of Bruce Road / Iwikau Village · 4 walks
© Krzysztof Golik · CC BY-SA 4.0 
© Kesara Rathnayake · CC BY-SA 2.0 A high, exposed summer trail from the gondola to a 2,300 m ridge with the widest panorama on the mountain.
from Knoll Ridge Chalet (top of the Sky Waka gondola)
An unmarked alpine climb to the rim of an active volcano’s steaming crater lake. Guided trips run in summer.
from Top of the Whakapapa lifts (summer) or Iwikau Village
The quickest walk to dramatic lava cliffs, big views and, for much of the year, snow. A Lord of the Rings location.
from Top of Bruce Road, Iwikau Village car park
Meads Wall famous #2
Top of Bruce Road / Iwikau Village © Kesara Rathnayake · CC BY-SA 2.0 Ride the Sky Waka up and walk down through the Waterfall gullies past seasonal cascades and lava bluffs.
from Knoll Ridge Chalet, descending to the top of Bruce Road
Base: Ohakune / Ohakune Mountain Road · 8 walks
Boardwalk across an alpine wetland that mirrors Ruapehu, then forest to the park’s highest waterfall.
from Ohakune Mountain Road, 11 km above Ohakune
Rotokawa Pools 
Waitonga Falls famous #7
Tūroa Ski Area A gentle overnighter or half-day: past the Rotokawa pools and above Waitonga Falls to a hut in the beech forest.
from Waitonga Falls car park, Ohakune Mountain Road
Rotokawa Pools Waitonga Falls famous #7
Blyth Hut A wild backcountry day: a cascade down a lava flow, the Mangaturuturu hut and valley, and a hidden alpine lake.
from Ohakune Mountain Road, 13 km above Ohakune (Round the Mountain Track sign)
© Johnragla · CC BY-SA 4.0 A historic cobbled coach road through forest to the curving Hapuawhenua Viaduct and a railway tunnel. Walk or bike.
from Marshalls Road, Ohakune (to Horopito)
© ShakyIsles · CC BY-SA 4.0 A forest track west of the park to a lookout facing Mount Taranaki and a remote, tall waterfall.
from Fishers Road, Erua (near National Park Village)
A two-minute walk from the road to a wide waterfall in a mossy gorge, filmed as Ithilien.
from Ohakune Mountain Road, 15 km above Ohakune
A quiet forest lake where Ruapehu reflects in still water. A sacred place: no swimming, fishing or eating.
from Rotokura car park, Karioi (off SH49, 10 km from Ohakune)
© ShakyIsles · CC BY-SA 4.0 A loop through giant rimu and kāmahi forest with a riverside section.
from Start of Ohakune Mountain Road, by the DOC office
Base: Mangatepōpō Road / SH47 / SH46 · 4 walks
New Zealand’s most famous day walk: lava valleys, two craters, the steaming Red Crater, the Emerald and Blue Lakes and a long descent to the lakes of the north.
from Mangatepōpō Road end (shuttle required; parking limited to 4 hr)
A Great Walk looping around Ngāuruhoe: the Crossing’s craters and lakes, the lava pinnacles of Oturere, beech forest at Waihohonu and the Tama Lakes.
from Whakapapa Village (Great Walk; huts must be booked)
Mangatepōpō Valley 
Soda Springs 
South Crater 
Red Crater famous #6
Emerald Lakes famous #6
Oturere Valley 
Waihohonu Hut (historic & new) 
Ohinepango Springs Lower Tama Lake famous #4 Taranaki Falls famous #5The gentle first stage of the Crossing: up a lava valley beneath Ngāuruhoe to a cold spring and its wildflowers.
from Mangatepōpō Road end
© Mike Dickison · CC BY 4.0 A gentle loop through tall forest around a greenstone-coloured crater lake with sandy beaches and lots of birds.
from SH47, Te Ponanga Saddle (11 km from Tūrangi)
Base: Desert Road (SH1) · 2 walks
A quiet, serious circuit of Ruapehu through desert, gorges, waterfalls, lava valleys and six huts, far from the crowds of the Crossing.
from Whakapapa Village (or Ohakune Mountain Road)
An easy walk in across open volcanic country to the park’s oldest hut and a spring that bursts fully formed from under a lava flow.
from Desert Road (SH1) car park, 12 km south of the Waiouru end
