Destination Guide
Cycling in Taupo & Volcanic Plateau
Taupo cycling: Lake Taupo circumnavigation, Tongariro volcanic backdrop, the Timber Trail through native forest — and the Taupo Cycle Challenge, New Zealand's biggest cycling event.
Lake Taupo is New Zealand's largest lake and the flooded caldera of one of the world's most volcanically active supervolcano systems — a fact that creates a cycling context of unusual geological intensity. The lake is 40km long and 35km wide, its shoreline offering a natural circumnavigation ride of approximately 150km on sealed roads with minimal climbing, the water visible on one side for most of the circuit and the volcanic peaks of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and Ruapehu dominating the southern horizon throughout. The town of Taupo, on the northeastern shore, has been a cycling destination since the establishment of the Taupo Cycle Challenge in the early 1980s — the November event now attracts up to 10,000 entries across multiple distances (20km, 50km, 100km, and the 160km lake circumnavigation) and is the largest annual cycling event in New Zealand by participation. Pack & Pedal on Tongariro Street in Taupo centre is the local cycling hub, serving both the resident cycling community and the event-tourism cycle visitors who arrive for the Challenge and for the increasingly popular Taupo Gravel event.
Last updated: 15 Mar 2026
- Terrain
- Road, Gravel, Touring, Climbing
- Difficulty
- Easy — Challenging
- Road Quality
- Good
- Cycling Culture
- Strong
- Traffic
- Low
Pro Cycling Connection
The Taupo Cycle Challenge (November) is New Zealand's largest mass-participation cycling event, attracting national and international entries across five distance categories. The Taupo cycling communi...
Best Time to Cycle in Taupo & Volcanic Plateau
The North Island is significantly milder than the South Island in winter — Taupo averages 8–14°C in July and year-round cycling at valley level is feasible for committed riders with appropriate kit. The prime season of November through March delivers...
Temperature: 2°C (winter) to 28°C (summer)
Best Cycling Climbs in Taupo & Volcanic Plateau
Gentle Annie
32km · 650m · 2% · CAT2
Gentle Annie is the remote inland pass connecting the Hawke's Bay coastline at Napier to the volcanic plateau at Taihape — a 32km Category 2 climb on State Highway 50 that carries so little traffic through such extravagantly empty Central North Island high country that the road's nickname, derived from the supposedly mild gradient profile, has become one of the most affectionate misdirections in New Zealand cycling. The road is not steep by mountain pass standards — the 2.0% average is genuinely gentle — but the combination of distance, isolation, prevailing north-westerly headwind, and the complete absence of services or shelter for 80km between Napier and Taihape makes it a significant undertaking and one of the least-crowded major pass crossings on either island. The climb begins in the Tutaekuri River catchment above Napier at approximately 160m, transitioning rapidly from the wine country flatlands of Hawke's Bay into the hill country that characterises the boundary between the coastal province and the Rangitikei interior. The lower 10km at 1-2% traverse the lower Tutaekuri Valley through Maori land and sheep station country — the road is seal-chipped rather than hot-mix, the surface acceptable but requiring attention to the loose aggregate at road margins. Above km 10 the valley closes and the road enters the more sustained climbing section: a long ridge traverse at 2-3% through the Ruahine Range foothills, the tussock and bracken fern country of the central North Island replacing the pastoral grass of the coastal catchment. The landscape here is one of the least-visited in New Zealand: the high sheep country of the Hawke's Bay-Manawatu hill zone, characterised by erosion-prone mudstone hills covered in regenerating manuka and exotic pasture grass, the only signs of habitation being occasional station mailboxes on the roadside and the inevitable hawk riding the thermals above the ridge. The summit at 810m is unmarked by any significant structure — a modest high point on a long ridge with views north across the Rangitikei headwaters toward the volcanic cones of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and Ruapehu on clear days. The connection to the Taupo volcanic plateau region is direct: the road from Taihape drops to the Rangitikei River before the plateau road network begins, with the Tongariro National Park accessible 100km further north.
Paekakariki Hill Road
4.8km · 280m · 5.8% · CAT3
Paekakariki Hill Road is the Wellington commuter belt's most notorious cycling obstacle and its most beloved training climb — a 4.8km road ascent from the Kapiti Coast flatlands at 10m to the bush-cloaked saddle at 290m that separates the Kapiti and Wellington motorway corridors, the road carrying none of the motorway traffic and all of the character that a bush-edged sealed hillroad in wet, wind-prone Wellington topography can deliver. The climb from the Paekakariki village side rises at a steady 5–7% through bush regeneration before the maximum 13% gradient arrives on the tighter hairpin sections midway through the ascent, the road surface consistently good but the available width reducing to a single lane with passing places on the tightest sections. The summit at 290m is woodland-enclosed and the view opens only briefly toward the Kapiti Island marine reserve and the Tasman Sea before the road descends on the Wainuiomata or Mackays Crossing side depending on the chosen route. The climb sits 50km north of Wellington and is accessible from the Paraparaumu rail station via a short flat road section — a practical cycle commuting and training destination that the Wellington road cycling community uses regularly for structured interval work. The distance and gradient combination — 4.8km at 5.8% average — makes it naturally suited to threshold efforts and repeated ascent training, and the low traffic on the hill road itself enables safe interval work without the vehicle exposure of the busier coastal highways.
