New Zealand South Island: Queenstown, Milford Sound and the glaciers

1. Day 1: Arrive in Christchurch

   Christchurch International Airport to your hotel in the city centre

   • Drive about 18 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Christchurch
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Christchurch International Airport (CHC), about 12 km north-west of the city, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the 20-minute transfer to your central hotel. Most flights from Canada connect through Auckland after a long night in the air, so today is kept light: check in, rest, and if you have the energy, walk to the Botanic Gardens beside the Avon River, a few minutes from the centre. Christchurch lost much of its old centre in the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011, and the rebuilt city mixes new buildings, street art and open sites still waiting for theirs. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the ten days ahead: what to pack for the mountains and the West Coast, how the long days are paced, and what we do if the weather closes the road to Milford Sound. Then we walk to a welcome dinner together at a restaurant in the centre.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Christchurch International Airport (CHC)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

2. Day 2: Across the Canterbury Plains to Lake Tekapo

   Christchurch to Geraldine, then over Burkes Pass to Lake Tekapo

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Lake Tekapo
   Day 2 details

   After breakfast your guide leads a walk of about 90 minutes through the rebuilt centre: the Transitional Cathedral, built of cardboard tubes and opened in 2013 after the stone cathedral was wrecked, the pastel shopfronts of New Regent Street, and the Avon River where punts drift under the willows. Late morning we drive south-west across the Canterbury Plains, about 3 hours and 225 km in all, with a sit-down lunch in the country town of Geraldine. Past Fairlie the road climbs over Burkes Pass into the Mackenzie Basin, a wide tussock plain ringed by the Southern Alps. We reach Lake Tekapo by mid-afternoon, when the water shows its milky turquoise, coloured by rock flour ground fine by glaciers. Walk down to the small stone Church of the Good Shepherd, built on the shore in 1935, and the rest of the afternoon is free. After dark, if the sky is clear, a local astronomy guide takes us stargazing in the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. If it is cloudy, tomorrow night is the backup.

   Included

   • Guided walk in central Christchurch: the Transitional Cathedral, New Regent Street and the Avon River
   • Sit-down lunch in Geraldine
   • Church of the Good Shepherd and the Lake Tekapo shore
   • Guided stargazing in the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve (weather permitting; night 3 is the backup)

   Optional experiences

   • Tekapo Springs hot pools

   Free time: Late afternoon free at Lake Tekapo

   Activity: In December and January it is not fully dark until after 10:30 pm, so stargazing starts late; your guide sets the time with the astronomy guides on the day.

   

3. Day 3: Aoraki/Mount Cook and the Hooker Valley

   Lake Tekapo to Aoraki/Mount Cook Village along Lake Pukaki, and back

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Lake Tekapo
   Day 3 details

   A short morning on the road and a long walk. We leave at 8 am and drive about 1 hour 20 minutes, 105 km, around the south end of Lake Pukaki and up its western shore to Aoraki/Mount Cook Village, where the road ends below New Zealand's highest mountain, 3,724 m. The national park is part of Te Wāhipounamu, the South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. We start walking soon after we arrive, because mornings are often calmer and the summit is more likely to be clear before cloud builds. The Hooker Valley Track is about 10 km return and 3 hours on a mostly flat, well-made path, crossing three swing bridges over the Hooker River to Hooker Lake, where small icebergs float below the face of Aoraki. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the village. In the afternoon we drive a few minutes to the Tasman Glacier viewpoint, a short climb on steps past the Blue Lakes, then back along Lake Pukaki to Tekapo, with a stop at Peter's Lookout for the view up the lake to the mountain. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Hooker Valley Track to Hooker Lake with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch at Aoraki/Mount Cook Village
   • Tasman Glacier viewpoint
   • Peter's Lookout over Lake Pukaki

   Optional experiences

   • Scenic flight from Aoraki/Mount Cook Airport over the Tasman Glacier (weather permitting, booked on the day)

   Easier option: Walk the Hooker Valley only as far as the first swing bridge (about 1 hour return), or the Kea Point Track to a lookout over the Mueller Glacier moraine, then spend the rest of the morning in the village.

