![Hobbiton Movie Set, New Zealand | Photo by Adrien Aletti on Unsplash](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Hobbiton-Movie-Set-New-Zealand-Photo-by-Adrien-Aletti-on-Unsplash.jpg)
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Best places in the world to travel to in March
By Kiwi.com | Wikipedia
March is the official start of spring, but depending on where you live, it can be just a tease. If your home is in a place where it’s still winter outside or at least feels like it, you don’t have to wait to get warm!
Italy 🇮🇹 La Dolce Vita, the Sweet Life.
Vietnam 🇻🇳 Timeless Charm.
Malaysia 🇲🇾 Truly Asia.
Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 You will Come Back for More.
New Zealand 🇳🇿 100% Pure New Zealand.
![Hobbiton, Matamata, New Zealand | Photo by Andres Iga on Unsplash](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Hobbiton-Matamata-New-Zealand-Photo-by-Andres-Iga-on-Unsplash-1024x576.jpg)
New Zealand: Travel to the universe of Lord of the Rings
March is the best time to admire New Zealand’s breathtaking waterfalls, geysers, beaches, glaciers, hills, and lakes without crowds of tourists. And, of course, Lord of the Rings fans must pilgrimage to the surroundings of the Tongariro and Ruapehu volcanoes, the Waikato River, and the town of Queenstown.
![Wellington, New Zealand | Celebrity Cruises](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Wellington-New-Zealand-Celebrity-Cruises-1024x677.jpg)
Best vacation spots in New Zealand
Let’s see what fabulous spots the motherland of The Hobbit can show us in March.
![Dunedin | Photo by Makalu from Pixabay](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Dunedin-Photo-by-Makalu-from-Pixabay-1024x773.jpg)
Dunedin: Where to fly to watch seals in the wild
It’s hard to say what is more adventurous in Dunedin: seeing seals, albatrosses, and penguins in the wild or walking up the steepest street in the world? And we mean “steepest” literally. Baldwin Street holds the record with a length of 359 meters and a rise of 80 meters.
Baldwin Street, in Dunedin, New Zealand, is located in the residential suburb of North East Valley, 3.5 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's central business district. Guinness World Records calls it the steepest street in the world, meaning no street gains more altitude in 10 horizontal metres, measured along the street's centreline.
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand after Christchurch, and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The city has a rich Māori, Scottish, and Chinese heritage.
![Waimangu Volcanic Valley, New Zealand](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Waimangu-Volcanic-Valley-Travel-1024x683.jpg)
Wai-O-Tapu Valley: Witness the meltdown
No trip to New Zealand is complete without a visit to the hydrothermal zones. Check out Wai-O-Tapu Valley, where the entire surface is like a cauldron, and everything boils, gurgles and sizzles. This valley is one of a few places on the Earth where you can observe volcanic elements closely.
![Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland in Waiotapu](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Wai-O-Tapu-Thermal-Wonderland-in-Waiotapu-1024x678.jpg)
Waiotapu is an active geothermal area at the southern end of the Okataina Volcanic Centre, just north of the Reporoa caldera, in New Zealand's Taupo Volcanic Zone. It is 27 kilometres south of Rotorua. Due to dramatic geothermal conditions beneath the earth, the area has many hot springs noted for their colourful appearance, in addition to the Lady Knox Geyser, Champagne Pool, Artist's Palette, Primrose Terrace and boiling mud pools. These can mostly be viewed through access by foot, and in addition to a paid and curated experience, naturally forming hot springs appear around the area.
![Waimangu Volcanic Valley, New Zealand](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Waimangu-Volcanic-Valley-1024x683.jpg)
![Wellington, New Zealand | Photo by Susan Wright, The New York Times](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Wellington-New-Zealand-Photo-by-Susan-Wright-NYT-1024x684.jpg)
Wellington: See wild birds in the heart of civilisation
Travelers adore Wellington for an opportunity to simultaneously be in a modern city and in the wild outdoors. Just imagine – you drive along Civic Square admiring luxurious buildings; then, 10 minutes from downtown, you find yourself in Zealandia, a natural paradise for wildlife lovers where unusual endangered animals and birds roam freely.
