Puzzling World
Wanaka
Take a break in the Think Tank Café, where you can play games and solve puzzles while you sip on a latte. Don't forget to look up - part of the ceiling is like a giant Kaleidoscope.
Unique puzzle theme park set in seven acres of land, just two kilometres from Lake Wanaka. Attractions include illusion rooms, a giant maze, tilted house, gift shop & cafe. A great family day out.
Puzzling World is one of New Zealand's most popular attractions, established in 1973 from a single maze, and now encompassing seven beautiful acres of mind-boggling puzzles, illusions and family fun.
The first thing you'll notice, are the amusing Tumbling Towers, a good indication of the craziness of the place. Be amazed at the Leaning Tower of Wanaka; an impossible structure, groaning out of the ground at an angle of 53 degrees (its sister, in Pisa, leans at just 6 degrees....), and if that isn't strange enough for you, your brain will be tickled at the Illusion Rooms - with incredible, fully immersive art on display in the two new ‘Glow Rooms’, and the paranoia-filled Hall of Following Faces, where 168 famous visages appear to follow you around the room – creepy!
Carry on to the Ames Room, which looks normal from the outside, until you enter and find yourself ducking under the doorframe, or struggling to be seen. Did you grow? Did you shrink? Or maybe your mind is just playing tricks on you...just like in the Tilted House, built at a 15 degree angle yet, when you step inside, everything seems flat and normal with objects rolling uphill. How can that be?
The Sculptillusion Gallery is the largest of the six Illusion Rooms featuring dozens of large sculptures, artworks and displays in an award-winning building that offers illusionary aspects within its design. With living walls, wave ceilings, stone carpet and impossible waterfalls the visitor is met with stunning ideas that help complement the feeling of wonder these rooms evoke.
The highlight, though, is the famous Great Maze. The world's first modern-style labyrinth, it has 1.5km of corridors and experts reckon it takes around an hour to complete, but some people are still running around like rabbits after twice that! Don't worry, there are emergency exits for those too frustrated to continue but, trust us, the feeling of achievement when you come out the other side, is well worth the sweat and tears! This is Puzzling World, after all - giving up is not an option!
Once you've tormented your brain (or, rather, after it's tormented you...), take a break in the Think Tank Café, where you can play games and solve puzzles while you sip on a latte or munch on a pizza. A visit to the Roman Toilets is an amusing interlude, and the gift shop next door offers a huge range of collectibles, puzzles and souvenirs for you to take away.
Pricing (valid till 31.03.2027)
COMBO Admission (Illusion Rooms & Maze): Adult: $32.50, Children: (5-15) $23.50, Seniors (65+): $28.50
Illusion Rooms: Adults: $26.50, Children: $20.00, Seniors (65+): $23.50
Great Maze: Adults: $22.00, Children: $18.00, Seniors (65+): $20.00
FAMILY PASS: $99 (2 X Adults + 2 x Children)
More Information:
Please visit Puzzling World for more details.
