Tongariro National Park Overview

Smack in the center of New Zealand's North Island lies Tongariro National Park, a landscape of raw, exploded violence, and snaking through it is the Tongariro Northern Circuit.

The Tongariro Northern Circuit takes walkers up close and personal to three active volcanoes: It circles Ngauruhoe, an almost perfect classically dome-shaped volcano, passes over the shoulder of Tongariro, another active volcano, and gives good views of massive Ruapehu to the south. Hikers with a little bounce left in their boots can climb Tongariro (from a half hour to two hours round-trip) or Ngauruhoe (two and a half to three hours).