Amazing day - Our guide Israel was friendly and very accommodating. He gave us the time we wanted at Hot water beach and Cathedral Cove. Amazing views.

Stunning ! - Had a sunny week there, it was glorious! Cathedral Cove was quite busy, but still great. If you intend on going , do it it the summer to see it , and enjoy it in all it's glory

Took a chance, but was not disappointed! - I’m leery of signing up for activities that do not have any reviews, as I would like to know what to expect. However I took a chance on this trip as it advertised everything that I wanted. My husband and I were in Auckland and wanted to go to the Coromandel, but do not have a car, and also have no idea where to go or what to see. Things started off a bit shaky as I never heard from the tour operator to coordinate the pick up so the day before our trip I called the number listed on the TripAdvisor site, and received a generic voicemail. Luckily someone text me back right away, but they told me my trip was canceled and I should have been notified. Shortly thereafter I got a call apologizing and informed that the trip was not canceled and someone would fetch us the following morning. Sharma showed up on time with a lovely car and a great personality! Sharma also shared that he was not a tour guide, so could not provide a lot of the history about the area, but was our driver. He provided us with an overview of his background as a seasoned driver and his vast experience with traveling around the area, which was actually helpful as we traversed some pretty windy roads along the trip. He outlined the day’s activities, but said as this was our personal trip he would be happy to deviate if we wanted to stop somewhere else or take more time at a particular place. The only appointment was at a Driving Creek Railway/Pottery Store as we had tickets for a train ride. It is a small train which winds up to the top of a hill where you can look over the Coromandel. The train operator told us stories about the man who built the railway which was used to move the supplies he needed for his pottery. There is also a cute gift shop where you can purchase pottery, which we did… Next we went to the Hot Water Beach, which we needed to get to when it was low tide. I have to mention that we took this trip in August and it was cold/rainy and a bit windy out, so not the best experience, but this is not the fault of the tour operator. However, we were able to get out on the beach and watched some locals dig holes and settle in to enjoy the heat. They were very accommodating and let me shimmy down to touch the water and it is indeed hot. If you are lucky to go in nice weather and want to dig your own hole, you will need to rent a shovel from the gift shop (only $5) as the tour operator does not supply one. Next we stopped for lunch where we had some awesome pizza and beer from a local brewery. Then it was back on the road to Cathedral Cove. Since the weather was so bad we did not get to go on the boat ride, but instead hiked down to the beach (about 45 minutes each way). Cathedral Cover is beautiful and worth the hike down to see it, especially for the great photo opportunities which it affords. Lucky for us, Sharma proved to be more than a driver, but also an excellent photographer as he took over 100 photos of my husband and I throughout the trip both candid and posed, which he sent to us at the end of the day, and are honestly probably the only good photos we have of the 2 of us… OK – so overall, it is a lot of driving on really windy roads, so if you get car sick, this is not for you. If you also expect strict schedules and polished narrations of what you are seeing, also not for you. If you want to spend a day with your own personal driver/photographer, who is really nice, fun and will take you around the Coromandel so you can see some of the most interesting sites it has, then I highly recommend this trip.