Waiho Hot Tubs
Private wood-fired hot tubs hidden in the rainforest at Franz Josef — each tub fits the whole van, refilled with fresh mountain water for every booking.
Why go
A hot soak is exactly the right end to a day on the ice or in the Okarito channels, and this is the only one left in Franz Josef. Being private, wood-fired and sized for four makes it a better fit for this group than the old public pools ever were.
Franz Josef's soak, now that the old Glacier Hot Pools are shut. Waiho Hot Tubs sits on Cron Street in the village, opposite the DOC visitor centre, and works nothing like a public pool complex: you book a tub to yourselves, screened by native bush, and nobody else shares it. Each tub is emptied and refilled with fresh mountain water between bookings and heated over a wood fire, with the temperature under your own control — so it runs hot or mild to taste. One tub comfortably takes four adults, which means the whole van goes in together rather than splitting across sessions. Sessions after 6pm are adults-only, and the bush setting means the rain — which the West Coast supplies generously — is part of the appeal rather than a reason to cancel.
- Time
- 1–1.5 hours
- Price
- ~NZ$135 for two adults; ~NZ$215 for four (extra adult ~NZ$40, child ~NZ$20). Online booking fee applies.
- Hours
- Daily, bookings 10:30am–9pm (adults-only after 6pm)
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