Tauranga from Hobbiton - anything else to visit nearby?

[~*Lou*~]

We’re a family of 4 and we’re and we’re in Tauranga for the day next January. We plan to hire a car and visit Hobbiton (2 passionate movie fans in the family). Is there anything else on the drive between Tauranga and Hobbiton we should be looking out for and stopping for? 

many thanks 

Lou 

[Aussieflyer]

Not sure if things have changed since we visited Hobbiton (and it was great) but you may need to book a time for the tour. We were on a day trip from Rotorua and had a dedicated bus to the site and guide but saw lots of people waiting for their bus and tour guide. I would make that the first activity as it’s about 1 hr 30 from Tauranga and you will spend a few hours there. The port of Tauranga is a bit out of the way - Mount Maunganui near the port has walks. 

[Hogbay]

51 minutes ago, ~*Lou*~ said:

We’re a family of 4 and we’re and we’re in Tauranga for the day next January. We plan to hire a car and visit Hobbiton (2 passionate movie fans in the family). Is there anything else on the drive between Tauranga and Hobbiton we should be looking out for and stopping for? 

many thanks 

Lou 

You need to book a tour    . They do book out lots of coaches full of people.  

https://www.klook.com/en-AU/blog/where-is-hobbiton-matamata/

[mr walker]

The advice given by others to pre-book the Hobbiton tour is good advice. We went there on a tour from Tauranga on our cruise in 2019. It gets very busy at Hobbiton on cruise-ship days. Our guide pre-booked & we were met by a Hobbiton guide when we arrived for our tour. If you drive there independently, you need to board a bus to take you to the tour start point.

 

Driving there, there is a well-known honey place to visit not far out of Tauranga which has displays etc and really nice icecream - it is on left hand side of the road as you drive up into the ranges from the port (we stopped there on a tour on the way to Matamata). There is nice scenery on the trip.

 

On the return trip we stopped at McClaren Falls which is well worth the stop & short walk from the car park. Our driver also took us on a drive down the main street of Tauranga itself before returning us to the port which is at Mount Manganui.

  

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by mr walker
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