The Lord of the Rings filming locations: the complete guide to New Zealand

Six films, two trilogies, 274 days of filming for The Lord of the Rings alone: Peter Jackson's Middle-earth was filmed entirely in New Zealand, from the hills of Waikato to the fjords of Fiordland. But before you pack your bag, one rule makes this different from other fan trips: on land protected by the Department of Conservation, the production had to take everything down and restore each site, down to the position of the clumps of grass, according to one contract. As a result, with one notable exception, you visit landscapes rather than sets, often so unchanged that you can recognise them shot by shot. Here is the complete guide, island by island, with the real locations, what is actually left of them, and the tourist myths to avoid.

This article was produced in partnership with Trip-Planner.io, a tailor-made trip planner. If this guide makes you want to travel to Middle-earth, the tool builds a complete itinerary for New Zealand in a few minutes, from Hobbiton to the southern fjords, with stops, accommodation and travel times.

The filming locations in New Zealand

40 filming locations and 6 fake locations not to be confused with them. Click a marker or a name in the list.

Filming locationClosed, off-limits or demolishedFake filming location

Hobbiton

• 1Hobbiton Movie Set Matamata, WaikatoHobbitebourg, le seul décor des six films encore debout
• 2Denize Bluffs Mangaotaki, près de PiopioLa ferme en ruine et la forêt des Trolls du Hobbit

Wellington

• 3Mont Victoria Wellington« Sortez de la route ! », la toute première scène, tournée le 11 octobre 1999
• 4Stone Street Studios Miramar, WellingtonIntérieur de Cul-de-Sac, la Moria, le Gouffre de Helm - fermé au public
• 5Weta Workshop Miramar, WellingtonL'atelier des 48 000 accessoires de la trilogie, visitable
• 6Kaitoke Regional Park Vallée de la HuttFondcombe - l'arche elfique sur place est une réplique de 2015
• 7Harcourt Park Upper HuttLes jardins d'Isengard, où Gandalf et Saroumane devisent
• 8Carrière de Dry Creek Haywards, Lower HuttLe Gouffre de Helm puis Minas Tirith - tout a été démoli
• 9Putangirua Pinnacles WairarapaLe Chemin des Morts - réserve gratuite, 2 à 3 h de marche
• 10Forêt de Waitarere HorowhenuaLe bois d'Osgiliath et les Trollshaws
• 11Seatoun WellingtonBree - le décor a laissé place à un lotissement
• 12Fernside Featherston, WairarapaLa pêche de Sméagol et Déagol

Tongariro

• 13Mont Ngauruhoe Parc national de TongariroLa Montagne du Destin, filmée à distance - sommet tapu, on ne le gravit plus
• 14Champ de ski de Whakapapa Mont RuapehuLa bataille du prologue, Isildur tranchant le doigt de Sauron. Le Meads Wall, à 30 minutes de marche, jouait les Emyn Muil
• 15Mangawhero Falls OhakuneGollum et son poisson, dans l'Ithilien
• 16Désert de Rangipo Plateau centralLes plaines de Gorgoroth - la Porte Noire est en zone militaire, interdite

Canterbury et Mackenzie

• 17Mount Sunday Haute vallée de la RangitataEdoras - onze mois de chantier, décor entièrement démonté
• 18Ben Ohau Twizel, bassin du MackenzieLes champs du Pelennor et leurs 250 cavaliers - terrain privé, accès par tour local
• 19Lac Pukaki Bassin du MackenzieLe Lac Long au pied d'Esgaroth, dans Le Hobbit
• 20Braemar Rive est du lac PukakiLa poursuite des Wargs et la faille où disparaît Gandalf

Queenstown et Otago

• 21Dan's Paddock GlenorchyIsengard - la tour d'Orthanc est un ajout numérique
• 22Paradise Au nord de GlenorchyLa Lothlorien et la maison de Beorn
• 23Arrow River ArrowtownLe gué de Bruinen, où Arwen défie les Neuf, et les champs aux Iris
• 24Skippers Canyon Au nord de QueenstownLe déluge du gué - route interdite aux voitures de location
• 25Gorge de la Kawarau GibbstonL'Anduin des Argonath - les Piliers des Rois sont numériques
• 26Deer Park Heights Kelvin Heights, QueenstownLa colonne de réfugiés d'Edoras et l'attaque des Wargs
• 27Twelve Mile Delta Lac WakatipuLe camp de Faramir, « po-ta-toes ! » - camping du DOC
• 28Closeburn Lac WakatipuAmon Hen, la mort de Boromir sous les flèches de Lurtz
• 29Lacs Mavora SouthlandLa dissolution de la Communauté et le canot funéraire de Boromir
• 30Réservoir de Poolburn Central OtagoLe village rohirrim incendié - les cabanes de pêcheurs sont toujours là
• 31Vallée de la Routeburn Au-dessus de GlenorchyLes paysages inchangés de la Communauté

