Matamata - Hobbiton

For fans of Lord of the Rings, one of the biggest attractions is Hobbiton Tours. Located at Matamata (pronounced "Ma-tah-ma-tah", similar to Malay word for eye: "mata"), a small town about 170km from Auckland, this is a 2-hour tour of the Hobbiton movie set.

Welcome to Middle Earth

Entrance to Hobbiton movie set

Interestingly, the current set is not the same one that was used in the original Lord the Rings trilogy. This is because the original set was never meant to be a permanent attraction. It was built with temporary material, such as plywood and polystyrene, and has since fallen apart or been demolished. The current set is actually built for the prequel movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and its 2 upcoming sequels. Unlike the original, the new set is built with permanent material, because they wanted to make it a permanent attraction due to huge tourist demand. The story of how the movie set turned into a tourist attraction can be read here.

There are 44 unique hobbit holes on the movie set. They are of different sizes, ranging from 30% scale (3:10 of the size of a human) up to full-size 100% human scale. Why the size difference? This is for perspective tricks in the movie, to make hobbits appear smaller, and humans appear bigger. When the movie needed to make an actor look taller than a hobbit, they'll film him next to a small hole. On the other hand, when they needed to make the actor look as short as a hobbit, they'll film him next to the full-size hole.

Am I as tall as Gandalf?

Sam's house is the same size as the actors

Although it was constructed as a permanent set, there is nothing inside the hobbit holes. They are just empty shells. All the interior scenes in the movies were filmed at a studio in Wellington.

Welcome to my house. Too bad there's nothing inside.

Here is a comparison of some of the locations as they were seen in the movie, and the tour:

The tents where Bilbo had his birthday party

High level view of the Shire

Bilbo and Frodo's home, Bag End

Green Dragon Inn

One thing I did not like about the tour is the price: NZD75. I feel that is a rip-off. An equivalent attraction is the Universal Studios in California, where you can see "behind-the-scenes" tour of other movies. Universal Studios costs USD84, which is slightly more expensive, but gives you a whole day's worth of rides. In contrast, Hobbiton gives you 2-hour tour of hobbit holes, and not much else. It's a good tour, but overpriced.

I would recommend Hobbiton for casual Lord of the Rings fans. For the hardcore fans, there are all the other places where the movies were filmed. Unlike Hobbiton, most of those locations are in remote areas that are not easily accessible. Some are on private land (Hobbiton is also on private land), while others are in remote areas in national parks and need long treks to reach. But that's the charm of New Zealand: rugged wilderness that's the diametric opposite of pristine Disneyland-like theme parks.