Watch out Lord of the Rings fans, Hobbiton is your homeland! Visit the Shire and find out why the world fell in love with New Zealand’s beautiful countryside after the region outside Auckland became the setting for the famous trilogies Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Facts
Hobbiton is located on the North Island of New Zealand, approximately 180 kilometres south of Auckland. Visits to the film set are by guided tour only, which start at 8:00am and depart every 10-15 minutes thereafter. A tour lasts about two hours and is only available in English. If you drive to the Shire’s Rest car park, you can easily leave your car for several hours free of charge. In addition, there is a café and shop on site. From there, it’s about a 15-minute drive to the pretty village called Hobbiton.
Tip: Camping is not allowed in the Shire’s Rest car park.
Ticket prices
Adults: NZ $84.00 (includes a Hobbit Southfarthing™ beer at the Green Drago Inn, which is also offered non-alcoholic).
Youths 9 to 16 years: NZ $42.00
Children under 8: free of charge
The origin
In the bus on the way from the car park to the small village, we were told the story of its origin. Peter Jackson is said to have flown over Matamata while searching for a suitable film set and came across the sheep farm of the Alexander family. He was immediately convinced that this location, with its small lake and large trees, would be perfect to represent Hobbiton. After convincing the farmer, the construction work began; the New Zealand Army built a road, while contractors built the actual set.
Once the filming of the Lord of the Rings movies had finished, the set was to be dismantled. However, an increasing number of tourists came to see the famous village. In 2011, Peter Jackson came back to shoot the Hobbiton films – after he had to do some convincing with the farmer. Yet, the huts had to be rebuilt for this purpose, as they had been almost completely demolished before. Later, after the last filming of the Hobbit movies, gardeners were ordered instead of diggers. They were supposed to maintain and preserve the village. Since then, you can visit the film set, take photos and have a snack at the Green Dragon Inn, which was built in 2012.
Is it worth the money?
Absolutely! Absolutely! Every day, around 2,000 visitors come to see the magical village and wander around the houses like Bilbo. Each of the 44 houses is unique. In one, the recently harvested vegetables are still lying in a basket on the veranda; in another, the laundry is hanging out to dry on the line. The huts are built in such detail that you could easily move in. Even if you haven’t seen the movies, the village has a certain magic charm. Unfortunately, you cannot enter any of the huts.
Everything looks incredibly real, the flowers are in bloom, plants and vegetables grow in the garden, only the inhabitants seem to have suddenly disappeared. Nevertheless, the feeling remains that a hobbit would have to look out of the window at any time or that Gandalf appears with his cart on the way to Bag End.