![Lake Marian Fiordland | Credit Rach Stewart](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Lake-Marian-Fiordland-Credit-Rach-Stewart-1024x682.jpg)
New Zealand overall
Area: 268,021 sqkm
Language: officially Maori and English, predominant and de facto official
Capital city: Wellington
Population: 5.1 million
Local Currency: New Zealand dollar
Time zone: GMT+13
Waitangi Day: Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
![Mount Ngauruhoe served as Mount Doom in the films](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Mount-Ngauruhoe-served-as-Mount-Doom-in-the-films-1024x687.jpg)
Tolkien Tourism
Tolkien tourism is a phenomenon of fans of The Lord of the Rings fictional universe making media pilgrimages to sites of film- and book-related significance. It is especially notable in New Zealand, site of the movie trilogy by Peter Jackson, where it is credited as having raised the annual tourism numbers. (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King)
![The Lord of the Rings Hobbiton film set was renovated and re-used for The Hobbit trilogy, and is maintained to that standard for set tours](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-The-Lord-of-the-Rings-Hobbiton-film-set-1024x687.jpg)
The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel by the English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.
The Lord of the Rings is considered one of the greatest fantasy books ever written, and it has helped to create and shape the modern fantasy genre. Since release, it has been reprinted many times and translated into at least 38 languages. Its enduring popularity has led to numerous references in popular culture, the founding of many societies by fans of Tolkien's works, and the publication of many books about Tolkien and his works. It has inspired many derivative works, including paintings, music, films, television, video games, and board games.
![Middle Earth, New Zealand | Credit Getty Images](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Middle-Earth-New-Zealand-Woman-Credit-Getty-Images-1024x682.jpg)
Tolkien Tourism in New Zealand
New Zealand is well placed to capitalize on its scenery. Tolkien tourist attention is less geared to visiting New Zealand's national parks and more focused on scenery that was used as backdrops in Peter Jackson's films. For example, Mount Olympus is in Kahurangi National Park near Nelson in a remote corner of the South Island. Since it featured in The Fellowship of the Ring, Mount Olympus has become a spot for Tolkien tourists.
Mount Sunday, in a remote area west of the Canterbury plains (upper reaches of the Rangitata Valley near Erewhon) served as the location of Edoras. Although no traces of the filming remain, complete day tour packages to it are available from Christchurch.
![Mount Ngauruhoe served as Mount Doom in the films](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Mount-Ngauruhoe-served-as-Mount-Doom-in-the-films-1024x687.jpg)
Film NZ, the national film promotion board—advertises that New Zealand offers a kaleidoscope of urban and rural landscapes. Tourists are invited to find film locations around New Zealand with a free «Middle Earth Map». Currently New Zealand is negotiating with Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema, the films' producers, to construct a permanent Lord of the Rings museum for some of the 40,000 props and costumes now warehoused in New Zealand.
![Mount Sunday filming location of Edoras](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Mount-Sunday-filming-location-of-Edoras-1024x687.jpg)
Before The Lord of the Rings, New Zealand was just New Zealand. A set of skinny, oddly shaped islands stuffed with sheep and a few million people, set off by some very nice mountain ranges. Down at the bottom of the globe, its international fame was mostly restricted to the fields of lamb, beef and dairy. It certainly didn’t have much of a film industry. But as soon as the camera panned across the cloud-shrouded Misty Mountains in the first few minutes of 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring, New Zealand became Middle-Earth, and a fresh horde of tourists discovered the country’s outrageous beauty. [Cathay Pacific Airways]
![Hobbiton Movie Set, New Zealand | Photo by Adrien Aletti on Unsplash](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Hobbiton-Movie-Set-New-Zealand-Photo-by-Adrien-Aletti-on-Unsplash-1024x687.jpg)
![Hobbiton Village, New Zealand | Photo by Raelle Gann-Owens on Unsplash](https://thienxuantravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/NZ-Hobbiton-Village-New-Zealand-Photo-by-Raelle-Gann-Owens-on-Unsplash2-1024x687.jpg)
Best places in the world to travel in March
Italy 🇮🇹 La Dolce Vita, the Sweet Life.
Vietnam 🇻🇳 Timeless Charm.
Malaysia 🇲🇾 Truly Asia.
Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 You will Come Back for More.
New Zealand 🇳🇿 100% Pure New Zealand.
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