Home > Auckland > 5-Day Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton Movie Set Tour from Auckland
USD $1,191.00
5-Day Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton Movie Set Tour from Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand
Do and see it all on a five-day adventure from Auckland that takes you to Waitangi, Rotorua, Waitomo and Middle-earth! Your journey reveals the history and natural beauty of New Zealand’s North Island on a dolphin-spotting cruise across the Bay of Islands and a drive along Ninety Mile Beach at Cape Reinga. Enjoy a magical boat ride through the glowworm grotto at Waitomo Caves, and dine at a Maori village in Rotorua. With sheep dogs, kiwi birds and Hobbit holes included, this five-day North Island tour highlights all the must-see sights, and provides a choice of standard or superior accommodation in Paihia and Rotorua.
Choose from standard or superior accommodation in Paihia and Rotorua on this five-day tour that takes you to all the North Island highlights: the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the bubbling mud and hot springs of Rotorua, the Waitomo glowworm caves, a drive along Ninety Mile Beach at Cape Reinga and a traditional hangi dinner at a Maori village.
Not really a tour. More of an itinerary. They use local Intercity bus lines- one trip from Pahai to Auckland had 10 stops- but no bathroom breaks. Grouchy drivers. We hauled our luggage 4 blocks both ways to meet their buses. If you've been on tours with door to door service or has a tour guide and enjoyed that experience- this is not the tour for you. This is an expensive do it yourself type thing.
Review by: vzcrsm, March 2018
The actual tours we went on were all fine, but the transportation arrangements were not what we expected. On a typical day we had to get on 3 to 4 different buses/transfers all with different drivers and sometimes with different companies. The InterCity transfers on the third day were a complete waste of our precious travel time. Basically these were simply a city/state bus like Grayhound or Badger Coach that made multiple stops in different cities on our way from Paihia to Auckland to Rotorua without any commentary at all. It took all day to travel and the morning portion was 5 hours long without any planned bathroom/restroom stop at all. This is not the way to spend a vacation and we were very disappointed with this aspect of the trip. Okay trip if your a younger backpacker/tramper, but would not recommend for anyone that is looking for cohesive tour.
Review by: Hui Min C, January 2018
This is actually an "independent coach tour", which means they book you on the various day tours and intercity buses and you need to be able to follow an itinerary sheet yourself; might be obvious for Europeans and Aussies/Kiwis who have a strong backpacking culture, but it would not be clear from the tour descriptions to Americans and Asians.
Review by: Ctamjam, May 2017
This tour fit our needs for touring the North Island so I didn't need to stress over driving on the left side of the road._br/_ I was very impressed when I arrived at my hotel and we received a confirmation in the form of a letter from Great Sights confirming bus pick up the next morning. I thought this would be the norm for the rest of the trip - each morning- NOT SO!. _br/_ Be aware that each day is a different tour, with a different organization.
Review by: Veronica C, April 2017
SAW LOTS OF GREAT STUFF BUT THIS IS NOT A TRADITIONAL TOUR!
Review by: Mandeep C, March 2017
Overall the tour was great. What I would have liked to have known before going on the tour is that it is not a 5 day tour with the same group of people but it is instead a collection of half day/ day tours. The coaches were comfortable, had wifi and the drivers were friendly and knowledgeable. Highlights were the bay of islands - especially the hole in the rock and the Hobbiton movie set. I paid slightly extra and stayed in the Kingsgate and Hotel ibis - both very nice hotels close to local bars/ restaurants. I noticed sometimes there was not always enough time allocated to get food - usually it was a rush to arrange lunch so I would definitely recommend taking snacks to have on the coach.
Review by: Joseph A K, February 2017
We really enjoyed most of the sites and events. The only negative was too much time spent on bus rides..
Review by: Dakshina M, January 2017
Overall the tour was good. The guides were knowledgeable, friendly and informative. Waitangi treaty grounds tour was rushed and at times the guides commentary was too fast. The Intercity bus trip from Auckland to Roturua had lots of stops and the driver was somewhat rude. After the conclusion of Hobitton tour - wait for the bus back to Auckland was the most disappointing. It was a open shelter - extremely windy, cold and there was heavy downpour while waiting for the delayed bus. We were dropped off without much info other than your connection will be here shortly. Calls to your tour center was also unhelpful. For the tour costs paid for a Superioir Gold package the shortcomings were extremely disappointing.
Review by: Bernadette C, January 2017
Our family thoroughly enjoyed this action packed holiday and especially recommend it to those who have a limited time to see highlights of the North Island. We were so impressed by the exquisite scenery, the kindness of the countrys people and the richness of the Maori culture. Our only issue with the 5-day tour was that we would have preferred more detail about our itinerary and how to coordinate with the tour operators. Although Viator organised the bus transportation, hotel accommodations, and individual tours, we were left to coordinate when/where for pickups etc. for tours and transportation to the next locations.
