Skyline Gondola & Luge, Rotorua

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Check out the luge up on Mt Ngongotaha.

Take a gondola to the top and enjoy the luge at your own pace.

Consists of 3 different tracks for all experience levels, great for a family day out.

Refresh yourself at the Cableway restaurant afterwards and enjoy the views at the top.

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Skyline gondola and luge is lots of fun for all ages. Take the gondola up to the top of Mt. Ngongotaha and then wait on a huge line to take one of three luge tracks down the mountain. The luge is like a toboggan on wheels. They move pretty fast on the track. A chairlift takes you back up to the top where you can get food at the cafe, check out the gift shop, try out the sky swing or go on a hike.

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The view from the
gondola was breathtaking, overlooking the lake and mountains. For the daring there is also a luge ride and mountain bike riding down the mountain which looks exciting. You can purchase a Gondola ride or a Gondola and luge ride package. cost of the ride is $30

this was so fun!!!! i can't wait for a similar thing to be built in my country!! basically everyone just puts on their helmets and get ready to go down the slopes on this kart thing which is called the luge........and just experience the excitement of rushing down the hill! after one reaches the bottom, you can enjoy the ride up the hill in an open gondola. the breeze is chilling! it was good fun and both my cousin and sister actually ended up with scratches after falling out of their luges....because the slopes were too steep to handle! crickey!

First, you 'll need to take the gondola to the top of the hill. Take a good look at Rotorua from here!

There's quite a bit of activities happening up on top. My best pick is the luge ride. You control the luge only by the simple handle - release means stop, push down means go. It's looks simple, but when it comes to shape corner, you gotta watch out. Try "advance level" if you have the guts!

Another fun activity (great for families!) to do in Rotorua is the Gondola and Luge. There are three tracks in total to take down the side of Mt Ngongotaha.

It costs $7 for one ride but I recommend getting the $35 pass ($25 for children) which includes a gondola ride and 5 luge rides.

If you aren't adventurous enough to want to luge then you can just take the gondola ride which offers fantastic views across Rotorua. The cost is $18 for adults and $8 for children.

There is a restaurant up the top that has buffet lunches and dinners available.

About 5 minute drove from city center, we arrived in the gondola base. We took the gondola ride uphill, it offered a spectacular view of the town. I prefered Rotorua's gondola ride rather than the one in Queenstown. It offers more scenic ride.

There are a restaurant and gift shop up there.

They put a sky swing--a 150 foot high tower in the middle of the site. We heard people screamed up there. God, those people must try to suicide!

As for a less-adventurous peole like myself, I rode luge for about 5km track and catched the ski-chair up. Pretty nice experience!

After lunch, we went to Mount Ngongataha (don't ask me how to pronounce the name of that mountain) to go down by luge (not like on the Winter Olympics, but these had wheels and you drive them sitting up). We went up the hill by cable car. I bought 4 turns on the luge. The first time, I went down very slowly to get used to the course (with many hairpin turns and a steep hill at the end). We went back up again by chair lift. The second time, I was so confident as to race Anthony and Jonathan. I ended up in second place behind Anthony but in front of Jonathan. The third time, I was determined to win. I started out well ahead of the Lambert brothers. I was Richard Petty at the Daytona 500 compared to Anthony and Jonathan who were driving like old folks in a 1965 Nash Rambler on the way to Boca Raton. Everything went all right until I approached that hill too fast. I jumped that hill which is about the same height as the first hill on the Rebel Yell (roller coaster at King's Dominion) like "the General Lee" on "The Dukes of Hazzard", only I wasn't saying "Yee-ha!" in flight, instead I was saying something like, "Oh s***!" I landed on my BOHUNKUS (Southern for rear end) without the luge. I left half my hide on Mount Ngongataha not to mention I punched a hole the size of Spartanburg, South Carolina in the seat of my britches. I'm glad I landed on those parts because if I landed on anything else I could have hurt a lot more than my pride. It was especially humiliating when even Jonathan passed me as I was regrouping from my fall. I actually was able to go get the luge, put it back on course, and ease it back in. I felt about as much like taking the fourth turn as taking up nude cactus farming because every part of my body ached and I had to make sure people didn't see that gaping hole in my britches. At that point, I officially became a retired luger.