   More active option: Instead of the Hooker Valley, climb the Sealy Tarns Track, about 2,200 steps up to small alpine lakes with views over the Mueller Glacier and Aoraki; about 3 to 4 hours return.

   Free time: Evening free at Lake Tekapo

   Activity: About 10 km on a mostly flat path with three swing bridges. The track can close in high wind; your guide checks the conditions each morning. The Tasman Glacier viewpoint is a short uphill walk on steps, about 20 minutes each way.

4. Day 4: Over the Lindis Pass to Queenstown

   Lake Tekapo to Omarama, over the Lindis Pass to Cromwell, then through the Kawarau Gorge to Queenstown

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Queenstown
   Day 4 details

   About 3.5 hours and 260 km of driving today, split into four short legs. First stop is the south end of Lake Pukaki, where on a clear morning Aoraki stands at the head of the lake. We pass through Twizel and stop for coffee in Omarama, a small town known for gliding. Then the road climbs over the Lindis Pass, 971 m, through wide slopes of golden tussock, and drops into Central Otago, where Cromwell sits among orchards and vineyards beside Lake Dunstan; lunch is a sit-down meal there. The road follows the Kawarau Gorge, and we stop at the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge, where commercial bungy jumping began in 1988, to watch the jumpers. We reach Queenstown, on Lake Wakatipu below the jagged Remarkables, by mid-afternoon and check in for three nights, so you unpack once. Late in the day we ride the Skyline Gondola up Bob's Peak, about 450 m above the town, for the view over the lake as the light softens. The evening is free in town.

   Included

   • Lake Pukaki viewpoint and coffee stop in Omarama
   • The Lindis Pass
   • Sit-down lunch in Cromwell
   • Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge
   • Skyline Gondola to Bob's Peak in Queenstown

   Optional experiences

   • Kawarau Bridge bungy jump (book ahead)

   Free time: Evening free in Queenstown

   

5. Day 5: Milford Sound by coach and cruise

   Queenstown to Milford Sound by coach via Te Anau and the Milford Road, a cruise on the fiord, and back

   • Drive about 8 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Queenstown
   Day 5 details

   This is the trip's long day, about 12 hours door to door, because Milford Sound, Piopiotahi, is about 290 km and 4 hours by road from Queenstown each way. We keep it rather than move to a Te Anau hotel so that you stay three nights in one Queenstown room, and you can shorten it with the optional flight back, which saves about 4 hours and is charged only once the pilots confirm the weather. Our van rests today: we ride a shared scheduled coach with other travellers and a professional driver, and your guide comes with the group. Scheduled coaches leave Queenstown early, usually between about 7 and 8 am; we confirm the time with your final itinerary. The coach follows Lake Wakatipu, stops in Te Anau, then climbs the Eglinton Valley past the Mirror Lakes and through the Homer Tunnel to the sea. On a cruise of about two hours we sail to the Tasman Sea beneath Mitre Peak, 1,692 m, and close under Stirling Falls, with lunch on board. Fur seals rest on the rocks. If the road is closed, Milford moves to tomorrow.

   Included

   • Shared scheduled coach from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back, with your guide
   • Stops at Te Anau, the Eglinton Valley and the Mirror Lakes
   • Milford Sound cruise of about two hours, with lunch on board

   Optional experiences

   • Flight back from Milford Sound to Queenstown in place of the return coach (weather permitting)
   • Fly-cruise-fly from Queenstown in place of the coach (weather permitting)

   Easier option: The whole day is seated except short stops; stay on the coach at any stop you like.

   Activity: About 12 hours door to door, leaving Queenstown between about 7 and 8 am. Day 6 is the backup day if heavy rain, snow or avalanche risk closes the Milford Road.

