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Whakapapa Resort Reviews


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Visitor reviews for Whakapapa Ski Resort

Whakapapa Ratings

Overall: 3.3. Based on 52 votes and 59 reviews.

Rate this resort

Snowsure: 3.2

  • Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
  • Is often closed due to a lack of snow
  • Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
  • Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
  • Whakapapa is snowsure even in the poorest seasons

Variety of pistes: 4.2

  • The ski runs are featureless and unvaried
  • The ski runs are varied but not extensive enough for a week
  • Whakapapa has diverse and interesting pistes including forests and high alpine terrain

Off-piste: 4.1

  • No off-piste worth mentioning
  • Off piste is out-of-bounds
  • Some varied offpiste that stays fresh for one or two days
  • A vast array of off-piste routes that can stay untracked for several days

Scenery: 4.2

  • An ugly resort in a bland setting
  • Average mountain views and resort
  • A spectacular setting and a beautiful / historic resort town

Access: 3.3

  • At least one overnight stop
  • Requires a whole day
  • Requires more than half a day – you may have time for a few turns
  • Arrive by lunchtime and ski all afternoon
  • There is a main airport within an hour of Whakapapa

Public Transport: 3.1

  • There are no buses or taxis to Whakapapa
  • There are slow or infrequent buses / trains available
  • Getting to the resort is easy with frequent bus / train connections

Accommodation: 3.5

  • No places to stay in/near Whakapapa
  • A few places to stay in the resort
  • A wide variety of accommodation suitable to suit all budgets

Cheap Rooms: 3.4

  • No budget accommodation available
  • Just one or two hostels so book ahead
  • Several cheap hostels and pensions available

Luxury Hotels: 3.5

  • No luxury accommodation available
  • Just one or two luxury hotels so book ahead
  • Several up-market hotels in Whakapapa

Ski in/Ski out: 3.2

  • The ski area is located far from any accommodation
  • A free ski bus takes you to the ski area in a short trip
  • Ski-in ski-out accommodation is available

Childcare: 2.8

  • There are no child care facilities at Whakapapa
  • The resort has limited child-care facilities
  • the resort has excellent child-care facilities including at least one reasonably priced creche

Snowmaking: 3.7

  • Whakapapa relies entirely on natural snow
  • There are just a few snow cannons
  • There are snowmaking facilities on all pistes

Snow Grooming: 3.6

  • There are no snow groomers at Whakapapa
  • Occasionally some pistes are left ungroomed and in a poor state
  • All the runs at Whakapapa are groomed daily

Shelter: 2.0

  • There is nowhere to ski when it is windy or visibility is bad and lifts often shut
  • There are some trees for poor visibility but main lifts sometimes close
  • Whakapapa is mostly in forest where you can ski in flat-light and windy days, lifts rarely close

Nearby options: 2.7

  • If snow conditions are poor at Whakapapa, it will be poor everywhere nearby
  • There are good alternatives within an hours drive
  • Other locations on the same lift pass provide a rich variety of snowsure ski conditions

Regional rating: 3.6

  • Whakapapa usually has poor snow conditions compared to other resorts in region
  • Has average conditions for the region
  • Usually has the best snow conditions in the region

Lift Staff: 3.6

  • The staff at Whakapapa are rude or unhelpful
  • Lift staff at Whakapapa are pleasant, cheerful and eager to help

Crowds/Queues: 2.9

  • The resort is always busy and there are usually long lift queues
  • It is quiet apart from occasional weekends and school holidays
  • It is uncrowded and lift queues are very rare

Ski Schools: 4.2

  • No ski schools available
  • One or two ski schools but local language only
  • A few ski schools but book early for multi-lingual instructors
  • Plenty of ski schools and multi-lingual instructors available
  • Excellent ski schools with friendly multi-lingual ski instructors

Hire and Repairs: 4.0

  • Nothing can be sourced, not even ski-wax or ptex
  • There are some ski shops but rentals need to be booked in advance
  • Good quality ski equipment can be purchased or hired and overnight repairs are possible

Beginners: 3.6

  • Beginners can only watch others ski and snowboard
  • A few gentle slopes but beginners will get bored in less than a week
  • Vast areas of gentle terrain

Intermediates: 4.1

  • No intermediate terrain at Whakapapa
  • Intermediate skiers will get bored after a few days
  • Vast areas of cruising runs

Advanced: 4.3

  • Nothing for advanced skiers and snowboarders
  • Enough steep terrain for a few days with some good offpiste
  • Enough steep terrain and offpiste areas to entertain advanced skiers for at least a week

Snow Park: 2.7

  • Not even a kicker at Whakapapa
  • Average sized park quite well looked after
  • Huge park area and expertly crafted pipes, jumps and boardercross trails

Cross-country: 2.5

  • There is nowhere to go for cross-country skiing around Whakapapa
  • There are some cross country trails available
  • The area features many spectacular and well maintained cross-country trails

Luge/Toboggan: 2.6

  • No designated luge or toboggan runs
  • There are toboggan runs that open quite often
  • Whakapapa has long and well maintained luge / toboggan facilities suitable for all ages

