3 BEST Things to do in RADICAL Raglan, New Zealand

We are checking out the beautiful beach town of Raglan over the next few days. We are going to be exploring this beautiful town southwest of Auckland, which is known worldwide for a beautiful surf break. There's a few beaches that have excellent waves, and this small beach town definitely has a chill, laid-back surfer vibe. However, there's several other things to do in this town besides surfing. They've got great hikes, they've got even rock climbing, caving, even some canyons. But first up today, we are going to explore the stunning Bridal Veil Falls that's really a quick 20-minute walk down to the bottom from the car park, and it is a beautiful waterfall. Let's check it out. So Bridal Veil Falls, definitely worth a quick stop down here to Raglan just to check out the waterfall. But if you're here, you might as well check out the town. The beaches are beautiful. There's some awesome restaurants in the town, actually, by the way. But tonight, I'm super excited to do something. It's a combination of two things that I love, glow worms and canyoning, or canyoneering for my North American friends. We're doing a night canyon, and we're dropping like right after sunset, I believe, and then as it gets dark, as we descend deeper and deeper into the canyon, we're going to be surrounded by glow worms. Really excited to check that out with this company, Raglan Rock, who I just actually found out they are the only canyoning company in New Zealand that stays open year-round. So their canyons aren't like super advanced. They're actually really good beginner canyons, but they do stay open year-round, so even in the winter when everybody else is closed up, you can enjoy some canyoning in Raglan after you surf. It's like a perfect one-two combination. Surf the beach during the day and then hit a canyon at night, check out some glow worms. We got my man here, Harry, taking us into the canyon. About to get real jiggy with it. Put your head in there. There you go. Sam doesn't want to be on camera, but she is on camera now. The poster child for Raglan Rock. I have no idea what's going on. Totally abandoned by our guy. Oh wait, there he is. Hey. Oh yeah, anyway. I know, I know. Through there? That's the one. Right through there? Right through there. Sweet. So head first on your belly. Don't go feet first. Okay. Yeah. And then once you're out the other side, just like hang out together and then walk together. Okay. And then use the harikiki, the flax, to swing yourself through. Honey, do you see where we're going? It's like a jungle. Head first. This is where we're disappearing. We're disappearing and we're hitting straight into the canyon. Yeah. Oh, this is awesome. This is so cool. Yeah, yeah. That's what it's like. Honey, don't cheat. Honey, do not cheat. All right. Wait, wait, let me get in position. Let me get in position. On your mark, get set, go. What? That's not cool. I checked. I wanted to check. Go for it. Fly. Fly like an eagle. That was disappointing. That's your first guided repel. You didn't look like you enjoyed it. Go for it. It has been an epic few days here in Raglan or Radlan. If you know how rad Raglan is, you just call it Radlan. So our last full day in Radlan, thanks to the Raglan Backpackers Hostel, they just started a surf camp. They have surf lessons they're offering now. So we're going to go take a surf lesson. It's only my second time surfing, but of course, no trip to Raglan would be complete without at least a taste of the waves. You got to shred a little gnar if you're in Raglan. So that's what I'm going to do my best today. Probably it's just going to be me falling a lot, but Sam and I are excited to go take our surf lesson. And I really, really dig the vibes here. An interesting thing I heard actually is that Raglan is kind of turning into the Silicon Valley or actually I would say probably more like the Santa Monica of New Zealand. A lot of like digital companies, a lot of startup companies are moving to Raglan and setting up shop. And in California that happened. A lot of Silicon Valley companies are migrating to Santa Monica because it has that beach vibe. So you're getting this kind of a Silicon Coast or Silicon Beach, I think they call it now Santa Monica. And that's what Raglan, I guess, is aspiring to be. I don't know if it is yet, but if you have a startup, it looks like a cool place to live for sure and run your company. But let's go. We're going somewhere over there or that way. I don't know, somewhere where the beach is, where the waves are breaking because there's not much surf here, but let's go shred it.