Matamata is a small Waikato dairy town that would be entirely off the tourist map were it not for one thing: Hobbiton. The Alexander family's sheep farm on the edge of town was chosen by Peter Jackson as the location for the Shire in The Lord of the Rings, and the set was rebuilt in permanent form for The Hobbit a decade later. It now draws roughly 700,000 visitors a year — more people than live in the entire Waikato region.
The town itself sits at the foot of the Kaimai Range, a long forested ridge that separates the Waikato plains from the Bay of Plenty coast. The main street has a few cafes, a small museum, and not much else. Most visitors stay in Hamilton or pass through on day trips from Auckland, Rotorua or Tauranga. The town has leaned into its association with Middle-earth — the i-Site visitor centre is built to look like a hobbit hole — and you should book your Hobbiton tour well in advance.
Beyond Hobbiton, the area is good walking and horse country. The Wairere Falls on the Kaimai escarpment are the tallest in the North Island, and the Firth Tower at the edge of town is a curious Victorian relic — a square concrete fortified tower built in the 1880s by a rich early settler. There are several thermal hot pools nearby at Opal Hot Springs.