During our recent visit to New Zealand the beautiful lake side city of Taupo is without a doubt our favorite city on the North Island of New Zealand. Taupo is located in the center of the North Island along the shores of the beautiful Lake Taupo:

Lake Taupo is by far the largest lake in New Zealand that is watched over by the massive volcanoes of Tongariro National Park on the far side of the lake. From the lake flows the Waikato River which is the longest river in all of New Zealand:

The beginning of the river serves as a boat harbor for the city of Taupo that filled with many boats used primarily to fish for the famous trout that fill Lake Taupo:

The city of Taupo for New Zealand is a medium sized town of 21,000 people that is quickly growing as new housing developments seem to be going up all around the city:

Taupo is less known by international travelers to the North Island who tend to flock to Taupo’s neighboring city of Rotorua. However, Taupo is well known by New Zealanders themselves as a great holiday destination because Taupo has everything that Rotorua has, but without all the international tourists.

Most New Zealanders come to Taupo to fish for the massive trout that fill Lake Taupo. All around the city you see constant reminders of Taupo’s famous fish:

A local I met in Taupo told me that the trout in Lake Taupo grow to enormous sizes because of the minerals that flow into the lake from the nearby volcanoes.

If fishing isn’t your thing there is plenty of other things to do around Taupo such as bushwalking, bungee jumping, speed boating, rock climbing, visiting a Maori village, thermal pools, geysers, etc. The geothermal activity in this area is very famous in New Zealand. In fact there is so much geothermal activity in the area that a good portion of the North Island’s electricity comes from geothermal energy plants around Taupo. Besides electricity many of the hotels in the area including the one my wife and I stayed in, had a thermal hot water tub in our room.

Downtown Taupo is also a great place to explore as it is filled with some of the best shops and restaurants we found on the entire North Island:

Taupo also has just about every fast food outlet you can think of including McDonald’s. However, Taupo can lay claim to having the only McDonald’s, oddly enough, with its own airplane:

We had an absolutely fantastic time visiting the Taupo area and I highly recommend spending some time in this area for anyone planning to visit New Zealand’s north island.

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