Review: Milford Sound Flight And Cruise Experience From Queenstown, New Zealand

I’ve been racking my brain and I can’t for the life of me remember how Queenstown or Milford Sound originally made their way onto our New Zealand itinerary. I guess that just shows how many years this trip was in the works, even before we planned to (and obviously didn’t) take it in 2020.

But somehow, it remained on our itinerary for our parred down 2023 trip to Australia and New Zealand and I’m so glad it was! I absolutely love seeing natural wonders, especially since our world seems to be losing them at a rapid rate (thx climate change). And Queenstown was one of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever been.

For a city, it felt strangely serene. It was like going to a spa without the spa (though don’t worry – we did that too 😉 ).

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The city of Queenstown is surrounded by mountains aptly named The Remarkables and in its center sits a crystal clear lake. Every time I took a picture I felt like it was photoshopped even though I could see the same thing with my eyeballs.

So I don’t remember how this got on our itinerary, but I’m happy it did and I’m also happy that we somehow heard that Milford Sound was a must see. So we set about researching the best way to get there and discovered that it takes about 4 hours to drive there yourself and buses take about 5 hours each way. No thank you 🙂 .

So we looked for other options and came across this Fly-Cruise-Fly Experience by Air Milford out of Queenstown. For less than $100 more than the super long bus option, we would take a 35 minute flight to Milford Sound, enjoy a 2 hour cruise and then take another 35 minute flight back. About an hour in transit sounds way better than 10 hours on a bus with lots of people. Sign us up!

Booking

We booked the Fly-Cruise-Fly Experience for $418.46 USD each and went through Viator since we love their 24 hour free cancellation policy and were worried about the weather since it can be volatile in Milford Sound and the weather seriously impacts how much you’re able to see.

When we booked our adventure, we were told that the price would include the following (taken from the Viator page):

• Complimentary pick-up/drop-off service from your centrally located Queenstown accommodation
• Return Milford Sound scenic flights, via two different flight paths
• Milford Sound Nature Cruise
• Reserved seating on the boat
• Complimentary tea, coffee and filtered water
• Pilot escort on a gentle bush walk from plane to boat through native forest (time permitting)

Re-Booking

The day before our flight we saw that our planned flight day was cloudy so we tried to rebook to another day. And it turns out that going through Viator for that privilege isn’t necessary in this case! As Viator instructed, we called Air Milford to rebook and they said that they actually rebook themselves without penalty.

They were also super on top of the weather. Their booking instructions asked us to call them when we arrived in Queenstown, which we did and at that point the weather looked good.. However when we called back the day before the flight it was looking cloudy and possibly rainy, they said it was no problem to change it and suggested that we move it two days out for no charge.

They also reiterated that they would pick us up and that lunch would be included, which we hadn’t realized based on the list above. We weren’t in downtown Queenstown so we thought we were exempt from a pickup, but they accommodated us anyway without us asking. So kind!

Pick Up

We were told that someone from Air Milford would call us at 10:15am on the day of our 11:30am flight and they called a few minutes before (love it 🙂 ). They confirmed the weather was looking awesome and that we were good to go and someone would be there to pick us up shortly. When we went outside 5 minutes early, the employee was just pulling up. Perfect! They then drove us to the airport.

Check-In

We arrived at the Air Milford office and were checked in by their wonderful employee Alana and had a chat until everyone else arrived. Then the pilot Emma gave a safety briefing and we were shown to the hangar. We were flying in a small plane with 12 seats plus a pilot and co-pilot seat and we had 7 people plus my Mom and I on the trip.

Flight

So we strapped in for the 35 minute flight and took off at 11:30am. I’ve been in puddle hoppers before, but this felt way nicer than that. The plane was called a Caravan and it really did feel like a fancy van on the inside.

