Premium Milford Sound Small Group Tour & Cruise from Queenstown
Description
Premium small group tour including a boutique Milford Sound cruise designed for an immersive viewing experience, and picnic lunch from Queenstown. There is no better way to see this most famous of attractions! Highlights: • Milford Sound Cruise • Fiordland National Park • Lake Te Anau, Eglinton Valley, Mirror Lakes, Hollyford River, Homer Tunnel & Mitre Peak • Wildlife Spotting While the destinations you will be visiting are truly spectacular, Cheeky Kiwi Travel believe it is our small groups, our guides, the journey and little details that set our tours apart. Secret stops, wildlife viewings, specially designed vehicles and other pleasant surprises ensure our tours are an experience to remember. Our tours are led by our passionate tour guides, notorious for bringing your journey to life by sharing stories and background knowledge, and run in modern, comfortable minibuses that are packed with extras, ensuring your comfort and safety.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Your tour starts in the stunning city of Queenstown. As we drive out of the city your guide will not only set the scene for your adventure today but also point out and guide you past some of the area’s top highlights.
Departing Queenstown we wind our way around Lake Wakatipu, with amazing views of ‘The Remarkables’ Mountain Range and the lake.
Continuing around the lake we will pass through Devil’s Staircase. This elevated windy part of the road is famous for dramatic photos and setting the scene for the day to come.
After more amazing mountain, river and farmland views we arrive in Te Anau, home to Lake Te Anau, New Zealand’s second largest lake. While in this idyllic town we will stop for a break and maybe meet some of the local animals or wildlife. Continuing along the lake we stop at Te Anau Downs, the starting point for the Milford Track, to hear the stories and admire the views.
Leaving Te Anau and entering Fiordland National Park we stop in Eglinton Valley. With views worthy of Lord of the Rings, this valley follows the path of an ancient glacier through Fiordland. One of the first major attractions as you enter the park, it really sets the scene for a journey that only get more impressive the deeper you get.
Our next stop on this epic adventure is Mirror Lakes for a short stroll to see the famous reflections of the Earl Mountains. Get the right day, take a good picture and no one with be able to tell which way is the right way up for the photo.
Continuing along the Milford Road we come across Lake Gunn. Named after a famous explorer and popular for fishing, often we will stop at Lake Gunn for some photos and to enjoy the peace.
A short drive away we start passing the Hollyford River a gorgeous and powerful river full of large boulders and rapids. Feeding into the river at Falls Creek is the first of our extremely impressive waterfalls of the area, one of many to come.
Climbing in altitude we go deeper into the Darran Mountains and these views require another stop to admire and take photos. We are also entering the area where Kea (the world’s largest alpine parrot) like to live. Start keeping an eye out for these large, cheeky and colourful birds that never fail to thrill and entertain when found.
To make our way back down towards the sea we enter the mind-blowing hand-built Homer Tunnel, hearing the incredible history and stories. Emerging from the tunnel the valley descends sharply towards Milford Sound and on a rainy-day hundreds of waterfalls cascading down the mountain side.
Following the valleys to the sea we arrive at Milford Sound where you will board your cruise with Cruise Milford (the No. 1 Cruise operator in Milford Sound on TripAdvisor).
While on the boat cruise you will be able to marvel at the awe-inspiring Mitre Peak, the iconic Milford Sound mountain, with its steep triangular peak rising high up above the reflective waters of the Milford Sound.
Next we pull over to admire the elevated amazing views of the divide in the Southern Alps, close to the start of the Routeburn Track. While here the guide will tell you the stories of ancient Maori explorers.
Sadly we must start to head back to Queenstown but your day is not over with a fully guided return trip and many stops and breaks along the way.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
*If no pickup is selected at time of booking, you will be allocated our default meeting point (The Station - Home of Adventure). You are welcome to update this at any time. If your location isn’t listed, please choose your nearest available option & meet us there. *Pick-ups can begin up to 20 minutes before the tour departure time, depending on location. To ensure a smooth start, please be ready and waiting outside 5 minutes prior to your specific pickup time. *Pick-up locations are carefully planned for each tour and may vary by day. If your pick-up location changes, kindly inform us in advance. *Our guides make multiple stops and may arrive within a 10-minute window. We are unable to wait for late guests.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Flights are always 'On Request' until confirmed with our partner airline
- Scenic flights cannot be confirmed without full names and weights of all travellers. Scenic flight weight restrictions are 130 KG
- If our regular flight operator is unavailable, we may be able to arrange an alternative operator; however, this could be at an additional cost
- Minimum numbers apply. There is a possibility of cancellation after confirmation if there are not enough passengers to meet requirements. In the event of this occurring, you will be offered an alternative or full refund.
