Franz Josef Glacier Hot Pools (CLOSED)
CLOSED — the village hot pools have not operated since May 2021 and there is no reopening date. Go to Waiho Hot Tubs instead.
Why go
Don't. This entry exists to stop the closure being rediscovered the hard way. See Waiho Hot Tubs.
Kept in the catalogue only so nobody plans around it. Ngāi Tahu Tourism's landscaped rainforest pools on Cron Street were a Franz Josef fixture, but they closed in May 2019, reopened briefly on a $500,000 government recovery grant, and have been shut since May 2021 (Otago Daily Times, Dec 2022, reporting Ngāi Tahu's decision to stay closed 'based upon our regular monitoring of the market'). No reopening has been announced since. Ngāi Tahu Tourism's own site still markets the pools with no closure notice, and third-party listings still show current-year opening hours — which is exactly why travellers keep turning up to a locked gate. The operator's booking site (glacierhotpools.co.nz) has an expired TLS certificate as of July 2026, i.e. nobody has maintained it in over a year. Franz Josef's soak is now Waiho Hot Tubs, across the road.
- Hours
- Closed — no reopening date (last checked 2026-07-16)
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