One of the most magical experiences you can have in New Zealand is visiting one of its many spectacular glow worm dells. There really is nothing like standing in the darkness and watching as thousands of twinkling blue lights surround you, shining like the night sky. It’s breathtaking.
When it comes to glow worms in New Zealand you’re spoilt for choice, with so many amazing tours, as well as places you can see them independently for free. We’ve visited 30 different glow worm spots so far and this list is made up of our current favourites. In time it will be updated as there are so many more dells to explore!
Here are our favourite places to see glow worms in New Zealand, on both the North and South Islands, and all tours we paid for ourselves, so you can expect a honest review as always.
A brief intro to Glow Worms in New Zealand
New Zealand is one of the few countries where glow worms exist and they are prolific across both the North and South Island. The key to finding glow worms is the environment - they prefer areas that are always wet or damp and are away from direct sunlight.
This is why a lot of New Zealand’s forests are the perfect habitat. In places covered in moss like the Minnehaha Walk in Fox Glacier, you can even find glow worms on the trees at night. It is worth noting that glow worm numbers change throughout the year. Colonies will grow in number in the summer and drop in the winter, primarily because of the amount of food available.
Of all the places you can see glow worms, few environments can rival the sheer spectacle of caves. Not only are they convenient as you don’t need to wait until night time to see them, but they tend to be the places where glow worms are found in the largest numbers. A trip to New Zealand isn’t complete unless you visit somewhere like Spellbound, Waitomo or Waipu Caves, as they are truly mesmerising.
However, if you don’t plan on visiting the North Island, you can still witness incredible numbers at places like Hokitika and the Te Anau glow worm cave.
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North Island
1: Spellbound Cave - Waitomo
2: Waipu Caves - Whangarei
3: Waitomo Caves - Waitomo
4: Abbey Caves - Whangarei
5: Blue Lake - Rotorua
6: Mangapohue Natural Bridge - Waitomo
7: Ruakuri Bush Walk - Waitomo
8: Pukekura Park - New PlymouthSouth Island
9: Hokitika Glow Worm Dell
10: Te Anau Glow Worm Caves
11: The secret Hokitika Dell
12: Nicols Creek - Dunedin
13: Minnehaha Walk - Fox Glacier
14: Trotters Gorge - Moeraki
North Island
1. Spellbound Cave - Waitomo, Waikato - paid experience
If you want the most magical glow worm experience on earth then head for Spellbound Cave. I have never seen anything like it in my life and lost count of the amount of times I let out a ‘wow’ throughout the tour.
Almost every inch of the cave ceiling was covered in glow worms and the ceiling is relatively low so you feel like they are twinkling just above your head.
As well as having by far the most exquisite glow worm display of anywhere we’ve ever been (and we have visited just as many glow worm dells in Australia as in New Zealand) the tour is also exceptional.
The boat journey is a full 20 minutes and the group size is very small - capped at just 12. The guides are wonderful and photography (without a flash) is permitted.
If there’s a place in the world more deserving of its name, then I haven’t found it yet. Oh and if even that hasn’t convinced you, then it’s also the place that David Attenborough chose to film when he visited Waitomo.
You can read our full Spellbound Cave review here.
2. Waipu Caves - Whangarei, Northland - free experience
The fact that the spectacular Waipu Caves are both free and able to be visited without a guide is really hard to believe.
Normally somewhere this incredible would have been commercialised, or at the very least been covered in railings and barriers.
Happily Waipu is as wild as it comes and a visit here feels like an adventure. The glow worm displays are sensational, with thousands upon thousands scattered throughout the three chambers.
It’s basically like looking up at a glow worm galaxy!
You can explore chambers two and three by day, but chamber one looks at its most special at night when less light is shining through the opening.
The whole cave is extraordinary and if you don’t like the idea of venturing too far into the cave without a guide, you really don’t have to - you will still see a good amount of glow worms early on.
No matter how far you go, you’ll get at least wet feet though, so come prepared.
Our full guide, including conditions inside the cave and what it’s like to visit by day and by night is here.
3. Waitomo Caves - Waitomo, Waikato - paid experience
As you cannot take photos in Waitomo Caves, all photos here are the closest we have taken to the experience
Waitomo Caves became world famous for a reason. It’s the first place I ever saw glow worms many years ago and I loved re-visiting it again recently.
