Aniwaniwa Falls are roughly a 4-4.5 hours’ drive away from Rotorua or 3.5-4 hours from Napier. Don’t rely on Google trip time estimations. The road is a typical winding one with lots of ‘zigzags’ and unsealed surface. We recommend a 4-WD vehicle for this journey.

Driving from Rotorua: travel south on the SH-5, then turn left into the SH38, a sealed road, which becomes a gravel winding road for the last 50km. The last 20-30 km is a zigzag road, sometimes one-way one, which runs alongside the lake's shore.

Driving from Napier: travel north on the SH-2, then turn left into the SH38, a sealed road, which becomes a gravel one for the last 28km.

Follow the main road until you reach an Information Center. There is a huge car park here, which has a dedicated place for a picnic and toilets.

There are two options to see the waterfalls. If you have enough time then we would recommend doing both of them; if not, do only the second one. A walking 20-minutes return Aniwaniwa Falls loop track starts from the parking, follows the true left stream’ bank and leads to the waterfall’s lookout. 5-minutes after beginning of the track you should reach a sign 'Bridal Veil Falls' – we highly recommend to walk this 5-minutes return side-track and add one more beautiful waterfall onto your ‘waterfall’s list’. 5-7 minutes past this side-track you reach the lookout which gives you a great view of both upper and lower falls. Some people descend to the lower waterfall’s base from here. If you decide to do so, please be very careful. Return via the same track or do it as a loop.

The second option: from the car park cross the stream via a vehicle-bridge and walk along the road until you see a sign ‘Aniwaniwa Falls Track’. Turn left into the track and in 5 minutes you reach an Upper Falls lookout. From here, you can see both upper cascades and the upper falls. Continue on to the track until you reach a Lower Falls lookout. Return via the same track. Some people descend to the waterfall’s base from the lookouts. If you decide to do so, please be very careful. 

Both options have got some stairs, so not suitable for wheelchairs.