Full Day Lord of the Rings Tour
Recommended by 90% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Wellington, New Zealand
- 6 hours to 6 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Explore our promoted experiences
Overview
Fans of “The Lord of the Rings” movies will love being immersed in the mythical universe for a day in the Wellington region. You’ll visit a number of places that appeared in the films, including rivers, forests, and a quarry. Spend time at Wētā Workshop, where the special effects for these films, and many others, were created and brought to life. This is a must-do tour for Tolkien enthusiasts.
- Admire views of Wellington from the Mount Victoria Lookout
- Hotel transfers and private transport are included
- Listen to live commentary on board your tour bus
- Cover many sights and activities on one easy day trip
What's Included
- Driver/guide
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Live commentary on board
- Transport by air-conditioned minivan
- GST (Goods and Services Tax)
- Bottled water
- Coffee and/or Tea
- Gratuities
- Lunch
Meeting and Pickup
You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup
Itinerary
1
Belmont Masonry - Firth
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Te Awa Kairangi / Hutt River
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Rivendell
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Weta Workshop Group Space
2 hours • Admission Ticket Free
5
Hobbit's Hideaway
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
6
Mount Victoria
40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Courtenay Place (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Infants must sit on laps
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Stroller accessible
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- Cruise Ship Passenger bookings should select the following option as their pickup location which is the Wellington Cruise Ship Port: Aotea Quay, Pipitea, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
- Cruise Ship Passenger bookings should add their ship name in special requirements field.
- PICKUP LOCATION MUST BE GIVEN AT TIME OF BOOKING: Default pickup location Wellington iSite Visitor Centre, if you do not know your hotel at time of booking. You can amend your pickup when you know your hotel, if it is located in the CBD pickup area.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 17 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.6
based on 157 reviews
Mark_G, Feb 2026
Weta was a little underwhelming being the main head quarters but the tour was fun. The locations are cool and the guides were solid.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Thanks for your review Mark. We appreciate you taking the time to post it.
Amy_J, Feb 2026
We had an amazing time! Wayne was our tour guide for the beginning of the tour and he was exceptional. His knowledge of Lord of the Rings was absolutely amazing and we learned so much. Weta Workshop was an amazing tour and it was so interesting to see all the movie props. Stan was our tour guide after the workshop tour and he also had exceptional knowledge of Lord of the Rings. We couldn’t have wished for a better day!
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Great review Amy. Glad Wayne and Stan delivered a memorable tour for you. Thanks for posting this.
Matthew_T, Feb 2026
My friend and I had an incredible experience doing the full-day LOTR tour in Wellington. We got to visit Weta Workshop + a heap of locations including Mount Victoria, Hutt River, Harcourt Park, Kaitoke Regional Park. Standouts for me were Mount Victoria (Frodo's pipe smoking + hiding hobbits) and Kaitoke Regional Park (Rivendell).
Sorry, I can't remember the guide's name, but he was a champion. Really tested me on my LOTR knowledge.
10/10 would do again.
Response from Host, Feb 2026
Fabulous review Matthew - sounds like our LOTR guide really delivered for you. That's what we like to hear. Thanks for taking the time to post it.
Mark_H, Jan 2026
The tour was well organized and having Jozef (Joe) as our guide was a brilliant stroke of luck. He entertained not only with great knowledge of LOTR but also an abundance of local knowledge as well.
We would highly recommend this tour to anyone!
He also recommended other sites, which we took on board. Visiting the Pinnacles at Cape Palliser, the next day just topped off our trip.
“You need people of intelligence on this sort of mission…quest…thing.”
Response from Host, Jan 2026
Thanks for the review. Glad you enjoyed the tour with Jozef.
