One of the best walking spots in the Bay of Plenty, Pāpāmoa Hills Cultural Heritage Regional Park offers history, views and exercise. The 182 hectare park was established in 2003 to help protect the site’s cultural heritage, which dates back hundreds of years. There are seven Maori pā sites in these hills, with the terracing obvious.

I last visited about a decade ago. About a year before I visited in June 2025 a new car park was built, and smart signage installed.

The paths are well graded and easy surfaces to walk on.

The regional park is a working farm with a few cows and plenty of sheep.

From the new car park it is a reasonable walk uphill, offering great views of the Bay of Plenty.

There is one significant 80m long set of steps, from which I spotted a passing train.

The views throughout are wonderful, if exposed.

The 224m summit is marked by a classic New Zealand trig.

From the top there were incredible 360 degree views, particularly out toward Tauranga and Mauao (The Mount).

There were good views of Motiti Island, a privately owned 10km2 island mainly reached by air.

More wonderful views from the walk back down.

I returned the following day to explore the rest of the tracks around the park, rather than just the summit track from the new car park. That is is the route that the vast majority of people seem to do, with almost no one on the other tracks. I started from the old car park and headed back to the summit via a slightly different, steeper and rougher route.

There was less sunshine today but the light for photography was still pretty special.

A nice feature of the park is the nailed patterns on the stiles.

There was quite a variety of scenery along the other tracks, from well graded gravel roads to muddy farm tracks.

I finished at the new car park and walked the short distance down the road to the old car park to come full circle.