Full Day in Middle Earth - Lord of the Rings Tour

Recommended by 99% of travelers

Badge of Excellence

Queenstown, New Zealand

Great choice

5+ bookings last month.

10 hours (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

What's Included

Coffee and/or Tea

Morning/Afternoon Tea and a snacks
Photos with Authentic Props - We have the largest selection of Authentic Replica swords, axes, daggers & Helmets. Along with costumes to dress up.
We also have copies of the original scripts and production call sheets
1 % of all proceeds go to the Love Queenstown Community Fund preserving our breathtaking landscapes.

Lunch

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

43 Camp Street, Queenstown 9300, New Zealand
On the Corner of Camp and Shotover Street, the Station Building (AJ Hackett, Shotover Jet). There are some wooden benches to wait next to where the tour buses stop.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Operating hours
.8:00 am

Itinerary

Skippers Canyon

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Arrowtown

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Gibbston

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Lake Hayes

25 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Lake Wakatipu Viewpoint

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Queenstown

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Twelve Mile Delta to Bob's Cove Track

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Glenorchy-Queenstown Road

1 hour 40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Glenorchy

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Paradise

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
Not wheelchair accessible
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation
Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level

Travel time between locations is included on the total tour duration.
Children under 10 years not permitted. Please book a private tour for Families with Children under 10, or look at our Half Day Tour or Mavora Lakes Adventure Tour options.
Not recommended for travelers who cannot walk more than 20mins on uneven ground. There is 1 walk where people unable to walk may have to wait for up to 20 mins.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 8 travelers

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Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

5.0

based on 84 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

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Awesome must do tour for LOTR fans in Queenstown

Graham_C, Apr 2026

You will obviously get more from this tour if you are a fan of Lord Of The Rings amd habe seen the Extended Cuts, but it's not essential as you will be owed by the amazing scenery in and around Queenstown. Shane was an awesome guide for our tour in the morning and Tristan in the afternoon. This tour is provided by 2 companies- Southern Trails and Pure Glenorchy. Both are small and exceptional businesses amd both guides were hugely knowledgeable and fans. We saw loads of locations from the films expertly narrated and with lots of time for photos. We had the chs ce to look over scripts, call sheets and of course handle authentic props. Whilst you could visit many of the locations independently, some are only accessible on the tours and the experience is enhanced by the guides, the artifacts amd props. An absolute must if you are a fan.

Fun day around Qtown

Craig_M, Mar 2026

Great experience. only issue is that this was 2 tours combined into one, and a lot of repetition on commentary between the two. May try to split up some of it.

Highly recommended by another LOTR tour company!

Jennifer_C, Jan 2026

Ian was a great guide. Very knowledgeable with great details and context to share. The call sheets and production details inherited from the original owner provided great insights into the business of filmmaking. Ian also had the gift of personalizing the experience and making it accessible to people who were only marginally LOTR fans. As a rabid LOTR fan (scoring 9 out of 10 on Ian's scale), I found his tour to be one of the best we experienced in NZ. He and his tour company (Southern Trails/Trails of Middle Earth) showed true love for and command of the source material (the written trilogy & Silmarillion) without coming across as pedantic or offputting. The only negative part of this tour was missing out on visiting the Ford of Bruinen location on the Shotover because of foggy conditions. However, this was something that Ian could not control, and he made the call to prioritize our safety Solomon provided the second half of the full day tour. He was incredibly approachable and easygoing and provided lots of insights into not only LOTR filming locations in Glenorchy/Paradise but also local history and Maori folklore. I particularly enjoyed the audio journeys that he produced and shared with us during the journey. It was very cool to see the Lothlorien filming location as well as the site for the Vale of Isengard. However, my top experience was him pointing out the mountain that was used for Caradhras -- totally awesome!

Well planned, incredibly cool, fun, and educational tour!