Fiordland, Nelson et la West Coast

• 32Forêt de Snowdon Te AnauFangorn, la rencontre avec Gandalf le Blanc
• 33Kepler Mire Te AnauLes Marais des Morts, filmés en survol
• 34Rivière Waiau Te AnauL'Anduin des grands panoramiques
• 35Takaka Hill NelsonLe Chetbois de Grands-Pas, sur la montagne de marbre
• 36Mont Owen Kahurangi, NelsonLa sortie de la Moria - dix jours de tournage
• 37Mont Olympus Kahurangi, NelsonLa scène des crebain, « les espions de Saroumane ! »
• 38Rivière Pelorus MarlboroughLa descente en tonneaux de La Désolation de Smaug
• 39Mont Gunn Glacier Franz Josef, West CoastLes feux d'alarme du Gondor - survol en hélicoptère
• 40Earnslaw Burn GlenorchyUn décor de la saison 1 des Anneaux de Pouvoir, pas de la trilogie

Les faux lieux

• ×Milford Sound FiordlandAucune scène de la trilogie n'y a été tournée : la FAQ officielle du fjord le confirme
• ×Cathedral Cove CoromandelUn décor du Monde de Narnia, jamais de la Terre du Milieu
• ×Elephant Rocks Duntroon, OtagoUn décor du Monde de Narnia, jamais de la Terre du Milieu
• ×Mont Taranaki TaranakiLe mont Fuji du Dernier Samouraï, pas la Terre du Milieu
• ×The Remarkables QueenstownPas les Monts Brumeux : un assemblage d'autres massifs et de CGI
• ×Tawhai Falls Parc national de TongariroLa « piscine de Gollum » vendue sur place ne correspond pas au lieu réel

Off the map

• Norwest Lakes FiordlandLa Communauté franchissant la crête, le plan des affiches - accès uniquement en hélicoptère

Hobbiton, the only Middle-earth set still standing

It all started with a flight: in 1998, Peter Jackson spotted the Alexander family farm near Matamata from the air, a slice of old England, as he saw it, with a hill and a tree that were perfect for Bilbo's party. The New Zealand Army built the access road, and the 1999 village went up in plywood and polystyrene, meant to disappear after filming. Rain saved Hobbiton: demolition was halted by bad weather, leaving 18 bare facades that the family began showing to visitors in 2002. For The Hobbit trilogy, the set was completely rebuilt in permanent materials (stone, brick, concrete), and that is the village you visit today, with its 44 hobbit holes, vegetable gardens kept up all year round and a real Green Dragon Inn that opened in 2012.

Visits are guided only (the farm is still working and has 13,000 sheep): the Signature Tour includes the inside of a hobbit hole and a drink at the Green Dragon, and there are also lunch, "second breakfast" and evening banquet options. Book several weeks, or even months, ahead. A famous detail: the oak tree above Bag End is fake, made of 26 tonnes of fibreglass and 200,000 silk leaves that Jackson, unhappy with the colour, had repainted one by one. And don't look for filming spots in Matamata itself: the town does not appear in any of the films, and its hobbit-house tourist office is pure marketing. Further south, the cliffs of Denize Bluffs near Piopio were used for the ruined farm and the Trollshaws forest in The Hobbit, but the local tour is unfortunately on hold in 2026.

Wellington, the world capital of Middle-earth

The trilogy was born in Wellington, and the very first scene was filmed there on 11 October 1999 on Mount Victoria, ten minutes from the city centre: the famous "Get off the road!" scene, where the hobbits hide from the Nazgûl. The path is now signposted "Hobbit's Hideaway", but there is no point looking for the giant root: it was a prop and has since been removed. In Miramar, the Stone Street Studios, where the interior of Bag End, Moria and Helm's Deep were built, are still closed to the public, but the nearby Weta Workshop is open to visitors: the workshop that made the 48,000 props for The Lord of the Rings, from the 900 suits of armour to the large miniatures of Minas Tirith, offers its "Workshop Experience", often guided by the technicians themselves.

