The Green Dragon Inn: Where to Eat in Matamata (4.8★)

A pint at the far end of the Shire

You reach it last, and the order matters. The walking tour leads you past hobbit holes cut into the hillside, the Party Tree and the lake. Then you cross the double-arched stone bridge by the Mill and come to the inn’s front door.

The Green Dragon Inn is the pub the films only showed from outside. Here it is a real one, with a bar, seats and a fire. For most visitors it is where the tour ends: you sit down, a drink arrives, and you look back across the water at the hill you just walked.

A real pub, not a facade

Most of Hobbiton is built to be looked at. The first sets for The Lord of the Rings were temporary and were taken down after filming. When Peter Jackson’s team came back for The Hobbit, they rebuilt the village in permanent materials, and the Green Dragon became somewhere you can walk into.

Inside it feels like a country inn scaled for hobbits. There are dark timber beams, fireplaces and heavy wooden tables. Every small detail has been dressed by set designers, so allow time to look around before you settle down with your glass.

What’s poured: the Southfarthing range

The drinks are the reason this place is famous. Hobbiton serves its own Southfarthing range, brewed only for the Green Dragon and named after a region of the Shire. Your tour ticket includes one drink, and you choose from the taps at the bar.

You’ll usually find these on the list:

• Amber ale: the classic pub pour, malty and easy to drink
• Apple cider: light, a fair pick if beer isn’t for you
• Stout: darker and heavier, good on a cold Waikato afternoon
• Ginger beer: the non-alcoholic choice, so drivers and children get something too

The range can change, so check what’s pouring at the bar. Drink it on site. The tour moves on to the coaches after the pub stop, and the timetable isn’t yours to stretch.

Eating properly: the banquet and breakfast tours

The standard tour includes a drink, not a meal. If you’re here to eat, which the guide’s title promises, you need one of Hobbiton’s dining tours.

The best known is the Evening Banquet Tour. You walk the set in the late light, then sit down at long tables inside the Green Dragon to a shared hobbit-style feast. Plates get passed down the table the way they would at a Shire party. After dinner you usually walk back through the village with lanterns.

Hobbiton also runs breakfast and other themed dining tours at certain times of year. What’s on offer, the times, dates and dietary options all change, so check the official Hobbiton Movie Set website before you plan around a specific one. Banquet seats are limited and sell out well before ordinary tour slots do.

Getting through the round door: booking and timing

You can’t drive up and walk into the Green Dragon. The address is “Hobbiton Movie Set” for a reason. The pub is inside a working farm and you can only reach it on a guided tour, so the booking is your reservation.

How to make that work:

• Book online, early. In the New Zealand summer and school holidays, tours sell out days or weeks ahead. Banquet tours sell out even sooner.
• Arrive early for check-in. Coaches leave on schedule. If you miss your slot, you may also miss the pub.
• Keep your eye on the guide at the inn. The Green Dragon stop has a set length. Order first and take photos second, so you don’t spend the whole stop in the queue at the bar.
• Pay by card. New Zealand is close to cashless and card is normal everywhere on site. Tipping isn’t expected in New Zealand, and the included drink is already covered by your ticket.
• Go early or late in the day. The first and last departures tend to avoid the midday tour-group rush, and later tours put the inn in softer light.

This is one of the most visited attractions in the North Island, and it’s busy all year. Don’t expect a quiet corner by the fire on a peak-season afternoon. Expect a lively, friendly crowd, all ordering the same amber ale.

Getting to the Shire’s Rest

Most tours start at The Shire’s Rest on Buckland Road, out in the farmland near Hinuera. The set is on the Alexander family’s sheep and beef farm, and coaches take you from the Shire’s Rest through the paddocks to the village. Some departures also leave from the Matamata i-SITE in town, which is housed in a building styled like a Hobbiton gatehouse.

By car, plan on about two hours from Auckland. Rotorua and Tauranga are each roughly an hour away. Matamata itself is a short drive from the Shire’s Rest. A rental car is the simplest way to get here. Several Auckland and Rotorua operators also sell day trips that include tour tickets.

All in, the visit takes about two and a half hours, including the coach ride, the guided walk and the stop at the Green Dragon. A banquet tour runs much longer, so budget your evening and your drive home to match.

Before and after in Matamata

Matamata is a farming town in the Waikato that has adopted its film connection. The i-SITE is worth a stop even if your tour starts at the Shire’s Rest. Broadway, the main street, has the cafés and bakeries where most visitors stop for food before or after a set visit.

If you’re on the standard tour, eat a proper meal in town and treat the Green Dragon as the drink at the end. If you’re on the banquet, skip lunch. The feast is the meal, and the inn is the place to eat it.