   

6. Day 6: A free morning in Queenstown, then Arrowtown

   Queenstown, then Arrowtown and back

   • Drive about 42 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Queenstown
   Day 6 details

   Nothing is planned before lunch, and after yesterday that is the point. Sleep in, walk the Queenstown Gardens on the point beside the lake, or take one of the optional outings your guide can book: a jet boat through the narrow canyons of the Shotover River, a cruise on the TSS Earnslaw, a coal-fired steamship that has worked the lake since 1912, or a half-day drive up the lake to Glenorchy, where the mountains framed scenes in The Lord of the Rings. Lunch is on your own in town. At 2 pm we drive about 20 minutes to Arrowtown, where gold was found in the Arrow River in 1862. Your guide walks you down Buckingham Street, with its stone and timber shopfronts from the gold-rush years, to the Chinese Settlement, the restored huts and stores of Chinese miners who came to the goldfields from 1866. The Lakes District Museum fills in the story. We are back in Queenstown by late afternoon, and the evening is yours. If Milford moved to today, we see Arrowtown tomorrow morning on the way to Wanaka.

   Included

   • Guided walk in Arrowtown: Buckingham Street and the Chinese Settlement
   • Lakes District Museum in Arrowtown

   Optional experiences

   • Shotover River jet boat
   • TSS Earnslaw cruise on Lake Wakatipu
   • Glenorchy half-day drive
   • Gibbston Valley wine tasting

   Free time: Morning and evening free in Queenstown

   Activity: The backup day for Milford Sound.

   

7. Day 7: Wanaka and the Haast Pass to Franz Josef

   Queenstown over the Crown Range to Wanaka, past Lake Hāwea and over the Haast Pass, then up the West Coast to Franz Josef

   • Drive about 5.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Franz Josef
   Day 7 details

   The longest road day: about 350 km and 5 to 5.5 hours of driving, more than our 4-hour cap. There is no good place to break it, because the only road from Central Otago to the glaciers crosses the Haast Pass and the settlements on the way are tiny, so we split it into short legs with a real stop at each. We leave at 8 am over the Crown Range Road, at 1,076 m the highest sealed main road in New Zealand, to Wanaka for coffee and a walk along the lakefront to the willow growing in the water at Roys Bay. Then we follow Lake Hāwea to Makarora for a sit-down lunch, and walk through beech forest to the Blue Pools, where a swing bridge crosses water of a startling clear blue. Over the Haast Pass, 562 m, we stop at Thunder Creek Falls, then follow the wild coast past Knights Point to Franz Josef, arriving around 6:30 pm. Dinner together tonight. If Milford moved to day 6, Arrowtown comes first this morning and we arrive about an hour later.

   Included

   • Crown Range Road and a stop in Wanaka
   • Sit-down lunch at Makarora
   • Blue Pools walk
   • Haast Pass, Thunder Creek Falls and Knights Point
   • Dinner in Franz Josef

   Easier option: Stay at the Blue Pools car park or walk only to the first viewpoint, about 10 minutes.

   Activity: About 5 to 5.5 hours of driving with four long stops, arriving about 6:30 pm, or about 7:30 pm if Arrowtown moves to this morning. A private trip can add a night in Wanaka to split the day. Heavy rain can close the road over the Haast Pass; your guide checks before we leave.

8. Day 8: Lake Matheson and Franz Josef Glacier

   Franz Josef to Lake Matheson near Fox Glacier and back, then the Franz Josef glacier valley

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Franz Josef
   Day 8 details

   We leave at 8 am for the 30-minute drive south to Lake Matheson, near Fox Glacier. Its dark water, stained by the forest, makes a famous mirror: on a still, clear morning Aoraki/Mount Cook and Mount Tasman stand upside down in the lake, and the wind usually rises later in the day, which is why we go early. The loop around the shore through the rainforest is about 4.4 km and an hour and a half. Back in Franz Josef we walk the glacier valley track, about 1.5 hours return across the riverbed, past waterfalls spilling off the valley walls, to a viewpoint below the ice of Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere. The glacier has retreated a long way in recent decades, so the view is from a distance. Lunch is on your own in the village and the afternoon is free. Your ticket for the West Coast Wildlife Centre, where young rowi and Haast tokoeka kiwi are raised for release, is included.

