New Zealand is such a beautiful country that offers so much to explore. For the short term traveler, it’s tough to fit everything into a week or two! And while the nation’s illustrious landscape is something I’ll dig into another time, the country is known on the surface as home to Peter Jackson’s epic The Lord of the Rings movies.
Almost anywhere you go, you can find some amazing experience to transport you into the LOTR trilogy. From the WETA Studio tour in Wellington to skydiving over Mt. Doom to walking along the River Anduin, there’s no shortage of movie experiences. But the crown jewel of all of them is the tour of Hobbiton, located in the rolling hills just outside Matamata on the North Island.
But, I get it, not everyone wants to spend their entire time in New Zealand learning about how Sean Penn was scared of helicopters and would hike up mountains for filming every morning instead! While there are a number of tour busses that can get you down to Hobbiton and back in a day, I think this is a great chance to rent a car, slow down, and experience more of what the North Island has to offer!
So, let’s take a quick journey there and back again! You can find everything I’ll talk about along this route here. First off, you’re going to need to get your tour tickets well in advance. There are times you can get lucky and walk up to whatever time tour you’d like, but I’d highly recommend planning ahead. The Shire sees thousands of visitors each day, and I’d hate for you to get there without a reservation in hand and be turned away!
This journey is planned around one of the Banquet Tours, which to me, is well worth the extra money! The meal is fantastic, and with the tour being later in the day, it gives you plenty of time to explore on the trip down. Plus, the whole banquet experience is amazing - it feels like you’re there celebrating Bilbo’s 111th birthday!
Leaving Auckland early morning gives you some time along the way for some detours. If you’re in for a more adventurous hike, not far off your route you’ll find Kauri Loop and Hakarimata Track, both straight forward, but great, little treks! Or, if you’re looking for a more relaxed time, head straight down to find a little cafe in Hamilton and take a little walk down the river!
You really can’t go through Hamilton without a stop at Hamilton Gardens. Entry and parking are both free, and there is so much to see! I’d budget at least an hour of time for wandering through the different collections, but you could easily make it two or three.
By this point, you’re only about 45 minutes from Hobbiton. We were running early, and thought we might go into Matamata and explore. But, as we were driving by Lake Karapiro, we noticed a random sign on the side of the highway pointing down a small road that said "Restaurant." We said sure, worst case scenario we drive down to the lake. But we came upon this super cute boat rental/wedding venue/restaurant/bar high up overlooking the water called The Boatshed. The owners are really sweet - the husband is a Kiwi, and after getting married his wife (from Kentucky) and him decided to move back to the island. They run the place with their kids, and were great to have a conversation with! We were saving food space for our Hobbiton feast, but enjoyed a drink and the scenery.
When you show up to The Shire’s Rest, which is where the tours launch from, there’s a cafe, restrooms, and a gift shop. I’d recommend showing up early enough to check in and shop for souvenirs, but wait until afterwards to buy anything! You don’t want to be stuck carrying your bags around, or leaving your litres of mead baking in the car. Thirty minutes early is probably a good amount of time to walk around, but not feel like you’re just stuck there waiting.
Eventually, your tour time will get called, and you’ll line up to show your ticket, meet your guide, and hop on a short bus ride to take you into The Shire! This was such an incredible experience. It's obviously a massive tourist hole, but the tour was so well done, so personal, and was just an emotional experience to get to walk through for me.
If you’ve taken my advice about the banquet, you start with feasting in the tent! Your guide will give you a set of tables to sit at, and will call you table by table to get food the first time. After that, it’s fair game to get back up and keep eating! I’m the introverted type of person who’s self conscious about being the one eating a lot, but on this day, I let that inhibition go. And it was so worth it. While we made friends with the people on our tour eating around us, my focus was on cramming second breakfast and elevensies into one sitting.
I won’t spoil too much about the tour, but it’s a time I’ll never forget. Even for Brooke, who’s interest in Lord of the Rings is...negligible at best, the experience of being in a legendary movie set is so unique! At the end of your tour, you get to enjoy a pint inside The Green Dragon before loading your bus back to The Shire’s Rest.
Along the road to The Shire’s Rest, you’ll find a number of homes with rentals on Airbnb! We had about a 2 minute drive to ours, which you can find here, and we absolutely loved staying at!
Matamata is also just a short drive away, and is home to a number of rentals, inns, and cottages, all of which are very affordable and in a great area to spend the evening.
From Matamata, I’d suggest taking a different route back to Auckland than the one you came on. Might as well see more of the island! The direct route back up Highway 27 is a similar length to the trip through Hamilton. Or, if you’re looking to stretch things out a little more, head out Highway 29 to the east coast of the island, and turn back north up Highway 2 until you find yourself in Auckland. For us personally, we had to catch a flight and didn’t have time to stop, but a couple fun looking hikes if we had had time are to Pukeitionga and Maby Hill!