Christopher_P, Jun 2025
We saw other groups today visiting some of the same filming locations. Our tour was, quite simply, better. Our guide, Lester, was solidly familiar with the details of the making of the films and with Wellington culture. He showed us how even some of the specific trees we toured appear in iconic shots of the films, with licensed images from the movies on hand. Wētā Workshop itself, though a surprisingly small footprint in a largely residential neighborhood, has great impact. (“Wait, are those the actual shards of Narsil from the film?!” “Yeah, they are! To make them, we…”)
It is easy now to imagine a teenaged Peter Jackson having his lunch under a tree in Wellington, imagining around him scenes from the books. This experience made the films I already love even more impressive.
Response from Host, Jul 2025
Great review Christopher - and very much appreciated. Lester is a very special guide and well deserves your five stars. Thanks again.
Phillip_T, May 2025
our guide Mitch was excellent, and not only showed us the iconic scene locations (with helpful movie and behind the scenes photos!), he also went above and beyond to show us some great nature spots and shared knowledge about the local plants and traditions associated with them. shout out to our fellow pair of “orlando bloom spot” loving hobbit travelers,
Response from Host, May 2025
Great review for Mitch and thanks for taking the time to post it for him Phillip. Glad his LOTR tour left you with good memories.
Helen_H, Apr 2025
Very interesting
Informative
Weta was amazing! Great tour guide friendly/ helpful. Allowed us to stop for lunch. Break and h4lped my husband.d with GF options.
Co.fortsble vehicle
Response from Host, Apr 2025
Thanks for leaving your review Helen. Glad you enjoyed your day with us.
Calista_C, Mar 2025
It was truly a full day, but went by quickly. Our tour guide did a great job of bringing the scenes to life at each of the locations and also gave us a lot of great information about Wellington and the local landscape. He kept things moving, despite some local traffic and was kind enough to take photographs of me at some of the key sites and views. The Weta workshop tour was definitely a highlight!
Response from Host, Apr 2025
Good to hear you enjoyed your tour with us Calista. Thanks for the great review.
Samantha_C, Mar 2025
Had a terrific day with Richard. Very informative, fun and exciting. Weta Workshop was a great time and extremely interesting. Having the photos to go with the locations was helpful and made imaging the scenes they represented easier.
Being able to recreate some of the scenes was fun and made the trip more interesting.
Richard's knowledge added more to the history of Wellington and the Pub lunch was delicious.
Thank you for a terrific day Richard. We highly recommend anyone coming to Wellington to consider this tour.
Response from Host, Apr 2025
Thanks for posting your great review Samantha. I enjoyed giving you all the tour.
jeanjacques_l, Feb 2025
Our guide was very energetic and knowledgeable on the Lords of the ring saga. You have to be a fan of this to enjoy the tours. Overall good tours and good experience in the Wata worship. I would recommend.
Response from Host, Mar 2025
Thanks for leaving a review Jean. Good to know you enjoyed the tour.
Jeff_H, Feb 2025
Very personalized tour with knowledgeable local guide with photos of films that relate to the sites.
Response from Host, Mar 2025
Thanks for your review Jeff. Good to know your enjoyed your tour.
Christina_P, Feb 2025
It was fun, informative and Richard made us all feel like we were part of the making of the movie. Excellent driver, small group, a must see if visiting Wellington.
Response from Host, Feb 2025
Lovely review, thanks for posting this Christine. Good to know you had a good time.
Shirley_L, Feb 2025
A MUST tour for Lord of the Ring Fans. Richard the guide was incredible! Seeing and visualizing where they filmed was awesome.
Response from Host, Feb 2025
Thanks Shirley. I enjoyed showing you all around.
Eric_E, Feb 2025
Stan gave us an excellent LOTR filming site tour out of Wellingtin. The Weta Workshop tour is excellent and must be seen.
Response from Host, Feb 2025
Great review for Stan the Man. He is a great guide. Thanks for posting Eric.
Monica_J, Feb 2025
To enjoy this tour you must have seen the movies and have an imagination as there are not any sets to see at any of the stops. A few trees that were in the movie was all that were still there.