Pamela_O, Jan 2026

I like the LOTR, but am not a huge fan. I have to say that this was one of the best tours I’ve ever been on. These two half-day tours covered everything. The stops were planned out, with pictures showing scenes from the movies. They also have the coolest collection of replicas, copies of scripts, and costumes. It was fun to dress up. The tour guides, especially Francesco made it so much fun. He set the tone with his friendly charm and we all had a great time. Even for non-LOTR fans, this tour is great because of the beautiful places we went to that were spectacular enough to be used in blockbuster movies. This tour also had special access not open to the public to private lands. I highly recommend these tours.

Awesome tour!

Amanda_K, Nov 2025

Wow! This tour was FABULOUS! It was very well organized between the two halves to create a full day Middle Earth adventure! Learned tons, had a blast with fellow travelers, and saw key filming sites that had obvious interest and appeal for fans, but honestly are also just stunning that even non or casual fans would enjoy this tour as well.

Lord of the Rings diehards or scenery lovers

MICHELLE_R, May 2025

We did full day tour (you can opt for full or half day tours). First half of the day, with Ian of Trail of Lord of the Rings, was fantastic. He was very knowledgeable about all things Lord of the Rings (obviously a keen fan) and showed us some fantastic places around the Queenstown area. It was great to see photos held up to locations to make the connection. There are plenty of stops and photo ops and if you are only wanting a little experience, then totally recommend this 4hr tour. Even if you are not a diehard fan, you get to see some great scenery. It was also fun to touch and hold some of the real props used in the movie and to have photos taken in some of the outfits. If you would like a little more to the experience, you can spend the other half of the day on another tour, this time to Glenorchy and surrounds. Same sort of experience, just very different locations. There is a bit more driving in this half of the day, and not as many photo stops. If you had to pick one, then definitely the 1/2 day morning tour (with Trail of Lord of Rings) would be our pick.

Great full day tour

Jonathan_L, Feb 2025

I had a blast on this tour. Ian for the morning half, and Dan for the afternoon. It was slightly overcast in the morning of the day I went, but the cloud cover cleared up as the day went on, which meant a lot of great photo opportunities. Both guides were really knowledgeable about LotR, as well as the ecology and wildlife in the area. A big collection of props were available for photography, which makes it stand out even more from the other tours in the area. Even if you aren't a LotR fan, the tour does take you around the region and visit various photogenic sights without having to do the research and drive yourself (and risk breaking down!). Some of the facts/trivia were the same between both sessions, but there only is so much LotR lore for people to talk about. The best part was hearing each guide's personal take on the lore. - Copied from my TripAdvisor review

Good guides, but repetitive tour

Eyal_M, Feb 2025

The three-star review is because I think this shouldn't be a full-day offering. This tour is essentially two separate tours, and while the tour guides and the locations were great for each tour, a lot of the content was similar. The reason anyone would go to a tour instead of just visiting the site themselves is to get more information and a whole tour from a guide, but if, in the end, the two tours end up sharing the same movie factoids or doing the same photoshoot with props, then a lot of it feels repetitive. I'm sure people who want a full-day tour would like more time in paradise because there is a lot more to see there. I'll just say that both tour guides were wonderful, with impressive knowledge of both Tolkien's work, the geography, and real fans, which is what you want from a tour like this.

Response from Host, Feb 2025

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We’re glad to hear you enjoyed both locations and that our guides’ passion and knowledge stood out. We appreciate your feedback on the overlap in content and will chat with our partner company to ensure each tour remains distinct in storytelling. That said, we do clearly advertise this as two separate tours exploring vastly different landscapes, each a unique and beautiful representation of Middle-earth which we feel (along with many others who have joined our Fellowships) creates a perfect balance. As a company starting again from scratch post pandemic every review creates a huge impact for us. We will only learn from this as until now we had a near perfect score and are sorry you didn’t feel the same as others. We understand a full-day experience isn’t for everyone, and we truly appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective!

Rohan, Isengard, Misty Mountains, Anduin and more

Stefan_I, Nov 2024

We had an excellent day from Queenstown and as big Lotr fans we absolutely enjoyed it. You get to see many filming locations like Rohan, Isengard, Misty Mountains, Anduin and more. The guide told us interesting funny stories from the movie set, showed the actual scripts that were used while filming and more. The tour had a lunch break around noon back in Queenstown city center which was well timed. It is a must do if you are a true Lotr fan!