In the Hutt Valley, Kaitoke Regional Park stood in for Rivendell: the set was fully dismantled, and the elven archway people photograph there is a commemorative replica installed in 2015, not an original piece. Harcourt Park is where Gandalf and Saruman talked in the gardens of Isengard; the trees pulled down by the orcs were mounted on bolted bases. The Dry Creek quarry held the two biggest sets of the trilogy, Helm's Deep (120 nights of filming) and then Minas Tirith: everything was demolished and the quarry went back to work. A remarkable story: to create the chant of the 10,000 Uruk-hai, Jackson had 30,000 spectators chant in the Black Speech during the break of a cricket match at the Wellington stadium.

The highlight of the region is a two-hour drive away, in the Wairarapa: the Putangirua Pinnacles, eroded rock columns where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli ride towards the Dimholt Door. The reserve is free; allow 2 to 3 hours of walking along the stream bed. Completists will add Waitarere Forest (the Osgiliath woods and the Trollshaws in the trilogy, with a sign on site), and should know that Bree, built around a disused military base at Seatoun, has been replaced by a housing estate.

Tongariro, a sacred Mordor you do not climb

Mordor exists: it is the volcanic plateau of Tongariro National Park, in the centre of the North Island. But Mount Doom needs some clarification. The perfect cone of Ngauruhoe was only filmed from a distance, then digitally enhanced and combined with a large Weta model. No crew ever went up it, because the summit is tapu, sacred to Maori, for whom the peaks are the heads of their ancestors. Since 2017, the Department of Conservation has officially asked people not to climb it, and even not to call it "Mount Doom". Blogs still selling the "Mount Doom climb" are ten years out of date: you look at it, you don't conquer it.

What you can visit: the Whakapapa ski area on nearby Ruapehu, where the prologue battle was filmed at 6,562 ft (2,000 m), with Isildur cutting off Sauron's finger and ski-lift staff as extras multiplied digitally; Meads Wall, a 30-minute walk away, which played the Emyn Muil; and Mangawhero Falls near Ohakune, where Gollum chases his fish in Ithilien. On the day of filming, an out-of-season snowfall had to be washed away with a fire hose, and Andy Serkis wore a wetsuit under his costume. The Rangipo Desert provided the plains of Gorgoroth, but the exact location of the Black Gate is inside the Waiouru military area, closed to the public. And the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, the country's finest walk right at the foot of "Mordor", does not appear in any shot: you walk it for the atmosphere (19.4 km, booking required since 2023, still free in 2026).

Edoras and the Pelennor: Rohan from Canterbury to the Mackenzie

The most moving place on the South Island was found by accident: during aerial scouting, a storm diverted the production plane over the upper Rangitata Valley, and Mount Sunday became Edoras. The set of the capital of Rohan (access road, houses, stables and the full-size Golden Hall of Meduseld) took eleven months to build for three weeks of filming, before being completely dismantled. The bare hill can be reached freely through Hakatere Conservation Park (about 2 hours 15 minutes from Christchurch, the last section on gravel), and 4x4 tours leave from Methven; a trained eye recognises every angle from The Two Towers, minus Éowyn's banner.

Further south, in the Mackenzie Basin, the tussock plains of Ben Ohau near Twizel hosted the biggest battle of the saga: the charge of the Rohirrim on the Pelennor Fields. More than 250 riders from all over the country took part, including many women wearing fake beards. The land is private, but a local tour takes you onto the exact site. Lake Pukaki, turquoise because of glacial flour, served as the Long Lake below Esgaroth in The Hobbit (the town on stilts was a studio set), and nearby Braemar Station saw the Warg chase. The crevice where Gandalf disappears is there, but the descent to Rivendell that follows was filmed in a studio 400 km away. Two local myths to clear up: Castle Hill, despite its reputation, does not appear in any of the films (the Christchurch tourist office says so itself); it is a Narnia location. And no, Minas Tirith was not "filmed near Mount Cook": the White City is a Weta miniature.

