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
(112 Ratings)
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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
Annette_c
Sep 19, 2024
Once in a lifetime - Great full day out. We were lucky enough to see penguins and seals as well as so many waterfalls. Our boat captain even went under Stirling Falls for us to have a glacial facial as he called it. We had a great time even with all the liquid sunshine.
Review provided by Viator
Anne_n
May 4, 2024
Great trip to Milford sound - Great trip to Milford sound. Road was narrow but our bus driver was very skilled. The boat ride was fantastic and the captain is very enthusiastic and entertaining. Magnificent views of all the falls. Highly recommended.
Review provided by Viator
Andrew_b
Mar 29, 2024
Awesome scenery - Really good tour bus driver excellent commentary on the journey beautiful scenery on the drive in and a magic boat ride out the fiord awesome scenery I would highly recommend this tour from either Queenstown or Te Anau 10out of 10 .
Review provided by Viator
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
Irena_r
Jun 5, 2024
Not enjoyable - Our bus driver/guide Adrian was a bit rude at the start, the bus wasn’t clearly marked, we weren’t sure if it was our tour, and he was not overly helpful to start with. He was though, very knowledgeable about the area and we enjoyed his commentary. I am vegetarian and specified on booking, but received a boxed chicken sandwich - had to pick off the meat so I could eat 😳 The guide could have given me a voucher to purchase another sandwich on board, he said I would have to contact head office, not my problem basically. The skipper/guide on board the cruise was very arrogant and opinionated, we are Aussies and he didn't stop criticizing us the whole time. It was funny at first but after almost 2 hours of it, not so much. Even some of the staff agreed with us, he does it all the time.
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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