Rimutaka Hill (Remutaka)
10km · 555m · 5.6% · CAT2
Rimutaka Hill — officially gazetted as Remutaka since a 2019 name restoration to the original Maori form — is the defining climb of Wellington cycling, the pass that connects the capital to the Wairarapa wine region across a range that rises abruptly from the Hutt Valley floor to 555m in 10km, carrying State Highway 2 and the full traffic load of the Wellington-Wairarapa corridor. The road is the commuting and supply route for the Wairarapa, carries inter-city coach traffic, and has the gradient profile and road width of a proper mountain pass despite its modest summit elevation. For Wellington cyclists it occupies the role that equivalent passes play in European cycling cities: the threshold climb that divides urban riding from the agricultural landscape beyond, ridden regularly enough to serve as the primary fitness benchmark and infrequently enough to maintain the character of an event rather than a training lap. The ascent begins at the Hutt Valley floor at essentially sea level, a start point reachable from the Wellington CBD by 30km of flat valley cycling along the Hutt River trail — making Rimutaka accessible as a no-car-required day out for Wellington riders, a logistical quality that has embedded it firmly in the capital's cycling culture. The lower 3km from the valley floor at 3-4% pass through the Hutt Valley suburbs and the transition zone to the Rimutaka Forest Park, the native podocarp-broadleaf forest of the lower range beginning at approximately km 3. Above km 3 the gradient firms immediately and consistently: the road climbs at 5-7% through the forest on a road that was originally surveyed in the 1870s and that retains the directness of a nineteenth-century engineering approach to a natural barrier. The maximum 11% gradient arrives at km 7-8 on the steepest ramps below the summit, sections that are frequently cited in Wellington cycling conversation as the decisive test of the climb and the point where groups on the Wairarapa expedition first separate into their natural order. The summit at 555m is marked by a rest area and the characteristic Wellington wind: the Rimutaka Range is one of the most consistently windy ridgelines in the North Island, and the southerly that crosses Cook Strait and funnels through the Wairarapa Valley arrives at the summit as a cross-wind of sometimes startling force. The descent to Featherston on the Wairarapa side is the fastest road descent accessible from Wellington: 14km at an average 3.9% on a well-surfaced highway carrying the full SH2 traffic load.
Te Mata Peak
2.4km · 270m · 11.3% · CAT4
Te Mata Peak is the most intense short climb in the North Island — a 2.4km Category 4 wall ascent near Havelock North in the Hawke's Bay region at 11.3% average gradient with a maximum of 22%, rising from the Havelock North suburban fringe to the 399m limestone bluff summit that offers the finest panoramic viewpoint in the lower North Island. The climb is short by the standards of any serious mountain cycling destination, but at 11.3% average and 22% maximum, the physical demand per kilometre exceeds every other sealed climb in New Zealand outside the Remarkables. The road from the Te Mata Road and Simla Avenue junction rises immediately at 8–10%, the gradient compounding through the residential boundary before the open hillside road section begins above the vineyards of the Havelock North wine district. The maximum 22% arrives on the final 400m before the summit carpark — a section that requires standing regardless of gearing for any rider over 65kg, the gradient converting the final push from a cycling challenge to something closer to a physical negotiation with gravity. The summit at 399m has a wide panoramic view encompassing the Heretaunga Plains (one of New Zealand's most productive horticultural regions), the Hawke's Bay coastline north toward Napier, and on clear days the Mahia Peninsula and the East Cape coast. The limestone rock face of the peak itself, 100m vertical on the western side, is as dramatic a summit destination as the climb approach from the road side.
Insider Tips
The Taupo Cycle Challenge entry for the 160km lake circumnavigation sells out months in advance — the event is held in November and entries typically open in July. If attending is...
The Timber Trail is best ridden with a one-night DOC hut stay. Book the Piropiro Flats Hut or the Bog Inn Hut through doc.govt.nz at least 4 weeks in advance in summer — the huts a...
Pack & Pedal on Tongariro Street in Taupo is the cycling information centre for the zone as much as it is a bike shop. The staff maintain a current knowledge of trail conditions on...
How to Get to Taupo & Volcanic Plateau for Cycling
Getting around: Car Recommended
Taupo is compact enough that the lake circuit and the town's immediate road cycling network are accessible directly from accommodation in the centre, making it one of the more car-optional bases in Ne...