Wai Ariki Spa is a luxurious and enlightening experience. Photo / Supplied
Eyes closed, I focus on nothing but the wet, hot steam that billows around the dark-tiled room, warming my lungs and forming rivulets of sweat that tumble down every inch of skin, softening and washing away the layer of dried volcanic mud.
After 10 minutes, when my body can’t stand it for another moment, I fling open the door and drink in the cool air. Over the last two hours I have sweat in a scalding sauna and plunged into a petrifyingly cold tub, soaked in magnesium-rich pools, held ice chips against my arms and had my muscles kneaded into soft submission by expert hands.
“I feel like I’ve been reborn,” I say to my husband as we stand before the (blessing stone), the final stop of the Restorative Journey at Wai Ariki, in Rotorua.
With six hot spring spas and dozens of other spa-adjacent experiences in Rotorua, visitors to the sulphuric city probably don’t need yet another option to decide between (also probably “spa” is the fourth most popular search for those Googling “Rotorua’s best…”). So, as someone who has visited some of the top spas in the city, let me make it easy for you; for an experience like no other, head to Wai Ariki.
It’s here you will find, not only an elite wellness facility that would feel at home in a city like Los Angeles or New York, but one where te ao Māori isn’t just plastered on top but is the very bones of the company.
Opened in June 2023, the iwi-built, owned and operated spa is a first for Aotearoa. It is here, at this whare hauroa (place of wellbeing), where people can experience “cultural wellness”, says general manager Debbie Robertson.
“Not only is it the bathing and spa experience, but it’s infused with our Ngāti Whakaue stories and history, and that’s infused through the journey,” Robertson said.
Wai Whakaora (the Restorative Journey) is the main offering; a two-hour experience that begins with a brief tour by one of the several guides. Standing in the cathedral-like foyer, we meet Zac who performs a karakia beside a mauri stone from Tarawera and then invites us to take a handful of water and press our hands to the stone to cleanse our spirits.
After pointing out the spacious changing rooms, Zac leads us along an intuitive pathway that begins with a pathway of showers that run warm then cold, misty and strong to mimic waterfalls. Next is Te Ahi Tupua (Tongariro Fire & Ice Caves), which holds three saunas with illuminated rock salt walls. In the “ice cave” is a mountain of ice chips to hold on aches and bruises and, for the brave, wooden buckets full of freezing water you can tip over yourself using pulley chains.
At 10.30am on Saturday, we have the area to ourselves for an hour as we hop between the hot and cold. When we move outdoors, we join nine others enjoying the view of the trees and lake beyond. Here, we dip between five pools; two geothermal pools (41 and 38C), a frigid plunge pool, a hot herbal pool and a hydrotherapy pool.
All too soon it’s 12.30pm, and we grab our white robes before heading through a set of glass doors to Te Āhuru Mōwai (the sanctuary). The exclusive area is the second offering at Wai Ariki and has cushioned loungers, herbal tea stations and private pools for those booked into private experiences or treatments. In our case, it’s a couples massage that begins and ends with a softly-spoken karakia and involves a firm and heavenly treatment in between.
After a delightfully fancy charcuterie platter, (featuring a sweet chunk of honeycomb and beetroot relish amongst the cheese and breads), we return to our final stage of the journey. In the mud room, it feels both childish and supremely luxe to slather volcanic mud across our body before laying back on heated tile loungers to watch it dry. Finally, the steam room, which we follow up with long hot showers in the changing rooms.
How much more you learn about the Māori history, origins or practices is up to you, says Robertson, who describes the educational side of Wai Ariki as “subtle” and invitational. It certainly feels this way as a guest; several times during the tour, Zac pauses to ask if we have any questions and while we don’t notice staff “stationed” around the pools, those passing through seem happy to be stopped for questions.
One thing guests will notice is that most staff are of Māori descent, which Robertson said is “very important”, for several reasons. Firstly, it makes Wai Ariki an experience for visitors and a place that employs and passes cultural wisdom onto rangatahi.
“We’re sharing what we’ve been doing for hundreds of years, sharing our healing waters, sharing our practises, sharing our culture and showing our rangatahi, our younger generation that you can still have a great career in tourism, and it can move into different areas as well,” she said.
Wai Ariki’s iwi-led approach is also how it has avoided the all-too-common trap of cultural commodification.
“It is very, very, very important in te ao Māori that our culture is not put on a sort of commercial platform, and we are still honouring what we need to,” Robertson said.
One way of doing this was by passing knowledge on to future generations. Elders were another.
“Our elderly people are very quick to pull you into line,” Robertson laughed, adding that the company would never make decisions without the elders’ blessing but that this was a good thing.
“If they’re still here now, they have a lot of wisdom and they’ve learned from their ancestors,” she said.
Currently, 80% of visitors are Kiwi and both data and our experience found most were women in their 20s and 30s, however, I was impressed to see several men enjoying the steam and sauna with their partners. One group you won’t see here are children, as guests must be at least 16 years old to visit the beautiful property, which is a finalist in the World Architecture Festival 2024.
Open just over a year, Wai Ariki plans to offer luxury villa-style accommodation “in the near future”. In the meantime, out-of-towners should stroll 400m towards the city and check in at Pullman Rotorua. Located amongt dozens of bars and restaurants, the polished hotel’s kind staff, beautiful views and delightfully comfortable beds make it an ideal spot to sleepily wander to after a day of rest and relaxation.
Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa
Guests can experience Wai Ariki from $155 for The Restorative Journey (increasing to $175 from October 1), with options to purchase packages or additional treatments. For more details, including special discounts for local residents and Ngāti Whakaue, email info@waiariki.co.nz or visit www.wai-ariki.co.nz.
Pullman Rotorua
Rooms at Pullman Rotorua begin at $280 and can fluctuate depending on the time of year or available deals.