A lot of people do Coromandel Pinnacles with a night in the hut of the same name, mostly in order to catch the sunrise up there: it is about half an hour from the hut to the summit. We did it as a day walk in winter, in July. The daylight hours were short, but we managed to get round it while it was still light.
I will say straight away that the track did not impress me all that much in terms of scenery. But back when we lived in Auckland it turned out to be a decent option for a walk, because it helped break up the beach walks near the city that had already started to get old.
The first half of the way is fairly monotonous and dull: you walk through dense forest and up an enormous number of uneven steps of all different sizes. Along the way there are a couple of swing bridges.
Why there are so many steps on this track
In the 1920s this was a packhorse track, used to bring kauri logs down out of the valley. The steps your knees will be complaining about by the end of the descent were cut into the rock for the horses, not for us tourists.
We were there in July and it was pretty wet and muddy. I do not know what it is like at other times of year, but I would guess more or less the same.
After about an hour and a half of climbing the dense forest ends and the first views over the surrounding valleys open up. That is also where you first see the summit you are about to climb.
Another half an hour on there is the turnoff to the hut, which is called Pinnacles Hut. We did not stay there, but we have heard it is not much fun: there are a lot of bunks, a lot of people, and at night somebody is guaranteed to be snoring.
Pinnacles Hut
This is the largest hut in New Zealand, sleeping up to 80 people. Inside there are gas cookers, a fire for heating and a cold shower, and a warden lives on site all year round. You have to book ahead and online. As far as we know you cannot buy a bed on arrival. A night costs from 30 dollars in winter up to 40 at the height of summer, and from October to April the Backcountry Hut Pass is not valid here.
After the hut there is about a kilometre to go and around 200 metres of climbing. This is the most technical part of the route.
There are several places where you have to climb an iron ladder driven straight into the rock. For us, being used to tramping, it was easy enough, but someone without that experience might not find it very comfortable. We were there in dry weather, and I have a feeling that in wet weather it could get quite slippery and dangerous up there.
Luckily this section is short, and after about 30 to 45 minutes you will be at the top. The viewing platform itself is relatively small. You can climb further up over the rocks, where there is room to sit, have something to eat and take photos.
From up there you get views over the surrounding valley, as well as of the town of Tairua and the Pacific Ocean.
Where the Pinnacles came from
The Coromandel was once part of a large volcanic arc, which stayed active until roughly 2.5 million years ago. After that the volcanic activity shifted south, to the Taupo and Tongariro area. These rocks sit next to the ancient Kapowai caldera, left behind by that activity. Over millions of years erosion wore away the surrounding rock, gradually leaving these stone towers standing on the surface.
You go back the same way: first a bit of suffering on the ladders, and then, once you reach the forest and the descent down the steps begins, more suffering on those. Your knees will take the worst of it.
People online say this track is amazing for watching the sunrise, but I am not a fan of that kind of adventure, getting up in the middle of the night to go and do a track, so I cannot vouch for that claim.
To finish, I would say the track is worth doing for people who live in Auckland and have already walked every possible route around the city, at least to tick it off or for a change of scene. If you are travelling around New Zealand, I would not go out of my way for this one: for the effort you put in and the views you get back, it is not really worth it. The elevation gain is substantial and it goes up uneven steps, while the views are mediocre and definitely lose out to the Tongariro tracks, such as Alpine Crossing or Tama Lakes.