Lord of The Rings Tours
Lord of The Rings Tours
4.5
Cultural Tours • Sightseeing Tours • Day Trips
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10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Monday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Tuesday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM
About
We are Lord of the Rings specialists offering a comprehensive and interactive tour in the heart of Middle Earth. Our friendly, knowledgeable guides will take you on the ultimate LOTR experience. You can dress up in costume, handle an extensive selection of weapons and even view items from productions. With half and full day tours available, we have something to suit everyone.
Queenstown, New Zealand

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Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.

4.5
241 reviews
Excellent
200
Very good
14
Average
11
Poor
7
Terrible
9

Rafaela Stoletniy
3 contributions
Dec 2020 • Friends
I highly recommend this tour. Francesco was very knowledgeable and professional guide. The tour was small which I love it as it was much personalised. I did not feel that we rushed despite the 3 hours tours, where we've visited many places. Overall, the tour was highly interactive, interesting and educational. It was a pleasure being part of this tour as when finished I clearly had the WOW impresion. I congratulate the company on the outstanding delivery of this tourism product which I really enjoyed and will recommend to my family and friends.
Written December 22, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review, we take pride in our guide's knowledge and aim to have all participants be involved in the adventure as much as possible, we are glad you picked up on these aspects. We hope the rest of your time here in Middle Earth was as enjoyable as it was with us and we hope to see you again next time!
Written December 30, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

A. Morton
Wellington, New Zealand3 contributions
Jul 2020 • Family
Review from an 8 year old fan: I liked hearing the stories of the actors and the crew members. I liked playing with the swords and axes.

Great tour, Shane was very knowledgeable and took us to many of out of the way places (we did the morning Touching The Ring Tour). Both kids and adults loved it.
Written July 15, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for visiting us here in Middle-earth, we like to think the magic of this place can appeal to all ages! We are glad the whole family had a fantastic time, and we hope to see you back here again someday!
Written July 17, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Marco A
Rio de Janeiro, RJ6 contributions
Dec 2019 • Friends
Our guide Francesco showed a lot of knowledge about Lord of the Rings and ALSO ABOUT NZ HISTORY, a bonus that we really appreciated!!! Not to mention his kindness and all the fun! Vehicle is great! I took a seat in the last row and really felt like 1st class! Heaps of leg room and a cup holder for my coffee haha. Perfect temperature inside and great background soundtrack for his commentary! Strongly recommend! Even if you haven’t watched the movies it’s a must do when in QT (you will want to watch to movies then... haha) Ah! There is more! How cool was the chance to take photos with the costumes and props!? Five star!!!
Written January 4, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you very much for your review, we are glad you loved Francesco's knowledge on not just LOTR but also the surrounding region and NZ history. We believe it is very important for our guests to not only understand the lengths that Peter Jackson went to creating these films but also the vital geographical and cultural history of the area. We hope you enjoyed the rest of your time in Middle-Earth as much as you did our tour!
Written January 9, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

RedmooseNH
Washington DC, DC62 contributions
We found this tour mis-leading and disappointing-although felt badly for feeling that way. The tour guide was really nice and very enthusiastic. We choose this tour because it was all day and we wanted to see as much as we possibly could. At a pricey $299/NZ/person it was a real splurge for us-but we thought we were in for an over the top amazing day and that it would be worth that much money. They had told us 'more than 30 locations'-but we only went to 3 sites! We found that extremely misleading. They considered 'locations' to be anywhere they could show a scene. We thought we'd be driving all over the place-but nope. The tour went to Arrowtown, the Kawarau gorge, and Deer Farm Park-that was it!!! What there was, was good, and again the enthusiastic guide was good-but after about 30 minutes at Deer Farm we'd had enough and we spent 2 hours there looking at a million little hills being told that this and that had been shot there. But honestly after a bit all the rocks/hills looked alike. The thing that really got us was we went to a winery in the morning - I was the only one in the group that drinks any wine so I kept saying 'lets not waste the time, lets not waste the time'-but we went anyway. I mean-why on earth were we going to a winery on an expensive LOTR tour??? I think there must be an arrangement with the winery because after I quickly sipped and left, we used their parking lot to be shown replica swords and Gimli's helmet. These were neat but I really just wanted to go see more sites. I don't really understand why we wasted a bunch of time taking photos with us holding these replicas. We did a similar photo thing at Deer Farm with replicas of knives and a hobbit cape. There were SO many other things we could have been seeing in the area. When we asked about that we were told that it they were too far to go to. So the next day we headed out on our own and were shocked to find that 12 Mile Delta was maybe a 15 minute drive out of Queenstown-where part of Ithilien was filmed, Sam saw the Olipants, and Smeagol caught the coneys. We then drove on to Glenorchy where a ton more stuff was done. We were out and back in just a couple of hours-so an all day tour could easily have included those areas. This tour could EASILY have been done in a half day for half the price given what was included. If you are interested in having a bunch of photos of yourself taken with replicas from the movie this is for you. We wished we'd done one of the other tours.
Written September 13, 2007
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
As the guide on this tour I wish to make clear that there is absolutely no arrangement with the vineyard mentioned. I also guide a wine tasting tour and this is my personal favourite. It is very close to a LOTR location. If the tour group size is small I sometimes include a 15 min visit to this vineyard as I am proud of our local wine. The weapons viewed at the vineyard are carried in the tour van and would have been viewed elsewhere if we had not visited the vineyard. I am sorry the reviewers were disappointed with the tour, which is a specialised LOTR tour including lots of background information on the filming process and insider stories. I believe that they would have enjoyed a more general sightseeing tour.
Written October 8, 2007
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Anika
Wellington, New Zealand10 contributions
Mar 2014 • Solo
Good things first: Well yes, you'll see some sceneries (actually 3, but for sure not "more than 20") and yes, Bob is a nice guy (it's probably not his fault if the company he works for is greedy and overpriced...).

