Hobbiton & Rotorua including Te Puia Small Group Tour from Auckland
Overview
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Hobbiton & Rotorua Te Puia Tour, this small group, fully guided day trip combines two of the top attractions in the North Island. It also brings together nature and Maori culture plus allows you to see the highlights of Rotorua City all in one day. Led by our famously passionate tour guides, notorious for bringing your journey to life by sharing their stories and rich background knowledge, and run in a modern, comfortable minibuses packed with extras ensuring your comfort and safety.
Description
Please be aware that while lunch is not provided on this tour, there will be several opportunities for you to purchase food along the way.
Highlights:
- Hobbiton & Alexander Family Sheep Farm
- Te Puia Geothermal Park & Pohutu
- Maori Cultural Village and Arts School
- Rotorua City Highlights
Itinerary:
1. Auckland - Your tour starts in New Zealand’s largest city. As we drive out of the city your guide will not only set the scene for your adventure today but also point out and guide you past some of the city’s top highlights.
2. Waikato - Exiting Auckland we travel south through the stunning Waikato countryside, the most extensive farming area in the world, encountering beautiful scenery, mighty rivers, great photo opportunities, impressive mountains and a variety of farm animals along the way.
3. Hobbiton Movie Set – Arriving at the first feature attraction ‘Hobbiton’ you will board one of the big green Hobbiton buses and depart on a two & a half hour fully guided tour of this amazing 12 acre movie set, with a professional Hobbiton guide to ensure you get the most out of your visit. During your tour step into the lush pastures of the Shire, visit 44 hobbit holes, see amazing gardens, hear the secrets and stories about the making of the movies and enjoy a cold complimentary beverage at the famous Hobbiton pub ‘The Green Dragon Inn’.
4. Tirau – Departing for Rotorua we pass through Tirau on our adventure. Dubbed the 'Corrugated Iron Capital of the World' because of the many unique corrugated iron sculptures and buildings, this town never fails to get a look and a laugh and our guides will point out all the main highlights on the way through.
5. Te Puia Geothermal Park – Arriving at our second feature destination, Te Puia, you will receive a fully guided tour to best experience the geothermal and Maori cultural wonders including: Pōhutu Geyser, Māori Architecture, The National Māori Arts School, geothermal craters, geothermal events and even the chance to view a Kiwi bird in the Kiwi viewing house.
6. Rotorua City Highlights – To finish off our Rotorua experience we do a guided driving tour seeing the most famous sites in Rotorua city including: Lake Rotorua, Rotorua Museum, Government Gardens, Whangapipiro (Rachel Spring) & the Blue Baths.
7. Auckland – Sadly we must start to head north again but your day is not over with a fully guided return trip to Auckland including secret stops along the way.
Cancellation Policy
Terms: Tours will only run if at least 5 people have booked on the tour, we reserves the right to alter the tour due to weather or operational needs.
A full refund will be issued for cancellations made a minimum of 10 days prior to the scheduled departure time.
What‘s Included
Small Group Tour
Fully Guided
Entry Tickets
Water available & snacks provided
Meeting points
Select a meeting point
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Reviews
450 reviews
The tour was nice, it is...
Natalia M,,Feb 8, 2026
- Review from Viator
5.00The tour was nice, it is great if you are in Auckland without a car and wish to see Hobbiton and the Wai-O-tapu geothermal site. Our guide Dave was really nice and friendly! Just keep in mind that there is a lot of driving. A lot. Except for the 2 hours in Hobbiton and 1.5 hours in Wai-O-tapu, the rest of the time is spent on the road. Thanks to the breaks it is not that bad, but it is just good to know before booking. In my opinion the tour would benefit from at least 30 minutes more in Wai-o-tapu, so all who want to get to do all 3 trails and grab lunch. Arriving back home 30 minutes later would not make much of a difference on a whole day tour, but when making all this way it would be nice to be able to go through all the trails and maybe the hot pools. Thanks again to Cheeky Kiwi and cheeky Dave for the memorable day :)
Great Hobbiton experience
ancai524,,Feb 4, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00The experience was great, Cam was a great tour leader and he offered mamy insights, good advice and was always having a great vibe and was also very helpful and I enjoyed everything :) Would recommend though maybe from the participants to try and be a bit more well rested the night before as I was quite exhausted and couldn't fully enjoy the Wai-O-Tapu experience, but still the rest was really great, thank you very much 😊
Sit back and relax
Safari22051735985,,Feb 1, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Proper good tour, very organized, timely. Simon was great. Just sit back, relax, and they take care of the rest. Also kudos to Cheeky Kiwi team for doing everything in their power to get my daughter’s hobbiton sunglasses back to us. They went above and beyond.