The glow worm display is dazzling and my only criticism is that the boat journey doesn’t last long enough (it’s around five minutes or so). The glow worms are so dense on both the ceiling and walls and as with Spellbound Cave, the guides are fantastic.
If you’re a cave fan as well as a glow worm fan, then this tour will also appeal, because the majority of the trip is spent exploring the dry passages of the cave before you finish with a boat trip to see the glow worms.
You can read more in our guide on Waitomo vs Spellbound Cave here. Incidentally, the same company also run a great tour through Ruakuri Cave which also has glow worms (that you can photograph and get close to), which we talk more about here.
You can book your tickets in advance and skip the queue with Get Your Guide, by clicking the button below:
4. Abbey Caves - Whangarei, Northland - free experience
Abbey Caves are made up of three different caves, each of which has its own glow worm colony. As with Waipu Caves they are all left wild and visiting does involve some scrambling.
If you love a good adventure then it will be right up your alley.
Depending on how far in to the caves you want to go, there are many wet passages and even an area you have to swim through, all the while glow worms are keeping you company glittering just above your head.
When they reflect on the water in the narrow chambers, it feels almost mystical.
If you want an easyish experience then you should only go for cave two, you won’t get wet (above the ankle) and there is just one short scramble to negotiate.
You can read our in-depth guide on what to expect at Abbey Caves here.
The hidden glow worm dell at the Blue Lake, just a stone’s throw from Rotorua, is a real gem. It’s incredibly easy to access, at just a five minute walk, and you feel like you’ve entered another world.
The glow worms surround you on three sides and the high dell walls make it feel really secluded. It’s not signposted so you’ll need to follow our directions in this post.
6. Mangapohue Natural Bridge - Waitomo, Waikato - free experience
The glow worms at Mangapohue Natural Bridge are some of the best we’ve seen outside of a cave environment (viewing them in a cave is always preferable because it is pitch black, allowing your eyes to fully adjust).
Hundreds and hundreds of glow worms cover a vast area of damp ferny cliff and even hide on the underside of the arch which towers above the gorge.
It’s a spectacular sight and feels like you’ve stepped into a fairy tale. It’s also very easy to access, taking less than five minutes along a well maintained flat path.
You can read our full guide to the Mangapohue Natural Bridge by day and by night here.
7. Ruakuri bushwalk - Waitomo, Waikato - free experience
I don’t want to overload this post too heavily with places in Waitomo, but it would be a shame not to mention the delightful Ruakuri bushwalk.
It’s a wonderful place to see glow worms and as they are scattered throughout the entire trail, it’s almost like a treasure hunt.
Sometimes they will be glowing on the riverbank across the water, sometimes on the cave ceiling above your head and sometimes on the cliff walls directly in front of you. It’s a really fun and easy night time adventure.
The full loop is 1.6km, but if you don’t want to do the whole thing we mention the best and closest glow worm displays to the car park in this post.
8. Pukekura park - New Plymouth, Taranaki - free experience
Although the glow worm colony is smaller here than at the other spots on this list, it’s still a little treasure and I couldn’t fail to mention the dell which is hidden inside a park right in the city centre!
If you didn’t know what to look out for by day, you’d never know to return by night. Luckily we’ve visited enough glow worm dells that we had an inkling what we might find!
It’s just a 200m easy paved walk from the car park to the ferny pathway which is hiding the secret dell. There’s a good number of glow worms here, but not multiple hundreds like the other places listed.
To be honest though, the surrounding giant plants and secluded nature of the colony made it feel extra special. I loved it.
Exact instructions to find the glow worms, as well as another spot fairly nearby are in this post.
South Island
9. Hokitika Glow worm dell - Hokitika, West Coast - free experience
Hokitika glow worm dell is wildly popular and that’s no surprise. The glow worm display here is out of this world, with numbers beaten only by those we’ve seen in caves.
It’s also only a two minute walk from the car park which is right on the highway!
The ease of access has its downfalls though, unlike other spots on this list, it does suffer from a little road noise and has also had a fence built round it.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t visit, but if you don’t like crowds then come very late in the day (the first time we visited at 9pm the car park was full and that was when it was pouring with rain!).
We have all the details on what to expect here, including the effect of the fence.
