Our most popular Milford Sound tour is our Fly-Cruise-Fly.

No trip to the South Island is complete without visiting the breathtakingly beautiful Milford Sound. The fiord itself extends 16km inland from the Tasman Sea, with sheer granite cliffs extending up to 1700m above sea level. Like all the fiords and valleys in the Fiordland National Park, Milford was carved by five different glacier actions during the last great ice age 75,000 to 14,000 years ago. Some glaciers still remain, with the large blue cracking ice-falls providing a stark contrast to the rainforests below.

With between seven and eight metres of rainfall per year, Milford Sound is the wettest place in New Zealand. The lush rainforests cling to the cliff faces while seals, and the occasional dolphins and penguin ply the waters below. 

You’ll leave from Queenstown Airport for the Fly-Cruise-Fly Milford Sound tour, with a guaranteed window seat, soaring across three mountain ranges, magnificent alpine valleys, lakes and glaciers into Fiordland National Park, New Zealand’s largest National Park. After arriving overhead Milford Sound, we will descend into the fjord to give you a close up of the features that make up this unique landscape before landing at Milford Sound Airport. Your pilot will escort you to the boat terminal to join our cruise boat partners, on the Gem of the Sound to enjoy a 2hr cruise of the fjord. Your journey will take you out to the Tasman Sea where you’ll encounter some of the wildlife that makes up this region. Expect to see seals and occasionally dolphins and penguins as you pass close to magnificent waterfalls and sheer granite cliffs, while your skipper provides you with a detailed and entertaining commentary of the region and its history. Berthing back at the wharf, you’ll be met by your pilot and escorted back to your awaiting aircraft. After leaving Milford, you’ll climb out over more snow-capped mountains on a different flight path, returning over Lake Wakatipu and descending back into Queenstown.

Our pilots pride themselves on providing an entertaining and knowledgeable commentary covering the entire flight. They love what they do and they will go out of their way to make you feel special on your Milford Sound tour. We can provide courtesy transport to and from your accommodation and Queenstown Airport, and we have free parking available should you choose to drive yourself.

Total tour duration estimated: 4.5 hours