cheap and OK, only $3 for a senior swim. clean and friendly. I missed an outdoor pool thoughread more

Wonderful, relaxing setting. A variety of pools ranging from 37-41C. Some are covered which…read moreprovided coverage from sun and rain. Clean and well maintained. Take the walk up to the spring to see where the hot water starts. Another tip: do buy a piece of the carrot cake to go. Make on site and delicious! Enjoy!

This is a wonderful facility with well-maintained hot pools, situated right next to the hot spring…read morewith the largest discharge of boiling water in New Zealand. Service there was excellent too. Staff are friendly. The iced chocolate is delightful. The private pool option is worth trying as well.

Came here while road tripping across North Island. There's plenty of free outdoor parking and there…read moreare no reservation required. We had our own swimsuits but paid to rent a towel and a locker. You will get refunded half of the amount you pay once you return the key to the locker and the towel back at the front desk (hold onto your receipt!!). There are 4 hot spring pools, each slightly different in temperature but I highly recommend both bringing over a pair of flip-flops as the walk from the lockers is quite a bit more than expected and then bring a water bottle if you are sensitive to hot temperatures because you will start to sweat especially if you lounge near or under a waterfall they have. You have to pay extra to tour the location but we just paid for hot spring access to swim and it was lovely. Customer service was very polite and they have a coffee shop located inside as well as a small gift shop carrying locally carved jade jewelry!

We stopped here after visiting the Thermal park and huka falls. It was a refreshing way to end the…read moreday. We had our own swim suits but rented a towel and locker. Lockers are in separate rooms by gender so we rented two but I did see people handing bags out to their spouses in the hall. The pools were lovely. There were three pools that get progressively warmer as you get closer to the spring source. The hottest one was about the temp of a hot tub back home. Nice and toasty. There were quite a few people in the pools. The pools have seating areas near the edges which is a nice way to hang and enjoy the warm water. The locker room were clean but sparse. Only one shower and two bathrooms which were not to be used for changing. Not a place to be modest. We were glad we did this. It felt so good. (No pics as I left my phone in the car).

There's an urban legend about Parakai that involves a woman squeezing the pus out of pimples on her…read moreman's back while sitting in a hot pool. I almost feel like I have seen it happen myself because I actually think I did. In the really hot adults-only pool. Anyway, such are the risks you take when sharing water with others. Ergh. The whole place has hardly changed in years and has a slightly sad faded feel about it which does nothing to deter the masses from descending, particular on chilly Winter's days. The slides are pretty rough but the kids think that's a good thing (uh huh) and the facilities in general are just a bit dilapidated. Still, it's so wholeheartedly Kiwi that you just gotta love it. I remember we used to have friends who would take their campervan to Helensville (the whole 40 minute drive from home) and camp at the campground here, which is part of the Springs complex. I was so jealous. Now I'm not really sure why you would - it's nice and green enough but there's better places. Still, like I said, it's classic Noo Zilland.

I hadn't been to Parakai since the last year of High School which was over 10 years back, so was…read morelooking forward to seeing if anything had changed since my last visit. Other than possibly redoing the reception, and maybe cafe area, I don't think a lot has changed since I last swam here. I did have a blast coming down the hydro slides with the kids on the mats provided; however I'm sure the owners could possibly put a bit more money in sprucing up the facilities and particularly the padding on the stairs up to the top as it looks a bit tired in places. The hot pool inside is great, and had it been a colder time of year I would of spent more time inside, however it was sweltering hot, so I had a quick splash and spent more time in the sun, and riding the slide. It felt like the busiest Saturday ever, 100's packed in to the springs, and the pool was a sea of faces- quite fun, but also hard to enjoy your own space really. I would recommend trying the pools out on a week day, when the kids at school next time.

Totara Park is a South Auckland staple. Its highly likely that growing up in the Manurewa/Manukau…read morearea meant you were here for swimming lessons, a day out with family or school, or a hangout with friends. Its ideal for family picnics, barbecues (they have facilities available) and get-togethers. The children's playground keeps the younger ones, and the young at heart, entertained. The free supervised swimming pools are open in February and March, and are perfect for that relaxing swim on a scorching day. As a teenager, my dad dragged my siblings and I here every morning of the school holidays for the 45 minute bush walk, and while I barely liked it back then, I'm grateful. These days, that bush walk, among the other trails you can take at Totara Park, are somewhat of a blessing (apart from the killer stairs!). The farm track from the Redoubt Rd entrance to the main picnic area on Wairere Road is a popular one, just be sure not to run past the cows as they can get pretty scary (for me at least). Another track, the Puhinui Stream Forest Trail, takes about two hours to complete and connects Totara Park with the nearby Botanic Gardens.

