Visiting Hobbiton was easily one of the highlights of our trip to the north island. The experience…read morebegan with a scenic bus ride across a working sheep farm, during which we learned about how the location was discovered and transformed into the iconic film set that it is today. Once we arrived, we were taken on a guided walking tour through the beautifully preserved set. Along the way, we saw some of the most memorable spots from the films, including the famous hillside where Frodo sets off on his adventure. One of my favorite parts came toward the end of the tour, when we were able to step inside a hobbit hole. The interiors were meticulously decorated, making it easy to imagine what life in the Shire might actually feel like! At the end of the tour, we stopped by Green Dragon Inn, where we enjoyed a complimentary drink (there's both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available). Overall, this was such a magical experience! Be sure to book ahead, as the popular tour times tend to get booked out pretty far in advance during peak season.

Hobbiton is exactly what you think it will be. If you're a fan of the movies and most importantly a…read morefan of Hobbiton, you are stepping into a real life fantasy. I was there for a wedding and we received our own private tour, so I can't say whether it was like the standard tour. You start off from essentially their home base. You get on a bus and drive across to an active live sheep and cattle farm. The sets are built on the farm. The hobbit homes are all exterior and gorgeous. The details are immaculate. They even have real smoke coming from chimneys! There is a built out interior for tourists to traverse and the details are amazing. I found an accordion in one and it worked! There are alcoholic beverages at the Pony, but alcohol content is low. Probably to keep us from acting out scenes from the movies. The tour guides were also awesome, funny, and knowledgeable. Magical place. 10/10

Way back when in 2015 on our bucket list trip to NZ and Australia our tour took us to this movie…read moreset. Great weather and better yet no crowds. Interesting to see the grand scale of the place and how little made it onto the screen. Best to come with no crowds or you will wind you stuck behind slower moving groups. Crowds of us are own worse part of being a tourist.

Loved my tour of Hobbiton! It's a tour (2-1/2 hours) of The Hobbit movie set! Very cool to see the…read moreset and you even get to go inside a Hobbit home. After the tour, go to the Green Dragon Inn and you receive a complementary beer.

I mainly wanted this glowworm tour because they allow pictures to be taken while in the cave. The…read moretour date I was looking at was fully booked but you can email them to be added to the waitlist. I asked to be added to the waitlist for 2 on October 12, and got off the waitlist on November 9, for a tour on December 28 so don't give up hope if it is originally fully booked! I did the spellbound explorer tour which included a walk through a cave as well as a boat ride through a cave for the glowworms. The tour guide was great and allowed pictures during the first back and forth on the boat ride and asked us to put away our phones during the second. This is because the first go-around allows for the eyes to adjust and see the glowworms better so the second go-around the glowworms are much brighter. The cave walk was also a nice add on for 20 NZD but if the tour with the cave walk is not available the regular boat ride is perfect on its own. I loved this tour as our tour guide took pictures for each group that wanted some with glowworms and also provided us with personal pictures of glowworms taken with a nicer camera with a longer shutter speed.

This was a really incredible experience for the whole family! Our guide even showed us a place…read morewhere we could feed eels in a stream. We took our nine month old and two year old in carriers. Would highly recommend! The morning is the best time as the glow worms are the brightest! This isn't too far from Hobbiton if you are planning a drive strategically to Auckland.

We did the morning lakes tour with stephen/Steven/Step 1 (you guys will totally get this joke when…read moreyou're on his tour!) and it was awesome! The meeting place was at I-site Rotorua so it's very easy to find. He does also offer hotel pickup but we were at an air bnb so we just walked there. Stephen was on time and his van was super roomy and clean. We got lucky and there were 6 of us on this tour so it was wasn't cramped in the van at all. He told us all the lakes we drove by and gave us some history on the areas that we visited. We got to see some amazing places with Stephen and he is so personable and friendly, like you're just visiting with a friend and they're showing you all their favorite places. What's even better is that the places weren't that crowded so we were able to get some really cool photos! Some of the other guests were going to be joining Stephen on one of this other tours later in the day and we were bummed we didn't book any of this other ones. He was a great guide and we had an amazing time on his tour! Definitely book a tour with him if you're going to be visiting Rotorua!

my study abroad group came from America and participated in the guided tour to the glow worm cave…read more I had am amazing time, and honestly it was probably my favorite thing we did on our trip. our guide was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic and you could tell he genuinely enjoyed what he was doing. the tour was so much fun, and he was more than willing to take pictures with us the whole time. 100% would recommend and would go back. (:

Did the Hobbiton Movie set tour from our cruise ship with Wicked Wanders and it was wonderful. A…read morenice tour of Tauranga prior to driving to Hobbiton. Very friendly folks who were diligent in getting us back to the ship on time. We would 100% use them again and recommend them to anyone!!

