Arrowtown and Glenorchy

Scenes from all over the Queenstown Region were used in The Lord of the Rings movies. You can have a great time touring around linking them all together, while the adventure capital will offer an amazing array of activities to distract you along the way. As Arwen ferried the wounded Frodo across the Ford of Bruinen, they were actually only minutes from the centre of Arrowtown, an historic and well preserved gold mining village about 20 minutes drive from Queenstown.

Closer to Queenstown, an exhilarating four-wheel drive (4WD) trip through Skippers Canyon will take you past the spot used to portray the Ford in flood. Deer Park Heights, used for various locations in all three films, also affords great views. Travel through Queenstown to Glenorchy and you'll see why the locality of Paradise was so perfect for scenes in Lothlorien, Isengard, Fangorn and Amon Hen. For an aerial perspective of the whole area, take a scenic 'locations' flight, or, if you'd rather something closer to ground, float on a raft down the same river as Frodo. You can even bungy jump into it!

For further information on the Queenstown region view our Queenstown regional information section.