We are now open 7 days a week with our Hobbiton Movie Set Tour From The Shire's Rest departing at least 5 times daily. We suggest booking in advance to ensure you can join the tour time that best suits your itinerary - click here to view live availability and book online. 

The Evening Banquet Tour is back with limited departures available on most weekends. You can check departure dates and availability here. We also have a new tour experience, The Second Breakfast Tour with selected weekend departures now available. Please note these experiences are not possible during COVID-19 Alert Level 2. 

Unfortunately we are currently not able to offer the following tour experience options:

• Tour + Lunch combo
• Mandarin Language Tours
• Departures from Matamata i-SITE
• Departures from Rotorua

If you have a pre-purchased gift voucher for one of these tour experiences, please get in touch to discuss your options.  

If you have made a booking on a Hobbiton Movie Set Tour and your travel plans are affected by New Zealand or Australian Government enforced travel restrictions or Alert Level changes, we can provide a 100% refund on your booking. Alternatively, we can move your booking to another date or transfer the value of your booking to the Gift Voucher valid for 12 months. Click here to view our Terms and Conditions.

Yes, we strongly recommend booking in advance as our tours are known to sell out. You can make a reservation online by clicking here. Alternatively you can make a reservation by calling us on (07) 888-1505 or by contacting us here.

Please note, all of our tours are subject to availability at the time of booking. 

Once you have booked your tickets online, you should receive a booking confirmation through to your email address. Please read the information in this confirmation email carefully and ensure you arrive to your departure location at least 15 minutes before your scheduled tour time.

On arrival to The Shire's Rest, please visit our team at the Ticketing desk (located inside our retail store) and present your confirmation. You can show this on your phone, or simply quote your reference number, tour time and party name. Our team will print off your tour tickets and give you further instructions. 

When you make a booking with us online, our system will automatically send you a booking confirmation to the email address you entered. If you haven't received it, we recommend firstly checking your Junk Mail as they can sometimes default there (especially for Hotmail accounts). If you still cannot find the confirmation, please get in touch with our team and be sure to include your full name, email address, tour date and time and the booking reference if you have it. 

Amending a booking

If your travel plans change and you need to amend the date or time of your booking you can do this by contacting our Reservations team via phone on 07 888 1505 or by contacting us here. Once we receive your amendment request we will do our best to amend your booking.

Please note, all of our tours are subject to availability.

Cancelling a booking

If you wish to cancel a booking, you may do so by using the above contact details or replying directly to your booking confirmation that was emailed to you when you made your booking. Click here for our cancellation policy and COVID-19 Guarantee.

If you are going to be late for your tour, we recommend you call us as soon as you are able to so we can discuss options with you. If you are unable to call us and arrive late, we will do our best to put you on the next available tour departure. Please note that if we are extremely busy, the next available tour may be several hours later, and in rare occurrences may not be on the same day.

To redeem a Gift Voucher, we ask that you please contact our Reservations Team and include your voucher number so that we can secure your booking. Tours are subject to availability.

The Shire's Rest™ is our headquarters and location where all of our tours depart from. It is located at 501 Buckland Road, Hinuera, Matamata - click here for directions. 

It is located approximately 15 minutes from Matamata town centre, and from here it is about a 10 minute bus ride to the Movie Set which is included in our tours.

You do not need to book a tour to visit The Shire's Rest. On site here at The Shire's Rest is our Ticketing Centre, Retail Shop and Cafe. There is ample parking here on site, with plenty of space for large vehicles and camper vans too. 

To ensure all our guests have the complete experience the only way to access the Hobbiton Movie Set is with a fully guided walking tour.

The tour comprises of:

• A short bus ride from The Shire’s Rest down to the movie set
• A 1 hour 15 minute guided walking tour
• A ~20 minute visit to The Green Dragon Inn including a complimentary beverage
• At the end of your experience, you will walk with your guide back to the bus and take another short bus ride to The Shire’s Rest

 Tours that include a meal (like Evening Banquet Tour and Second Breakfast Tour) include additional time on the Movie Set but all experiences with us begin with a guided tour as detailed above.

These times are approximate only and may differ slightly for your tour experience. 

All our tours currently depart from The Shire's Rest™. You can drive yourself to The Shire's Rest, park your vehicles here and join one of our tours where you will be transported to the movie set via one of our Hobbiton Movie Set coaches. Click here for directions to The Shire's Rest. 

The Shire's Rest is located approximately 15 minutes from Matamata town centre, and from here it is about a 10 minute bus ride to the Movie Set which is included in our tours. All tours will be transported to the Movie Set via one of our vehicles unless using a non-collapsible wheelchair.

To ensure all our guests have the complete experience the only way to access the Hobbiton Movie Set is with a fully guided tour.

We have some detailed information on what to expect from the walking tour and pathways on our Accessibility page here. 

Our Hobbiton Movie Set tour from The Shire's Rest is 2 hours in duration. Our Evening Banquet Tour is approximately 4 hours in duration. The new Second Breakfast Tour is approximately 3 hours in duration. 

We recommend you arrive at The Shire's Rest at least 15 minutes before your tour time in order to check in. You may also like to spend some time at our cafe and souvenir store at The Shire's Rest. Most of our visitors spend around three hours in total at The Shire's Rest. 

