Tamaki Tours Review

Great service from Tony today. Took the time to help me sort out what I needed-thankyou

An unforgettable evening in the Maori village, learning about their culture and having fun at the same time. Performances were entertaining and amazing. The Maori really can sing! This attraction is definitely a must-go!

Amazing experience, enjoyable from hotel pickup to drop off. Our driver on pickup was so entertaining, the Mauri experience was so informative,entertaining and enjoyable. We loved every minute.

Terrible, too touristic, cheesy, not authentic and not personal. The price you pay for it is ridiculous.

We orderd a vegan meal and got one corn fritter each. It looked more like a starter. I got hungry and was directed to the buffet where the only thing suitable was potatoes and carrots. Then came dessert, again directed to the buffet for tinned fruit when others were served cake! Not imaginative if you ask me?

It is a money making scheme, with no passion or authenticity. I suggest you save your money and do something else. I feel ripped off.

Amazing customer service. Thank you Joan! Will be back soon!!

Great time! Learn about the island people and sing to you and get food!

The staff work hard to make sure you have a good time

- Very informative.
- Cold in the evenings in winter.
- Pricey, but lots of food available.
- Transportation included.
- It seemed a bit hokey at times, but well organized.

Its very interesting to learn about Maori culture, but I thought this was a bit too touristy.

I can't judge how authentic the Displays in the village actually are. But to me it was very interesting to learn about the culture. The Food was great and there was plenty of it. The busdriver was also very entertaining. Definetly recommended to any tourist visiting Rotorua. The only slight critique is that there wasn't enough time to ask questions to the Maori people, even though it was encouraged to ask them.

What a fun evening! We came to this event not knowing what to expect, and we had so much fun! From the bus ride to the event, up to the moment when the bus dropped us back off, it was all good. We also learned a lot about Maori culture, which was great. Food is delicious too!

Typical attraction for guiris. They sing with acoustic guitar, feed you carrots and lamb and teach you a few words in Maori. Nothing traditional and very little history

Great experience, which should not be missed. Very authentic, good insight into the Maori culture and professional presentation.
Hangi, Haka were great, the trip with the waka (canoe / bus) was an experience in itself, what the money is worth. Dennis was probably the best bus driver I've had to date! Thanks for letting me experience this experience!

The only point of criticism is the time management and the size of the group, which did not spoil the evening.

Many thanks to the Tamaki Maori Village Team

Visited here in 2004. Great experience. Developed a real appreciation and respect for Maori culture and traditions.

Would recommend.

One of the best tour I have taken. The driver was funny and make the trip to the village educational. The experience was fascinating and entertaining, offering insights into the lives and culture of the Maori people. The meal at the end was absolutely delicious as well. Highly recommended!

Amazing experience, great people, honest and friendly, welcoming you with warmth and excellent food.

Worth every Dollar. Had a great time. Especially one Maori Singer who blew away the whole audience with his amazing voice. Learning the Haka was great.

It was an amazing cultural experience. We drove to the Tamaki Maori village office where the bus was waiting for us. There are plenty of places to park if you drive there, but they can also pick you up from your hotel. As the amount of people can be big, they split the groups by tribes - we were the KIWIs. Our korotiwaka (driver) was Aroha, and she was AMAZING! On your way to the Tamaki Maori village (the village is a different location from the office), she will ask for someone to be the chief of the tribe. I would highly suggest for you to volunteer as you will have extra interactions with the locals. Guaranteed FUN! The experience starts on the way in the bus. Once you arrive at Tamaki, you immerse yourself with the Maori culture through ceremonies, chants, dances, and learning experiences. It is very well done. They make it as a show, which is necessary to give you a good feel of the culture within such short time. It is entertaining while being informative. The dinner, which is a Hangi, was delicious and enough for everyone. On our way back, Aroha tried to keep the energy up, and sang pretty much all the way back. Thank you for the entertainment, and providing such positive energy! We had a great time, and would suggest to visit if in Rotorua.

Great experience. You first can want around the village visiting different huts were the locals explain/show part of their culture. It is followed but a traditional Maori show and then dinner. Food was amazing with so much variety. Highly recommended.

A fake Maori village designed to maximize tourist throughput.

