Wharekaho Beach (Simpsons Beach)
Whitianga · Waikato
This walk was suggested by the community and checked against the authority quoted above before it was published. The route line comes from official track data. The rule-setter’s own wording: “Thames-Coromandel District Council Dog Control Bylaw 2023, Schedule 1 Area Rules, Mercury Bay Community Board Area, read 3 September 2026. The row is "Wharekaho Beach - entire Beach" and the cell reads "Prohibited." and "Off leash at all other dates and times", under the column headed "From 20 December to 31 January and holiday weekends, between 9am and 6pm (inclusive)". So for most of the year your dog is off lead on the sand, and in that summer window the entire beach is closed to dogs between 9am and 6pm. Outside those hours, even in January, it is off lead again. The bylaw defines "Holiday Weekend" at clause 6 as "any weekend which immediately precedes or follows a public holiday, and includes any public holiday as defined in the Holidays Act 2003 excluding weekends adjoining King’s Birthday and Matariki", so King’s Birthday and Matariki weekends are not caught. Two things that are easy to miss. Clause 8(1) still requires control at all times, off lead or not. And the bylaw’s definition of Beach at clause 6 covers the foreshore "but not including reserves or parks that are adjacent to the beach", so Wharekaho Reserve, the toilets and the playground behind the sand are on leash all year under the clause 8(2) district default. The lead comes off at the sand, not at the car”. Evidence: the rule-setter’s own published wording. How we check dog rules.
Good to know
Dogs are allowed here. Watch for ground-nesting birds and stock, and read the signs at the gate.
About Wharekaho Beach (Simpsons Beach)
Wharekaho Beach (Simpsons Beach) is a short walk of 1.9 km, near Whitianga in Waikato.
Wharekaho, which most people still call Simpsons Beach, is a long curve of sand about six kilometres north of Whitianga, and it is one of the easier Coromandel beaches to bring a dog to. We have drawn 1.92 km of it, the full run of the sand from the Wharekaho Road end north to the boat launching corner, which is a shade under four kilometres if you walk back the way you came. It is flat the whole way and there is nothing technical about it. For most of the year dogs are off lead here, in the council’s own words rather than by our reading of a default. That is worth saying plainly because Thames-Coromandel’s district rule is the opposite: everywhere not named in the schedule is on leash, and Wharekaho is named. The catch is the summer window. From 20 December to 31 January, and on holiday weekends, the entire beach is closed to dogs between 9am and 6pm. Not on leash, closed. Before 9am and after 6pm it goes back to off lead, which is how locals use it in January, and the rest of the year the window does not exist at all. The reserve behind the sand is not the beach. The bylaw is explicit that reserves and parks next to a beach are outside its definition, so the car park, the toilets off Winiata Place and the little playground are on leash all year round. Get to the sand first, then let the lead off. One thing we would want you to know even though the bylaw does not require it of you. Waikato Regional Council lists Wharekaho as a site of importance for coastal birds, with one to three pairs of northern New Zealand dotterel breeding here, and it names domestic dogs among the threats. The birds tend to nest at the southern end, which is the end you start from. The council can add temporary restrictions for nesting, so if there is fresh signage or a roped off patch of sand in spring, that will be a nest and it outranks anything on this page.
It sits at the easy end and gains roughly 12 m, and takes about 24 min to walk.
Dogs are welcome here. This walk is on the map because Inge & Pip suggested it, and we checked it against the source above.
