Matador Network Readers' Choice Awards 2025: Wellness Destination

In 2025, Matador readers chose Rotorua, on New Zealand’s North Island, as the place that best represents this.

Set on the shores of Lake Rotorua, the city sits over some of the country’s most active geothermal fields. Geysers, mud pools, and hot springs shape the streetscape — and for generations, local Māori communities have used those waters as part of everyday life and healing. Wellness here is more than access to hot pools and spas, but is rooted in Māori values, volcanic landforms, and deep green forest.

Photo: Stefano Ember/Shutterstock

Rotorua’s reputation as a wellness hub starts with Māori traditions and the water flowing in mineral-rich springs beneath the city. Treatments may draw on rongoā, Māori traditional healing that uses native plants, touch, and spiritual practices.

Polynesian Spa is the most famous of Rotorua’s spas. Marketed as New Zealand’s original geothermal spa, it blends historic springs with modern bathing pools and spa therapies on the edge of Lake Rotorua. Guests move between acidic and alkaline pools, with lakeside views that stretch across to Mokoia Island. On the wilder end of the spectrum, Hell’s Gate combines a geothermal reserve with a mud spa. Visitors can walk through a landscape of steaming vents, mud volcanoes, and the country’s largest hot waterfall, then soak in warm mud and sulphur pools that draw on a long therapeutic history of use by local Māori.

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Comparatively new, as of 2023, is Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa, a luxury Māori cultural wellness center. Owned by Ngāti Whakaue and built around their healing traditions, Wai Ariki has thermal bathing circuits that weave together mineral pools, hydrotherapy, native plant infusions, cold plunges, and bodywork shaped by Māori concepts of balance and care for guests. Treatments and experiences are framed around Ngāti Whakaue stories and healing frameworks, with staff trained to explain the culture behind the spa techniques.

Photo: Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock

Just south of the city, Whakarewarewa Forest, often called the Redwoods, has more than 110 miles of trails that wind through native forest and towering California redwoods planted in the early 1900s. Styles range from hikes easy enough to be called a stroll, to advanced mountain bike descents. The forest’s network of swing bridges and the elevated treewalk — which glows at night with artful lantern-style lighting — adds a gentle way to experience the canopy.

Around Lake Rotorua and neighboring lakes like Tarawera and Rotoiti, days can be built around paddling, lakeside walking tracks, and quiet swims at sheltered beaches. In cooler months, that often means a brisk hike or ride followed by a soak in a hot pool.

Wellness here has the classic touchpoints of spas and treatments, but also connects all-too-important outdoor time, a slower pace, and an understanding of Indigenous perspectives.

Photo: Katarina Marsalekova/Shutterstock

Most international visitors reach Rotorua via Auckland, flying into Auckland Airport and connecting by a short domestic flight or a three-hour drive. Wellington is another option for those flying in. Rotorua can also be part of a longer North Island loop that includes places like Taupō, the Coromandel, and Hawke’s Bay.

Wellness-minded travelers tend to get more from Rotorua by staying put on a weeklong-or-more visit rather than hopping around. Pick one or two spa experiences, plan outdoor time around them, and build in unstructured hours to sit by the lake or wander local cafes matches the pace of the place.

Rotorua is a year-round destination. The cooler months from late autumn into winter make for picturesque hot springs with steam rising into crisp air, while summer offers longer days for biking and swimming. Shoulder seasons see fewer tour buses, which can make spa sessions and forest time feel calmer.

For the 2025 Matador Network Readers’ Choice Awards, we asked our global audience of 300,000-plus email subscribers to vote for the places and experiences that define travel for them. The survey covered six categories: Next Big Destination, Best Adventure Destination, Best Sustainable Destination, Best Wellness Destination, Best Wildlife Destination, and Best Airline. After the voting period closed, our team verified and tallied the results to determine a single Readers’ Choice winner in each category.

Each category included a shortlist of nominees curated by Matador’s editorial team based on reporting, industry trends, and community feedback. Voters could also write in their own picks if a favorite wasn’t listed.

In the Best Wellness Destination category, Rotorua received the highest share of verified votes, earning its place as the Matador Network Readers’ Choice pick for 2025.