Coach or fly to Milford Sound?

What is the real difference between coaching and flying?

Hours and weather. A coach day is about 12 hours and runs in almost any rain; a fly-cruise-fly day is 4.5 to 5 hours and stops when cloud sits on the passes.

One coach, one van and both flights, from the GetYourGuide listings:

How many hours does each option take?

The coach is a 12 to 12.5-hour day, about ten hours of it on the road with stops. Flying is 4.5 to 5 hours door to door.

The road is about 288 km each way via Te Anau because there is no road over the mountains, and the tunnel and Glenorchy shortcuts proposed over the years were never built, as Wikipedia notes. The plane cuts across in 30 to 40 minutes. After a coach day you have done Milford and nothing else. After a morning flight you can still take the gondola, or sleep.

The small group does not help here: it runs up to 13 hours. The hours of each day are laid out in the day, hour by hour.

How much more does flying cost per hour saved?

About $40 to $46. The glacier-route flight costs $299 more than the cheapest coach and saves about 7.5 hours; the plane and boat costs $325 more and saves about 7.

Put that against what the hours are worth on your trip. On a two-day Queenstown stay, seven hours is half your free time, and the flight is often the better buy. On a week-long stay, it is an expensive way to skip a nap on a comfortable coach. For a couple the gap is $598 to $650. Every price is in our price guide.

A flight over Tutoko Glacier and the Olivine Ice Plateau, a walk to the boat and a cruise, back in about 4.5 hours.

★ 5.0 · 4.5 hours · from $450

Check dates → Tour details

Which one does the weather cancel?

Flights, by a long way. Pilots need visibility over the Alps and at Milford's airstrip; coaches run in rain and stop only when the road closes.

Milford gets around 6.5 metres of rain a year on about 185 days, per the NIWA figures on Wikipedia. One Queenstown fly-cruise operator says in its published terms that pilots check conditions an hour before each departure, then reschedule or refund in full. The plane and boat listing on GetYourGuide offers the same: a new date or a full refund. Guests describe three outcomes:

• Cancelled: Gayle from Australia: "Unfortunately first booking was cancelled, bad weather so book at the beginning of your stay."
• Flown but not landed: Sue from Australia "couldn't land in Milford Sands [sic] but the scenic flight was amazing also".
• Landed but no cruise: Sonya from Australia: "We didn't do the cruise as the weather forecast wasn't ideal for the return journey".

Coaches stop for road closures, mostly in winter and spring when avalanche crews work above the Hollyford turn-off. Rain itself turns the cliffs into hundreds of temporary waterfalls. More in weather and cancellations.

What do you see from the coach and from the plane?

From the coach: Lake Wakatipu, farmland, then the Eglinton Valley, Mirror Lakes, the Homer Tunnel and kea. From the plane: glaciers, Mount Aspiring National Park and the fiord from above.

Veena from Australia said of her van day that "the journey through Fiordland National Park was just as memorable as the destination itself", and plenty of coach guests say the same. The first two hours to Te Anau are pasture, though, and you see them twice.

The glacier-route flight passes Coronet Peak, Skippers Canyon, the Dart River, the Olivine Ice Plateau and Mount Tutoko before it drops to the Tasman coast. Katherine from Australia: "to experience it from both the air and water was amazing". From the air the scale is bigger; from the road the story is better.

Which is worse for motion sickness and nervous flyers?

Both can get you. The road past the Divide winds hard for an hour; the plane is a small aircraft over mountains, and turbulence is normal.

Lillian from Australia felt sick on the drive back from Milford. Gessica from the USA, on the plane and boat trip, warned that "the flight is not one for nervous flyers [...] take some motion sickness medicine". If you get sick in cars and in small planes, take the coach, sit near the front and take a tablet before Te Anau. If you are fine in cars and anxious in the air, take the coach too.

Weight limits also apply on the flights: the plane and boat trip is not for passengers over 150 kg, the glacier-route flight not over 140 kg. The new VIP cruise lists itself as unsuitable for people prone to seasickness.

Can you take the coach in and fly back?

Some guests do, and pay for the flight separately when seats and weather allow. There is no coach-in, fly-back product on this site.

Dionie from Australia, on the premium coach, wrote: "We took the opportunity to fly home". Jennifer from Australia did it on the small group: "I coached in and flew back last minute [...] it ended up being an expensive day". You get the Milford Road in the morning and skip the quiet drive home. Ask your coach operator before you travel whether a fly-back can be added, and what happens to your coach seat if the plane cannot leave.

Which should you book?

The coach for most first visits and any shaky forecast; a flight for short stays, booked for your first fine day.

• Two days or less in Queenstown: fly, and keep a coach seat as a backup you can cancel free up to 24 hours before.
• A week in Queenstown: coach, early in the week.
• Tight budget: coach; the cheapest includes lunch.
• Car sick or a nervous flyer: coach, front seats.
• You want the Milford Road stops: coach or small group.
• Winter, June to November: either, with a spare day; avalanche control can close the road and cloud grounds planes.

The weather-proof choice: the most booked coach and cruise day, lunch included, from central Queenstown or Te Anau.

★ 4.7 · 12 hours · from $151

Check dates → Tour details

Frequently asked questions