Milford Sound Full-Day Tour from Te Anau: Explore World Heritage Fiordland National Park

Be mesmerized by the World Heritage listed Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound on this full-day tour from Te Anau.

Duration: 7 hours, 45 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Lake Te Anau - o Te Anau is known as the Walking Capital of the World. The mountains to the left are the Kepler Mountains, home of the Kepler Track, one of the popular walking tracks in the area. Te Anau is the gateway to Milford Sound and the Fiordland National Park. The town has a permanent population of approximately 2,500 people but this…
What's Included
  • Local guide
  • 1.5-hour sightseeing cruise on Milford Sound
  • Lunch
  • In-vehicle air conditioning
  • On-board restrooms
  • Live commentary on board
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
  • Food and drinks, unless specified
Additional Information
  • Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
Location
Kiwi Country
Town Centre
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(113 Ratings)
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Christine_d
Feb 12, 2025
Absolutely stunning scenery - Great experience. Milford was beautiful and the coach and boat well maintained but the number of travellers on the tour made it feel a little impersonal.
Review provided by Viator
Swati_a
Dec 29, 2024
Highly recommend it. - Absolutely stunning views. Have no words to express this beautiful boat ride which captures the essence of New Zealand. I wish it was not raining while our bus was driving towards it so that we could make more stops to capture some beautiful scenery in our camera.
Review provided by Viator
Debra_m
Dec 15, 2024
Rainy day at Milford sound - Take a rain jacket. Although they say there is a toilet on the bus, they won’t let you use it. It rained the entire day, which made for many spectacular water falls.
Review provided by Viator
Kanishk_a
Dec 9, 2024
Glacial waterfalls one must see - It’s one of those places that’s a must visit. We were lucky to be going on a day with hundreds of waterfall yet the weather has improved for us to be on the deck of the cruise.
Review provided by Viator
Boardingpass584559
Nov 8, 2024
Excellent super duper - I really appreciate our trip booked with great sight our coach driver Mr shailander was a great man not only in driving he also gave lot of information about nature history and many more things 7 starts
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Hinewaa_t
Oct 12, 2024
Spectacular - Being driven to Milford Sound listening to the Annette talk about the areas, history, wildlife and weather
Review provided by Viator
Lobsey2013
Oct 9, 2024
Amazing! - The tour of Milford Sound was amazing. I would recommend springtime - we had a clear sunny day and the melting ice meant the waterfalls were everywhere. The bus driver was excellent, he gave a lot of great background along the way and was really kind and helpful.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gasperro
Nov 9, 2024
Worth It, With Room for Improvement - Definitely worth it in terms of not having to drive ourselves to/from Milford Sound from Queenstown. Bus drive was scenic throughout, with our tour guide giving good commentary on the sights and life in NZ. The cruise was lovely - recommend skipping the lunch ticket and grabbing a cup noodle from the on-board shop :) Super, super windy if you go above deck, dress appropriately and leave hats at home. The overall logistics of the tour could use some improvement - there didn’t seem to be a good system of keeping track of passengers, so we spent a lot of time tracking down one or two people down at each stop, putting us behind schedule. Sometimes the driver just counted heads or asked to make sure the people around us were on board. No one got left behind but I wasn’t expecting to babysit fellow passengers. This was complicated by some people getting on/off at Te Anau - we spent five mins thinking two people were missing but they in fact left the group. Additionally, the stops in Te Anau were not long enough; the very first stop on the trip had wayyy too many coaches pull up at once and the cafe was severely overwhelmed. Felt like a scheduling issue from the tour providers. Food was out of stock, people were complaining their order wasn’t done and their bus was leaving, lines for the toilets, etc. We barely had time to get a coffee before our driver was starting to gather our group. Had to absolutely house our food items as we were told we couldn’t eat on board. We also specified our drop off point when we bought the tour, but the driver just told us to go up front (while driving) and tell him where to stop, as we barreled into Queenstown (he really floored it on the return trip) Only two people got up, as the bus isn’t super stable winding through the roads. Everyone else just got dropped off on the edge of CBD. All fine and good, just unexpected since we were picked up closer to our hotel, so we had to Uber back. All in all, worth it with some room for improvement. These buses seem to be shared among the big tour providers too, so wouldn’t sweat it on which provider you book through.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Joseph_c
Sep 30, 2024
Amazing experience ✅- simple admin needs major improvement ❌ - Good parts: Pick up was easy - maybe because it’s a quieter period but we knew we were booked with Great Sights and there was only one of those coach’s there at Te anau. Driver (Richard) was incredible, chatting the whole way down and very clear. Cruise was amazing, everything you could hope for and once again the guide was amazing. No spoilers but if you’re thinking of doing it, go for it!!! Just be prepared for some disorganisation. Bad parts: It’s such a shame to write this as simple fixes could make this 5 stars. 1) If you’re getting picked up at Te anau be prepared that most of the seats on the coach will already be taken from people getting on at Queenstown - understandable but simply having seat reservations would fix disappointment or finding it difficult to choose a seat. Also not having reservations meant people were rushing to try and get a good seat or would complain if “their” seat was taken. 2) Whilst we clearly booked to have a picnic lunch included we were informed that they had already confirmed lunches at Queenstown with only those people who were getting on there. Basically meaning anyone getting on a Te anau was left out. Luckily we had seen bad reviews about this so had packed some snacks just incase - I’m not an IT expert but it should be pretty simple to add who is or isn’t having food on the list of names given to the driver on the printed document (based on what level of tour they booked). Did feel disorganised and confused at times. Conclusion: Amazing experience, just need some better management, admin and organisational skills (all pretty essential for a tour operator). Really hope these issues are sorted for future guests.
Review provided by Viator
Camper39975721360
Oct 19, 2024
Ok bus boat service not so much - Bus trip was fine and entertaining but the picnic lunch is a joke. They say a chicken picnic lunch. What you get is a chicken sandwich with next to no chicken on it,a small bag of chips, 2 cookies, 2 tiny chocolate balls a chocolate bar, small cheese and rice crackers and an apple. That is not a chicken picnic lunch, no where does it mention sandwiches. Great boat trip and scenery ruined by false advertising the lunch.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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February 2025
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