Response from Host, Feb 2025
Hi Monica. Our Lord of the Rings tours are usually for big fans of the movies. Our LOTR guides handpicked and very knowledgable, sharing a lot of interesting little known things about the filming, and also bring the set sites to life with our photos of actual filming taking place to enable visualisation. We are sorry if it was not what you had hoped to experience.
Todd_C, Feb 2025
Disappointed…..
Excursion was to have had a limit of 17 people so we were surprised at 21 on the tour, that doesn’t sound like a bunch except it meant not a small bus where all were together but 2 vans of people. That might have been acceptable but the driver of our vehicle was absolutely not knowledgeable about Lord of The Rings and provided zero add. She was no more than a primary school bus driver on a field trip. The other van had the true guide. You will be let down to know there are no buildings or props left from filming so mostly you see a tree here or there where filming was done. Again, for true die hard fans that’s great but you will undoubtedly be amongst people who have no real knowledge of the trilogy or stories. There is at least one stop where you will be walking a steep incline up and back-be prepared.
WETA was great but 90 min is too long for this tour. It can be done in an hour and be sure you ask the guide to speak up as you can’t here from the noose of other groups. They left us 10 min to go through the gift shop but cut that short when non fans decided they were done.
We were picked up at 8:45am, had 1 bathroom break, no food or water until nearly 3pm. Gave us 30 min for lunch and then rushed us back to the ship.
As a true fan-this was incredibly disappointing. Our driver turns out owns the vans that are rented to the tour company so no training or idea about JRR Tolkien or the filming of any movies and relied heavily on Lester the actual guide in the other van. So recommend if you get Nicola as your guide, just cancel. Save your money and just book WETA on your own, take an UBER and spend quality time there. What a waste of a day and money. The tour gets 3 stars ONLY because Lester was extremely knowledgeable. Otherwise 1 star for sure.
Response from Host, Feb 2025
We are disappointed to hear you felt we did not meet your expectations Todd, but thankful that others in your minibus gave Nicola great reviews.
Robert_G, Jan 2025
Our guide Lester was extremely knowledgeable about the Lord of the Rings history and his enthusiasm was contagious. Everywhere he took us he could describe every detail as he tries to take us back in time to the creation of the films..he assisted in helping us make photos of some of the sites and heaven took us to a wonderful bakery to grab some lunch.A totally wonderful experience!
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Fabulous review for Lester. He is a wonderful LOTR guide for us, and so glad you enjoyed your time with him. Thanks for taking the time to post your review.
Carol_S, Jan 2025
Our guide Mitchell was extremely knowledgeable not only about The Lord of The Rings but the local history as well. He answered all our questions qnd pointed great insights to the film making. Process. The Wetq workshop was fscinqting and a fun interactive experience.
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Good to hear Mitchell delivered another great tour for us. Glad you left Wellington with good memories and thanks for taking the time to leave Mitchell your great review.
krupali_n, Jan 2025
Had a wonderful time with Mitch. He was great at explaining / Showing the places and had a very good sense of humor.
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Thanks for taking the time to post your review, and good to hear Mitch gave you a great tour for us.
Nicole_S, Dec 2024
We had a wonderful tour with our tour guide Lester. He did an amazing job. He was very knowledgeable not just about the LOTR locations and movies/books but also about Wellington and the local flora and fauna. He was also great about building in photo opportunities. We saw so many filming locations and the Weta workshop was great! It was a long day but went by really fast. I recommend bringing snacks and water though. There’s not much time for breaks to grab these. Also, if you have dietary restrictions it was a little difficult to find a place for lunch if you the tour is on a Sunday around a holiday so you may want to bring your own food. We had 2 people with Celiac’s and could not find an open restaurant that had decent gluten free options because we went on the Sunday after Christmas.
Response from Host, Dec 2024
Thanks for leaving Lester a great review Nicole. And your suggestions around snacks or dietary needs are a very good idea. Unfortunately between Christmas and New Year in New Zealand many cafe businesses are taking their annual break and are closed.
