Things to do in Matamata

Matamata is a dairy-farming town in the Waikato, about 50 minutes from Rotorua by road, that became a film location by accident: a location scout spotted the Alexander family's sheep farm in the late 1990s, and the Hobbiton Movie Set has been open to visitors since 2002, with the current 44-hobbit-hole village dating from the 2011 rebuild for The Hobbit.

A guided tour of the set runs roughly two hours and costs upwards of 120 NZD; the town itself is small, so most people budget half a day for the set and drive back the same afternoon.

Beyond Hobbiton, Matamata sits at the edge of the Kaimai Range, with the i-SITE housed in a mock Tudor cottage on the main street and short walking and mountain-biking tracks into the ranges for those staying longer.