BUT: The only reason it's a "full day" tour is because you hang around in the same location (only 3 in total) for ages or walk around really slowly (or both). And Bob stops his car 100 times in random spots cause he can't tell stories and drive at the same time (That's actually what he said!) So the whole day is filled with listening to some movie stories or re-watching some scenes (thanks, i've seen the movies, this is why i do this bloody tour!) instead of seeing more locations!
I already got a bit sceptic in the morning when I asked Bob how many different places we would visit during the day and he said "I won't tell you, the tour should be a surprise". Which from my point of view now is a tactic for not revealing that it's only 3 locations. I think this whole "more than 20" advert is an "interpretation trick": as soon as some spot is used in different parts of the movie they make it count as several locations, and every mountain peak or lake that is visible somewhere in the background counts as well. Dear "Trails of middle earth"-guys, that's seriously cheating and gives bad karma! just sayin'...

AND (even more important): WHAT on earth is worth the 300 (!!!) Dollars? (Cause actually i wouldn't complain this much if it had cost me 150 or so, that would have been ok...)

- The fuel for the car? I don't think so. The sceneries are all really close to Queenstown and easily acessable, so if you have the option to go by rental car get a LOTR location guidebook and do it yourself (you don't go any further than 12 Mile Delta and Arrowtown anyway with this tour...)
- The Lunch? It's ok but average, and the weapons...well, that's a nice idea but doesn't explain the massive price of this tour with. (As an example: The LOTR Tour in Christchurch provided lunch and weapons as well, the trip was so much longer and still they were much cheaper!) The "gifts" are some papercopies which won't cost the company anything as well, so again, nothing to make people pay sooooo much!

There are other Tour operators in Queenstown which cost half the price and they take you to spectacular locations at Skippers Canyon (by boat) and Glenorchy/Paradise (by horse). Don't waste your money (and time, all the scenes could easily be seen within half a day) on this tour.

I was really looking forward to doing the Trails of Middle Earth and have never been so disappointed before (actually this is my first bad review ever, but i really HAD to tell this...).
Written March 19, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for taking the time to post your review. We are sorry to hear you didn't enjoy the tour with us. Our prices are comparable with other Full day tours in Queenstown, as prices rise each year we have to keep up with that. The other points you have mentioned we will take them on board in order to constantly improve the Lord of the Rings experience
Written August 12, 2014
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

P K
Auckland, New Zealand1 contribution
Jan 2014 • Couples
Don't bother, it's not worth the money they charge. They sell it as more than it really is. Although the scenery was amazing, it could as well have been anywhere. We were standing on a hill, or under a tree, being told this was the very place they filmed such-and-such a scene, and shown a small, dog-eared, laminated print-out of a still from the movie, but it could have been anywhere, and any scene. The weaponry was sold as being authentic 15000 dollars worth of weaponry but when you swung the swords they rattled and it included only a tiny selection of a few swords and an axe.
We were supposed to get a collectible souvenir. But as we left we had to remind the tour guide of this. It turned out we were going to get a part of the script (by email!!!!) which is not what we expected, or want. and we still haven't even received that email!!!
Total stars: none! (But on this website you're forced to fill in at least one.
Written January 22, 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review of our Trails of Middle Earth Tour, We are sorry you were unable to enjoy it. All our sites are official LOTR sites endorsed by Ian Brodie Location Guide Book author, Which all companies refer to, plus some of our guides who worked as extras also confirmed. The laminated stills are replaced on a regular basis. Regarding our weapons, there are 11 swords plus an axe which are authentic Weta Workshop replicas taken from casts of the original, worth over $15,000 which we have been using since the first films came out. Unfortunately regarding the souvenirs we had run out of our booklet which is a copy of the script plus the call sheet from 12 Mile Delta. which we never send by email. Again we are sorry you did not enjoy our tour as our tours are aimed at LOTR enthusiasts.
Written January 27, 2014
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

dunmetiel
Bandar Puchong Jaya, Malaysia875 contributions
Dec 2012 • Couples
This was the first of 3 LOTR tours I went on in my NZ holiday. At NZD299/person, it was really quite a lot for me to pay for a 7-hour tour around the Queenstown area, but because I am a big fan, I booked it anyway and was very looking forward to it.