This was the best day ever. Our tour was arranged by one of our CC members. We had two vans of…read morefive couples in each van. Terry drove one van and Carolyn drove the other. Terry and Carolyn greeted us as we disembarked the cruise ship just as they said, with our names on a white board. The itinerary was fantastic. We saw as much as we could in one day without feeling rushed. This is the beauty of a small group tour. We first went to Te Puia where we had a Maori welcome and attended an action packed concert where many of us (my husband) participated. We walked along the boardwalk and witnessed the geysers, and boiling mud pools. This is also where we had a nice lunch on their patio overlooking the geothermal activity. After lunch we had free time to venture off to visit the museum where they do carving and weaving. It's not some small carving shop. It's huge!!! The gift shop was also wonderful. Plenty of beautiful things to choose from, and prices quite fair. After Te Puia we were off to the Redwood Forest (wow!) where Terry taught us the distinction of the silver fern (one of their national symbols). Being from California it was interesting to compare their Redwoods to ours. We found many similarities in their trees and flowers to ours. We took some fabulous photographs. The bathrooms were quite unique in that they were individual cylinder shapes out of decorated metal. Making our way back we stopped at a beautiful Kiwi Orchard, where we did some tastings of kiwis and jams. The Golden Kiwi.....Yum! Kiwi ice cream....yes, we indulged! We had a little extra time on our journey so we were able to make a very quick stop at Okere Falls to watch a rafting boat and some kayakers (really quick stop). All along the way the sights were absolutely beautiful. Terry would keep us entertained with stories along with narrating as to where we were and what we were seeing along the way, happy to answer any question we would toss at him. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour, and highly recommend Custom Day Tours. Terry & Carolyn - You are such the great team!! Thank you for a great day!! Cheers! MandL

We did this cave as a combo with Waitomo cave. Waitomo is really focused on the glowworms and this…read morecave (while it has some glowworms as well) its highlights are the many rock formations. The ribbon or sheet formations were stunning. The white rock is so beautiful. The cave is fully accessible with no steps. The beginning walk down to the cave door reminds me of being in the sci film, The Silo. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the cave and the area. They encourage photos so we took a few. I really enjoyed this tour.

Came here with the grandparents and the kids and everyone loved it. Our guide, Jetta, was…read moreexcellent - she was knowledgable about the history of the place, some of the science behind the worms, and managed the tour from start to finish really well. The caves themselves are really impressive - with the Ruakuri cave you get both the glowworms (including fairly up close) and the stalactite and stalagmite formations on an accessible walking tour. Yes, it is also accessible with a wheelchair and it's great that it was a priority for the owners to make it that way. Definitely book in advance so that you know you have a spot. Also, to clarify this is actually a separate cave to the Waitomo Glowworm Caves where you take a boat - so if you are torn on which one to do you can do both without a lot of overlap.

My wife and I really enjoyed this tour. We had a fantastic guide who was very knowledgable about…read morethe caves, the history, as well as knowledge of the surrounding Waitomo area. On top of a great tour, the advantage of Caveworld is that you can take photographs. This is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that you can (with the right settings and perhaps a tripod) get some amazing photographs of the glowworms and their bioluminescence. Challenge is, most people don't have the right settings and often get results that leave a bit to be desired. Also, you'll see lot's of flashes going off throughout the tour so if you are put off by this, you might consider another "no photography" tour. Ultimately lots of people have great pictures of stalactites and stalagmites but few of the actual glowworms. As I appreciated the option to try to photographs these caves and their inhabitants, I really would recommend Caveworld.

We purchased a tour for 10am cave tubing to see the glowworms with Caveworld. The tour guides were…read morevery friendly and knowledgeable and provided a fun filled tour for our group. Definitely do not hesitate to book this tour as it the more adventurous way to see the glowworms. You go underneath the caves with your headlights and tubes. They provide all the gear including life jacket suits. You go through a slide and jump off mini waterfalls while admiring the glowworms inside the caves. It was such a memorable experience for us!

This was an absolute stunning visit for us, fulfilling our lifelong dreams to go see where the…read morehobbits lived in the Shire. Of course, everything is to scale in real life, but it was an unbelievable experience walking on the paths shown in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. We had purchased our tickets beforehand online on their website. Upon arriving, it was easy to find parking and the check-in lines. There was a cafe and gift shop available to peruse through while we waited. An attendant checked our ticket times and allowed us to board a bus that took us to the grounds. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about everything we saw, heard, and touched. Anything that was within arm's reach, we could touch. Everything we saw was a real flower, plant, vegetable, or fruit. Nothing was plastic. Everything was made with raw materials as shown in the movies. Different places we walked past and through, the tour guide explained which scenes in the movies were shown. The tour guide was kind enough to take pictures for each group. Pictures and videos were encouraged. The tour itself lasted nearly 2 hours, which we thought was well worth our money spent. Near the end, a free beer was offered at the tavern and light snacks were sold. Any additional beer was extra. It was relaxing sitting inside the tavern as it was enjoying the cool outdoor summer of New Zealand. Hobbiton is a must-visit and we would love to come back if we can!

This review is for the behind the scene Tour…read more I am a huge fan of Lord of the rings. I watch it every year. So this was one of the bucket list that I want to check off while I was in New Zealand. They pick you up from the meeting area, where there is a plenty of parking spot for you, you meet up with your tour guide and at least 15-20 other people in your group. You start out with the main part of the hobbit area where you'll see many many hobbit doors, and almost to the end you get to go inside of the hobbit house where it is all decorated with kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, so it's really fun to check that part out. This was my favorite part of the Tour. After that, they take you to the green dragon inn, where you're able to get one free drink that could be cider, nonalcoholic or beer. I really like their cider and you get to kind of chill till this massive dinner that they have planned for you. You go to this separated VIP area where they have a huge table full of food for you to enjoy. Food was amazing. I have zero complaint which is saying a lot. They were able to accommodate to people who had dietary restriction, which is amazing as well. And then the actual behind the scene part of it starts. You go on another bus ride to this more like a warehouse area. Where they show you the sketches of The Hobbit and the little model of the hobbiton as well. However, I felt that this portion could have been much better. I felt that it wasn't much of a behind a scene Tour. You got to walk around another part of Hobbiton area and they offer another snacks with cheese and wine. Honestly, without all this fantastic food, I felt that it probably would not have been worth the behind the scene portion of the tour. If I would go back or recommended to others, I would recommend just going to do the regular tour.