An earthquake has hit just 10km from Taupō in the central North Island, shaking and rattling houses.

"That's the strongest I've felt in Taupō," one Facebook user reported this morning.

"Watching TV and everything was shaking. Picture frames fell over and everything rattled. So strong," another user said.

Others described the quake as scary, while one said: "Damn near rocked me out of bed".

The 4.2 magnitude quake struck at 6.36am today 10km southwest of Taupō at a depth of 5km, the GeoNet monitoring agency reported.

More than 1200 Kiwis jumped onto the GeoNet site to report they had felt the quake, with most describing it as moderate to light.

The vast majority reporting feeling the quake lived in Taupō and the area around Lake Taupō.