Before you reach the main downhill section of Tākaka Hill towards Tākaka, Golden Bay, you will see the car park for the Tākaka Hill Walkway. This combination of 4WD tracks and a walking track takes you to Tākaka Hill peak and a radio tower at 950 metres.
The views are spectacular in good weather – surrounding peaks of Kahurangi National Park and Tākaka Valley – but the ruined look of the karst rock landscape is just as interesting. It looks like piles of marble are just lying about.
The area was covered by a beech forest destroyed by fire in colonial times. The only surviving remnant is in the valley to your right on the first section of the walk. Across the higher section of the hill, there is now a scattering of alpine shrubs that are pretty when blooming in spring.
It takes about an hour to walk to the peak, with a moderate uphill climb, but a longer loop track takes up to three hours in total.
