Karamatura Falls

The waterfall loop is under construction for the next 4 weeks.so we did the longer trek but it wasn't easy getting to the falls as we had to walk back too. Took well over 2hrs. Beautiful walk though and quite a few stairs. Will definitely be back once the waterfall trail is open.

Great walk and amazing scenery also it is open even after the floods

A beautiful well maintained track. Not friendly for baby prams to waterfall but good for older children. Lots of stairs but good if you take your time. Waterfall pool has to be one of the better ones for families to swim and jump off the rocks. There is also a family pool at the carpark for swimming if you dont want to walk to the waterfall. 10/10

Has a big car park with toilets.Walk starts off nice and easy. Once you get to the bench seat around halfway, the walk gets a little harder with steps and incline walking. It's only around 30mins of walking to see the waterfall so it's worth the walk.

A beautiful easy walk. Well maintained track. Newly built toilet at the car park. The water falls you can see halfway through the hike are not the waterfalls you can see at the swimming hole.It will probably perfect to visit on summer time, for a great dip.

This has been a favourite spot of mine for a long time now, and I have been doing this walk since I was really young.The walk from the carpark takes around 40 minutes one way, where you start with the easier loop walk before completing the rest of the walk on the slightly harder Karamatura Track.The falls itself are beautiful and while it is quite smaller compared to others nearby, this one has a very private feeling, so with that, I highly recommend.The hundreds of stairs other reviewers are talking about start AFTER the turn off to the falls, so if you are ONLY after Karamatura Falls, you need not worry unless you are wanting to continue to either Karamatura Forks or Donald McClean. The falls walk is a suitable track for all ages for that reason.This is easily one of my favourite falls in NZ, only falling behind the best from the South Island.

Karamatura Falls is located on the southern border of the Waitakere Ranges. The fall is a narrow but reasonably rich water column for its parameter, with a height of about 15- 20 metres. This waterfall is part of Karamatura Stream which has a series of smaller cascading waterfalls nearby as well.There are no clear 'waterfall' sign boards at the turn-off of the track next to Huia Settler's Museum, so you need to turn right on to the Karamatura loop track road and then drive about 100m to the car park. From there, you can take the Karamatura loop track - either one, to proceed about a two and a half km distance to the waterfall.Be aware that although it is about 2.5 km [one way] 90% well maintained track, there are over a thousand steps to climb, some very steep, so it is NOT an 'easy' track for everyone, as some have misinterpreted in reviews here. Generally considered a moderately challenging route, a reasonable level of fitness and experience is needed to do this track. There are records that some turning back halfway through, because they thought it was an easier walk. Also, crossing the small stream just before the waterfall needs very good non-slippery track shoes to do the balancing act treading on the boulders to cross.It is about 4-5km track if you do the loop, but due to the steepness at some places, you may do it slow, so it takes about 3-4 hrs to do the return loop leisurely and comfortably.Anyway, it is a worthy hike to be frank! The track runs through a lush green vegetation all the way so you will come across beautiful birds, plants, trees and clear water streams, some with little cascading waterfalls. Part of the track runs on the old horse coach track which was used to transport huge tree trunks in early last century and you can see a decaying 'sample' displayed closer to the start of the track.

Great walk to the falls, takes about an hour return from the Karamatura carpark. The walk mainly follows the stream with lots of opportunities to take photos, little bit of stream crossing on the way but not deep to get the shoes wet.

A friend and I did this track and, though we're pretty fit, it took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to Donald Maclean lookout from Karamatura carpark. There were more stairs than we thought, which begin about 2km in from our start point and go on for a while at steep elevation. Good for training! Just make sure you're aware of the stairs as most people seemed to turn back halfway. Luckily, the falls are all before the stairs. You can walk along the stream where you can hear several waterfalls. Its a good challenge to try and get down to them through the bush. Some of them were accessible, one wasn't (too steep). Definitely one of the few tracks that takes longer than it's estimated time. Carpark is small so in the weekend be aware, I think you can fit about 15 cars comfortably and squeeze 25