I enjoyed certain parts of the tour, in particular, the filming locations themselves. We were first taken to Kawarau River for the filming location of the Argonath which was quite spectacular. Then we went to Arrowtown for some of Isildur's scenes. However, because we were already in the Arrowtown area, I had expected to be taken to the filming location of the Ford of Bruinen where Arwen crosses the river to save Frodo but the tour did not include this which was quite disappointing.

We were taken to a parking area overlooking a lake and the guide pointed to us a mountain in the distance where filming had taken place (but we did not actually go to this mountain). Here, the guide took out some replica LOTR props like swords and cloaks for us to play with. The selection was quite good compared to the other LOTR tours I went on, but too much time was spent here. Being a big fan and already owning one of the replica swords myself, I was not as excited as some of the other people in the group.

Lunch was at the Remarkables Park town. From the restaurant, we had a beautiful view of the Remarkables and Deer Park Heights where some scenes in the second movie was filmed, but again, we did not actually go to Deer Park Heights. During lunch, the guide let us look at the actual screenplays and other production materials, which the other LOTR tours I went on did not have.

Then it was on to the last location, Twelve Mile Delta, for the Oliphaunts scene and other scenes involving Frodo and Sam with Faramir. I enjoyed this location as well even though it was drizzling. The guide also showed us the flower that inspired the Simbelmyne and the trees which inspired the Lothlorien foliage.

Many reviewers have said that this tour has a lot of 'insider information', but in fact, half of the 'insider information' told to us during the tour was nothing new to me at all after I'd watched and read so many interviews of the cast and crew many years ago. Hence, I was not that impressed with this aspect of the tour. Of course there were a couple of information that was new to me but most of them were not because I'd already read about them previously.

The tour is good if you're not too big a fan and/or want to pay someone to take you around while you sit back and relax while seeing some locations. If you're a big fan, then much of the 'insider information' would be nothing new to you anyway and if you don't mind driving and figuring out the routes yourself, it would be cheaper to get Ian Brodie's guidebook and drive to the locations on your own. This way, you would definitely be able to cover more locations and at your own time.

In my opinion, the 'insider information' and playing with the props is not worth the high cost of the tour based on the reasons already mentioned above. It would be more worthwhile if the tour gave us access to at least one location that was private or where we couldn't have gotten to it ourselves. Having said that, I did enjoy being able to not worry about driving and figuring out the routes myself. After so much driving around NZ, it was nice to have someone drive me for a change while I enjoy the scenery of Queenstown.
Written January 20, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

JayD_Perth
Perth, Australia11 contributions
Apr 2017 • Couples
My wife and I were really looking forward to doing a Lord of The Rings (LoTR) tour in Queenstown, and were told that this tour is good for fans because you'll get "behind the scenes" knowledge and they involve props and customs from the movies.
Unfortunately, this tour felt like a waste of money and time, and should've cost $50 plus lunch, rather than $300 per person I paid.
The tour guide Louise was really 'nice', however she talked non-stop about OTHER movies, and about herself and her partner - who was an extra in many movies (including LoTR at least). However, we paid $600 to be on a Lord of The Rings tour, not a generic NZ movies tour. We wanted more relevant content instead of hours and hours of what felt like "filler".
Clearly Louise the guide was a massive fan, when she did talk about LoTR it was great, but I felt like she was just "winging" the whole tour and was constantly off-topic. The other passengers I spoke to said they felt the same.
The stops to view 'iconic' moments were few, and then she'd pull out faded and poorly laminated photos of minor/fleeting scenes in the movie and talk a bit about the scene, and that was it.
Then our very last stop was in a random spot, that wasn't anything to do with the films, where we got to see props and get photos. This 15min was the best part of the whole tour.

