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New Zealand New Zealand volcano

Mount Ruapehu

You can see 248 km from here, looking south-west.

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 248 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

87out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 248 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-west
  • 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 30%Seaof the circle where the horizon is the sea
  • 257Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
  • 2,746 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

The 257 peaks you can name from here

From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.

Maungatautari797 m · 141 km · northNgongotahā757 m · 141 km · north-eastMount Ruapehu2,797 m · 1.0 km · north-eastMount Tarawera1,111 m · 144 km · north-eastTauhara1,088 m · 84 km · north-eastPoutini1,164 m · 133 km · north-eastTarapōnui1,308 m · 103 km · eastKaweka J1,724 m · 70 km · eastTe Mata Peak399 m · 124 km · eastKōhinerākau490 m · 121 km · south-eastRangitapu470 m · 137 km · south-eastMount Maropea1,481 m · 73 km · south-eastMangaweka1,731 m · 74 km · south-eastWhaingapuna1,405 m · 91 km · south-eastWahatuara736 m · 134 km · south-eastSummit803 m · 139 km · southWharite Peak920 m · 110 km · southAruwaru767 m · 136 km · southPeak890 m · 148 km · southTaranaki Maunga2,518 m · 129 km · westPouākai1,400 m · 133 km · westCastle Craig Rock186 m · 131 km · north-westPirongia Mountain959 m · 150 km · northKakepuku449 m · 139 km · north

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are in January and from March to May.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Jansouth-west-6 min before the sea-level sunset34%
  2. Febwest-4 min before the sea-level sunset33%
  3. Marwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset34%
  4. Aprwest-4 min before the sea-level sunset34%
  5. Maynorth-west-4 min before the sea-level sunset34%
  6. Junnorth-west-4 min before the sea-level sunset33%
  7. Julnorth-west-4 min before the sea-level sunset31%
  8. Augwest-4 min before the sea-level sunset30%
  9. Sepwest-2 min before the sea-level sunset27%
  10. Octwest-4 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  11. Novsouth-west-4 min before the sea-level sunset27%
  12. Decsouth-west-4 min before the sea-level sunset24%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

Mount Ruapehu.

Active stratovolcano in central North Island, New Zealand

Mount Ruapehu is a volcano in New Zealand, 2,746 m above the sea.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 248 km away, looking south-west.

The sea fills 30% of the horizon.

257 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Mount Ruapehu (2,797 m), 1 km away.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.

The skies are clearest in January and from March to May.

00 1100 Ruapehu volcano
W. Bulach · CC BY-SA 4.0

Get there and stay

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

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.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

Mount Ruapehu seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 2other viewpoints within 5 km
  • 13named peaks within 5 kmDome, Tahurangi, Paretetaitonga and 10 more
  • 24cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
  • 5shelters and huts within 5 kmMuat Hut, Rangipo Hut, NZAC Ruapehu Hut and 2 more
  • 1visitor centres within 5 kmGuest Services
  • 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • 2campsites within 10 kmWhakapapa Holiday Park, Whaihohonu campsite
  • 15places to stay within 10 kmRuapehu Ski Club Hut, Wanganui Ski Club, Ruapehu Ski Club Lodge and 12 more
  • marked trails within 3 km
  • car parks within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

What you see from Mount Ruapehu, and what is near.

Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

Peakyas48 mountains within 25 km
Mount Ruapehu · this placeMount Ruapehu2,797 m · volcano · this placeDome Hill2,672 m · 0.9 kmTahurangi2,797 m · 1.0 kmParetetaitonga2,751 m · 1.1 kmTukino Peak2,720 m · 1.8 kmTe Heuheu2,732 m · 1.9 kmMount Ngauruhoe2,291 m · 15 kmMount Tongariro1,978 m · 18 km
Lakeyas1 lakes within 15 km
Upper Tama0.3 km² · 12 km
Cascadyas10 waterfalls within 15 km
Mangawhero Falls28 m · 7.1 kmWaitonga Falls39 m · 7.5 kmLupton Falls · 7.5 kmPunaruku Falls · 8.2 kmTaranaki Falls20 m · 9.4 kmCoche Falls19 m · 9.5 kmSigley Falls · 9.9 kmTawhai Falls · 13 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The view, as people saw it.

Mount Ruapehu 2026 cropped
Nil NZ · CC BY-SA 4.0
Mount Ruapehu October 9, 2023 (cropped)
Geoff McKay · CC BY 2.0
Crater Lake, Ruapehu, New Zealand 13
Michal Klajban · CC BY-SA 4.0

Other viewpoints nearby.

Mount Ruapehu

New Zealand

  • 87Viewyas Score
  • 248 kmFarthest ridge
  • 257Peaks in view
  • 2,746 mAltitude

Mount Tongariro

New Zealand · 18 km

  • 82Viewyas Score
  • 240 kmFarthest ridge
  • 202Peaks in view
  • 1,944 mAltitude

See the guide

Taranaki Maunga

New Zealand · 129 km

  • 88Viewyas Score
  • 249 kmFarthest ridge
  • 32Peaks in view
  • 2,475 mAltitude

See the guide

Taumatawhakatangihangakōauauotamateapōkaiwhenuakitānatahu

New Zealand · 145 km

  • 77Viewyas Score
  • 131 kmFarthest ridge
  • 115Peaks in view
  • 295 mAltitude

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q207284) · CC0
SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Lakeyas, Darkskyas, Cascadyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.