Road
Rotorua is served by State Highways 5, 30, and 30A, and the Thermal Explorer Highway touring route, with State Highways 33 and 36 terminating on the outskirts of the city.
State Highway 5, running concurrently with the Thermal Explorer Highway, is the main north-south route through Rotorua, bypassing the city centre to the west. North of the city at Ngongotaha, State Highway 36 splits off to provide a route to Tauranga via Pyes Pa, while State Highway 5 turns westward, connecting to State Highway 1 at Tirau and providing the main route into Rotorua from Hamilton and Auckland. To the south, State Highway 5 provides the main route into the city from Taupo, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, and Wellington.
State Highway 30 runs southwest to northeast through the city. The route from Tokoroa, Waitomo Caves and Taranaki enters the city in the southwest (running concurrently with State Highway 5), before crossing the southern suburbs to the shore of Lake Rotorua east of the city centre. It then runs through the suburb of Te Ngae, before spliting off State Highway 33 to provide an eastern route to Tauranga via Te Puke. State Highway 30 then turns eastwards, and connects to the eastern Bay of Plenty, and the Gisborne region.
State Highway 30A runs northwest to southeast, connecting State Highways 5 and 30 with each other via the city centre.
Air
Rotorua International Airport is located 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) northeast of the city centre, off State Highway 30. Air New Zealand provides daily turbo-prop flights between Rotorua and Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch airports. Previously Qantas also operated a Boeing 737 on the same route, but upon their departure from domestic flights in New Zealand this was discontinued.
Work has been completed to increase the main runway length to allow direct Airbus A320 flights to and from Australia. Air New Zealand has commenced direct flights to Sydney; interest in other routes
