Rotorua · off-leash
Off-leash dog areas in Rotorua
Rotorua Lakes Council publishes 21 named places where a dog may be off the lead, and this is all of them. Underneath sits the honest version of the question everyone actually asks, which is whether any of it is fenced.
Where these zones come from. Every area listed here is a named off-leash zone in Rotorua Lakes Council's own dog control data, which we hold as 21 mapped polygons. Licensed CC BY 4.0. Last refreshed 2026-08-18. Nobody has reviewed or endorsed this page: we read the published data and cite it. Dog park fencing comes from each council's own dog park pages, with additional locations from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Full attribution
- Dog reserve access © Rotorua Lakes Council (CC BY 4.0)
A zone boundary is not a blessing. Off-leash means the bylaw allows it, not that it is a sensible idea beside a road, through stock, or across nesting birds. Playgrounds and sports fields are usually carved back out of these areas even where the rest of the park is off the lead, and a sign at the gate beats anything on this page.
3 zones around Rotorua change with the date. Rotorua Lakes Council also publishes seasonal areas where the rule flips over summer, usually on the coast and usually through the middle of the day. Those are not in the list below, because the list below is the year-round off-leash set. The beaches and seasons guide carries every window we hold, resolved against today.
Every named area
The 21 off-leash places Rotorua Lakes Council names
Alphabetical, exactly as the council names them. Where the council attaches a condition to a particular zone we carry its wording underneath that zone.
- Aquarius Drive ReserveOff Lead · Set back from road track. Water access · Access off Aquarius Drive
- Boielle ParkOff Lead · Grass area bounded by trees set back from road. (No dogs allowed in playground) · Flat area, entrance off Kawaha Point Road (Central to Koutu/Kawaha Point)
- Boyes ParkOff Lead · Open grass area. (No dogs allowed in playground) · Access off Carlton, Wylie Streets.
- Corlett Street ReserveOff Lead · Grass area (No dogs allowed in playground) · Access from Corlett or Konene Streets
- Coulter Road ReserveOff Lead · Grass area set back from road. (No dogs allowed in playground or court area) · Access from Wingrove & Coulter Roads
- Devon St West / Utuhina Stream ReserveOff Lead · Grass area and track along stream. Water access · Access off Devon Street West
- Elliot Park / Western Road ReserveOff Lead · Grass area bounded by road and stream. (No dogs allowed in playground) Water access · Access from Western Road
- Fairview Road ReserveOff Lead · Grass area set back from road (No dogs allowed in plaground) · Access from Bell, Fairview and Park Roads
- Hamurana ReserveOff Lead · Lake front grass area. Water access · Access from Hamurana Road
- Hannahs Bay ReserveOff Lead · Dogs must be on a leash from the entrance to the reserve including the area to the lake foreshore, the wetland area to the south, to the north-eastern drain in the centre of the reserve. Grass and tracks, set away from road. Water access · Access from Willow Ave. Dogs must be on a leash from the entrance to the reserve at Wi
- Jackson Park ReserveOff Lead · Grass area and trees and track, set back from road. (No dogs allowed in playground) · Access from Springfield Road, McDowell Street & Otonga Road
- Karenga ParkOff Lead · Grass area · Access Bennetts Road
- Larcy Road ReserveOff Lead · Grass area set back from roads. · Access of Larcey Road, Lynbert Road, and Lynmore Road
- Linton Park East & West ReserveOff Lead · Large area with tracks and trees set back from road. Water access. (No dogs allowed in playground) · Access from Edmund Road, Kamahi Place and Homedale Street
- McIntry Ave Reserve / Sala Street ReserveOff Lead · Grass area and trees with track set back from road. · Access off McIntyre Avenue & Marguerita Street
- Morey Street ReserveOff Lead · Grass area ( No dogs allowed in playground) · Access from Morey Street
- Pullar ParkOff Lead · Grass area with trees. Water access · Between Sunset Primary and Sunset Junior High Schools, adjacent to Otamatea Stream
- Reeme Street ReserveOff Lead · Lake edge reserve strip set back from road. Water access · Reeme Street Reserve, from Reeme Street to the wooden barrier at the Taui Street end of the reserve
- Rotorua RacecourseOff-lead only when the racecourse is not in use for race meetings/functions, and after 9am each day. Access off Fenton Street. (RLC Dog Exercise Areas (official list, checked 2026-07-17))
- Tihi Road Reserve / Simmonds Crescent ReserveOff Lead · Tree and track area set back from road. · Access off Simmonds Crescent, Day Place & Tihi Road
- Wright ParkOff Lead · Grass area set back from road (No dogs allowed in plaground) · Access off Icarus Place, Pegasus drive, Castor Place, Helena Place and Orion Street, Westbrook
Fenced dog parks
33 dog parks near Rotorua
A council off-leash zone tells you where a dog may run, not whether anything is fenced, and we hold no fencing data on the zones at all. A dog park is where that question can be answered, and it is the one that matters when the recall is still a work in progress. These are the dog park records we hold within 35 km of the Rotorua zones, sorted by what the evidence actually supports. District lines and dog parks do not agree, so a few of these sit in the next district over: each one carries the nearest town we map.
