New Zealand: Queenstown, Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound

1. Day 1: Arrive in Queenstown, up the Skyline Gondola

   Queenstown Airport to your hotel in central Queenstown, then the Skyline Gondola to Bob's Peak

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

   Fly into Queenstown Airport (ZQN), about 8 km from the centre, where a driver meets you for the 15-minute transfer to your central hotel. Most flights from Canada connect through Auckland, Sydney or Brisbane, so the afternoon is free to rest or walk the lakefront and the Queenstown Gardens on the point. Plan to land by about 3 pm. At around 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the hotel for a short briefing: how the two Fiordland days work, what the weather can do and what to wear on the boats. Then we walk a few minutes to the Skyline Gondola and ride up to Bob's Peak, where the whole town, Lake Wakatipu and the jagged line of The Remarkables open up below you. Stay at the top for the evening light, then ride down for a welcome dinner together at a restaurant in town.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Queenstown Airport (ZQN)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Skyline Gondola to Bob's Peak
   • Welcome dinner in Queenstown

   Optional experiences

   • Luge rides at the top of the gondola

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 3 pm; if you arrive later, your guide meets you at dinner.

   

2. Day 2: Glenorchy and Arrowtown

   Queenstown along Lake Wakatipu to Glenorchy and back, then Arrowtown

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Queenstown
   Day 2 details

   We leave at 8:30 am and follow the lake road north-west, about 46 km and 50 minutes, with a stop at Bennetts Bluff for the view up Lake Wakatipu to the mountains at its head. Glenorchy is a small settlement where the Dart and Rees rivers run into the lake, and the valleys beyond it stood in for scenes of The Lord of the Rings. Your guide walks you along the boardwalk around the Glenorchy Lagoon, about an hour on the flat with the peaks reflected on a calm morning, and out to the old red wharf shed. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Glenorchy. Back past Queenstown we drive 20 minutes to Arrowtown, where gold was found in the Arrow River in 1862. Walk Buckingham Street with its stone and timber shopfronts, the restored huts of the Chinese Settlement, and the Lakes District Museum. We are back in Queenstown by about 5 pm and the evening is yours.

   Included

   • Bennetts Bluff lookout over Lake Wakatipu
   • Guided walk on the Glenorchy Lagoon boardwalk
   • Sit-down lunch in Glenorchy
   • Guided walk in Arrowtown: Buckingham Street and the Chinese Settlement
   • Lakes District Museum, Arrowtown

   Optional experiences

   • Shotover River jet boat
   • TSS Earnslaw cruise on Lake Wakatipu
   • Gibbston Valley wine tasting

   Easier option: Skip the lagoon walk and wait for the group at a café by the Glenorchy wharf.

   More active option: In Arrowtown, walk the riverside trail up the Arrow River instead of the museum, about an hour on gravel paths.

   Free time: Evening free in Queenstown

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot in all, on flat boardwalk and town streets.

3. Day 3: Doubtful Sound, then on to Te Anau

   Queenstown to Manapouri, across Lake Manapouri and over the Wilmot Pass to Doubtful Sound, then Te Anau

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Te Anau
   Day 3 details

   Today is the trip's one early start, at 7 am, because the cruise leaves Manapouri in the morning and the road there takes about 2 hours 45 minutes, 170 km, round the south end of Lake Wakatipu and across the farmland of northern Southland. Luggage rides with us in the van. From the wharf a boat crosses Lake Manapouri to West Arm, about 45 minutes through forested islands, and the operator's coach climbs the gravel road over the Wilmot Pass and drops through rainforest to Deep Cove. Doubtful Sound, Patea, is longer and quieter than Milford, with far fewer boats. On a cruise of about three hours we sail its arms towards the Tasman Sea, looking for the resident bottlenose dolphins and the fur seals on the outer rocks, and when conditions allow the skipper stops the engines so you can hear how silent the fiord is. Lunch is a packed lunch eaten on board. We are back at Manapouri in the late afternoon and reach Te Anau, 20 minutes on, in the early evening, where we stay two nights and eat dinner together.

