Travel from Queenstown to the much-loved UNESCO-listed Milford Sound. Your guide will ensure you make the most of your trip with commentary along the way—pointing out scenic viewpoints and areas where Lord of the Rings was filmed. Once you reach Milford Sound, you won’t have to worry about waiting in visitor lines as entrance tickets are included. Enjoy a Milford Sound Discovery Cruise where you’ll see stunning views of waterfalls and Mitre Peak. You’ll also have free time to explore the waterfalls of Lake Marian on foot.

Visit a UNESCO World Heritage Site—Milford Sound
Ticket for Milford Sound Discovery Cruise included
See views of filming sites from Lord of the Rings
Travel between dispersed sites in a comfortable vehicle

What's Included

Small Group & Fully Guided Tour
Cruise Entry
Lunch
Bottled water
Snacks

Alcoholic beverages (available to purchase)
Gratuities
Optional extras and activities - please select the tour option you want at time of booking
Child safety car seat available for NZ$20 (notify 24 hours prior to tour)

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Meeting point

The Station - Home of Adventure in Queenstown
Corner of Shotover & Camp Streets, 25 Shotover Street, Queenstown 9300, New Zealand
Please pick this location if your hotel is not on our list. We do not pick up from your hotel if it is not listed

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Pickup details

Pickups are from the below hotels only. If your hotel is not listed, please select your closest alternative and meet us there. If you are not sure where your closest alternative is, please contact us in advance so that we can advise you. If you have not yet booked a hotel then please select The Station (Home of Adventure) as your pickup location. You can update this once your hotel is booked by contacting us or amending your pickup directly through Viator. Note: our pickups begin 15 mins before tour start time so please check your confirmation for the exact pickup time from your chosen location as these will vary. Kamana Lakehouse 06:15 AM / 07:15 AM Mercure Queenstown 06:16 AM / 07:16 AM Heritage Hotel 06:17 AM / 07:17 AM Rydges Lakeland Resort QT Queenstown 06:20 AM / 07:20 AM Hotel St Moritz 06:21 AM / 07:21 AM Crowne Plaza 06:23 AM / 07:23 AM Novotel 06:27 AM / 07:27 AM Nomads Hostel 06:28 AM / 07:28 AM Flaming Kiwi Backpackers 06:26 AM / 07:26 AM Queenstown Park Boutique Hotel 06:25 AM / 07:25 AM Pinewood Lodge 06:24 AM / 07:24 AM The Station - Home of Adventure (default central pickup point) 06:30 AM / 07:30 AM LyLo Queenstown 06:30 AM / 07:30 AM Sofitel 06:30 AM / 07:30 AM Aspen Lodge Backpackers 06:31 AM / 07:31 AM Ramada Queenstown Central 06:34 AM / 07:34 AM Heartland Hotel 06:32 AM / 07:32 AM Scenic Suites 06:32 AM / 07:32 AM Holiday Inn Express 06:33 AM / 06:33 AM Millennium Hotel 06:36 AM / 07:36 AM Copthorne Hotel & Resort Lakefront 06:35 AM / 07:35 AM Copthorne Hotel & Apartments Lakeview 06:37 AM / 07:37 AM Swiss Belsuites Pounamu 06:38 AM / 07:38 AM Oaks Shores Resort 06:39 AM / 07:39 AM The Rees 06:40 AM / 07:40 AM Holiday Inn Frankton Road (Bus stop on Frankton Road) 06:42 AM / 07:42 AM Sherwood Hotel (Bus stop on Frankton Road) 06:42 AM / 07:42 AM Frankton Bus Interchange (near Queenstown airport) 06:44 AM / 07:44 AM Wyndham Garden 06:45 AM / 07:45 AM Hilton Queenstown 06:46 AM / 07:46 AM

What To Expect

Queenstown (Pass By)

Lake Wakatipu

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Devil's Staircase Lookout Point (Pass By)

Lake Te Anau

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Eglinton Valley

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Mirror Lakes Walk

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Lake Gunn

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Hollyford River (Pass By)

Darran Mountains

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Homer Tunnel (Pass By)

Milford Sound

2 hours • Admission Ticket Included

Milford Sound

2 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Pops View Look Out

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Queenstown

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Mitre Peak (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Near public transportation
Infant seats available
Not recommended for travelers with back problems
Most travelers can participate
Minimum numbers apply. There is a possibility of cancellation after confirmation if there are not enough passengers to meet requirements. In the event of this occurring, you will be offered an alternative or full refund.

A moderate amount of walking is involved.
Due to uneven surfaces, this tour is not recommended for those with walking disabilities or using a wheelchair.
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately.
Children aged 7 years and below are required by law to travel in a child safety car seat. If you don't have a car seat one can be provided (See Exclusions) Please advise at time of booking.
Scenic flight weight restrictions are 116 KG
Dietary requirements for picnic lunch to be noted at time of booking
Scenic flights cannot be confirmed without full names and weights of all travellers
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 16 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Melissa_T

Our guide Dani was excellent. She was informative and knowledgeable of the area and an excellent driver. The area is simple stunning and shouldn’t be missed. It is a nice small group, so it wasn’t rushed. Our ship in the sound was Cruise Milford and was also a nice size, you didn’t have to fight for a view or seating and it was easy to go in and out. Captain Dan was very funny and informative and crew mate Daniela was helpful. Overall we had an excellent experience and it was nice not to have to drive so you could enjoy all the beautiful scenery.

