New Zealand Mud Festival

Indulge your inner child at Roturua’s Mudtopia this December in New Zealand.

This three-day, high-energy festival features a full program of music performances on the Mud Stage, a mud obstacle area, mud games including casual wrestling and bungee courses, a 1.2-mile mud run and, of course, a pool full of liquid mud to simply imbibe.

For those less interested in being covered head-to-toe in wet dirt, the festival offers mud-free zones and a wellness program featuring minimal mud, a one-mile walk or two-mile run in the morning and yoga. There’s also an on-site Mud Day Spa for massages, facials and other beauty treatments. Rotorua’s geothermal properties make the mud high in restorative minerals, and there are products available to sample and purchase.

The muddy madness takes place at Arawa Park at the Rotorua Racecourse, Dec. 1–3. The Saturday music lineup features Shapeshifter, Peking Duk and Chores, plus daytime live music by Hollie Smith, Anika Moa, Jason Kerrison, Jupiter Project and Melowdownz. The venue is located a few minutes from central Rotorua, where there are several accommodation options, including Millennium Hotel Rotorua & Spa, ibis Rotorua and Princes Gate Hotel. Food and drink vendors will be available on the festival grounds. Tickets start at $122 and are available on Ticketmaster.