Mountain Dining: 3.2

  • Nowhere to buy food by the pistes
  • Some places to eat up on the mountain but they are often busy and expensive
  • There is a variety of excellent mountain eateries right next to the slopes to suit all budgets

Eating: 3.2

  • Bring your own food, there isn't even a shop
  • There are a few places to eat in the resort but nothing special
  • A wide variety of places to eat and drink in the resort, from fast food to fancy restaurants

Apres-Ski: 2.6

  • Nothing to do, not even a bar
  • There are a few bars in the resort but nothing special
  • Clubs and bars stay open until very late and have a friendly atmosphere

Other Sports: 1.7

  • No sports facilities at all apart from ski lifts
  • Resort has just a small public swimming pool
  • Resort has all kinds of sports facilities, including a full-size swimming pool

Entertainment: 2.7

  • Besides the snow and walking there is nothing to do here
  • The non-skier will find things to do for few days but may become bored after a week
  • The resort area is a fascinating place to visit, regardless of winter sports

Winter Walks: 3.4

  • Very limited walking and no snowshoe trails
  • A couple of designated scenic walking/snowshoe trails
  • Extensive and diverse winter walking trails for all abilities

Ski Pass Value: 2.9

  • A 1 week ski pass is overpriced compared to the number of lifts available
  • The ski pass is averagely priced and covers a reasonable number of lifts
  • Ski passes are excellent value for money and cover a lot of lifts spanning a big area

Value (National): 3.5

  • Overall, Whakapapa is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the country and not worth the money
  • Overall represents average value for money
  • Overall offers the best value resort in the country

Value (Global): 3.3

  • Overall, Whakapapa is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the world
  • Overall it offers pretty average value for money compared to resorts from other countries
  • Internationally the resort offers excellent value for money