An outdoor saltwater swimming complex using seawater from the nearby Pilot Bay, the Mount Hot Pools…read moreis located in Tauranga, right at the base of Mount Maunganui in New Zealand. It consists of 3 distinct pools (none of them too deep), and 2 spa pools (one with jets turned on, the other not), full locker room usage, and massage services. It might be the first time for me using a salt water spa, and I did notice how much better my skin felt vs using a typical chlorine sanitized spa pool. My brother and I were here in Tauranga for the day, coming in via the cruise ship, Celebrity Edge. Our plan was to hike the mountain in the early morning before it got too hot, and then spend the afternoon at the Hot Pools getting a massage. Reservations and payments are all doable on-line, so it was just a matter of finding the place (we had seen it while exploring the trails around the mountain in the morning). To use the pools for the whole day is NZ$27.30 for adults. My massage was for 13:30, so we arrived after lunch around 1. They ask you to be ready 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment. The 90 minute 'Relaxation' massage was with Vivian, and she was very good. The hour and a half went by really quickly (though I didn't fall asleep for once). My brother got a 'Sports Recovery' massage with Sergio, and he stated that it was extremely effective, with an end goal of reducing the number of 'knots' in the muscles. Cost is NZ$140 for the 90 minute session. There is a dedicated indoor wing for massages just off of the main pool (next to the women's locker room), It's best if you come to the appointment dry (i.e. not wet from the pools), with your things already stored away. There are a lot of cubbies for your dry belonging storage throughout the complex, though you can also rent a locker (with lock) for NZ$5. As mentioned, the facilities uses heated ocean water, distributed across the complex. The pools themselves are modern, just like what you would see at any community swimming pool in the States. But of course, the common smell of chorine is not there. There are also large sun umbrellas throughout the pool area, so it is possible to find both sunny and shady spots, based on your preference. Since we couldn't get our massages together Because the facility is located right next to the mountain, it provides very unique scenic views while lounging around. Paragliders were circling around the mountain, and it was cool thinking we had climbed to the summit that morning.

Right soooo the Mount Hot Pools are I assume volcanically heated waters that vary in temperature…read morefrom pool to pool. I don't know why I expected nature. It looks like any other public pool, or maybe the kind of pools you'd see at an amusement park. The pools are fine, with various shapes/sizes/types. I've only ever tried the private pools, which are I think about $25 for 30 minutes. My friend and I found that reasonable. The private rooms are okay, but they are not ventilated and they seem a bit dirty to me. I'm not really sure how clean this kind of thing usually is, but I don't get the impression that these pools are cleaned often enough. The water feels a bit lukewarm at first, but after about ten minutes you start to sweat. I wish they had a wider variety of jets/fountains inside them because I don't find the faucet-type things all that relaxing. Also, they are kind of loud somehow. There's a warning on the door not to bring in any food or drink, which we sometimes ignore by bringing water in. They also warn you that someone can come in at any time, which is actually terrifying. Though, I might mention, no one has ever bothered us. I was hoping to bathe naked but I guess that's not the point here. Anyway, nothing special to report!

When I was growing up - this was the place to be in the summer! The outside pools rocked with the…read moreslides and deep diving pool. Now I'm a bit older ... I have to admit I've dropped into the free Aquacise classes and laughed my head off with the local mamas. I haven't tried the gym but it looks good and I like the strap line they use "no egos just real people"

I've spent way too much time here over the years; it can't be helped if you have kids. The little…read moreones LOVE it and by little I mean, preschoolers and up to about age 10. There's a nice warm baby pool and the shallows of the main pool are full of interactive water thingies, and of course a slide. There's "the lazy river" which is kind of an alternative to a whirlpool but what's most special about here is the waves, dude. They don't turn the waves on all the time mainly I think because they're bloody dangerous. Hold on tight to your toddler because the floor is really slippery and the force is enough to knock adults over easily, let alone adults holding another small body. Seriously, be careful. The hydroslide is pretty cool as far as these things go but the up the stairs and the shivering is not for me. Which I'm sure is fine with the kids. My reckoning is that this is Auckland's busiest pool so if you do have a little one in the big pool it's incredibly stressful trying to keep track of them. Go when your kids can swim on their own.

I used to come to this pool every single morning to swim laps before I went to work. My absolute…read morefavourite thing about this place was the kind of clientele it encased. Rapidly aging Asian men in the most terrific striped speedos imaginable. Pregnant women. Sad people. Lots of sad people. I dunno, it was a good people watching spot. The lane pool was never overly busy and the water was always a nice refreshing temperature. The price was okay. I think pools generally are a bit of a rip off. I probably wouldn't have gone here if it wasn't the closest pool to my house. But I did, and I'm perfectly at peace with the time I spent there. Three stars.

Yesterday the swimming pool was the dirtiest I have ever seen it. There were clumps of hair…read morefloating and the water looked murky and unclear. Unfortunately I won't be going back there. Very unhygienic.

Situated quietly in Bellevue Road, this is still a bit of a secret. We come here when we don't have…read morea lot of time and just really need a dip; nothing flash, no slides, diving boards or carry-on, just a good old basic swimming pool. I love that even during summer school holidays it's not particularly busy. Whenever we've visited, there's only been half a dozen or so other groups which is unheard of at the more popular pools. The Dean Greenwood swim school operates out of here so like most of the public pools, you should check your times if you don't want to be surrounded by splashing kiddies. There's sweet and salty snacks available at the counter (ok junk food), and a range of togs and goggles etc. Cheap as chips, and although heated year round, the temperature is lovely and cool on a hot day making this place perfect any time. It's everything you need and nothing more.