Milford Sound Cruise
A cruise of 1 hour 45 minutes from the terminal, with coffee or tea in the fare and room for a wheelchair. The car park is paid on top.
From $93 per person
Check Availability10 Best Things to Do in Milford Sound
You come to Milford Sound for the cruise, but there is more to do between the car park and the Tasman Sea. Here are the ten things worth your time, in order, with what each costs and how long it takes. Use them to pick the best Milford Sound tour that fits your day.
The ten at a glance
Start with the cruise, add a walk if you have the time, and pick a flight or a night on the water if you want more. Prices are in US dollars, as the operators publish them.
| Thing to do | Time it takes | Cost | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cruise the fiord | 1 h 40 min to 2 h 15 min | $93-$116 | All year |
| Stirling Falls from the bow | Part of the cruise | In the fare | All year |
| Foreshore walk | 20 to 30 minutes | Free | All year |
| End of the Great Walk | 3 to 4 hours | $43 | All year, weather allowing |
| Fly in | About 40 minutes each way | $428-$450 with a cruise | All year, cloud allowing |
| Land on snow | 45 minutes to 4 hours | $523-$801 | All year, cloud allowing |
| A night on the water | One night | $782 a cabin for two | All year |
| Road stops on the way in | 10 to 20 minutes each | Free | All year |
| Kea on the road | A roadside stop | Free | All year |
| Tawaki | Seen from the boat, if at all | In the fare | July to November |
1. Cruise the fiord to the Tasman Sea
This is the reason you came. Every day boat leaves the Milford Sound Visitor Terminal, runs the length of the fiord to the open sea and turns back. You pass Mitre Peak and Lady Bowen Falls, and the skipper names the points along the way.
The boats differ more than the route. Some are small and nose in close to the rock; the larger ones carry more people on higher decks. One carries a nature guide. Book early or late in the day and you will share the water with fewer coaches.
Pick your boat
Compare the cruises that start at the terminal, or a day tour that brings you to one.
2. Stand under Stirling Falls from the bow
Many cruises bring the bow in under Stirling Falls, close enough for the spray to soak the front deck. Some crews call it a glacial facial. If you want to stay dry, watch from inside the cabin.
The fall runs harder after rain, and in this fiord it rains most days. Bring a waterproof jacket for your camera as well as for you.
3. Walk the foreshore below Mitre Peak
The foreshore walk starts near the terminal and follows the water's edge. It is flat and short, and DOC names it as one of the best places to see Mitre Peak from land. Walk it before or after your cruise while you wait.
It costs nothing and needs no booking. It is the easiest way to fill an hour if your road tour arrives early or your boat is late.
4. Walk the end of the Milford Track to Giant Gate Falls
The Milford Track is a four-day Great Walk that finishes at Sandfly Point, across the water from the terminal. You can walk its last stretch in a morning or an afternoon. A water taxi leaves from Deepwater Basin, drops you at the track end and picks you up again.
From the landing you walk in to Giant Gate Falls and come back the same way. The walk is self-guided, so you set your own pace. The track is flat, and a day walker needs no hut booking.
5. Fly in over the Southern Alps
A flight turns the long road into about 40 minutes in the air each way. The fly-cruise-fly days from Queenstown land at the airstrip, put you on a boat and fly you back. There is also a one-way flight out to Queenstown, about 35 minutes, if you drove or walked in.
Cloud decides whether you fly. Leave a spare day in your plans if the flight matters to you, and check the weight limit before you book.
Rather fly than drive?
Compare the fly-cruise-fly days and the one-way flight out of the fiord.
6. Land on snow by helicopter
A helicopter gets you onto the peaks. From the airstrip beside the terminal, a 45-minute flight lands on snow when the weather allows. From Queenstown, a four-hour day pairs a glacier landing with a cruise.
Landings depend on cloud and wind, and the pilot decides on the day. Check the weight limit before you book.