During the flight our pilot Emma pointed out some lovely sights, such as the below (taken from the Viator page):

• Coronet Peak Ski Resort: After takeoff, view Coronet Peak, one of New Zealand’s premiere ski fields.
• Skippers Canyon: Fly over the Shotover river and Skippers canyon, this is where gold was discovered in the 1860’s. This river became the world’s 2nd highest gold bearing river in the world, next to the Klondike in Alaska.
• Glenorchy-Queenstown Road: Fly over the small settlement of Glenorchy, located at the head of Lake Wakatipu. Here you enjoy wonderful views of two braided river mouths joining the lake. The two rivers are the Dart and the Rees, both glacial fed, display wonderful colors as they mix with the lake.
• Routeburn Track: Fly over the dense beech forest of the Routeburn and Hollyford. valleys. One of New Zealand ‘great walks’ traverses the Routeburn valley, it’s a 3-day hike through the valley and over an alpine pass into Fiordland National Park.
• Fiordland National Park (Te Wahipounamu): Fly over the main divide of the Southern Alps and into Fiordland National park. One of the first sights you will encounter on arrival in Fiordland National Park is Mt Tutoko, at over 8,900ft / 2,700meters it is Fiordland’s highest peak. There are two main glaciers to view here, the Donne and the Age.
• Milford Sound: Fly the full length of the fiord, right out to the Tasman sea where you will turn and descend, before coming into land. This part of the flight really makes you appreciate the sheer size of the towering cliffs of the fiord, which rise over a mile high in some parts!
• Mitre Peak: View the highest peak in Milford Sound, Mitre Peak. It impressively rises directly out of the water of the fiord, to it’s summit at 5,560ft / 1,690 meters, which is just over a mile of vertical gain!

There was also no turbulence until went to land, but I was told it was actually a calm day and that there’s usually a lot more. Uh oh – is that foreshadowing 🙂 ?

Cruise

We landed at 12:15 and walked through a path through the brush to the cruise terminal. And I was already blown away by the beauty of Milford Sound.

After that bushwalk we arrived at the busy cruise terminal and were shown where to stand in line outside to board our cruise. The line soon became more of a glob as people just went to the front of the line in groups *le sigh.* But whatever, those with a conscience zipper merged and we all got on eventually 🙂 .

As we were boarding, there was an employee directing people to different parts of the boat and I asked if there was a section for Air Milford because I could have sworn that I read somewhere that we had a VIP section or something fancy. My Mom had no memory of this and told me it wasn’t a thing, well in your face Mom because it was😜.

We were told to go upstairs to the Cascade VIP Lounge where there were signs reserving seats for Air Milford and that allowed us to grab packed lunches and a beverage (for free) instead of joining the buffet on the deck below. Fancy 🙂 . In addition to all that, these VIP areas had their own decks on the front of the boat that turned out to be clutch for seeing a rare bird up close I’ll talk about a little later.

So we got settled and then joined a line near the bar to pick up our packed lunches. There’s also coffee, tea and water at a station next to the bar near the back of the floor. Next to the drink station is a door to outside and stairs that go to the top deck. The left side of the boat is best for seeing everything because they go around the sound (which is actually a fjord and spelled “fiord” in New Zealand) clockwise.

It was a gorgeous day and we were so happy we had changed the day of our reservation and built that kind of flexibility into our trip. Apparently Milford Sound is rainy 200 days a year and Air Milford operates about half the year and our pilot told us that it’s rarely this sunny there. We got really lucky 🙂 .

The boat has a max of 150 passengers, but it didn’t feel like anywhere near that many in our lounge. There were maybe 20 total people in there and maybe another 20 on the whole floor. I went to the top deck to view the sights and it was so windy I was immensely grateful that I bought a handle with a strap for my GoPro and wasn’t trying to use my phone because I suspect it would have blown away 🙂 .

The whole time we were sailing, the captain was pointing out the sights and explaining more about the gorgeous nature that surrounded us. However, the rainy weather that happened on our original departure day gave us a unique view. Milford Sound has two permanent waterfalls: Bowen Falls that’s 531ft/162m tall and Stirling Falls at 495ft/151m tall.

However, after it rains there are hundreds of waterfalls in the fiord and we got to see them all! They were so big that I was shocked they’re not permanent fixtures of this place.

I’ve included pictures above, but to get the full experience, I’d recommend looking at the videos I took that are in my Instagram Milford Sound🇳🇿 Story Highlights.