Reviews

5.0

1,272 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 1,272 reviews

Amazing trip

Wendy_D, Apr 2024

The tour is reasonably organized and our tour guide Danny was very helpful and friendly, we had a great time despite the rain, the only shame was we couldn’t fly back to Queestown due to the weather but we had a stunning view of waterfalls in Milford Sound thanks to the rain, highly recommended!

Great experience

Alexandra_G, Apr 2024

The perfect way to see Milford sound saving yourself the treacherous drive and making lots of cool pit stops along the way!

A must do when in Queenstown!

Paige_B, Apr 2024

Everything was incredibly well organised from start to finish - our tour guide Cam was great and took great care of us. They arrange for plenty of toilet/coffee stops which made the day so much smoother.

Fantastic

Bianca_O, Apr 2024

I highly recommend this tour if you have a day to spare. It was a long day but well worth it! Courtney our tour guide was amazing.

Highly recommended an excellent souvenir from NZ

Miriam_T, Apr 2024

It was an unforgettable trip. The nature is amazing. The guide, a friendly and attentive person, made me feel integrated into the group even though my English is not so good and I was traveling alone. I recommend it. Thank you.

Excellent! Shoutout Dani

Alan_Z, Apr 2024

Was so much fun! Dani was fantastic and kept the energy fun. Milford sound was stunning and we really enjoyed the more intimate experience

Amazing day

Stuart_G, Apr 2024

This was a great experience- Milford Sound is amazing - views and waterfalls fabulous. The bus trip was long but plenty of stops along the way.

Amazing, definately worth the trip

Pilar_P, Apr 2024

We enjoyed the bus journey with multiple stops in lookouts to take some photos of incredible places, so the bus trip was not too long for us. Once in the ship cruise the experience was amazing, difficult to describe with words...

Jeff is your man!

Janet_H, Apr 2024

Jeff our guide was the best! Great driver, very knowledgeable and happy to share his knowledge and fun-seeking adventureous attitude. His personable nature made a long day very enjoyable. The scenery is also just stunning.

Awesome!!

Michael_C, Apr 2024

What a wonderful memorable trip. The mirror lakes were in all their glory. The waterfalls. Milford sound and it’s stunning landscape. We saw seals. Our tour guide Abjit “Abby” was excellent!! He helped us secure at the last minute of plane ride back to Queenstown and if you’re able to do that, I highly recommend it. Nothing like seeing the glacier lake and the glacier on our way back breathtaking. Captain Andee, our pilot was quite informative and very professional

Prettiest sights in new zealand

jennifer_s, Apr 2024

Note that it is an all day tour, you will ride from 630 am to noonish before the cruise but you have wonderful stops along the way as pictured. A highlight was watching kayakers coming down a steep river. We had rain and fog most of the day but it didn’t deter from the beautiful sights. Once on the boat you have your lunch and hot drinks and cookies are available. The lunch was better than I expected. The sound is gorgeous. Pictures do not do it justice. The crew were amazing! We also saw sea lions, birds and lots of waterfalls. Our guide was great and the small bus was so much nicer than the large tours. This tour was especially nice because we had a smaller vessel which allowed us to get closer to waterfalls and sea life. I’m prone to motion sickness but did not have an issue on the water. I would recommend Bonnie for the drive though. Lots of turns and windey turns. We returned to our hotel at7pm with great pics.

Excellent tour and guide

Pippa_H, Apr 2024

Dani was really knowledgable and the scenery was unbelievable. Having the smaller group and more intimate boat size was great. Only negative was the smaller bus size, it was quite squashed for the ride home.

Beautiful excursion!!

Deborah_L, Apr 2024

It is a long bus trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound (5 hours with stops) but there is a quick stop about every hour with a 30 minute break halfway. Our driver Brian was great and very informative. The boat ride was beautiful. The scenery is fabulous. We opted to take a small plane back to Queenstown which was one of the most exciting and beautiful things we’ve experienced. We were met at the airport in Queenstown with awaiting cabs that took us back to our hotel. Loved this excursion!!

Awesome trip and well organised

Radhika_R, Apr 2024

The whole trip was perfect and exceeded my expectations. Would definitely recommend to friends and would go again

The stop at the nature...

Barbara_S, Apr 2024

The stop at the nature preserve at one of the small lakes ( lk Gunn and Mission lake) the waterfalls and Milford sound itself.

Great experience. Driver...

hiren_p, Apr 2024

Great experience. Driver was wonderful and the scenery was fantastic. Milford sound boat ride was also amazing. Well worth it

Can't miss experience

KRISTINA_S, Mar 2024

Had such a great tour! Our guide Abby was so friendly and helpful. It's a long day, but you stop enough times to break the trip up. The mirror lakes are beautiful and all the stops along the way once you're in Milford Sound are really great. Only negative is the the first stop for food gets really crowded.

Great Scenic Cruise!

Michael_D, Mar 2024

In short, I definitely think the scenic cruise and subsequent fly over (in a private heli/plane) is the only thing you need from this experience. I personally like to travel solo and explore on my own time. So the small group tour isn't necessary. But definitely enjoyed the experience overall, very positive!

A great experience even though it is a long day

Geraldine_G, Mar 2024

Great driver for a long day - in difficult conditions. He drove through the rain and managed to bring some sun for the cruise. The lunch was very good

Beautiful day at Milford Sound

Eva_H, Mar 2024

We had a fantastic day at Milford Sound. It had rained the prior night, and we saw snow on the mountains and many waterfalls. Thanks, Sarah, for a great day!

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