Rotorua to Auckland via Hobbiton Tour with Lunch - One Way
Description
Travel the short distance from Rotorua to Matamata, home of Hobbiton Movie Set. Upon arriving at Hobbiton, meet your guide who takes you through this working sheep farm, a prime filming location for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movie series with incredible views overlooking the world’s biggest outdoor movie set. Fans will love exploring the Shire, home to hobbit holes including Bilbo Baggins’s house. Stop for photos in front of the Mill, the party tree and the double-arch bridge as you’re entertained with tales about the making of the films. Explore inside a Hobbit home at BagShot Row. Then head to the Green Dragon Inn for a complimentary cider, ale or ginger beer. After your tour of Hobbiton, enjoy an included buffet lunch at The Party Marquee before your day trip ends with drop-off at your hotel in Auckland.
Tour Options
Itinerary
This trip from Rotorua to Auckland includes the Hobbiton movie set tour 1 hour journey from Rotorua to Hobbiton). Departing from Rotorua at 8am, this is a wonderful way to get to Auckland and include a magical journey through Middle-earth to the Hobbiton Movie Set from “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” films. On arrival at Shire’s Rest you embark on your Hobbiton movie set tour. This location is the largest “green set” in the world and the only part of the set remaining in New Zealand. You see 44 hobbit holes, the Mill and double arch bridge and the party tree. At this stunning location you can take a photo at the gate to Bilbo’s house, “Bag End” *please note from April to November 2023 there will be construction on set due to the Bagshot Row Development. This should not affect your tour too much apart from not seeing Samwise Gamgee’s home & a bit of construction noise. From 1st December 2023 the tour will be an additional 30 min to include the new Bag Shot Row experience.
The tour concludes with a visit to the Green Dragon Inn where you can enjoy a complimentary ale, cider or ginger beer. After a drink, enjoy a buffet lunch at the Green Dragon Marquee before continuing onto Auckland Following the Hobbiton tour, enjoy the sumptuous buffet lunch in the Party Marquee which is fit for a Hobbit. After lunch we drive north through lush Waikato dairy farms and over the Bombay Hills before arriving in Auckland at approximately 3.15pm. You will be transferred to your Auckland inner-city accommodation.
This tour finishes in Auckland and is a one way product. (2 hour journey from Hobbiton incl. a toilet stop)
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Pick up from selected inner city Rotorua accommodation included - please advise where you are staying and we can give you directions to the central meeting point or a pick up time.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Minimum TWO adults required for this tour to run
- The tour at Hobbiton joins a larger group with up to 35 people
Reviews(11)
We had a great time. Our driver Damian was enthused and excited about New Zealand and he knew his history and all along the drive shared fun facts. He also helped to make sure we had all our bags and did not lose anyting along the way!! Hobbiton was amazing and made watching the movies even more of an experience. Thanks for the fun times and would definitely use your services in the future.
We are so pleased you enjoyed your tour with Damian, thank you for taking the time to post a review. Much appreciated.
Excellent tour. Our tour guide Kelly was very knowledgeable Hobbton was remarkable. Would highly recommend this tour for anyone visiting New Zealand in the future.
Thank you for posting a review regarding your tour to Hobbiton and your comments about your tour guide Kelly - these are very much appreciated :!
Excellent tour guide led by Damian. Very informative, entertaining and kind. Hobbiton visit a must for JRR Tolkien stories and the movie’s enthusiasts. Route to site has interesting scenery, too
We appreciate the time you have taken to post a review. Thank you!
Hobbiton is fantastic. Our tour started in a smaller van and had no narration. At Hobbiton, our luggage was moved to a different van, which was nicer and had a bit of narration.
This was an excellent tour, very well coordinated. We had a lovely day on the mini bus tour of Hobbiton. Our tour guide eas interesting. It's very busy at Hobbiton but that is unavoidable. The lunch was delicious and smooth considering how many people ate in the marquee. Our drive to Auckland was made more fun by Milton ( thanks for the suggestion to see Auckland by visiting the Voco IHG hotel for a drink on the 38th floor) a very kind and caring driver.
My wife and I know very little about Tolkien and the Hobbit yet we thoroughly enjoyed our tour of Hobbiton. The day was sunny and the temperature was pleasant. The photo opportunities were numerous. The Waitomo Glowworms were underwhelming but it was nice to see them on our way from Rotorua to Auckland. The highlight though was our guide and driver: DAMIAN. Damian is very knowledgeable, friendly, and outgoing. We learned so much from his narratives as he drove. Damian truly made us feel like family. He seems to really enjoy people and what he does. Thanks for a great day and being sure we arrived safely at our hotel in Auckland.
Incredible experience. We took the tour with pick up from our hostel in Rotorua to Hobbiton. Our driver for that leg, Willy, was kind and courteous and an absolute pleasure. We even had to take a detour due to a road closure but Willy navigated around and made sure we made it to Hobbiton right on time. He even waited and made sure we met our tour guide for the second leg, Damian. We were with Damian from Hobbiton to Waitomo, and then to Auckland. Damian was a wealth of knowledge about Hobbiton, the different cities and vistas along the route back to Auckland, and general facts and information about New Zealand - especially about bird conservation, predator remediation, and bush cabins. I really appreciated his insight and commentary on the ride. My partner and I are vegetarian, and Damian even made sure we knew what options were available to us at the Hobbiton lunch buffet. And of course, Hobbiton and Waitomo Caves were incredible experiences and I am grateful to have visited each site. I highly recommend Bush and Beach tours and I will tour with them again when I next visit New Zealand.
They were very efficient, punctual, and courteous. They managed it well despite this being a logistical jujitsu for they brought in tourists from Rotorua and Auckland in different buses with lots of luggage and dispersed them to different tours and destinations in different busses after the Hobbiton tour - without misplacing the bags! Our driver/guide, Kelly, was excellent in maintaining the schedule and giving us updates during the drive. Bush and Beach added a couple of nice touches as part of the tour package - a lunch and a NZ $10 discount voucher in the Gift Shop.
Hobbiton is a beautiful stage set with lots of cute doors and accessories that might mean more to Hobbit super fans. The food for the lunch was plentiful and tasty. The transfer from Rotorua to Auckland left much to be desired. The pickup and drop off from Rotorua were early. The driver had very little information for us except that someone else would have our Hobbiton tickets (she wasn’t sure we had Hobbiton tickets at first) and give us a ride to Auckland. Our Auckland driver showed up with tickets just as our Hobbiton tour was leaving which was very disconcerting as we were unsure up to that point after standing around for 40 minutes and giving us no time to confirm our bags were in the right place. Surely there could be better communication. The transfer from Rotorua to Auckland was too long to be sitting in such uncomfortable seats. The seating in the van needs to be improved.
Our tour was Auckland to Hobbiton to Rotorua. Milton was our tour guide, he was very knowledgeable about the entire trip down to Hobbiton, all the areas we passed through. Another guide drove to Rotorua, he was also knowledgeable about the areas we went through.