At this stage we are able to accept bookings up to 12 months in advance via our website. 

The Shire's Rest Cafe is open with a selection of fresh sandwiches, hot blackboard menu, sweets and coffee available. 

As part of your tour experience, you will receive a complimentary beverage served inside The Green Dragon Inn. There is a food menu available to purchase from The Green Dragon also with items such as beef and ale pies, scones, muffins, mousetrap sandwich or a spinach and feta roll.  

We are not currently offering our buffet lunch experience, however we are running our popular Evening Banquet Tour and new Second Breakfast Tour on selected weekend dates. Please note these experiences are not possible during COVID-19 Alert Level 2. 

We are not currently offering transfer options from Matamata i-SITE or Rotorua. Our only tour departure option is from The Shire's Rest, which is approximately a 15 minute drive from Matamata town centre. 

You can find a selection of transfer options from key centres on our website here. For transfers from Matamata, we recommend contacting a local taxi company. 

Hobbiton Movie Set is an outdoor walking tour through meandering paths. For this reason, we recommend wearing comfortable walking shoes for our tour, and checking the weather forecast ahead of your visit. You can find 10 Day weather forecast information for the Matamata area on Metservice. In the Summer months, we recommend sunscreen and a hat as the sun can become quite hot, as well as making sure you are well hydrated. In Autumn, Winter and Spring, it's best to be prepared with a rainproof outer layer and enclosed shoes as the paths can become muddy. In the event of rain, we have wide umbrellas available that you can use for the duration of your tour. We also recommend our guests bring a camera or a phone with camera capability as our Movie Set is the perfect place to get some great travel photos!

Yes, we operate in all weather conditions. Umbrellas are provided in the event of rain and we highly recommend you dress appropriately for the weather, with enclosed footwear.

In the event of extreme weather conditions we reserve the right to make alternative tour arrangements for you.

You can find lots of information about accessibility, mobility restrictions and wheelchair use on our Accessibility page here.  

You can bring a stroller or a pram on tour with you provided it is fully collapsible and can fit in the luggage compartment of our buses. It is important to note that the Movie Set paths are made of cobblestones and dirt tracks so it is bumpy and uneven in places. The paths are also quite narrow in places and there are some low level stairs to climb so you may need an extra adult to assist you with the stroller/pram in some locations.

Twin strollers are not recommended due to the narrowness of the paths.

Of course! We want you to take photos and capture memories while on tour with us. 

Please be aware though that any photos and video recordings taken on set are for personal use only and not to be sold or distributed for commercial gain due to our licensing agreements with the film companies. 

The flying of drones is not permitted on or around the Movie Set as the property owner does not allow it.

Any out-of-hours drone use for promotional purposes is at the discretion of the property owner and must be pre-approved by the Hobbiton Movie Set Marketing Department.

The only way to visit The Green Dragon Inn is as part of our guided tour experiences. Every tour of Hobbiton Movie Set includes a visit to this venue and the opportunity to sample our Hobbit™ Southfarthing™ Range fresh from the kegs and a the opportunity to purchase something to eat from our blackboard menu. 

Unfortunately we are not able to permit dogs onto the Movie Set. The only exception to this is for registered service dogs. Please contact our team in advance if you require a service dog to join you on tour. 

Our Evening Banquet Tour and Second Breakfast Tour experiences both include a guided tour of the Movie Set at the beginning of the experience. This is the same tour experience guests get on our day tour. If you wish to do a tour at a different time of day as well, then you are welcome to book multiple experiences. 

When you are searching for a tour on our website, there are four statuses that may appear - No Departure, Fully Booked, Book Now - Limited Places and Book Now. 

No Departure means that the tour experience you are searching for is not available on that date. 

Fully Booked means that all tickets for that tour experience on that date are sold out. 

Book Now - Limited Places will appear with a gold button and red writing below. This means that there are only a small amount of tickets left (9 or less) for that tour experience on that date. We recommend booking as soon as possible if you are hoping to join one of these tours as when tickets are fully booked we cannot increase capacity. 

Book Now will appear with a gold button with white writing on it. This means that there are greater than 10 seats available for that tour experience on that date. We still recommend pre-booking as far in advance as you can to avoid missing the tour day and time that best suits your itinerary. 

Visit our Getting Here page to view a map with driving routes from Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Taupo and Tauranga. You can also view a list here with transfer options from Auckland, Tauranga, and Hamilton. 

The Shire's Rest™ is our headquarters and location where all of our tours depart from. It is located at 501 Buckland Road, Hinuera, Matamata - click here for directions. 

It is located approximately 15 minutes from Matamata town centre, and from here it is about a 10 minute bus ride to the Movie Set which is included in our tours.

You do not need to book a tour to visit The Shire's Rest. On site here at The Shire's Rest is our Ticketing Centre, Retail Shop and Cafe. There is ample parking here on site, with plenty of space for large vehicles and camper vans too. 

Yes, we have ample free parking at The Shire’s Rest available for customers, including space for camper vans and large vehicles.

Hobbiton Movie Set do not offer accommodation options on site. For hotel, motel and other accommodation options in the Waikato region, visit www.waikatonz.com/accommodation  or contact a local i-SITE or visitor information centre.