Show all 35 ratings

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July 27, 2025
Geoff Powdrell
I love this mountain and always will. I may have a different perspective to many because I always stay in one of the ski lodges on Whakapapa. Staying on the mountain is a beautiful experience. I took a party of 10 to stay at our lodge in August 2023 and we all had an amazing time, it was a great snow season. We tried the same again in August 2024 but the snow gods were not forthcoming. However, we improvised and did bush walks, hot pools and other activities to make up for the lack of snow and conditions. I have been coming here since I was a tiny tot in the late seventies so my views are the same, always a great experience at Whakapapa.
October 17, 2023
Janet from Ski New Zealand New Zealand
Went up to Whakapapa last Friday, amazing, lots of snow. The staff were just fantastic. It was a great experience. The restaurant was lovely and clean. All the staff were welcoming. I hope everything is sorted for next year. What a well run business. The lifties were so great holding the seat back for us. I have nothing but praise for the team at Whakapapa and the facilities. And the snow was amazing, brilliant day.
July 16, 2023
Barry M from Ski New Zealand New Zealand
Just an appalling badly managed business and facilities. Used to visit Whakapapa regularly in early 2000s. Wow, has it changed for the worst. Incredibly obnoxious and rude staff, filthy and dirty overcrowed facilities. Endless queues for everything from toilets through to hiring, booking. Everything is booked online but they don't staff the facilities with enough staff to cope with the masses. Tiny eateries with huge queues to access food. Happy Valley endless queues for ski gear hire, the line never got shorter in 4 hours we were there. So we decided to take kids onto Happy Valley with the snow passes we had already pre purchased. An hour after being on area up side away from any skiers or snowboarders a very angry and rude staff member aggressively and rudely ordered us and some others to get off the field and go play in the carpark area. She yelled at us, this area is only for skiing and snowboarding. I complained that there was no signage saying we had to ski or snowboard only. She got madder and threatened to trespass us if we didn't go immediately. So we packed up with kids and promptly left. The first day we tried to get up the mountain we drove and were turned away. They had closed the road due to all carparks bring full, open at 9am.... We arrived at 9:20am. Day 1 pass wasted as no shuttle bookings left and three disappointed children. Insufficient carpark facilities and these fill up with freedom sightseers who don't enter the facilities. Or only go to ride the over priced gondola as there is no parking management. Once carpark is full it's one down one up rule, creating huge vehicle queues three quarters of the way down the Bruce Road. This also prevents the private shuttle buses from getting to drop off points in a timely manner. On bad days they close the road completely and turn back everyone except the shuttles. As a result, legitimate customers whom have pre-purchased passes and gear are denied access to the mountain. Just a complete and utter fiasco. So we booked a shuttle $160 for the following day and managed to get on the mountain. Overall, it's not hard to see why the business is in liquidation. Just a poorly run setup. No communication, no signage, rude arrogant narcissistic staff. Hoards of people, dirty rundown facilities, nowhere near enough toilet facilities, bad and grossly over priced fast finger food: $12.50 for chips, $18 for wedges, $9.50 for pies and $8 for sausage roles. Insufficient dinning space, small and very cramped. People are crammed in shoulder to shoulder and kids get stood on and knocked over. So we ate outside. Fortunately a blue sky day with no wind. Terrible snow, I mean it's just groomed ice. Climate change has ruined the mountain. Only found good powder at 1900m or above. Most slopes are closed due to insufficient snow base. Best bring your ice skates as better suited to slopes than skis. My advice would be don't go. Save your money up and visit the South Island. Both Whakapapa and Turoa have been ruined by corporate greed, inept management and extreme overcrowding a with gross under investment in infrastructure poor staff training and hiring of people who have no personality of people skills. As the mountain is managed through multi government agencies Department of Conservation, Waka Kotahi and Ruapehu District Council, in conjunction with local Iwi, there's an environment of complete chaos where nothing changes and nothing improves. New Zealanders really can no longer access this mountain as rampant tourism and sightseeing has ruined it especially with introduction of the gondola ride. Honestly, Ruapehu Ski deserved to go bankrupt, good job too. Shame the government has decided to bail them out to the tune of 5 million. What a waste of tax payers money.
October 01, 2022
Debbie from Ski New Zealand New Zealand
A couple of corrections, Whakapapa ski area is located on the north western side of Mt Ruapehu, not the southern side. Turoa is located on the southern side. The image you're showing labelled Turoa is actually taken at Whakapapa. (note from the editor: Debbie, could you write to me at [email protected] to tell me here there are errors in the text/images related to Whakapapa and Turoa ski areas. Cheers, Michelle)
September 20, 2022
April from Ski New Zealand New Zealand
Ruapehu is a volcano which means it has wicked terrain, Whakapapa on the south side is awesome. There is loads of off-trail terrain to explore with plenty of fun and interesting on-trail runs. It is also a great spot for learning. Happy Valley on the lower mountain is great for doing so and there's sometimes a slightly more advanced beginner area on the upper mountain near the top cafe. They also sometimes have a park set up next to a T-bar. It is a tricky maunga (mountain) to plan for as the weather can change at any time. It's best to stay in the area for a week or plan trips last minute (literally the night before) to score epic days.
September 03, 2020
Bayley from Ski New Zealand New Zealand
This mountain is one of a kind with the funniest people that arrive to the awesome terrain that can turn on. This mountain is highly demanding but from skiing in other countries I must say I have had some of the best snow of all time, understanding where the snow is coming from is very key to skiing dry and rewarding pow. Both sides of Ruapehu needs to be skied to sunlight / snow direction / wind direction and of course not following the crowds, if all align I can ensure you one of a kind skiing experience. If you are skiing to experience the goods, try and ski with groups and with transceivers, Pinnacles can turn on early morning or arvo. Enjoy and take the experience in.
August 29, 2019
Malman from Ski New Zealand New Zealand
A great mt when weather gods play well with excellent terrain. Challenging mountain, challenging to get lifts going. 2019 has seen storms lasting nearly three weeks in August; from a base of a 1 meter to now 2.5m. Tragically, after a week no progress with getting a large area of mt open. At west T-bar and chair end result = extreme crowding. Meanwhile, over at Turoa main lift is yet to open for another year- six seater express. Pretty disappointing if you were a season pass holder. Pick your days very carefully if going, it can be good if it all lines up!
July 22, 2019
Bob Le Quesne from Ski New Zealand New Zealand
Appalling customer service at ticketing today . Waiting in line about 1 hour. Poor customer service at Ski hire in Happy Valley. No customers for snowboards and 3 people standing around at that desk while people queuing to hire skis. Very, very slack service for a place charging top dollar. Tried to book online tonight to make tomorrow easier but only no ability to use online for under-fives. Come on, Whakapapa, get with it.
July 30, 2018
Carien from Ski New Zealand New Zealand
What a rip off! We love skiing, but not that much. We went there last Saturday, and were really looking forward it. Took 2 hours just to get up the mountain ($50 family of 4) was free last year when showing your pass going down. We tried to get a lift pass and had someone help who can’t speak or understand English. Once in, what a shock! 4 toilets each men/women for thousands of people. Filthy and smelly. The cafe did not have enough food available at any given time for the demand. People were sitting on the staircase because they can not handle that many. We had to stand whilst eating. Overpriced food. By now someone should have noticed the problems and fixed it since they are ripping off visitors. My first ever review and I just had to let everyone know what to expect. We will definitely not be going there again.
September 08, 2017
Chris from Ski New Zealand New Zealand
Keep up all the negative comments about Whakapapa, it will keep the hoards away! Seriously though, I don't know what people complain about. We are lucky to have a place to ski that doesn't require getting on a plane, if you live in the North Island. Whakapapa has all the terrain you could wish for if you are a serious skier with good ability and are prepared to do a little hiking; there are huge wide open slopes, steep bowls and shutes and great snow if you go on the back of a weather system. There is also great challenging terrain that is lift accessed if you're prepared to do some long traverses. I've been skiing Whakapapa for 45 years and have skied at a lot of overseas resorts but I still love our home ski field.