Hobbiton & Waitomo Tour with Picnic Lunch from Auckland

A very lovely experience on the whole! Loved both the Waitomo Caves tour and the Hobbiton Movie set tour. All the guides were very clear and professional in their explanation, with drops of humour. Rachel the bus driver and main guide was also very reassuring, responsible and clear in instructions. we saw many lovely free range sheeps and cows along the way. very valuable for money. the coach bus was also comfortable!

Excellent trip! Kenny was an absolute gem of a driver, complementing the two paid experiences with facts about New Zealand. The lunch provided exceeded my expectations in presentation and quality—10/10! Just flagging that the cave experience is memorable but not photographable, so manage your expectations with that experience. Overall, I’d recommend this tour!

Our tour guide, Todd, was awesome! He gave us a ton of fun facts about NZ on the drives to & from places which made time go by real quick. The Waitomo Caves tour is a must do & Hobbiton is a magical experience, even if you aren’t familiar with the movies or books. Overall very well planned, the tour was on time and we had plenty of time for pictures and to relax and enjoy the scenery. You get really nice views of NZ on the drive too. Definitely worth the day trip!

The LOTR fangirl in me couldn’t have been happier. Overall, the guided tour with Mira was very well organised. Be informed that this is a 2hr long walking trip with a decent amount of uphill climbing involved. While not extremely physically challenging, can be a but tiring if one isnt used to walking long distances.

We first visited the Glowworm Cave, which is a very special attraction. It is a typical limestone cave with stalactites of all sizes. But this is not the highlight of this cave, because there are many limestone caves in the world that are much more spectacular than it. What makes it special is that there are thousands of worms hanging in the cave, and their tails glow to attract prey. So when we look up from the boat, we can see stars that look like the vast starry sky. It is really spectacular! But they are not like the common fireflies that flicker on and off. They are fixed on the rock wall and the light is always on, which is very magical! After finishing the glowworm cave tour, the next step is to go to the scene of the "Lord of the Rings" movie - Hobbiton. It takes about 1 hour from Waitomo to Hobbiton. Then we will spend 1 hour in the Hobbiton souvenir shopping area and then take the shuttle bus to visit the movie scene area. The first scene is the small dirt slope where Gandalf drives his carriage through the Shire and greets Frodo at the beginning of the film. Seeing such a small dirt slope on the scene, it is hard to imagine that the scene in the movie was shot on a very large slope. It’s magical! After passing this dirt slope, we began to enter the houses of the Shire Hobbits walking on the hills. They were really similar to the houses in the movie. Then here I saw apple trees for the first time. There were many plants planted here, and it was obvious that the staff were updating and maintaining them. Then we arrived at Bilbo Bagins’ house, which is located at the highest point of the entire hill. There is a unique artificial tree (made in Taiwan) on the roof of the house, but unfortunately we cannot go inside. Later we meandered down to another larger house, where we could finally go inside and visit. The furniture inside was all handmade and very exquisite and luxurious, definitely worth a look. Finally, we walked to the end and had a free beer at the Green Dragon Tavern. All in all, I was very satisfied with today's trip!

very lovely tour giving us enough time to explore and we even arrived early back in auckland. Our driver and guide made the trip so much more enjoyable and filled us in on interesting insights along the way, will come back again with family!

I only have one free day in NZ and I'm so glad I did this tour. It was worth your money!! The whole tour was organized, our driver, Bruce provides all the necessary information you may need. The boat ride and the Hobbiton tour was very magical and dreamy 🥰

Such a fantastic experience. Todd from great sights was such a fun and warm guide / driver. The bus was really comfortable and the lunch was delicious. My mom is a vegetarian and we were glad they had a Vegan option! Both places are a must see and we will recommend this tour to our friends and family.

Such a fun day! Shout out to Todd! He was the best bus driver I’ve ever had. He is so funny and had great commentary. The glow worm caves were beautiful and Hobbiton was my childhood dream come true. This was a great day!

I highly recommend this tour! It was incredibly comfortable, perfectly organized, and our guide, Anthony, was absolutely fantastic! Friendly, knowledgeable, and engaging. The entire experience was educational, enjoyable, and truly satisfying from start to finish.