New Zealand 
In numbers.
May
Sep–Nov
Best months
1,023m
Elevation
The water at Curtis Falls, month by month
It roars from May to October.
The fullest months: from May to October.
- 48%Jan
- 45%Feb
- 45%Mar
- 64%Apr
- 84%May
- 100%Jun
- 100%Jul
- 96%Aug
- 87%Sep
- 81%Oct
- 65%Nov
- 65%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: May and from September to November.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in New Zealand
Curtis Falls is a waterfall in New Zealand. It lies within Egmont National Park.
Getting there.
- Stratfordnearest town · 16 km in a straight line
- Parking 760 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- New Plymouth Airport (NPL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 33 km in a straight lineCar hire at NPL airport (New Plymouth)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- May and from September to Novemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 502 m in 3.6 km.
What is around.
- 5viewpointsStratford Plateau Lookout, Mirador for the summit of Mt Taranaki and 3 more
- 13waymarked walking routesEnchanted Track, Waingongoro Track, Taranaki Maunga Summit Climb and 10 more
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- 6picnic sites
- 4toilets
- 2information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmDawson Falls / Te Rere o Kapuni
- —caves
- 2campsitesFreedom Camping, Freedom camping (SC only)
- 4hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmManganui Lodge, Konini Lodge, Manganui Public Shelter and 1 more
- 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Stratford16 km in a straight line
- Mangorei17 km in a straight line
- Inglewood17 km in a straight line
- Eltham22 km in a straight line
- Oakura24 km in a straight line
- Vogeltown25 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 15 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 |
| Night °C | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 66 | 72 | 72 | 96 | 110 | 118 | 109 | 108 | 100 | 101 | 80 | 99 |
| Wet days | 11 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 14 |
| Sun h/day | 9.1 | 8.4 | 7.4 | 5.8 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 6.6 | 7.9 | 8.0 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,023 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 32% | 63% | 121% | 64% | 116% | 95% | 111% | 98% | 117% | 116% | 286% | 118% |
| 2021 | 138% | 56% | 212% | 80% | 104% | 108% | 96% | 116% | 139% | 115% | 106% | 233% |
| 2022 | 12% | 352% | 118% | 38% | 131% | 159% | 195% | 178% | 114% | 122% | 207% | 124% |
| 2023 | 238% | 172% | 131% | 90% | 172% | 64% | 79% | 96% | 133% | 64% | 135% | 122% |
| 2024 | 109% | 62% | 88% | 129% | 72% | 87% | 99% | 133% | 108% | 117% | 97% | 63% |
| 2025 | 71% | 21% | 77% | 118% | 95% | 140% | 200% | 67% | 107% | 146% | 106% | 144% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Curtis Falls
New Zealand
- —Height
- —Average flow
- May, Sep–NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q32171719) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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