The coach was nice, the guide was engaged. Don’t depend on the WiFi, it was dial up speeds the entire journey. We enjoyed the caves and Hobbit Town. The deal breaker was we were not dropped off at our hotel (pickup/ drop off selected during booking) It was not a great experience walking from the downtown terminal to our hotel at dusk. These tour prices are much higher than competitor, one would assume top notch service.

A bit of driving but I quest that was necessary. Bus operator was extremely knowledgeable. Lunch. Sandwich was good. Glow worm experience was a little disappointing. Photos on Viator are green screen

Fantastic day, made all the better by Rachel our guide. She was brilliant. The. Caves were wonderful but Hobiton was absolutely amazing. Recommend the trip to everyone

David is a nice driver and really funny ,,,, we have a great experience in Hobbiton i will said waitomo is not that amazing but that depends on your backup as a tourist in our case we are from Mexico so we have seen stuff similar

This was an awesome day visiting two of New Zealand‘s best unique sites. Our bus driver/tour guide was excellent telling us all about New Zealand and the two sites on the way.

Tour guide was personable, entertaining, and knowledgeable. Experience was excellent. Lunch was delicious. A must activity

The Caves and Hobbiton experience was fantastic. The bus driver was wonderful and full of story. The bus itself was dirty

We’ve been traveling for 42 days now coming from Canada visiting several countries arriving in Auckland NZ, on December 30. We have never in our travels thus far experienced anyone so rude and confrontational as the Intercity/Great Sights bus driver named Kevin. From the start of our pickup service in Greymouth NZ until our finish (drop off and quarter mile walk to our hotel) in Franz Josef NZ, Kevin demonstrated a sour attitude towards us and other passengers. In handling our luggage, he just tossed it into the luggage compartment of the bus with total disregard for the fragile contents inside. When we stopped for our one hour stop, he was not helpful in answering questions of passengers other than to say be back at this bus by 3:08 PM. On arrival in Franz Josef, Kevin did not ask the passengers for their hotel drop off locations. We stayed on the bus until he dropped most of the passengers off at which time we asked him when would we be dropped off at the Franz Josef Glasier Hotel. He said “I am not turning this bus around just to drop you off. You will have to get off here and walk to your hotel” and pointed out a blue sign in the trees about a quarter mile down the road. So, he unloaded our two big suitcases and a carryon roller case along with our knapsack and my elderly wife and I made our way on foot to our hotel. Thankfully our hotel staff assisted us to our room with our luggage. Our first terrible and troubling experience in our 42 day trip thus far. This is our first experience with InterCity/Great Sights and we really hope you employ better staff than the person named Kevin who performed your services for us today. Please feel free to contact us should you wish to speak directly with us.

Very disappointing !!! I was waiting 1 hour with other 6 passenger in Cordis Auckland but no one pick us up. They are gone leaving us from another pick up spot! We already email and message to GreatSight staff but no reply. I tried to reschedule it, but they say it couldnt because fully booked in another date. And now, I went to New Zealand without going to waitomo and hobiton cave. Thx GreatSight for your sadly experience.

Excellent day tour in a big comfortable coach from Auckland covering both Waitomo glowworm caves and Hobbiton. And we got dropped off at Rotorua. Super well organized. Pickup was convenient from like 2 min walk from our hotels. We didn’t have to worry about transport, lunch was provided, entrance was taken care off, and the drivers were good people and gave interesting tour commentary. Both these attractions are a must do. And if you are going one way to Rotorua, we looked around but only found GreatSights to offer this option. Highly recommend.

I am a bit conflicted about what star rating to give because the places we went were absolutely amazing but the bus experience was very average. We booked a Great Sights tour to go to Waitomo caves and Hobbiton. Both experiences was truly incredible. What let everything down is the amount of people we were with. It was very impersonable and we were loaded onto this big coach and hit the road. I have to say, our driver was exceptional and I enjoyed listening to his commentary. Unfortunately, it is a very long time to be sitting in a coach to get to the first stop and they give you one tiny cookie for the drive. A bit of morning tea would have been very welcome. At the caves, the group was far too big to be walking easily through the caves and everyone having a good view. I think we were like 45 people and that is far too many for such an experience. They had to load us in two boats to see the glow worms and of course you have people that do not listen and are still wearing there smart watches and not covering up the light they admit so that is a tad annoying for large groups. After that experience, it was back on the bus for some lunch and the next stop. Unfortunately, lunch was minuscule consisting of a half sandwich and salad. I was actually very hungry when we finally got to Hobbiton and so were a lot of people that you end up spending money at the cafe there just for food. The hobbiton experience was great and the guide very knowledgeable but again, being a large group, it is hard to hear some times, especially because the guide microphone doesn't work on the coach and the guide had to take photos of every single person at one point and hurry people along at others. By the time you arrive back in Auckland it is like 7.30pm, a very very long day and long breaks in between food. There could have been a small chip packet or something on the drive back. I would return to both the destinations again but I would not go on this coach again. The lack of food and the crowd are deal breakers for me. We still had a good day and thank you to the driver for dealing with road works and the long hours and giving us commentary, I really appreciate it.

The Waitomo Caves and Hobbiton were great. Well worth the money. The tour guide Rachel was awesome!! Great commentary on the way to both locations. Very informative and funny. My only feedback is that the bus tray tables were a little dirty. They could use a good wipe down in between tours. Otherwise, fantastic trip!!

The Driver David was fantastic and kept us on time and entertained. Hobbiton is lovely - quite a novel experience for me and my wife

Booked this tour to help cut down on the planning side of visiting Hobbiton, and it worked out great! The bus left on time and early in the morning, so we had to skip breakfast. Would recommend bringing a snack along. Our driver was great and let us sleep all the way down, and helped us figure out where to go when we got to Hobbiton. The tour through Hobbiton moves quite quickly, so if you are in a large group--like ours was--it can be hard to get pictures in places or listen to the tour guide at every stop. Weather was great and going in to the hobbit hole was lots of fun. Lunch was well made and solid fare, if a bit on the bland side. The apple crumble was delicious. They run the buffet well so that there is no waiting in line forever and you have time to eat. The only drawback is there is very little time to actually look at the gift shop. We had a bit of time in the morning, but I didn't look too much at it since I thought we would have time in the afternoon. After the tour and lunch we only had about twenty minutes to visit the toilet, get drinks/water from the cafe, and visit the gift shop. It was quite rushed!

At first I was worried about booking this due to the reviews but everything was done so perfectly! The driver was on time and so punctual. Rachel who was our driver was so knowledgable and funny which may the trip so enjoyable. The tour and the food were just amazing as well whether you’re a fan of the movies or not, I say do it!