- Due to uneven surfaces, this tour is not recommended for those with walking disabilities or using a wheelchair.
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately.
- Please advise any dietary requirements per person at time of booking
Reviews(3,572)
Abby was our tour guide and driver, and she is an absolute character! She somehow managed to make the very long journey from Queenstown feel light and enjoyable. I loved the soundtrack, the Māori legends, and all the interesting facts she shared along the way. Milford Sound really needs no review — the landscape is absolutely jaw-dropping. Seeing the wildlife along the way, including a seal, cheeky kea birds and even eels, made it even more memorable. Definitely the highlight of my little trip to Aotearoa/New Zealand. Highly recommend this tour, and especially Abby! 🇳🇿
Milford Sound was easily one of the highlights of our trip. Being out on the water surrounded by that scenery was something else; waterfalls everywhere you looked, rainbows, incredible views, and even some wildlife along the way. We got to see seals, penguins and plenty of local birds. I lost count of how many waterfalls we saw! A special shout-out to Abby, our driver and guide for the journey to Milford Sound. She was fantastic; super friendly, positive, an amazing storyteller and made a genuine effort to interact with everyone in the group. She made the drive itself part of the experience, including showing off some pretty impressive stone-skipping skills! Abby, if you are seeing this, thanks for being awesome! The van was really comfortable, the lunch was scrumptious, and the whole day was incredibly enjoyable. Milford Sound is spectacular on its own, but having someone like Abby along for the journey made the experience that much better.
I did this tour with my 21 year old daughter. There were 11 people in our tour group. Our guide Martin was very knowledgeable and kept the commentary going with facts about everything along the way. Even stuff we were told on the cruise, Martin had already told us! He stopped a couple of hours into the trip for people to grab some breakfast and a coffee if they wanted and then at lunchtime we were given great little lunch packs with a sandwich, salad, brownie, pastry, apple and a fruit juice. Then in the afternoon there were snacks supplied for the ride home. He also had bottled water on the bus and sick bags. We stopped along the way for photo ops. Martin is more than happy to take photos for people. The cruise was great, the two men working the cruise (sorry I can't remember their names) were also great. We saw seals and penguins! Comfortable boat, coffee, tea and hot chocolate on board. It's warm inside and spacious. We went very close to the waterfall, closer than the larger boats I saw. I highly recommend this tour. I'm not surprised it has so many great reviews.
amazing experience, Raghav was an amazing tour guide with alot of knowledge and facts about New Zealand which kept the long drive interesting and interactive.
Our guide Raghav was amazing! He was punctual, brought us to beautiful places, made sure we were comfortable. Lunch bags were great! Enough time for each stops! Love that we were a small group.
Fantastic from start to finish. Abbie was a welcoming, informative and knowledgeable guide who kept us entertained for over 12 hours on the tour, Bus was very comfortable, lunch was excellent Weather was beautiful, got to see Kea/ fur seal and penguins , can thoroughly recommend this small group tour and especially Abbie.
Well organised and timed. Knowledgable host, good communication and comfortable travel. Small group and then the smaller boat makes for an enjoyable experience.
Danny was a fantastic tour guide, his knowledge of the area, top photo tips and accompanying sound track made for an enjoyable trip, The excursion itself was amazing, the scenery was spectacular and the boat cruise was epic, getting up close and personal with some of the mountain waterfalls, I feel 10 years younger already!! Danny’s movie soundtrack quiz made the journey home a very competitive one!! Thank you
This experience is a great way to see and going to Milford Sound without having to worry about the drive. It’s a long day trip, so it’s great to leave the driving to a knowledgeable and experienced guide. That left us to focus on enjoying the NZ scenery and learning things from our guide!
Sam was amazing!!!! best time
