Mount Maunganui, or Mauao, known to locals as The Mount, is a 232 metre (760 foot) lava dome at the end of a tombolo in the Tauranga suburb of Mount Maunganui in New Zealand, beside the eastern entrance to the city's harbour.

Local Māori consider Mauao to be tapu (sacred), and it plays an important role in their mythology. They own the mountain and manage it jointly with Tauranga City Council.

Mauao is open to the public and is popular for scenic walks, jogging, paragliding and hang gliding. In recent years, fires and storm damage have required replanting and track repairs.

'Maunganui' means 'big mountain' in English, thus 'Mount Maunganui' means 'mountain big mountain' and is an example of a tautological place name. The alternative name 'Mauao' means 'caught by the morning sun'.

Mount Maunganui is a prominent rhyolite lava dome located at the northern end of the Tauranga Volcanic Centre. It is part of the Minden Rhyolite Subgroup, a collection of at least 17 Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene lava domes with ages ranging from 1.95 to 2.89 Ma. The youngest volcanic deposits on Mount Maunganui are dated to 2.35 ± 0.06 million years ago. Since then, the dome has undergone erosion as volcanic activity shifted to the modern Taupō Volcanic Zone.

During the Last Glacial Maximum, when sea levels were up to 120 metres (390 ft) below present levels, the Tauranga Basin was dry, fully connecting Mount Maunganui to the mainland. As sea levels rose during the Holocene, Mount Maunganui became an island before the accumulation of marine beach deposits formed a tombolo around 4,000 years ago, thereby reuniting it with the mainland.

In the ancient times of the Māori people, there lived a nameless hill. He sat alone in a discarded inland area and was slave to Otanewainuku, the most prestigious mountain of Tauranga Moana (greater Tauranga area). Nearby there lived a captivating hill whose name was Puwhenua; she was adorned with the beauty of Tanemahuta (God of the Forest). The nameless one desired the affection of Puwhenua, but her heart had already been won by Otanewainuku. This resulted in disparity which led the nameless one to drown himself in Te Moananui-a-Kiwa (Pacific Ocean). So he called upon his companions, the patupaiarehe (fairy people), who dwelt in the dark recesses of the forest. The patupaiarehe were people of the night and possessed magical powers. The nameless one knew that with their help his ambition to end his life would be accomplished. When night fell, they laced the nameless one with dozens of ropes and began to heave and pull. The land rumbled as the patupaiarehe forced the nameless one from his position. A valley was gouged as they heaved him along, forming the Waimapu River. They continued along the Tauranga Moana channels where Hairini, Maungatapu and Matapihi reside. Upon their arrival near the great ocean of Kiwa, daybreak was fast approaching. Unfortunately for the nameless one this was proving to be a complex and problematic task. The rays of Tama Nui te Ra (Sun) began to light up the summit of the nameless hill and the patupaiarehe were exposed to the rays of light, so they retreated back to the depths of the forests.

The patupaiarehe decided to give the name Mauao to this mountain, which now marks the entrance into Tauranga Harbour. The literal translation of Mauao is "caught by the dawn". In time this mountain assumed its own great prestige and mana even over his once rival Otanewainuku and now stands as the symbol of all tribes of Tauranga Moana.