Best night ever!! Our driver aroha was great and kept us very entertained great introduction to the maori culture i would love to go back and stay. Buffet was superb and worth every penny

I love this place so much. Would recommend to anybody visiting fiji

The rendez-vous with our Polynesian ancestors, allows us to touch a little with the old ones.

TLDR; $130 for a deep fried burger and a dude in a T-shirt? AVOID!

This was supposed to be the highlight of our trip to Rotorua - after all, according to the website this was one of the "Top 10 Experiences in the world". The reviews I read seemed to confirm this, however after my visit to Tamaki Maori Village I am beginning wonder whether those reviewers had reviewed the wrong place by mistake.

I feel that it is important to know that I was all in on this. I WANTED this to be good. I was prepared for the experience to feel a bit hokey or even canned - we were paying for a show after all, and I was all in. We attended the afternoon session since we have 2 young kids and they would never make it through an evening show. I was excited for my 5 year old son to be exposed to some of the traditions of the Maori culture and I was ready to help him feel that the experience was as authentic as possible. Unfortunately that suspension of disbelief was impossible, even for a 5 year old.

The experience we got is NOT what is sold on their website. Our "host" was in sneakers, shorts and a T-shirt, our "activity" was wrapping hamburgers in pizza dough, and then majority of our time in the "village" - about 45 minutes - was spent sitting at a table awkwardly waiting for our hamburger to be deep fried while we made awkward small talk with our host and our kids complained of boredom.

When we finally did get a tour of the village it included a brief overview from our host followed by "feel free to look around". Our "traditional game" was throwing sticks back and forth. The highlight of the experience for the kids was feeding eels ground beef off of wooden barbecue skewers. The whole experience was capped off by our host dragging his poor children down to the village and making them sing for us while he played guitar. Sure, they smiled and went through the motions, but it was obvious that dad dragged them off the couch to make them perform for the tourists.

There was no traditional dress at all, there was no "cultural exposure". This whole experience was an obvious cash grab by a company exploiting people's desire to learn about Maori culture. Describing it as disappointing would be generous, "painful" would be a more appropriate adjective.

At the end of the day we paid $130/person for deep fried food that we had to make ourselves while hanging out with one Maori dude in shorts and a t-shirt.

This company should be ashamed of their marketing. Absolutely not as advertised. I write this in hopes that no one else wastes their time and money on this sham of an experience.

This marae is just the gathering place (as the name says) for all of the tour groups to come together to watch a 10 or so minute introductory video projection. I think they might have a toilet in the back bc I saw a few guests go in there. Otherwise, there's nothing else other than benches, and not enough at that for 3 bus fulls of guests. They put out some mats in the centre aisle for people to sit, but even then needed to stand. Wasn't too bad or too long though. Be sure to look at the model of the P .

Beautiful and highly recommended. The price is a bit higher, but there is also something on offer. The show is nice and the food was delicious.

Chico was really nice.
This is a really good place to sign in and say hello.

If we could rate 6 stars, we would !
Absolutely fantastic ! The ambience, the performances and the dinner were so great, we already miss the village !
A MUST DO !

Good reception, info brochures available in a number of languages , plenty seating area

Was a really good experience. Like others we found the Maori team to seem a bit bored and "over it" breaking character in their performances. Great singing and spread though. Mark the bus driver was great

Fantastic experience, would absolutely recommend. Informative, interesting and interactive experience with a really good fresh buffet style dinner. A great way to learn about Maori history and culture and have a fun evening.

It's kind of a tradition, but ... it's a little bit for tourists

Great experience, great atmosphere, even a little magic

Loved the culture experience. Friendly people. Had a great time . Must do in Rotorua.

Great place where you can get in touch with the Mahori culture. Very welcoming and nice people. Simple dinner but really tasty!

Fun place to learn some quick history about a place a lot of people travel to even today!

Perfect welcome, striking, striking and authentic experience, very pleasant and attentive staff! PERFECT !

It's good to see a bit of the Maori culture. They explain you about it and have a couple of dynamics.

Nice place but didnt do much here. Wud prefer to go straight to village from being picked up

we went on the tour for our 6 year wedding anniversary. My husband was selected has chief for our group. The experience was amazing, it gave me chills and thrills learning about the Maori culture, I wish I could actually live with these people. So genuine

The positive reviews are well deserved. All aspects of the tour are very well done.

