Milford Sound Tours

What’s included and what’s not

What comes with the ticket depends far more on the type of tour than on the operator.

Where the listings differ, and why it matters

Lunch is the one to check. On the Queenstown day trips, Cheeky Kiwi, Altitude Tours and Pure Milford include it; Southern Discoveries, Luxe Tours and Milford Sound Select don’t. Among the Te Anau tours, Cheeky Kiwi and Trips and Tramps include a picnic lunch. Fiordland Tours lists morning tea, and reviewers describe a packed lunch, so confirm it when you book.

Pickup varies too. Most Te Anau tours collect from your door. In Queenstown, the small group tours do, and most coaches start from a set stop in town.

Parking at Milford only matters if you drive. Pure Milford and RealNZ include the parking fee on their cruise tickets; the others don’t, and it’s charged by the hour.

The detail is on the Queenstown day trips page and the cruise page.

What a day trip looks like

Every Milford Sound tour ends at the same wharf and the same 2 hour cruise. Where you start decides how long the rest of the day is.

From Queenstown

The long version. The Beachpackers were picked up at 6:30am and were back at sunset, about 12 hours later. Coaches stop in Te Anau around 9:30am for coffee and toilets, then run the Milford Road with 10 minute stops at the Eglinton Valley and Mirror Lakes, and reach the wharf around 1pm. The cruise fills the middle of the day and the road fills the rest. Dane and Stacey said the stops, roughly one an hour, stopped the 5 hours in from dragging. The full timeline is on our page for day trips from Queenstown.

From Te Anau

The same road, with the first 2 to 3 hours cut off. Fiordland Trips and Tramps leaves Te Anau at 8am, and the other Te Anau tours in the morning, which can put you at the Eglinton Valley ahead of the Queenstown coaches. Luxe Tours, a small group operator that runs from both towns, says those coaches reach the valley and Mirror Lakes from about 10:30am. Several Te Anau tours use the extra time for short walks: Fiordland Trips and Tramps builds its day around them, and Fiordland Tours stops at The Chasm and Marian Cascade.

By air

A fixed wing plane from Frankton, about 30 minutes each way, a window seat for everyone and the same cruise in between. No traveller in the videos we used flew, so the timings come from the operators’ listings. The flight is the part weather is most likely to change.

On a cruise you drive to yourself

If you’re staying in Te Anau or camping on the road, you only need the boat. Leave Te Anau with a full tank, since there’s no fuel on the way, allow 40 minutes from the last lookout to boarding, and pay for parking straight away. Our cruise page covers the sailings, the desks and the car parks.

Where trips leave from

Three starting points cover every tour on this page.

Queenstown. Coaches leave from the Athol Street car park bus stop (GreatSights, awesomeNZ, Pure Milford’s main stop) or the Visitor Centre at 110 Beach Street (Southern Discoveries). Cheeky Kiwi’s small group tour meets at The Station on Shotover Street if you’re not on its hotel pickup list, and Altitude Tours collects at or near your accommodation. Pickups run from 6:30am to 7:20am. Flights check in at Frankton: True South at its Hawthorne Drive office, Glenorchy Air inside the airport terminal.

Te Anau. Most Te Anau tours collect from your accommodation. Cheeky Kiwi’s default stop is on Te Anau Terrace by the public toilets, and Fiordland Trips and Tramps uses the Fiordland Community Events Centre on Luxmore Drive. Fiordland Tours asks you to contact them after booking to set the pickup, and needs at least 4 people to run.

The Milford Sound Visitor Terminal. Every cruise leaves from the terminal at Freshwater Basin, where each operator has its own desk. Check-in windows range from 15 to 30 minutes before sailing. The paid car park is about a 10 minute walk from the terminal; the free one at Deepwater Basin is 25 to 40 minutes on foot, depending on whose timing you trust.

Te Anau or Queenstown as a base?

Luxe Tours, which runs from both, pushes Te Anau as the better start. The coach travellers we watched, all from Queenstown, were happy with the long day. If you’re already in Queenstown for a few nights, a day trip is simpler than moving hotels. If you’re driving through Fiordland anyway, a night in Te Anau halves the road time and opens up the cheaper boat-only tickets.

What to bring

The list is the same whichever tour you book, because Milford’s weather doesn’t care how you got there.

• A waterproof jacket and a warm layer. Travellers recorded 5°C to 8°C on the cruise deck, and the waterfall pass soaks the bow.
• Food. No shops or fuel between Te Anau and Milford. Check whether your tour includes lunch; about half don’t.
• Insect repellent. Sandflies came up in three of the cruise videos.
• Shoes with grip for the short walks at Mirror Lakes and The Chasm.
• Child seats if your coach asks for them. Several Queenstown coaches say parents must bring their own.
• Cash or card for coffee in Te Anau and for parking if you’re driving yourself.

Leave the drone behind. Milford Sound is in Fiordland National Park, and the Department of Conservation says flying one there without a permit is prohibited.

How to choose

Start with where you’ll sleep the night before. That settles most of it.

What changes between operators

Group size is the biggest difference you’ll notice. Cheeky Kiwi, Altitude Tours, Fiordland Tours and Trips and Tramps cap groups at 15 or 16; the coaches take up to 53. On the water, small boats such as Cruise Milford’s and Mitre Peak’s got the most praise from the travellers we watched for getting close to the falls.

What doesn’t change is the fiord. Every tour here does the same stretch of water to the Tasman Sea, and most skippers nose the bow into Stirling Falls.

Pick this if

• You want one day that covers everything from Queenstown: a small group day trip.
• You’ll be in Te Anau anyway: a Te Anau tour, which skips the 2 to 3 hours of road from Queenstown.
• You’re short of time but not money: fly in.

Skip it if

• You’re only after a view of Mitre Peak. You can see it from the foreshore at the terminal for nothing, and the Milford Sound guide covers the walks there.
• You have less than a full day free. Even the flights take half a day, and a rushed Milford trip is mostly time in a vehicle.

Season and timing

Milford Sound tours run all year. The season changes the road and the light more than the fiord itself.

Rain or shine

Milford gets rain on roughly 180 to 200 days a year, depending on whose figure you use. Four of our cruise sources said rain makes the trip better, because temporary waterfalls pour off every cliff. Two coach travellers had clear days and loved those too, though The Beachpackers felt they’d “missed the dramatic beauty” of a wet one. The trade on a wet day is cloud hiding Mitre Peak.

When to book

Every day tour and day cruise here can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before, so booking early costs nothing. Bani NZ booked ahead because Milford is so popular. Coleman Murray booked his cruise at the last minute once the forecast cleared, which works for the refundable trips and not for the overnight boat.

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