MaryKate_R, Dec 2024
This was a fantastic tour for the LOTR fans! It is wonderful to listen to the stories of the tour guide and to see the photos of filming to help you visualize what things looked like 20+ years ago when filming began. It was also a great way to tour Wellington, as the locations to visit are scattered across the city. Great photo opportunities and the tour of Weta Workshop was extraordinary, and probably a welcomed break for those on the tour who were not “die-hard” LOTR fans! :) My only tip — make sure you know/confirm your pickup time as we made a mistake and kept our whole group waiting which was so embarrassing. Richard was so kind about this gaff but it was avoidable on our part :)
Response from Host, Dec 2024
Glad you enjoyed your tour with us and thanks for the great review.
Melissa_R, Dec 2024
Wayne was a great tour guide, offering to pick us up and drop us off. He gave us great insight into all the filming sights and we also had an enjoyable experience at the Weta workshop. Unfortunately the weather did hinder our last couple of locations which was out of anyone’s control.
Response from Host, Dec 2024
Thanks for your review Melissa, and sorry the Wellington weather didn't play ball on the day of your tour with us. It's been a very unsettled spring for sure.
waysho57, Dec 2024
Lester picked us up at the port on time and took us on an amazing tour around to Lord of The Rings filming locations and then to the Weta workshop. He is an outstanding guide and a great person to be around. He was very knowledgeable about all the locations and really enjoyed explaining everything to our group. I would highly recommend this tour and for sure Lester.
Response from Host, Dec 2024
A top review for a top guide - thanks for leaving such a great rating for Lester - he is very passionate about Wellington and his culture. We are very lucky to have him with Xplor Tours.
aliciatransformation, Nov 2024
Guide was well prepared with pictures of the movie scenes corresponding to the filming. He also gave us a good overview of Wellington. The Weta workshop is a must! Well organized and very knowledgeable guide.
Response from Host, Dec 2024
Alicia, we appreciate you taking the time to post a review, and that our Xplor Tours guide delivered a memorable tour for you in Wellington.
Nan_S, Oct 2024
Very satisfying for the LOR fans like my husband. But it was great to see the beautiful sights for everyone.
Response from Host, Nov 2024
Thanks for your five stars Nan. The LOR fans love this tour, but glad you enjoyed seeing Wellington as well.
Debra_L, Oct 2024
What an awesome tour! Our tour guide, Lester, did a fantastic job. We were amazed at how knowledgeable he was about the Hobbit/Lord of the rings series, the film industry, the Wellington area, and New Zealand in general.
Response from Host, Nov 2024
Great review for Lester, and thank you for taking the time to post it. Our Lord of the Rings tours are a must for LOTR fans, and Lester is a wonderful guide.
Susan_D, Sep 2024
Richard was our guide for the tour and was very knowledgeable and entertaining. He was very considerate of our needs and requirements, always checking we were going ok and what we needed. The tour covered so many locations and with the movie photos and Richard’s stories bought LOTR to life. The Weta Workshop tour was a great start to the tour.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Thanks for your great review Susan. I thoroughly enjoyed the time with you all also.
Audry_E, Jun 2024
Went with a friend and we wound up being the only people on the tour for the day. Even if these areas weren't associated with LORT, we agreed we were happy to have booked just to see the local flora and fauna. Our guide had loads of information for us and was an over joy to have been around.
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Fabulous to hear. Thanks for leaving such a lovely review.
Samuel_G, May 2024
Our tour guide was Stan. He was kind, informative, and entertaining. As others have noted, this tour is better suited for LOTR super fans/nerds that really appreciate the details and backstory behind the filmmaking process.
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Thanks for leaving your review Samuel. Yes, the full day LOTR tour is still interesting, but the diehard fans usually love every part of it.
jashwant_p, May 2024
Had a lot of fun on our tour of the LOTR filming locations in Wellington, with Weta being the highlight. Lester was very knowledgeable and we couldn't have recognized the locations without his help. Glad we did the tour.
Response from Host, Jun 2024
Thank you for taking the time to leave your review. Glad Lester looked after you during your time with us.
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