Grossly over rated. The price is excessive and food is bland and tasteless. They say it is Maori culture but everything is staged. Nothing is original Maori culture except for some words used. I do not recommend this place. Too touristy and fake. A waste of your money. It was a very bad mistake to do this place.

Stay away unless you like aggressive, forced audience participation.

The culture of the Maori and the friendliness of the people. It was great.

Everything timed perfectly, authentic feel to the shows & educational portions, but main thing that was outstanding, the food!! Delicious & im a picky, vegetarian!!

We felt rushed when we to the village. We had lots of questions to ask but there was too little time to ask questions. Many of the staff seemed disinterested and did not really put much effort into their service. Everything was too close together and it was difficult to hear and see clearly when they were giving demonstrations. The bus driver was the most enthusiastic person, but I had not anticipated going to a Maori cultural experience to be entertained by the driver more than the performers.
The meal was not so special. There's huge room for improvement here. It felt like we were just part of the machine making the owners richer.

Absolutely fantastic experience. It was educational, inspiring and entertaining. Highly recommend it to everyone.

What a wonderful experience. Great food. Great singing...very emotional when pokarekare ana was sung. Great interaction with the kids and adults in our group of kiwis. And our bus driver was hilarious. Thankyou for a lovely memorable evening

Amazing tour of maori history. Great group interactions. Worth a visit!

Show and small workshops around Maori culture, in a setting of the same theme. Followed by a buffet style meal. Special mention to our bus driver. Sympathetic.

This experience was completely worth it. We learned much about the Maori culture, their history and customs. Sadly, it was pouring rain so we couldn't spend much time wandering the village, which is a real and set in the woods. The food was un-buried and served with plenty of sides, a delicious dinner. I highly recommend this evening experience

The staff and crew of Tamaki Maori Village offer an educational cultural experience that immerses the audience into the village presentations. From the pick-up to the drop off at the hotel, we learned, participated, ate and sang along with the Maori. Great time!

What a great night. Had a wonderful time. Met some great people, had a lovely meal and enjoyed Maori cultural performance. Another highlight was certainly Denis the bus driver!!! He was awesome and a great ambassador for both NZ and the Tamaki Village.

Such a phenomenal experience!!! Must try this village!!!!!!! From the minute you're picked up by the driver, to the time you meet the tribe, it's an extremely informative and pleasant time. They truly immerse you in the culture of the Maori. The Hangi feasts are unbelievably delicious and so is the kiwi punch!!! So much entertainment and knowledge and the mini Maori concert at the end just might have you in tears of appreciation for this beautiful culture. If you're in Rotorua, book this event if you can!!! Also got picked to be the chief of our bus haha, if you get to be a chief... DO IT!!!!! 100/10

A must for anybody interested in experiencing the culture of the Maori people. We really enjoyed ourselves.

Great place to learn maori culture and eat traditional food

This was one of my favourite things in New Zealand. We did the overnight stay which gave us a great chance to learn about the Maori culture from the locals. The dinner and show was incredible and the guides couldn t have been more welcoming! If you can do the overnight stay it s definitely worth it!! Special thanks to our guide Brennan!

We went on Tuesday night and it was such a good experience. The food was also amazing and plentiful. We would definitely recommend.
Our tour guide in bus Weka was absolutely hilarious and taught us a few Maori words.

Great cultural experience. Learned (and ate) heaps !

A truly fantastic evening. Great group of people and good food. Couldn't rate this place any higher. A1 plus.

Must do event when visiting New Zealand! Amazing show

I went with 3 Japanese friends and would recommend it to other tourists who want a snapshot of Maori culture. The folk involved are very passionate about sharing their culture and put on a great night. The entertainment was great, the food was awesome and it was a winner all round. Well done Tamaki Village Tours!!

Family-run and very entertaining. Well worth a visit

Good Food, great show, you must go and see yourself,it doesn 't matter if rains

If you want to really understand more about Maori culture, this is the place to go! They really make you feel welcome and show you a lot of facets of the culture. You can even try some of the games out if your chief selects you. Also, the food is great!

Great spot to start the tour. Nice place just to walk around and see the sulphur springs .

Excellent maori show in New Zealand. Rotorua. Good service. Good food. Lot of fun.