The Rotorua area includes town and country suburbs and covers areas including Lake Rotoma and Lake Roitoiti, with other areas in between.
The Rotorua district is located on the southern shore of Lake Rotorua in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. Rotorua is centred on the internationally renowned thermal resort.
The district is located 60 kilometres south of Tauranga, 105 kilometres south-east of Hamilton and 82 kilometres north-east of Taupo.
Founded in the early 1870s, it was constituted a special town district in 1881 (amended 1883), a borough in 1922, and a city in 1962

Rotorua is situated on the northeastern part of the Volcanic Plateau in the heart of the geothermal belt of North Island, and it is the centre of a remarkable array of hot springs, boiling mud pools, and spouting geysers. In particular, the two areas south of the city centre: Waimangu, which was formed by the eruption of Mount Tarawera southeast of the city in 1886; and Wai-O-Tapu, featuring the Lady Knox Geyser, which erupts daily. Those and other geothermal features—along with a spa that offers a selection of mineral-water pools, have made Rotorua a popular tourist destination.