By plane

Air New Zealand has five direct daily flights to Whakatane, four from Auckland and one from Wellington with a flight time of 45 minutes. Rental cars are available at the airport. Check grabaseat for specials.

By car

Whakatane is less than 100 kilometres from the cities of Rotorua and Tauranga. It is less than 4 hours drive from Auckland and Hawkes Bay and 2.5 hours from Gisborne, Hamilton and Taupo. Wellington is a hour drive through beautiful scenery.

By bus

Intercity Coachlines covers all of New Zealand and runs a daily (?) service to Whakatane.

A regular local bus service  operates between Whakatane, Ohope, Kawerau, Opotiki and Tauranga. The Ohope - Whakatane and Ohope - Tauranga line runs Monday to Saturday, while the Whakatane - Opotiki, Whakatane - Kawerau run 2x weekly. The fares are cheap as they have been subsidised by the regional council.