Rotorua vs. Hobbiton Movie Set Tour

[Dmgmd50]

We will be stopping in Tauranga and were originally planning to take a tour to Rotorua. Now I see the cruise line is offering another tour to the Hobbiton movie set. We never saw Lord of the Rings or the new Hobbit movie. Which tour should we do?

[Te Aroha]

Not sure what Princess is charging but here is the link to the Hobbiton site with pictures and prices so you can see if it would interest you.

 

Under "our tours" link is the prices for cruise ship visitors direct from the site.

 

http://www.hobbitontours.com/

[LindaMc]

If you google zealandiertours.com you will find the company that we went with. On their website, click on "cruise ship tours" and it lists all the options. They were more affordable than the shore excursions from the ship and we did not go in a huge bus, but rather a shuttle bus for 12 or so. They have an option to do Hobbiton and one of the thermal areas of Rotorua. We did the option to do both thermal areas in Rotorua because we then planned to do Hobbiton when we were at another port in NZ. The prices on their tours are listed in NZ dollars, not US dollars. When I compared the ship tours with basically the same thing for their company tours, it ended up being about U.S. $60.00 less per person for the private company.

 

We loved Hobbiton, but we are big fans of the movies. It's a cute place, fun movie set, but if you have not seen the movies, I'm not sure how much you would like it. Maybe if you see The Hobbit before you leave, that will help you decide. Hobbiton is the location that is seen in the very first part of the film.

 

The thermal areas were cool. If you opt to go to both, at the first one you'll get to see the Lady Knox geyser erupt because they soap it at 10:00am every day. The second thermal area (Maori thermal area/village) was cool, and the guided walking tour throughout their village was way more interesting than I had thought it would be.

Edited December 27, 2012 by LindaMc

[pattibacon]

LindaMc, where did you go to Hobbiton from? We already have a tour planned at Tauranga but I'd still like to go to Middle Earth or Hobbiton on our cruise in March.

 

Thanks.

[LindaMc]

Patti: We went there from Auckland, which was a long drive. We love both the Lord of the Rings movies AND thermal features, so we wanted to see as much of the thermal stuff as we could and still see Hobbiton. As it was, our ship was docked in Auckland for two days, so we spent one day taking a tour to Hobbiton and the other spending the day in Auckland. The day we went to Hobbiton it poured rain in Auckland all day, so it ended up not being a bad day to be on a long bus ride. I think it took around 2 1/2 hours to get there. But, we had plenty of time at Hobbiton to see it all and it wasn't a bad ride there seeing the countryside and towns as we passed by.

[Te Aroha]

I live in Matamata which is known as Hobbiton, It is about 55 mins drive from Tauranga and approx 2 1/2 hours from Auckland. Rotorua is also about 1 hours drive from Tauranga. Hope that helps :)

[LindaMc]

We drove through Matamata which looked like a nice town. :)

[Happy Canadian]

We will be stopping in Tauranga and were originally planning to take a tour to Rotorua. Now I see the cruise line is offering another tour to the Hobbiton movie set. We never saw Lord of the Rings or the new Hobbit movie. Which tour should we do?

 

We are sailing on the Celebrity Solstice, arriving in Tauranga on January 29. We are trying to arrange a tour to do both (Rotorua area and Hobbiton movie set) since the ship tour requires you to choose one or the other. Tour operator I am in touch with is charging $750 NZ for 12 seater van then of course you have to pay admissions to various sites ($75 Hobbiton and $40 for Maori site in Rotorua). I can share his contact information if you are interested in trying to arrange your own group.

[warmtranquility]

:confused:I am assuming from how this reads that the Hobbit movie site both from Tauranga and from Auckland are one in the same. They have an excursion from each port but no one ar RCCL has been able to tell me if they are different places or not.

[Waihekean]

There is only one Hobbiton Movie set place.

[CoopColbie]

If you haven't seen the movies, then don't worry about going to Hobbiton - stick with Rotorua. If you want to watch the movies and then go, I'd actualy suggest watching Lord of the Rings, as the tour guides reference a lot of scenes in those movies as you are walking around the 'village'.