Best New Zealand tour ever!
michaelwJ8203PG,,Jan 30, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00OMG! Alfredo made this one of the most amazing experiences of my whole entire life! It was a long 13 hour day, but well worth the money and the time! I know a tour guide or company cannot control the weather but… It was a perfect and gorgeous day for both Hobbiton and Wai-O-Tapu! Alfredo made the drive time, interesting and entertaining while keeping the wheels moving expertly! The drive took a good amount of time, but we had ample stops and supplies of snack bars, chips and water with several chances to purchase goodies along the way. I would do this tour again in a hot minute! Thanks Cheeky Kiwi for the unforgettable experience! Kia Ora!
Great service and guide
Navigate19982178000,,Jan 29, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Very professional and seamless organisation from Grant. informative and friendly throughout. Hobbiton experience was very good. Well organised and well run excursion.
Pleasant trip to Hobbiton
Agata B,,Jan 28, 2026
- Review from Viator
5.00It was very nice trip. Bus was very comfy, guide friendly, helpful and talkative. Places that we have visited (so Hobbiton and Rotorua) worth seeing.
Amazing Hobbiton Tour with a Great Guide
matthewi387,,Jan 27, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00My brother and I did a tour to Hobbiton & Rotorua including Wai-O-Tapu with Jeoff, and it was a great experience overall. Wai-O-Tapu was definitely very smelly 😂 but still interesting to see. Hobbiton was absolutely amazing I really love it. Wish i can live there haha. Jeoff was a fantastic guide. He explained everything clearly and shared a lot of interesting history about New Zealand, which made the journey even better. He was knowledgeable, friendly, and made the day enjoyable. Highly recommend this tour, especially if you’re a Lord of the Rings fans and want to know more about New Zealand history Looking forward doing this tour again
Amazing experience
Janet P,,Jan 26, 2026
- Review from Viator
5.00The tour operator. Cheeky Kiwi was wonderful. Their office staff were very patient answering every question I had. The tour guide/bus driver, Grant was wonderful. He gave us an amazing experience with his commentary interspersed with jokes and he kept us entertained the whole way. He was very professional and courteous. All in all, we had an amazing day and I would have no hesitation in recommending this tour to anyone.
Great day at Hobbitown and waiotapu
Carol B,,Jan 26, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00We spent the day with our friends seeing Hobbitown and Waiotapu. Grant was our driver and most excellent tour director. We gave us a wealth of information about the country, the places we were going to see and answered all of our questions. I highly recommend this particular tour if you have a full day to spend touring. Hobbitown had way more to see than what I expected. We would have been hard pressed to find it on our own. And Grant gave us excellent guidance re how to hike around waiotapu. Both places were better than I had expected. And the Mercedes van was very comfortable. All worth the cost.
An amazing day touring New Zealand!
ScottJohnson66,,Jan 26, 2026
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00This was definitely the highlight of my trip to New Zealand! I feel that I was fortunate to have Simon as my guide for the Hobbiton and Rotorua tour. He is incredibly knowledgeable about all things NZ to include the “Lord of the Rings” stories and trivia. I had never been on a tour like this and would highly recommend it to natives as well as tourists. It was a nice, easygoing pace and Simon made it a point to make the tour very personal. Trent was the assistant Tour Guide and was in training with Simon. He was additional fun surprise on my tour. I was able to see so much of the beautiful countryside of New Zealand and thank you to Simon and Trent for such a fun day!!
From A$375.13
Auckland, New Zealand
- Free cancellation
Reserve Now & Pay Later - available
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