Mangawhai Cliffs Walkway: how long it takes, tides, parking and dogs

The Mangawhai Cliffs Walkway starts from the Mangawhai Heads car park at the end of Wintle Street. DOC puts the clifftop section at 3 km and about 1 hour 10 minutes one way, after a 20-minute walk up the beach to the track sign. To come back along the beach instead of retracing the cliffs, start two to three hours before low tide.

How long is the Mangawhai cliff walk?

• Car park to the walkway sign, along the beach: 1.2 km, about 20 minutes one way.
• The cliff walkway itself: 3 km, about 1 hour 10 minutes one way.
• The beach return, back along the rocks and sand: 4.8 km, about 1 hour.

Put together, the full loop — beach out, up over the cliffs, back along the shore — is a good half-day with stops. Out and back over the cliffs only is the same distance with more climbing. DOC doesn't give a grade, but it describes the track plainly: steep ups and downs with lots of steps. Anyone reasonably fit will manage it; it isn't a stroll.

When is the tide right?

The beach return is only passable at low and mid tide, and DOC's advice is to start two to three hours before low tide if you want to loop back that way. At high tide the shore route is impassable. If water is surging through the rock archway, don't try it — turn round and go back over the cliff track. Look up the day's tide times before you leave the car, not at the far end.

Where do you park, and are there toilets?

Park at the Mangawhai Heads car park at the end of Wintle Street. There are toilets, including an accessible one, at the car park. There's no drinking water and no rubbish bins on the track, so take water and carry everything out. In summer the car park fills early, which is another reason to walk first thing — it's exposed on top and hot by midday. Our swimming guide covers the patrolled beach at the same car park if you want a swim afterwards.

Can you take dogs on the Mangawhai cliff walk?

No. DOC's rule for the walkway is "No dogs". You can walk a dog on the surf beach — on a lead from the reserve to the first rocks, then off-lead to the north — but the dog can't go up onto the track. Our dogs guide has every stretch of beach and the rule for each.

What will you see?

On a clear day: Te Whara/Bream Head to the north, Taranga/Hen Island and Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island out to sea, and sometimes Aotea/Great Barrier and the Coromandel Peninsula on the horizon. Closer in there are nīkau palms, pōhutukawa and a natural rock archway on the shore. Looking back south you get the whole sweep of the Heads, the harbour and the sandspit, where the tara iti nest — here's why that spit is fenced.

What should you watch out for?

• Steep drops with loose gravel at the track edge. Hold on to small children.
• Unstable cliffs. Stay back from cliff faces, both on top and on the beach below.
• Wasps and nests in places, especially late summer.
• Patchy mobile coverage and weather that changes quickly. Tell someone where you've gone.
• Private land: the track crosses it, so stay on the track.
• The Cove Road link track closes every year from 1 September to 31 October for lambing and calving.

Make a morning of it

Walk at 7.30, then breakfast at the Wood Street shops, where Sandbar Eatery and Brewed As both open for brunch from the morning. A quiet Saturday in Mangawhai builds a whole day around the walk, and everything else to do here is on one page.