Hobbiton & Waitomo —
glowworms & Middle-earth

A real place that feels like Middle-earth

Hobbiton is a film set created for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, and it is still standing — maintained exactly as it appeared in the movies — on a farm in Matamata in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island.

The attention to detail is extraordinary. Bag End — Bilbo's hobbit hole — is there exactly as you remember it from the films. The Green Dragon pub, the Party Tree, hobbit holes scattered across the rolling hills. Every single detail has been thought through and maintained. The Waikato countryside surrounding it provides a backdrop that genuinely feels Middle-earth.

The Hobbiton experience

You can't just wander around independently — it's a guided tour experience only. This turns out to be a brilliant thing. The guides know every detail, they bring the stories to life, and they've clearly spent significant time thinking about how to present this in the most interesting way possible. Tours take roughly 2.5 hours and include access to the Party Tree, the Green Dragon pub and various hobbit holes.

Photography

Photography is allowed everywhere and encouraged. The film set is genuinely one of the most photographable places on earth. You will take hundreds of photos.

Glowworms in a vast underground cathedral

Waitomo Glowworm Cave is genuinely one of the most extraordinary natural experiences available in New Zealand. You board a small boat and are guided through a vast underground cave in almost total darkness. Above you, thousands upon thousands of tiny glowworms create their own galaxy, their lights reflected in the water beneath you.

The silence, the darkness and the sheer otherworldliness of floating through a cave lit only by thousands of tiny lights creates an experience that is impossible to put into words. It's the kind of thing you have to experience in person.

Waitomo options

There are two main cave systems you can visit: the main Waitomo Glowworm Cave (the standard experience of floating through on a boat) and Ruakuri Scenic Reserve (also a boat experience but with a slightly different cave system). There's also black water rafting for the more adrenaline-seeking — you tube through the cave with a headlamp, getting genuinely wet and genuinely muddy.