Not worth $300 pp. I'd love a partial refund but that's not going to happen.
Don't do this tour. Find another one, and hopefully get the awesome experience you're looking for.
Written April 14, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It is unbelievable that the customer would post a review like this after one of our agencies (Happpy Travel) had clearly explained the problem AND offered them a Refund! We are going to explain very in detailed as below for every LOTR and Hobbits fans, for the truth! SLSS tours_Reasonable Price Our tours are very reasonable priced. The LOTR/Hobbit themed full-day tours in Queenstown are more expensive than ours and some of them increase prices recently while ours of high quality tours are in the steady price. The price also includes a delicious lunch in the restaurant. NOT a simple sandwich with soft drink like some one-day tours provided outdoors. (Our customers highly appreciate our indoor decent meal service, especially, in the summer and winter season). Besides, our tours offer LOTR - designed 4WD van experience, max 9 ppl to guarantee the tour quality and the comfortable. Please remember all those extra miles, we charge even less than other one-day LOTR themed tours. SLSS tours_ GREAT team As the customer said Louise is a “nice” person. Yes, she is a nice lady, and she is also an experienced tour guide. All of our SLSS team member have strong working experience in the iconic LOTR and Hobbit companies. Some of our tour guides participate in the movie filming, for example, Louise’s partner. Therefore, Louise is very proud of her partner working on films and love sharing his stories of his time on set that he has told her. Please remember the stories our guide told are unheard before as they were ONLY from people working on the films! Our customers are always happy hearing guide’s behind the scenes stories. Paradise has played host to some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters except for LOTR. Our great team adds value for you! SLSS tours_Lots of Highlights I am pleased to hear that the customer enjoying to see props and get photos. Right, it is also one of the highlights in our tours. NZ$15,000 worth of weapons and costume items for you to handle and photograph. In conclusion, we believe the purpose of feedback is to help us necessarily improve upon the tour experience that we provide to our vlaued visitors, also assists customers to make the wise choice. We welcome ALL LOTR and Hobbits fans, friends, ladies and Gentlemen to join in our fantastic LOTR and Hobbit tours based in Queenstown and Wanaka, and other multiday tours. We are also upgrading our tour experience while keep in the reasonable price. Into the Value of Wizard (One day tour, Isengard, Ithilien, Fangorn Forest, Gandalf rides to Isengard in Nan Curunir, exclusive permit to Beorn’s house in Paradise) Touching the middle earth tour (Half-day tour) SLSS team wishes everyone make the dream come true. With friendship, love, fun and trust. Thank you. Southern Lakes Sightseeing Tourism Ltd Team (SLSS)
Written February 19, 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

linwrofl
Gold Coast, Australia3 contributions
May 2016 • Couples
We didn't expect this tour to be a total and complete disappointment! We were so excited to join this tour as we expected it to be the highlight of our NZ tour - "$299/p full day, travel through some of the world's most scenic locations..." We were certainly carried away by the wordings on their website and on bookme and so made the very wrong decision to join it. To be honest, we have never been so disappointed by a tour before.

If you are after a scenic tour, this is absolutely NOT for you. There are NOT "large number of key locations, sights and scenes" at all (unless all the hills/trees/stones the guide had pointed to were counted). We only went to 4 locations and disappointingly NONE of them would be the "finest or most scenic locations in the world" - especially the first location in 12 Mile Delta Camp site. Nothing scenic at all and we were just looking at hills/trees/stones and being told that this and that were being shot there!

For a full day tour, we just hanged around in the same location for ages and listened to the guide talking about some "most insights" about the LOTR movies/book, which I think you can simply google it and know them all at home.

Lunch was served in a cafe but NOT as they mentioned on the website "with views over the stunning Remarkables range". There're weapons to play with but NO costumes! We have never received "a complimentary collectible souvenir" either.

What was worse, we emailed our feedback to the owner but there's no response whatsoever. I think at least an acknowledgement email should be deserved. Very poor customer service indeed.

All in all, we really regret booking this tour for our second last day in NZ. It was a beautiful day and we should have spent our time and money on other tours such as Glenorchy/Paradise (by horse). Seriously don't waste your money and time, all the scenes could easily be seen within half a day on this tour.
Written June 3, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Toksie
Auckland Central, New Zealand5 contributions
Aug 2013 • Couples
After reading the glossy and hoping for a highlight on the last day of an exceptional trip to Queenstown, we decided to lay down the money and go for the full day option. (299 per person).
This was a huge mistake.
Our guide was nice enough, but the scenes we visited and the ploughmans lunch at some random place at the local mall were decidedly average.
We decided to have a bottle of wine (which was not included in the exhorbitant price tag) to make the rest of the day less painful.
All the locations we visited were places we had already visited on our own, and as another person mentioned - yes we could play with the replicas (which were made in Taiwan by a cutlery company) but it was not even on an actual LOTR location.
The photo books and display files were extremely tatty and had definitely seen better days.
I definitely advise against it. This is NOT a full day activity. If it was limited to max 2 hours it may have been worth maybe $150, and left you feeling just a little bit ripped off.

To add insult, we have not heard back from this company for a whole month.

I wanted to give them the opportunity to respond or do something to make it better, but I have still not heard back. I must assume that they do not really care about customer service or any feedback.

Again.

Don't do it.
Written September 1, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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