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Milford Sound Tour: Luxurious Small-Group Experience
5.0
29 Ratings
Te Anau
Embark on a luxurious full-day tour from Te Anau to Milford Sound. Enjoy a comfortable ride, guided commentary, nature walks, and a two-hour nature cruise with dining options. Leave no footprints as the tour offsets its emissions with native tree planting.
Duration:
9 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
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Highlights
- Te Anau Downs - Following departure form Te Anau, we have a 25min drive to Te Anau Downs. If the weather is appropriate, we stop here for a photo and sightseeing looking across Lake Te Anau and down the Middle Fjord.
- Mirror Lakes Walk - Following a 20min drive, we arrive at Mirror Lakes. This short 2-minute nature walk on well formed tracks and boardwalks will have you at the tranquil Mirror Lakes, the backdrop of the Earl Mountains behind them. This is a challenge for any travelling photographer to capture the essence of the lakes - their mirror reflection.
- Eglinton Valley - Eglinton Valley is a 5min drive from Mirror Lakes and offers a stunning contrast of green, native bush covered mountains, against the foreground of tan fields. Guests will have a chance to explore the long lush fields. Beautiful at any time of the year.
- Lake Gunn - It is a 15min Drive from Eglinton Valley and we include a 5min toilet stop at Knobs Flat before arriving at Lake Gunn. Situated between the inflow and outflow of the Eglinton River, Lake Gunn is a perfect opportunity to stretch the legs again and enjoy the serene peace & quiet, only broken by surrounding birdsong.
- Lake Marian Track - A 15min drive from Lake Gunn, this is an optional nature walk of 25-minutes. From the carpark, we cross the roaring Hollyford River and walk up the track 10-minutes to the Marian Falls. You will enjoy stunning cascading falls & chasms.
- Monkey Creek - Monkey Creek is a 10min drive from Marian Falls carpark and is a common area to meet the Kea, a mountain parrot only found in the South Island of New Zealand. This is an opportunity to take a close up photo of these cheeky birds.
- Gertrude Saddle - 5mins drive from Monkey Creek, we stop at the start of the Gertrude Saddle track for a photo, stretch of the legs and hopefully another meeting with the cheeky Kea. This area is surrounded by tall mountains and on a wet day - cascading waterfalls.
- Milford Sound - We have a 30min drive to Milford Sound, but stop for another 20mins at The Chasm on the way. Our destination for the tour is the beautiful Milford Sound, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We spend 2.5 hours in Milford Sound, mostly aboard your nature cruise where you will experience the entire fjord, wildlife encounters, waterfalls and all the scenic beauty there is to see.
- Hollyford Track - On the return leg we have a 40min drive to this stop. We stop at the Hollyford Lookout, sitting high above the Hollyford Valley. Here you will get an appreciation for the glaciers that carved out these valleys. A photo opportunity and a chance to stretch the legs.
- Te Anau - After Hollyford Valley, we enjoy a quiet journey back to Te Anau, with an optional toilet stop again at Knobs Flat if needed. Our drive time is 70mins + drop-offs.
What's Included
- Bottled water
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Cruise ticket
- All fees and/or taxes
- Snacks
Additional Information
Travel the Milford Road in our luxurious & comfortable vehicle specially designed for small groups tours to Milford Sound. Modern comforts such as bucket leather seats, extended leg room, high performance air conditioning, small bag storage space, table trays & USB charging.
Guided by our local expert commentary, we take you to all the main photo & experience stops but also add in a couple of extra special ones not listed here. Three short & optional nature walks are included.
Upon arriving in Milford Sound, your two-hour nature cruise awaits you aboard our cruise partners premium boat. Boasting a full restaurant and bar, you can dine in comfortable seating enjoying local blue cod, wild venison or other NZ classics while the mountains, waterfalls and wildlife go by.
Our tour fully offsets its emissions with the planting of native trees for every guest and fully recyclable/compostable amenities. Our goal is to create memories, not footprints.
Location
Milford Road Merchant
Milford Road
This meeting point is at: Milford Road Merchant Cafe, 225 Milford Road, Te Anau.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
5.0
(29 Ratings)
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Iansh4115fa
May 29, 2024
Milford Sound and Luxe Tours - 1st Class - We could not have been happier with the service we received today. From pick up to drop off it was first class. Murray our tour guide was terrific and kept us well informed
Review provided by Tripadvisor
850kennethjos
May 28, 2024
Breathtaking view - Fantastic tour to an amazing location. The views are breathtaking. Super comfortable Mercedes van. Great commentary from Murray. Exceeded all expectations for this tour
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Kd1289
May 27, 2024
Amazing experience - would recommend for anyone traveling to the area! - Amazing experience! I went on a tour driven by Toby (one of the founders), who was a wealth of information about the area and led a great trip. The whole trip is incredibly thoughtfully crafted -- from the many stops made along the way to the small touches like water, snacks, and a towel to the carefully timed itinerary to avoid overlapping with the large bus tours. Cannot recommend enough over taking a large group tour!
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Julie
May 26, 2024
Awesome day - An awesome day with our guide and driver Murray.
Super knowledgeable of the area and we had some awesome laughs with him.
Great views on the drive and I think that was our favourite part! The boat tour was great but not a lot of rain meant not a lot of waterfalls.
Super comfy van, lovely and warm and some great stops along the way.
100% recommend.
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Y4454brhollya
May 26, 2024
10/10 experience - My partner and I had the best time on the Luxe Tours trip. A small mini bus made the trip down to Milford so much nicer, more personal and meant we could stop in places large coaches couldn’t. We had some tables reserved on the Real NZ cruise which was super lovely and free water bottles & information leaflets. Michelle our driver and guide was beyond informative and so friendly. We had the BEST time and so glad we booked through Toby & Katelyn.
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167daryls
May 21, 2024
Luxe Tours Small Group Milford Sound - Wow…such an amazing tour, made our day trip to Milford Sound an unforgettable experience. Toby was as an excellent driver/guide, making everyone in the group feel welcome and comfortable throughout the day. His local knowledge and insights along the way, the regular stops to some amazing spots that if doing it alone we would have missed, just added so much to the experience. Loved the small things that make a real difference. Would highly recommend this small group Milford tour. Thanks team.
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Fourgirlsmum
May 16, 2024
Excellent tour - Fantastic day! Tour guide/driver, Murray, was informative and friendly. We were taken to some of the most stunning places through Fiordland. Highly recommend!
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Raymazf
May 16, 2024
A spectacular boutique tour experience! - We can’t recommend this tour highly enough. Luxe Tours NZ went over and above to make it a wonderful day. Our tour guide Murray was very knowledgeable, a calm competent driver and had a great sense of humour. The scenery on the way to Milford was spectacular and we absolutely loved the river cruise. A big thank you to the whole team at Luxe Tours NZ !
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Darren
May 14, 2024
Great tour and enjoyed it more than the actual cruise - Wow what a tour! Highly recommend this tour if you want to experience a close and personal adventure in a small group. Toby was our guide and showed us all the highlights along the way with heaps of details and his knowledge was second to none. Would choose this tour again in a heart beat. Actually preferred our tour and time with Toby to the actual cruise, it was spectacular.
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Shaunwestmere
May 12, 2024
A great day out on the Luxe tour - It looked a good option when we booked it and it did not disappoint.
A really knowledgeable tour guide who took us to a number of special spots on the way to Milford Sound - while the Sounds cruise was lovely, the extra stop offs really made the whole day special. Travelling in a well-appointed modern van with a small number of other travellers was a much nicer experience than travelling on a packed large bus.
The Luxe tour was definitely good value for the experience provided and something I thoroughly recommend
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