   Included

   • Drive from Queenstown to Manapouri with your guide, leaving at 7 am
   • Boat across Lake Manapouri and coach over the Wilmot Pass
   • Doubtful Sound cruise of about three hours
   • Packed lunch on board
   • Dinner in Te Anau

   Easier option: The day is mostly seated on boats and the coach; stay on board at any stop.

   Activity: A long day out, about 11 hours from Queenstown, but most of it is on the water. The 7 am start is the only one on the trip. If wind or rain cancels the cruise, your guide swaps days 3 and 4 where the forecast allows.

4. Day 4: Milford Sound from Te Anau

   Te Anau along the Milford Road to Milford Sound, a cruise on the fiord, then back to Te Anau

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Te Anau
   Day 4 details

   From Te Anau, Milford Sound, Piopiotahi, is about 118 km and two hours each way, so this is a day out, not the 12-hour round trip from Queenstown. We leave at 8 am in our own vehicle and stop where the light is best: the Mirror Lakes in the Eglinton Valley, the short nature walk at Lake Gunn, and the climb through the Homer Tunnel into the Cleddau valley, where kea, the alpine parrot, often wait by the road. A late-morning cruise of about two hours runs the length of the fiord to the Tasman Sea, beneath Mitre Peak, 1,692 m, and close in under Stirling Falls, with lunch on board. We drive back the same road and reach Te Anau in the late afternoon. In the evening, at a departure time we confirm at booking, we cross Lake Te Anau by boat to the glowworm caves, where a short walk and a small boat take you through a cave lit only by thousands of glowworms. Dinner tonight is your choice.

   Included

   • Mirror Lakes and the Lake Gunn nature walk on the Milford Road
   • Milford Sound cruise of about two hours, with lunch on board
   • Te Anau Glowworm Caves by boat, in the evening (time confirmed at booking)

   Optional experiences

   • Scenic flight from Milford Sound back to Te Anau or Queenstown, weather permitting
   • Kayaking on Milford Sound in place of the cruise

   Easier option: Stay in the vehicle at the roadside stops, and skip the glowworm caves for an early night.

   More active option: At The Divide, walk the first part of the Routeburn Track with your guide, about an hour out and back, while the rest of the group waits with the driver at The Divide shelter. The full climb to Key Summit is about 3 hours return and fits only with an extra night in Te Anau.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Te Anau

   Activity: About 4 hours of driving with stops. The caves have low ceilings, wet steps and no photos inside.

   

5. Day 5: Te Anau lakefront and back to Queenstown

   Te Anau lakefront, then Te Anau to Queenstown and Queenstown Airport

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 5 details

   A slow last morning. Walk along the lakefront path with your guide to Punanga Manu o Te Anau, the Department of Conservation bird sanctuary at the edge of town, where you can see takahē, a flightless bird once thought extinct, and other native birds close up. Entry is free. Pack up and check out at your own pace; the hotel is a few minutes' walk from the lake. We leave Te Anau at about 10:30 am and drive about 2 hours 15 minutes, 170 km, back through Southland and along the Devil's Staircase above Lake Wakatipu, with a short stop at Kingston on the lake's southern tip. We reach Queenstown Airport at about 1 pm and the town a few minutes later. Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm, or stay on in Queenstown: we can quote extra nights, and lunch today is on you. If you added a night in Te Anau to retry a cancelled cruise, we arrange your transfer to Queenstown the next day.

   Included

   • Guided lakefront walk to Punanga Manu o Te Anau bird sanctuary
   • Drive from Te Anau to Queenstown with your guide
   • Drop-off at Queenstown Airport (ZQN) or your hotel in town

   Free time: Morning free in Te Anau

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm. The drive is about 2 hours 15 minutes.

   

Wildlife and weather: October to April is spring, summer and early autumn. December to February is warmest and busiest, with long evenings; October and November bring more snow on the peaks and a higher chance of Milford Road closures, and April turns the trees of Arrowtown gold. Fur seals are likely in both fiords, bottlenose dolphins live in Doubtful Sound and sometimes swim with the boat, and Fiordland crested penguins are sometimes seen in spring. Kea often wait by the Homer Tunnel.

• Queenstown2 nights
• Te Anau2 nights