Celebrate the 15th anniversary of New Zealand’s role as the filming location for the Lord of the Rings trilogy with Tourism New Zealand’s new Middle Earth Travel portal and character-inspired itineraries from Zicasso Handcrafted Travel. Start by taking an interactive quiz on the official site to discover whether you’d explore Middle-earth as a wizard, elf, dwarf or hobbit — a playful way to customize your travel preferences based on the characters from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and the film adaptations directed by New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson. Zicasso then offers a luxury anniversary tour that can be tailored to your quiz results, creating a personally themed journey across the country.
The 15-day itinerary highlights a mix of film-related experiences and New Zealand’s dramatic landscapes. Guests visit the silversmith and shop where the prop rings were crafted, gain exclusive access to filming locations, and enjoy a private, after-hours tour of the design studio that created many of the costumes and weapons used in the movies. The route also showcases regional attractions: a vineyard near Queenstown, an off-road adventure, and a scenic helicopter flight above the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers provide memorable ways to experience the South Island’s terrain.
Film fans will appreciate a guided tour through the hobbit holes and pubs of Hobbiton, where familiar sets bring Tolkien’s world to life. Nature-focused stops include walks beside the bubbling mud pools and colorful geothermal features of Wai-O-Tapu, explorations of the dramatic Waimangu Volcanic Valley, and a jet-boat excursion along the glacier-fed Arrow River. These activities combine cinematic history with New Zealand’s varied natural wonders, offering both curated film experiences and outdoor adventures.
Pricing for the package, based on double occupancy, starts at $5,935 per person. That rate covers the activities detailed in the itinerary as well as round-trip international flights between Los Angeles (LAX) and Auckland (AKL), an internal flight from Queenstown (ZQN) to Auckland, a full-size car rental for on-land travel, and inter-island ferry crossings. Travelers can work with Zicasso’s luxury planners to customize accommodations, add excursions, or adjust the pace to match personal interests and the character theme selected from the quiz.
Whether you’re drawn to behind-the-scenes access, hands-on craft demonstrations, dramatic alpine scenery or geothermal wonders, this Middle-earth anniversary offering provides a curated way to experience both the films’ legacy and New Zealand’s unique landscapes. By combining guided film-set visits with adventurous activities and comfortable travel arrangements, the tour aims to satisfy both die-hard fans and first-time visitors seeking an immersive countrywide itinerary.