Everyone knows the Lord of the Rings movies and the Hobbit movies were shot in New Zealand, yes? To the surprise of Kiwis, the movie set is still the #1 attraction in the country. Tours book early (we had to figure out how to join an existing cruise ship tour).

The hobbit holes are soooooo cute, and the details are faithful to Tolkien’s books. Turns out they needed to use stunt doubles at times to keep the perspective between characters like Bilbo and Gandalf, and to have proper size doors for the actors. It’s very easy to imagine dwarves and hobbits and all sorts of magic on the Hill.