For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Traveler Tips

It's a long day on the bus from Auckland, but it's worth the time.

Great Sights hires excellent guides that offer great commentary throughout the drive.

If you blink to fast or too often you might miss the glow worms.

Reviews

4.5

348 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

Showing 1-10 of 348 reviews

Excellent tour

Meihua_s, Jan 2023

We joined the tour because we were not able to get the tickets of the day we desired directly from the Hobbiton web site. The tour is great. I have to say our guide is excellent. She talked about the history on the way to the destination. At the Hobbiton site, she took photos for everyone when these is a chance. I would recommend this tour.

Response from Host, Jan 2023

Kia Ora, thank you for your review and so happy you had a great time at Hobbiton!

Tall man of Hobbiton

Joshua_S, Jan 2023

I had a fantastic time here. Merlin the wizard tour guide was filled with knowledge about the hobbit holes and the history of the attraction. He gave so many details about Jackson and the cast of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies. The Green Dragon was very cool to see inside and the meal was superb. I had an overall great experience.

Brilliant. Amazing.

Casey_B, Dec 2022

The details to the sets are amazing! The tour guides really know their stuff and you just can’t compete with that amazing scenery!

Highly recommended

Kaustav_C, Dec 2022

Very well organised tour. We had Steve as our driver and he is awesome. Highly recommended your from Rotoru

Hobbiton is worth visiting

Jack_M, Dec 2022

The Hobbiton tour is very well organized; on time, clean buses. The movie set is actually a simple 'theme park'. The original set was reconstructed with permanent materials and carefully designed and constructed walking paths. The guides are knowledgeable and seem to enjoy guiding their group of about 20 tourists through the set and the anecdotes about how the films were made.

Absolutely Magical

Dean_H, Dec 2022

Was absolutely magical. From the bus ride from Rotorua, to walking the Shire, to the beer in the green dragon and lastly an amazing lunch in the party marquee. Is a must do.

The glow worm caves at Waitomo.

Dan_G, Feb 2020

It was a long day but we had enough time at Waitomo and the Agrodome but a little rushed at the geysers. The guided tour at the geysers was excellent. The lunch that was provided was good and the sandwich on the way to Auckland was also good. Overall it was great value for the money.

disappointment for a lot of money

Angelika_M, Feb 2020

Our driver was great but the tour itself was really disappointing. There was no hotel pick up and we had to walk to Hobson Street 102 which is the big bus terminal. It was a full 60 seat bus so at the Waitomo Caves they had to split us up into 2 groups and we went through in a rush. Next stop at the Agrodome we spent a long time on a truck train feeding sheep and alpacas. The final stop at Rotorua was much too short as we wasted much time waiting for the Maori Cultural Show to begin. The show itself had not much to do with Maori Culture. Making the visitors behaving like drunken clowns was not much appreciated. Not enough with this the "show" lasted forever and we were running out of time for the bus departure. We had 15 min left for to see the geyser and the mud pools. No way to walk the circuit or to enjoy the beauty of this place. Very disappointing for this should have been one of the highlights of the tour. All in all not worth the amount of money we have payed.

Great Tour

louiseswensen, Feb 2020

We thought that each of the 3 locations we stopped and toured were great -- Waitomo Glow Worm Cave, Agrodome and Rotorua! Since we had a short time to visit New Zealand this was a great introduction to your beautiful country! It was great seeing the countryside and the weather was perfect! Everyone at each of the locations could not have been more professional and informative. However, the bus driver (Rachel) was a little over the top with various comments and opinions. This is the reason that we only gave the experience 4 stars.

Excellent

HENRIQUE_T, Dec 2019

Excellent tour, and the driver was really great. Real nice english accent. It is a pity that natural luminescence is presented as a common thing. That place deserves a tutorial about chemiluminescence, showing how the worms emit light and the chemistry involved. I couldn't find any picture with the worms glowing, or about their origin and behavior. It could be a nice chemistry class.

Day Tour

clou818, Oct 2019

best deal for your buck. You are free to schedule your day and the tours are well chosen in the package.

Awesome Day out

ShelsterM1k, Oct 2019

Kenny our driver made the day. His overall knowledge and pleasant manner very much added to the experience. All 3 venues were great, the glow worm caves especially good and we had great weather which was a bonus.

Fantastic!

Larisa_K, Sept 2019

The tour is one of the best we have ever had. We saw and experienced a lot. Every step was very well organized. Thank you!

Fantastic Voayage

ERIC_T, Aug 2019

Magnificent tour of the Waitomo Caves and the glow worms. Educational and fun visit to the Maori Cultural Village. Tour was well organized and attention paid to all details.

Long day but ticks many boxes!

Holidayfan6755, Aug 2019

Booked through Viator, operator was Great Sights. Initially clear communication with Great sights - thank you Connor - much appreciated when you live on ther side of the world, UK, & travelling araound. Shuttle pick up point near our hotel to departure point smooth. Given water & biscuits on arrival. Kenny our driver managed to leave promptly. He was clear & informative & drove safely. Waitomo caves are a great sight to see. Picked up lunchbox & quite substantial & delicious it was. Loved the Agrodome with sheep shearing & farm tour. Visited Maori culture show, Kiwi bird house & geysers at Te Puia all interesting. 14hrs is a long day, so very tiring. Really enjoyed all experiences. The shuttle bus returned us to our hotel to save us getting wet. Bless you! You did a great job Kenny!

Wonderful

Jami_L, Jul 2019

Our entire family of five enjoyed this tour. It's a long day on the bus from Auckland, but it's worth the time. Our guide was great - informative, friendly and accommodating. The meals were an unexpected pleasure and they happily accommodated vegetarian and gluten free requests. The bus was comfortable and everything ran on time and as promised. The caves are extraordinary. It's a quick tour but worth it. And, the fries at the cafe are amazing - best we had over two weeks across Australia, NZ and Fiji. The cave guide was warm, knowledgeable and obviously proud of her connections to the original founder. It was interesting, beautiful and not to be missed. I'm glad we did this.

Rotorura was great, but the Waitomo...

Josta, Sept 2018

Rotorura was great, but the Waitomo Caves were disappointing. If you blink to fast or too often you might miss the glow worms. The boat ride lasted less then five minutes.

Fantastic Experience!

Andrea_Z, Aug 2018

We loved the Waitomo Caves and Rotorua trip. Great Sights hires excellent guides that offer great commentary throughout the drive. Good food. Excellent organization of the tip. Agrodome was especially fun adventure. Highly recommend.

A very good trip!

Duradarshi_L, Jul 2018

We really enjoyed the trip. Rachael's commentary was very informative and very entertaining. Only issue we had was with the vegan food. Vegan can be something better than a salad pack.

Took this tour because i wanted to...

Zippora G, Jun 2018

Took this tour because i wanted to visit Waitomo Caves and the geysers in Rotorua. Too much time was spent on the added visits to a farm and a Maori cultural show. We spent too much time on these two additions to the extent that we had just 10 minutes left for the geysers which are the main reason to go on this tour. That is bad planning and ridiculous time allocation. On top of that, the Maori cultural performance was a typical shallow tourist trap where they make the group of visitors choose a chief and dance. Instead of doing infantile things we could have enjoyed the view of the geyser without rush. My time as a tourist is too valuable to risk giving Viator another chance.

...