Get picked up from Auckland Airport and taken to your accommodation.

Enjoy a scenic tour from Auckland to Rotorua, including a guided tour of the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. Leaving Auckland in the morning we travel through the Waikato and King Country regions, passing by flourishing farmland and picturesque countryside. Your experienced local driver guide will provide entertaining commentary and point out highlights along the way. On arrival in the small town of Waitomo, take a trip underground with a 45-minute guided tour through the world famous Waitomo Glowworm Caves, a series of limestone caves formed over 30 million years ago. Learn all about stalagmites, stalactites and other intriguing rock formations as you walk through the caverns, and finish the tour with an enchanting boat ride through the Glowworm Grotto, illuminated by thousands of tiny glowworms. Your journey to Rotorua continues, passing through the beautiful Fitzgerald Glade where trees arch over the road to form a tunnel of natural greenery. A delicious picnic-style lunch can be pre-booked (optional extra) and is served on board the coach. The tour concludes in Rotorua, a city where you can view geothermal activity, Maori culture, spectacular scenery and more.

Experience Maori culture with traditional ceremonies, cultural performances and an authentic hangi dinner with an evening tour of Tamaki Maori Village on the outskirts of Rotorua. As you travel by coach deep into the heart of an ancient tawa forest, your driver guide will explain the protocol for entering a Maori village as manuhiri (visitors). Upon arrival, experience a powhiri (formal welcome ceremony) before entering the village. After a fearsome challenge by a group of warriors and the exchange of a peace offering, you will be warmly greeted and brought onto the marae (meeting house area) with songs and dance. Step inside the village and be transported into another world. Discover the sights and sounds of pre-European Maori life as the villagers demonstrate traditional Maori activities and crafts. See how intricate woven art pieces were created, hear stories of ancient ancestors, see traditional weaponry displays and tattooing in action. See your Maori hangi meal being lifted from the earth, where it has been steamed underground on hot stones. Your hosts will explain the history of the hangi and show you how your dinner was prepared and cooked – they’ll even give you tips on how to make a hangi in your own backyard! Next, enter the ancestral meeting house for a powerful cultural performance. Song and dance are an integral part of Maori culture – experience the famous haka war dance and impressive poi dancing and hear the soul-stirring harmonies of traditional waiata (songs). After the performance, enjoy a three-course buffet feast. Start with Maori rewana bread before enjoying your hangi: succulent New Zealand meats and vegetables with their unique smoky earth-cooked flavour, accompanied by fresh salads and seafood and a range of authentic Kiwi desserts. Vegetarian and other dietary options are catered for upon request. You’ll have time to relax and chat to your hosts or wander around the tribal marketplace before your cultural tour ends with the poroporoaki, an official closing ceremony.

Your full-day tour begins with a morning sightseeing tour around three of Rotorua’s iconic visitor attractions. Visit the cultural centre at Te Puia and gain an insight into Maori traditions and ways of life, before entering a geothermal wonderland of impressive geysers and boiling mud pools. See New Zealand’s agricultural industry in action with a sheep-shearing display and sheep dog trials at the Agrodome. Then visit Rainbow Springs, a nature park which showcases native flora and fauna including the famous New Zealand kiwi. Following the show, enjoy a scenic drive across the Kaimai Ranges to the picturesque 1,250 acre farm near Matamata where scenes from the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies were filmed. Take a guided tour and learn how this working farm was transformed into The Shire from Middle-earth. Your guide will show you Hobbit holes, the Green Dragon Inn, the Mill and many other structures from the movies. After your Hobbiton Movie Set tour, continue your journey to Auckland.

Get transferred from your accommodation to Auckland Airport