7. Spend the night on the water at Harrison Cove
The overnight boats sail after the day cruises have gone and anchor for the night, the larger one in Harrison Cove. You get dinner, breakfast, a cabin, and time on kayaks or in a tender boat close to the shore.
Neither overnight cruise can be refunded, so book it once your dates are fixed. The Mariner is priced per cabin for two; the Fiordland Jewel per person, with a minimum of two.
8. Stop at Mirror Lakes and the Eglinton Valley
On the Milford Road you drive up the Eglinton Valley, a glacier-cut valley floor with beech forest on both sides. Mirror Lakes sit about 56 km from Te Anau. A 400 m path takes about 10 minutes and reflects the Earl Mountains on a calm day.
Road tours that list their stops pause here for 10 to 15 minutes. If you drive, go when there is no wind; a breeze breaks the reflection.
9. Meet the kea at Monkey Creek (and do not feed them)
Kea are the mountain parrots that walk up to your car at Monkey Creek and the Homer Tunnel. They are endangered, and DOC asks you never to feed them. Food draws them onto the road: five were killed by vehicles in 2024 at those two stops.
Slow down near them, and take care as you pull out of a stopping area. Never drive away with a kea on your car.
10. Look for tawaki from July to November
The Fiordland crested penguin, or tawaki, nests on this coast from July to November. That is when you are most likely to see one from the boat. They are timid, and DOC asks everyone to keep well back.
No cruise can promise a sighting. Fur seals are the likelier find: they live in these waters all year.
What is closed: the Underwater Observatory
The Underwater Observatory at Harrison Cove is not open. It has been closed since storm damage in September 2024, and no reopening date has been set. No cruise can take you inside it.
On the road in, The Chasm is open again, but only as a short walk to the river's edge. It reopened on 24 April 2023. The bridges lost in the February 2020 storm are not back, so you cannot cross the river.
What costs nothing at the fiord
The fiord has no gate, so you can stand on the shore and look at it for free. These cost nothing but your time:
- The foreshore walk beside the terminal, with the best land view of the peak.
- The road stops: the valley, the lakes, the creek and the forest walk to the river.
- The kea, from a respectful distance.
- Parking at Deepwater Basin, about 40 minutes' walk from the terminal.
What you pay for is the boat, the flight or the tour that brings you. See the visitor guide for the car park and the check-in desks.
Before you choose
How long should I spend at the fiord?
Two to three hours covers a cruise and the short foreshore walk. Add three to four hours if you want to walk the end of the Milford Track as well.
Is it worth going in the rain?
Often more so. Rain fills hundreds of short-lived waterfalls down the walls of the fiord. Flights are the part that cancels in bad weather; the boats usually sail.
Is the Underwater Observatory open?
No. The Underwater Observatory at Harrison Cove has been closed since storm damage in September 2024, and no reopening date has been confirmed.
Can I stay overnight on the fiord?
Yes, on an overnight cruise, with dinner, breakfast and a cabin. There is also a lodge near the terminal.
Where these facts come from
Walk lengths and times, the kea deaths, the tawaki season and The Chasm's status are DOC's, checked 21 September 2026. Fares, flight times, landings and what each trip includes come from the operators' own booking pages, captured the same day.
- The road and fiord area guide (Department of Conservation)
- The reflecting-lakes walk (Department of Conservation)
- The Cleddau River gorge walk (Department of Conservation)
- Tawaki species page (Department of Conservation)
- Five kea killed by vehicles, 11 July 2024 (Department of Conservation)
- The four-day Great Walk (Department of Conservation)
Tours that tick off the list
Queenstown: Milford Sound Flight and Cruise
Fly from Queenstown with a window seat, land at the fiord, take the nature cruise and fly back, in about four and a half hours.
From $450 per person
Check Availability
Self-Guided Milford Track Day Walk - Milford Sound
Boat transport across to the end of the great walk and back, then three to four hours on the track at your own pace. Not a guided walk.
From $43 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: read the road guide, walk the track day walk, or compare every tour on Milford Sound Tours.