When we were planning our trip to New Zealand, the place that showed up on every list was the Milford Sound. After pouring over tons of articles and blog posts about it, we knew we would have to visit this 8th wonder of the world. We had the best experience and wanted to share it with anyone getting ready to visit this amazing part of the world.
Where to Stay
Queenstown seems to be a popular place to stay if visiting the Milford Sound, but there is a much better option. The town of Te Anau is the perfect place to stay while visiting this area. I would recommend booking at least two nights. That way you can start and end your Milford Sound visit in this town instead of hours away in Queenstown. There are great restaurants and the beautiful Lake Te Anau.
Airbnb has tons of options in the area and there are a few hotels to choose from as well—see the full list of options. We had the best experience at our AirBnB linked here. The hosts were wonderful, and the place was comfortable, but the animals really set it off.
Picking a Cruise
There are so many different cruise options. We read tons of reviews and asked advice from tons of people that we know had been here recently. The one we ended up choosing came highly recommended. Here is the cruise that we selected. The nature cruise was longer than two hours and had some great information provided throughout the Milford Sound cruise.
Book the first cruise of the day. For us, that was 10:15 AM and it was quiet when we arrived. There wasn’t much traffic on the way there. Once our boat was docked at the end of our cruise, there were so many tour buses in the parking lot that it could be called chaos. Midday is the busiest time of day there, so definitely try and get the early tour.
Real Journeys allows you to bring your own snacks or order some lunch in advance. They also give you free coffee and tea which was wonderful.
Getting To and From
We have a rental car. I think that’s the best way to travel to this region. A camper van falls into this category as well. It is a two hour trip to Milford Sound from Te Anau (and hours more from Queenstown) and the highway has so many amazing stops within the Fiordland National Park. You can find short and long hikes as well as places to just pull over and enjoy the views. We drove straight there in the morning and then stopped on our way back in multiple places.
Other Details
We had a day with no clouds in the sky and perfect temps. That isn’t normal. Make sure you bring warm clothes or layers and a waterproof jacket. The cruise we picked had plenty of seating inside as well as on the deck, but you want to be prepared. There were also lots of warnings about Sandflies which we avoided by some miracle as well.
This was one of the items that we planned to spend money on, so we spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the most for our money. With the online discount for booking in advance, we spent about $115 for the cruise.
If you want to go all out and spend a little more, there are plenty of additional options. You can stay in the Milford Sound area with a camper van or at the one lodge there for a pretty penny. If you really have no budget, you can also look at the helicopter or airplane tours of the region. I can’t even imagine the views from above.
And now Photos…
Final Thoughts on Milford Sound
This definitely lives up to the hype. Every view was amazing and it’s impossible to capture in photos. The size of the cliffs and waterfalls is hard to comprehend until you are there. It is definitely worth a visit.
Let us know if you have any questions or anything we missed.