   Included

   • Lake Matheson walk in the morning
   • Franz Josef glacier valley walk with your guide
   • West Coast Wildlife Centre in Franz Josef

   Optional experiences

   • Heli-hike on Franz Josef Glacier
   • Scenic flight with a snow landing
   • Glacier lake kayaking
   • Waiho hot tubs

   Easier option: Walk Lake Matheson only as far as the jetty viewpoint, about 20 minutes each way, and skip the valley walk for the Wildlife Centre and a slow lunch.

   More active option: Spend the free afternoon on the Roberts Point Track, about 11 km and 5 hours return, with swing bridges and a lookout high above the glacier.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Franz Josef

   Activity: Flights and heli-hikes are booked by your guide and paid only after the operator confirms the weather that morning. The valley track closes after heavy rain or rockfall.

9. Day 9: Hokitika and the TranzAlpine to Christchurch

   Franz Josef to Hokitika and Greymouth, then the TranzAlpine train over Arthur's Pass to Christchurch

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Christchurch
   Day 9 details

   We leave Franz Josef at 8 am and drive about 2 hours, 135 km, north through rainforest and dairy country to Hokitika, a gold-rush town of the 1860s that is now the home of pounamu, the greenstone that Māori have long treasured. Watch carvers at work in the studios, walk out to the driftwood-strewn beach, and sit down to an early lunch. Then it is 40 minutes up the coast to Greymouth to board the TranzAlpine, which leaves in the early afternoon and crosses the island to Christchurch in about 5 hours. The train runs up the Grey valley past Lake Brunner, through the 8.5 km Otira Tunnel to Arthur's Pass, then down beside the braided Waimakariri River and its gorges and across the Canterbury Plains. The open-air viewing carriage is the place for photos; watch for kea near the pass. This replaces a long drive with a day you can spend at the window. Our van carries the luggage over the pass and meets you at the station; on the few dates the train does not run, we all drive over the pass instead. Farewell dinner in Christchurch.

   Included

   • Hokitika: pounamu carvers and the beach
   • Sit-down lunch in Hokitika
   • The TranzAlpine from Greymouth to Christchurch over Arthur's Pass
   • Farewell dinner in Christchurch

   Activity: Train times change by season and are confirmed with your final itinerary. The TranzAlpine does not run on Christmas Day or around Labour Weekend in late October and can stop for engineering works; on those dates we drive from Hokitika over Arthur's Pass instead, about 3.5 hours more with stops at Arthur's Pass village and Castle Hill, so about 6 hours on the road that day. Your luggage travels in our van.

10. Day 10: Depart from Christchurch

    Christchurch to Christchurch International Airport

    • Drive about 18 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    A last breakfast together and the morning to yourself. If your flight is later in the day, walk the Botanic Gardens and the Avon River one more time, browse the stalls of the Riverside Market, or ride the heritage tram around the central loop. Your hotel will store your bags after check-out. When it is time, our van takes you to Christchurch International Airport, about 20 minutes from the centre, and your guide checks your flight before saying goodbye. If you have more time in New Zealand, Christchurch is a good place to start an independent extension: we can quote extra hotel nights, a few days at Kaikōura for whale watching on the coast to the north, or a flight to Auckland for the North Island. Most flights home to Canada connect through Auckland, so allow at least two hours for the domestic connection there. The trip ends after the airport drop-off.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Christchurch International Airport (CHC)

    Optional experiences

    • Extra nights in Christchurch
    • Kaikōura extension

    Free time: Free morning

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 11 am; we time the airport drop-off to your flight.

Wildlife and weather: The season runs from October to April. December to February is the warmest and busiest, with long evenings that push stargazing past 10:30 pm; October, November and April are cooler, with more snow on the peaks and a higher chance of Milford Road closures. Rain falls on the West Coast in every month and keeps the rainforest green, and after heavy rain Milford Sound fills with waterfalls. Fur seals are likely at Milford Sound, dolphins sometimes swim with the boat, kea, the alpine parrot, are often seen near Arthur's Pass, and kiwi are seen at the Wildlife Centre rather than in the wild.

• Christchurch1 night
• Lake Tekapo2 nights
• Queenstown3 nights
• Franz Josef2 nights
• Christchurch1 night