And the absolute highlight of this day for my birder self was seeing rare Fjordland Crested Penguins hopping around. They were adorable and this is when the smaller decks off our lounge at the front of the ship came in handy. There was no wind there and I couldn’t have been closer to these adorable creatures.

Once again, videos are in my Story Highlights, but here’s what they look like:

We also saw Fur Seals that looked like adorable little balls of fluff napping on rocks. And after sailing the circumference of the fiord, we disembarked after an hour and 45 minutes and headed to the unmarked water station at the end of the pier that the boat captain told us contained pristine glacier water. It was good 🙂 .

Flight

We met our pilot Emma outside the boat terminal where we were directed onto a bus that drove us the short distance to the air field.

We then boarded the flight back and for some reason I volunteered to go in the co-pilot seat😬. It was extremely cool to listen to Air Traffic Control in the headset and see the pilot Emma work her magic up close, but I also learned that I could never be a pilot.

There was more turbulence on the way back and I guess I’ve been spoiled in my jumbo jets because you could definitely feel it. I just tried to remember it’s like hitting a pot hole in the road while driving…except I can’t see it 🙂 . Anyway, I had an awesome time and got to see a lot of new gorgeous things because the flight path back to Queenstown is intentionally different than going for that reason.

On this flight we saw (descriptions taken from the Viator page):

• Sutherland Falls: After taking off from Milford Sound the flight path first takes in another view of the fiord, before tracing south, down the Arthur valley. At the head of this valley, the Sutherland Falls can be viewed, this is New Zealand’s highest waterfall, falling impressively 1,900ft/580 meters to the valley floor below.
• Greenstone and Caples Tracks: After once again crossing the main divide of the Southern Alps, taking in stunning views of small alpine lakes and jagged snow capped mountains, the route then traverses the densely forested Greenstone and Caples valleys.
• Lake Wakatipu: After emerging from the Greenstone valley, fly over Lake Wakatipu. Lake Wakatipu is New Zealand’s longest lake at 46 miles/75 kms, it is also incredibly deep, up to 1,250ft/380 meters at some points! Queenstown is nestled on the lake’s shores, so some great views of the town are enjoyed before landing.
• Walter Peak Station Wharf: View the Walter Peak high country station, which is one of New Zealand’s largest merino sheep farms.
• The Remarkables: View the Remarkable mountain range and Queenstown, before landing back at the Air Milford base for your drop-off back to your accommodation.
• Lake Te Anau: The flight path then begins to track east over the Southern Alps and back towards Queenstown. New Zealand’s second largest lake, Lake Te Anau can be viewed, stretching out to the south.

After all that beauty, we landed at 4:15 and walked to our awaiting (free) taxis. Shortly thereafter, my Mom and I were dropped off at our Airbnb still in awe over our wild day.

What I Brought

In case you are interested in going on this tour or a similar one, here is a list of everything I brought with me in case that helps you:

• Layers (it was chilly with the wind on the fiord)
• Phone Power Brick
• Sunglasses and Case (it was luckily super sunny, even on the plane)
• GoPro with Handle
• Collapsible Water Bottle (to fill up with fancy glacier water and quench my thirst before getting on the cruise)
• Mini Umbrella

Review

Basically, this:

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I absolutely loved this experience and think it was definitely worth it to avoid 10 hours of time on a bus and added the gorgeous views we saw on the way to and from Milford Sound. Especially after I discovered that the cruise bought separately is $85.62 USD on its own so in essence, we paid an extra $100 each over the cost of a bus and cruise for this experience and to me that’s totally worth it.

Everyone at Air Milford was absolutely wonderful and made us feel so taken care of. It’s great to know that they have their own flexible cancellation policy and are so on top of the weather and willing to move things around to make sure everyone has the best day possible.

Conclusion

So that was my experience exploring Milford Sound! It definitely lived up to the hype and I don’t say that about a lot of places 🙂 . It was awe inspiring to be towered over by all that gorgeous nature and see how beautiful New Zealand can be.

What’s a fun nature fact you’ve learned lately?