It is overlooked by Taupiri mountain, the sacred burial ground for the Waikato tribes of the Māori people, located just to the north.

Taupiri is located near the northern end of the Waikato Basin immediately south of the junction of the Mangawara Stream (which drains the northern part of the basin) and the Waikato River.

State Highway 1 also ran through the town until the Huntly Bypass opened in March 2020.

[4] Taupiri-Lake Kainui statistical area extends southeast towards Horsham Downs.

Before the 2023 census, the statistical area had a larger boundary, covering 49.76 km2 (19.21 sq mi).

[6] Until sometime in the 19th century, a large Māori village or town, Kaitotehe, stood on the flat land on the other side of the river, below the Hakarimata Range.

When Te Putu was killed, he was buried at the pā, which thus became tapu (sacred) and was abandoned.

In the early 19th century, Kaitotehe was the home of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, the paramount chief of Ngāti Mahuta who became the first Māori King.

[9] Taupiri township was settled by Europeans in the 1870s (a railway station opened in 1877),[10] and became a farming centre, with flax mills and a sawmill.