10. Te Anau Glowworm cave - Te Anau, Fiordland - paid experience
Photography is not permitted inside the Te Anau glow worm cave, so these pictures are from other locations
I visited Te Anau Glowworm cave quite a few years ago and haven’t yet had the chance to re-visit. I remember the experience being wonderful with a ceiling glittering with hundreds of glow worms that you glide underneath on the boat.
The boat journey across the lake to the cave was also gorgeous and made it feel much more remote.
I loved it, but I can’t remember how it compares in terms of glow worm numbers now that I’ve seen so many. I still wanted to include it here because after Waitomo Caves, it’s the most popular glow worm cave in the country and it’s a very convenient location if you’re heading to Milford Sound (which incidentally has a little glow worm colony of its own that we detail here).
You can book tickets for the Te Anau Glowworm cave here:
11. The secret Hokitika dell - Hokitika, West Coast - free experience
When we saw how busy the main dell was at Hoktika, we knew we had to find a quieter option for those who don’t like crowded spots (us included!).
We actually found two close by, with the Rimu dell being our favourite. You pass through a little tunnel in the cliff and pop out into a hidden world of glow worms! It’s a definite Alice in Wonderland moment.
There are hundreds of glow worms, but not as many as the main dell, so I recommend doing both if you can. The experience at this one is much nicer though, without anyone else around and no fencing, so you can really soak up the magic.
It takes just three minutes to reach and our instructions to get there can be found in this post.
Incidentally, we also visited the Velenski Track glow worm dell that is mentioned a lot online, it’s nowhere near as good as any spot we mention here and only worth doing if you’re staying at the nearby campground.
12. Nicols Creek - Dunedin, Otago - free experience
Dunedin is one of our favourite cities in New Zealand and the main reason is the sublime scenery that completely surrounds it, including the fabulous Nicols Creek.
Hidden in the forest in a gorge dripping in moss you’ll find an amazing and dense glow worm colony.
They are scattered up the tall cliff walls on both sides of the gorge, creating a glow worm amphitheatre. They’re even right beside the handrails if you head a little further up the path.
Reaching the glow worms is easy and only takes five minutes, although it is all uphill on the way. We’ve noted exactly where they are, as well as what the track is like by day (which is also very much worth doing) in this post.
13. Minnehaha Walk - Fox Glacier, West Coast - free experience
The Minnehaha Walk takes you through a truly beautiful mossy forest on an easy and flat gravel path. By night, sections of the track are illuminated by strings of glow worms which almost look like fairy lights.
It’s a great night time track, but there aren’t such dense clusters here as in other areas. It is more about finding them in the nooks and crannies of old tree roots and crevices in the embankments.
There is one particular bush which has about 100 of them - which we detail here - but otherwise it is about a smattering of twinkling lights throughout the trail. Still very much worth seeing, but a different experience to most of the spots on this list.
14. Trotters Gorge - Moeraki, Otago - free experience
Trotters Gorge is fairly off the beaten track, but not too far away from Oamaru. You don’t need to go far into the gorge to see your first glow worms, in fact it takes just a few minutes (lucky because further along the track it can get muddy).
The glow worms are clinging to the riverbank along the early part of the trail and their light reflects in the water, creating a mysterious feel. You do have to scramble a few steps down into the creek for the best views.
Glow worms can also be seen further along the trail, but the densest numbers were early on. More on the walk by day and by night can be found in this post.
Tips for the best glow worm experience and taking care of them
Make sure you leave it at least an hour after sunset before visiting. It can be tempting to head into the bush just after sunset, but you really need full darkness to see the majority of glow worms. You’ll see some earlier but only a fraction of what’s really there. The darker the better, so ideal conditions would be low moonlight too, but it’s hard to get things that perfect when you’re only in the area for a limited amount of time.
You need to turn all light off to enjoy the glow worms, not just for your eyes to adjust but also because you shouldn’t shine light on glow worms. It can stop them feeding and also encourage them to stop glowing which in turn ruins the experience for you. Only red light should be used around glow worms and even then I wouldn’t shine it directly on them.
For photography bring a tripod and plan on taking long exposures. You don’t need any light to photograph them. We have a detailed guide to help with glow worm photography, including settings here.
I’ve used a Sirui for the past two years and found it to be brilliant for photographing glow worms - light enough to carry, but sturdy enough for a crisp shot. You can find out all about the one I use by clicking here.
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