Review by: kpw223, January 2017
Warning, this 5 day tour consists of a lot of riding in tour bus, so much of the enjoyment depends on who you have as a bus driver or tour guide that day. The first 2 days of the tour was very good going north of Auckland to Bay of Islands and Cape Reinga. The 3rd day of tour was not enjoyable as it is just a whole day spent riding in 2 separate buses to Rotorua. The 4th day was good going to Waitomo Caves and Mauri village for dinner/show. The 5th day is pretty packed. For us, the tour operator screwed up and did not book our tour on the 5th day, so we were stuck in the hotel waiting all morning. This really bummed us out as we were looking forward to the fully packed 5th day activities, and we were very concerned about being able to get from Rotorua back to Auckland to catch our flight back to US the following day. It took a few hours of waiting for tour operator to get their act together and we eventually got rebooked for the 5th day afternoon tour to Hobbiton, but the mistake by the tour operator really tainted our experience. To make the experience worse, when we were offered the refund for their mistake a couple of week later, the refund came in ridiculously low. I had to contact Viator a couple of times before Viator offered a fair refund amount we asked for 20 back as 1 in 5 days was ruined.
Review by: wilhelmino, December 2016
Wonderful experiences everywhere we went. Definitely worth the price. The crew were very friendly and punctual. Would recommend it to anyone.
Review by: kjschlapp, July 2016
I loved all the things we got to see and do. The only fall back is that most tours and trips did not come with food (which is fine) and did not leave enough time to get your own and started before hotel breakfast was available
Review by: Madonna C, June 2016
very organized. packed with value. Great hotels. Clean buses well maintained with WIPI. . courteous bus drviers. Best land tour we have had.
Review by: Bradley N, February 2016
Great Tour have to say it was very organized. Always had are names and picked up on time. _br/_ All buses were great as they all had free wifi on board. All bus drivers were very informative and friendly. Highly recommend this trip all the activities are great
Review by: monika.lamprecht, January 2016
An absolutely impressing tour - the only disadvantage: due to big distances sometimes simply to much driving. But all the visits on the tour: just grandious! Will go back to some places one time, that is for sure.
Review by: Raymond D, January 2016
Everything went off without a hitch. Accommodation was very good.
Review by: Raul M, January 2016
All the reservations, connections and transports worked._br/_ The places visited were nice and very interesting.
Review by: John C, January 2016
Bear in mind that this is essentially two tour packages--one based from Paihia, the other based from Rotorua, that are stapled together by a day-long journey on the regular Intercity Bus. In other words, instead of being on a comfortable tour couch with an entertaining and knowledgeable driver who stops at scenic locales along the route, you waste one day of your vacation on crowded mass transit that stops in the least scenic part of every town, spending 9 hours on a journey that should only take 5.
Review by: Christopher T, December 2015
There were two in my party, myself and my wife. In the past we have taken bus tours where you literally stay with the same vehicle for the tour duration. Your approach of using whatever transport was available at the time it was required was new to us, and we found it marvelous. It was a genuine attempt to maximize the use of your resources.
Review by: David K, June 2015
We had a great time. Everything worked exactly as it was supposed to. The itinerary was challenging but very enjoyable. We were able to see a lot of the best of the North Island over a limited duration. EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE.
Review by: Anand L, April 2015
Great tour!
Review by: Jennifer B, March 2015
The only disappointment was the accommodation in Rotorua (Ibis). Standard of hotel was very poor, would not recommend this hotel to anyone.
Review by: Kenneth M, October 2014
Excellent experience. Covered the beauty, history and people of New Zealand. Highly recommended.
Review by: James M, July 2014
V. Good if u dont have much time. We had a week in total for all NZ - flew to Auckland on Sun, had the evening, then next day, with this 5 day tour starting on Tues-Sat. It basically takes you around the northern half of the north isl. and covers it all pretty well. Day1- Leave city in a coach, drive over the bridge and begin journey to beautiful Paihia - see nice countryside on way with a cpl stops here and there. It is narrated and I enjoyed this trip. The cruise was very fun. We didn't get to see all sights due to weather, but we did see alot more that normally isn't included. We also didn't see dolphins, so they gave us a another trip for free with no expiry date. The choppy water made the cruise really fun - for me anyways. After the cruise, you get taken to your hotel room. We chose Superior accom, and the rooms were nice, although the hotels were a little away from main areas, then again not really that far though - we walked. I had nothing to complain of. Day2- Long bus drive to the northernmost tip of NZ, and when you get there not really too much to see/do. There's a little lighthouse, and U can see where 2 oceans meet. it was good, but then worth the drive?? The trip back was where it paid off - instead of the same route back, the bus actually takes you onto the 90 mile beach and drives through the water. On the way you get to stop at giant skysrcaper sized sand dunes and boogie board down them. Really fun and weird driving in a bus through water. Buffet lunch provided was not buffet - fish and chips. Day3- Really long drive back to Auckland, Really long drive to Rotorua. Full day. Enough said. Day4- Rotorua is awesome and my favorite place on this journey. So many things to do. Caves were incredible. Glowworms were cool. Afternoon off to wander the town was welcome. We skipped Maori dance. Day5 - Geysers fantastic, all shows fantastic, Hobbiton cool and lame - way too many people to enjoy it properly. Will be back to PaiHia and Rotorua for sure. Very fun!
Review by: Shirley K, July 2014
Wonderful experience. Though I had to change coaches quite often but the arrangement was perfect.
Review by: Paul B, March 2014
Everything went very smoothly and according to schedule. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and fun. It was a dream come true to see Hobbiton and the tours were incredible. I definitely recommend going on this trip!
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