Queenstown and Otago, the Fellowship in one place

Around Queenstown, you can retrace the trilogy in three days. At the end of Lake Wakatipu, the plain of Dan's Paddock in Glenorchy was Isengard. The tower of Orthanc was added entirely digitally, but the "Isengard lookout" on the road to Paradise frames exactly the shot of Gandalf's ride. The beech forest at Paradise played Lothlórien and Beorn's house; in Arrowtown, a gold-mining village, the Arrow River is the Ford of Bruinen where Arwen challenges the Nine ("If you want him, come and claim him"), while the flood was filmed in nearby Skippers Canyon, whose steep road is closed to hire cars, so 4x4 tours are required. A few hundred metres away, the same river was used for the Gladden Fields, where Isildur dies in the prologue. Not to be confused with the fishing scene with Sméagol and Déagol, filmed at Fernside near Wellington.

The Kawarau Gorge, on the road to the Gibbston vineyards, is the Anduin the Fellowship travels down between the Argonath. There is no point looking for the Pillars of the Kings from the suspension bridge (now AJ Hackett's bungy site): the two giant statues only ever existed in pixels. At Deer Park Heights (charged per vehicle), you follow the column of refugees from Edoras and the Warg attack. The ruin at the top is not left over from the trilogy but a film prison left by a 1988 Disney film. At the Twelve Mile Delta DOC campsite, you literally pitch your tent on Faramir's camp ("po-ta-toes!"); at Closeburn, in the pines of Amon Hen, Boromir fell to Lurtz's arrows. Sean Bean, who refused to fly by helicopter, walked the last part of the way in costume. Further on, the Mavora Lakes saw the breaking of the Fellowship: Boromir's funeral boat does leave from North Mavora Lake, but the Falls of Rauros are a visual effect, the lake is flat. It was at the nearby pile of burning orcs that Viggo Mortensen broke two toes kicking a helmet: his very real cry stayed in the final cut. Finally, at Poolburn Reservoir in Central Otago, the burned Rohirrim village in The Two Towers used existing fishing huts disguised as farms. They are still there, a rare case where "something" can still be seen.

Fiordland, Nelson, West Coast: the far corners

From Te Anau, one day is enough for three major locations: Snowdon Forest, where Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli meet Gandalf the White in Fangorn (the mossy beech trees looked old enough to walk, it was said); the Kepler Mire bog, whose aerial shots became the Dead Marshes (the close-ups, bodies included, were made in studio tanks); and the Waiau River, the Anduin of the wide shots. The Norwest Lakes, reachable only by helicopter, gave the most reproduced shot of the trilogy: the Fellowship crossing a ridge, the one used on the posters. In the Nelson region, the "marble mountain" of Takaka Hill played Chetwood, where Strider leads the hobbits, Mount Owen the exit from Moria (ten days of filming, walkways removed down to the last step) and Mount Olympus the crebain scene ("Spies of Saruman!"). On the Pelorus River in Marlborough, the dwarves went down the rapids in barrels for The Desolation of Smaug: the local "Hobbit Barrel Run" follows the exact route by kayak. And above the Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast, Mount Gunn hosted the beacons of Gondor; a fire ban in Central Otago had pushed the production to the West Coast. The helicopter companies that served the shoot now offer scenic flights.

The fake filming locations (and the question of The Rings of Power)

New Zealand sells Middle-earth everywhere, including places where it never existed. Milford Sound first: no scene from The Lord of the Rings was filmed there. The fjord's official FAQ confirms it, and "Milford Lord of the Rings tours" simply combine the road to the fjord with the real Southland sites. Cathedral Cove and the Elephant Rocks, often included in Tolkien tours, are locations from The Chronicles of Narnia. Mount Taranaki and its perfect cone? That is Mount Fuji in The Last Samurai. The Remarkables are not "the Misty Mountains" (a mix of other ranges and CGI), and the Gollum pool sold at Tawhai Falls does not match the real location of the scene. As for The Rings of Power, the Amazon series did film its first season in New Zealand (notably at Denize Bluffs and Earnslaw Burn, but never at Hobbiton), before moving its production to the United Kingdom.

The Lord of the Rings collectibles

Want to bring a piece of Middle-earth home to your shelf? Figures, LEGO and other The Lord of the Rings collectibles are available from partner shops. Here are the current best-sellers:

Visiting arrangements are given as a guide and may change depending on the season and the site.