Fenced, in the source's own words (1)
Each of these comes off a council page that classes the area as fenced, quoted below with a link to the page it came from.
| Dog park | Where | What the source says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| TECT All Terrain Park dog exercise area | near Te Puke, Bay of Plenty | CONFIRMED VERBATIM by me from the council PDF itself (WebFetch could not parse it; I downloaded and ran pdftotext -layout). Exact TCC wording: "TECT All Terrain Park, Ngawaro / If you feel like ventur | Council page |
- 1 of these sit on a council page that classes the area as fenced while the line we can quote describes the park instead. Follow the link and read it in full.
Part fenced, or a fence mapped but not proven (5)
Either the source describes a fence around part of the area, or a fence line is drawn in OpenStreetMap without anything confirming it encloses the dog area. Walk in on a lead and look before you unclip.
| Dog park | Where | What the source says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reeme Street lakefront fenced area | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Nothing stated | Council |
| Hamurana lakefront (Fryer Road to Hamurana Stream mouth) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Dog Control Bylaw Third Schedule item 26: 'Hamurana - area adjacent to lake between Fryer Road and Hamurana Stream Mouth - The dog exercise | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Reeme Street Reserve | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Ngongotaha - Access off Reeme Street Reserve, from Reeme Street to fence approx 50 metres south of Taui Street | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) Reserve dog exercise area | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Dog Control Bylaw Third Schedule item 26 (Lakeside Reserves): 'Blue Lake - Area bounded by wooden fence to right of boat ramp.' Council's ow | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Te Puke Dog Exercise Area | near Pāpāmoa, Bay of Plenty | Nothing stated | Council |
Fencing not confirmed (27)
We hold no fencing statement at all for these, so treat them as open ground. Not confirmed is not the same as not fenced, and we are not going to guess which one it is.
| Dog park | Where | What the source says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Larcy Road Reserve | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Larcy Road Reserve - Access off Larcy and Lynbert roads'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 13. No fencing statement. | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Fairview Road Reserve | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Fairview Road Reserve - Access off Bell, Fairview and Park roads'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 4. No fencing sta | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Boyes Park | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Boyes Park - Access off Carlton, Wylie, Duncan and Ranolf streets'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 10. No fencing s | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Corlett Street Reserve | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Corlett Street - Access off Corlett or Konene streets'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 15: 'Corlett Street Reserve | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Western Road Reserve (Elliott Park) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Ngongotaha - Western Road Reserve (Elliott Park) - Access off Western Road'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 2: 'Ngo | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Devon Street West / Utuhina Stream Reserve (part) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Part of the Devon Street West/Utuhina Stream reserve - Located between Devon Street West (opposite the interna | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Coulter Road Reserve | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Coulter Road Reserve - Access off Wingrove and Coulter roads'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 14. No fencing statem | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Boielle Park | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Boielle Park - Access off Kawaha Point Road (Central to Koutu/Kawaha Point)'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 3: 'Bo | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Morey Street Reserve | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Morey Street - Access off Morey Street'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 17: 'Morey Street Reserve - Access from Mor | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Jackson Park | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Jackson Park - Access off Springfield Road, McDowell Street and Otonga Road'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 18: 'E | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Aquarius Drive Reserve | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Areas where you can exercise your dog off the lead listed below... Aquarius Drive Reserve - Access from Aquari | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Wright Park (and Day Place) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Day Place and Wright Park - Access off Icarus Place, Pegasus Drive, Castor Place, Helena Place and