ngarua caves

I did this with my family as a kid, now i got a chance to do it with my own family on a holiday around the south island. It was a high light of our trip, my girls ages 2 and 6 years loved it, especially the moa bones. our guide was very informative and interesting. we did it as a day trip to Kaiteriteri then up the Takaka hill to the caves. Only thing that worried me was getting out at the end straight up a ladder with the 2 year old, but not a problem. Well worth the trip and very reasonably priced. I would highly recommend Ngarua caves to anyone of any age.

A small show cave on the top of Takaka Hill. It consists of a single rift passage well decorated with old speleothems and contains some moa bones. The exit is quite entertaining with fine views on the walk back to the entrance.

These caves were not really highlighted in our tourist guide, and it was finally a good surprise. Nearly better than Waitomo and definitely less touristic, but much more original.And you end up in a Hobbit scenery.

Staff very nice. Small group in the cave so friendly atmosphere. Stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. Cave really magnificent. It took 1 hour to come back to the office. We think that the price is really reasonable (7$ pp). At the end we learned that a scene of the last Hobbit was shot near the place (good surprise for fans). We recommend the tour.

If you are travelling from Abel Tasman over to the Golden Bay area, these caves are worth a stop. Caves were very neat...and very sizeable! Also one of the least expensive things to do in NZ!

We really enjoyed our trip into the Ngarua caves. The tour guide was great, the walkway was well formed and well lit, and the cave was beautiful. We felt like the tour was well priced & definitely worth a look. Note that if it is raining, it is best to wear a water-proof jacket because there are some drips in the cave, and at the end of the tour you have a bit of a walk in the open to get back to the visitor centre.

The view from the caves site is stunning. We were the only four on this tour but the one before us had over 30. Our guide was a lovely man who explained things really well. The caves are lovely inside, nice easy walk through if you have kids. At the end you need to be able to climb up a ladder to exit. There is a little shop and coffee shop with yummy cakes there too. I had a coffee and it was really good. The ladies serving were lovely and friendly. Very helpful when I managed to slip and graze my knee outside.

The caves were magnificent & breathtaking To be able to see it and get to touch the lime stones were a great experience too. It's much more tourist & child friendly than imagined. My 2.5 daughter had no problem in there.1.5 hour from Nelson. Be prepared for windy mountain roads as well, about 20 minutes.

A rather windy road to get to this and a rather boring enterance to get in. But thats the only time you will utter that word while here. For a start the young tour guide was incredibly interesting informative and friendly. Some of the sights are simply breathtaking. Ok so its not easy to take little ones on but they are still very welcome. Ladder up was quite freaky but a thoroughly good trip I recommend you do this!

Visited the cave on a rainy as we could not do anything else outdoors.It was well worth the visit.Driving up to the top of the hill was a pain, especially when it was raining hard.Like most other caves, its a short walk where you see the cave formations, stalagmites and stalactites. Nothing too exciting if you've been to other caves (waitomo caves, etc).There were remains of ancient animals that fell into the cave and died.Overall a decent experience.

Visited today for a tour. The guide was great - very knowledgeable - we had her all to ourselves as we were the only ones on the tour! Tours are 45mins and go on the hour from about 9am. Definitely worth a visit - it makes you appreciate that beautiful Takaka marble even more!

After reading the previous comments we decided to include a visit to these caves as part of our short itinerary. The tour lasted about an hour and is located only 1 minute off the main road (so no long trips on unsealed roads) which is a plus and you can enjoy a coffee afterwards. The caves are not normally open this time of year but we contacted Janet through their website and arranged a time a day to suit us. We are very glad we did, the caves are amazing. Janet, thank you so much again for taking us through the caves. Lou and Rob x

An unexpected find at the top of the winding Takaka hill road. I went with my family and we all enjoyed this, included slightly claustrophobic family members. There's plenty of room and the cave interior is stunning. Decent shoes and a jumper necessary all year round. For $15 it's a good deal with lots of interesting information and very friendly guides.

We saw the sign for the caves on the way over Takaka Hill, really glad we pulled in. The cave is very beautiful and our guide gave a really fascinating overview of the history of the caves. Great value.

Ngarua caveWent to this cave in February 2014, such a bargain and fantastic informative tour. The guide was clearly very knowledgeable n enthusiastic about showing you round. The inside of the cave is wonderful, huge stalactites etc and interesting moa bones. A must stop en route to golden bay/Abel Tasman.