The idea for this tour came from the recent official MSFS 'Kiwi Magic’ Twitch stream where some of the participants expressed interest in a Lord of the Rings film location tour in the sim.

Whilst the movie trilogies were filmed over a wide variety of locations spanning the length and breadth of New Zealand, there are a cluster of well known sites around the Fiordland and Queenstown Lakes area that have been strung together to form this route through the spectacular mountainous landscapes of the lower South Island.

It is suggested to set your sim date/time to either autumn or winter (May – August in NZ) and departing at 10.30am local time with a high layer of scattered cloud (20,000 feet base) for atmospheric mottled lighting along the flight. Cruising at an altitude of 4500 feet AMSL will keep your clear from terrain but also have you flying below the mountain tops for best immersion into the fantastical landscapes.

In brief, the order is:

Anduin River (Waiau River)
Dead Marshes (Kepler Mire)
Fangorn Forest (Snowdon Forest)
Silverlode River, Lothlórien (South Mavora Lake)
Nen Hithoel (North Mavora Lake)
Isengard (Glenorchy)
Ithilien camp (Twelve Mile Delta)
Deer Park Heights (multiple LOTR scenes)
The Argonath on the Anduin River (Kawerau River)


For detailed tour narration with captures from the LOTR movies showing the locations as they appeared on screen, visit the Real Middle Earth - Lord of the Rings Filming Locations Guided Tour thread over on the MSFS forums.