Orion Stree | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Simmonds Crescent Reserve (Tihi Reserve) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Simmonds Crescent Reserve (now Tihi Reserve) - Access off Simmonds Crescent, Day Place and Tihi Road'. Bylaw T | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Karenga Park | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Karenga Park - From the Dog Obedience clubrooms south to Lake Road, and bounded by Bennetts Road and the old r | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| McIntyre Avenue Reserve | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'McIntyre Avenue - Access off McIntyre Avenue and Marguerita Street'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 12. No fencing | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Tihi Reserve (formerly Simmonds Crescent Reserve) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Rotorua Lakes Council Dog Exercise Areas page, under 'Areas where you can exercise your dog off the lead listed below': 'Simmonds Crescent R | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Pullar Park | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Pullar Park - Access Between Sunset Primary and Intermediate schools, adjacent to Otomatea Stream'. Bylaw Thir | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Linton Park East | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | RLC Dog Exercise Areas page: 'Linton Park East - Access from Edmund Road, Kamahi Place and Homedale Street'. Bylaw Third Schedule item 5. No | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Rotorua Racecourse (Arawa Park) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Rotorua Lakes Council, "Dog exercise areas", in the list of areas where dogs may be exercised off leash: "Rotorua Racecourse. Access off Fenton Street (only available when the reserve is not in use for race meetings or other functions, and after 9am each day)." Re-read 7 September 2026. | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Hannahs Bay Reserve | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Rotorua Lakes Council Dog Exercise Areas page, under 'Areas where you can exercise your dog off the lead listed below': 'Hannahs Bay Reserve | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Hannahs Bay Reserve (Waikawau) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Bylaw Third Schedule item 20: 'Hannahs Bay Reserve - Dogs must be on a leash from the entrance to the Reserve at Willow Avenue including the | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Puarenga Park | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Council's own 'Dog exercise areas' map embedded on the RLC Dog Exercise Areas page places 'Puarenga Park' in the map layer titled 'Dogs allo | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Scion tree research park | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Rotorua Lakes Council's Dog Exercise Areas page lists this among the areas where you can exercise your dog off the lead, in the council's own words: “Scion tree research park. Access off Tītokorangi Drive (formerly Long Mile Road), opposite side to The Redwoods (dogs must be on leash within the Redwoods forest and on tracks). This area is private land made available by Scion for the public to use as an off lead dog exercise area. Like a public area, all RLC dog control and registration by-laws apply.” The same page sets the condition on every off lead area in the district: “you must still be able to control it as if it were on a lead. If you can control your dog with a whistle, you may exercise it off a lead.” Read firsthand on 12 September 2026. Worth knowing this is the landholder's permission rather than a reserve designation: Scion is private land, so it is not one of the 26 reserves in the Third Schedule of the council's Dog Control Bylaw, and no boundary map is published for it the way it is for the council's own areas. Sophie and Nellie reported it in September 2026. | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Elliott Park (Western Road Reserve) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Rotorua Lakes Council Dog Exercise Areas page, under 'Areas where you can exercise your dog off the lead listed below': 'Ngongotaha - Wester | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Acacia Road / Loop Road Reserve, Lake Okareka | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | Dog Control Bylaw Third Schedule item 26: 'Okareka - Acacia Road (signed area to left of boat ramp along lake edge to intersection with Loop | rotorualakescouncil.nz |
| Kaiate Falls Reserve | near Pāpāmoa, Bay of Plenty | Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Dog Walking Areas page: 'Here is a list of dog walking parks or reserves in the Western Bay of Plent | westernbay.govt.nz |
| Dog Exercise Park (Tokoroa - Matarawa Stream / Baird Road dog exercise area) | near Rotorua, Bay of Plenty | GOVERNING COUNCIL: South Waikato District Council (Tokoroa, South Waikato District, Waikato region). AUTHORITY PAGE: 'Where can I walk my do | southwaikato.govt.nz |
Keep going
All Bay of Plenty walks
OpenOff-lead walks, nationwide
OpenEvery district we hold
OpenDog rules in New Zealand
OpenHow we check dog rules
OpenWalks in the same patch
Towns we map around Rotorua
Every one of these carries its own dog-friendly walk list, with the dog rule on each track.