Prices
A Milford Sound flight and cruise starts at $431 for return flights by light aircraft plus a two-hour cruise on the fiord. Our top pick is $454. Above about $777 you are no longer buying more fiord — you are buying a helicopter, and a helicopter can land in places a plane cannot.
Quick answer
The cheapest combination here is $431, and it carries 1,831 reviews — more than every other listing on this page put together. Our top pick is $454 for four and a half hours. Helicopter versions run from $777 to $1,057. For comparison, the coach day from Queenstown costs about a third as much and takes twelve to thirteen hours instead of four and a half.
Every trip, current fare
Ordered by fare. The cost-per-hour column is the one that settles arguments, because a four-hour trip and a nine-hour one are not the same product sold at two prices.
| Trip | Length | Price | How | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queenstown: Milford Sound Flight and CruiseFly in, cruise the fiord, fly out — four and a half hours | 4h 30m | $454 | Fly both ways | $100.89 | 4.9 · 322 |
| From Queenstown: Milford Sound Full-Day Trip by Plane & BoatThe cheapest way to fly both ways, 1,831 reviews | 5 h | $431 | Fly both ways | $86.20 | 4.9 · 1,831 |
| Wanaka: Milford Sound Glacier Flight & Scenic Nature CruiseFrom Wanaka, over the glaciers and Mt Aspiring | 4h 30m | $454 | Fly both ways | $100.89 | 4.9 · 86 |
| Queenstown: Milford Sound Cruise & Scenic FlightFour hours, award-winning operator | 4 h | $458 | Fly both ways | $114.50 | 4.8 · 128 |
| From Queenstown: Milford Sound Flight and Nature CruiseA small-boat nature cruise, family-run | 4h 30m | $486 | Fly both ways | $108.00 | 5 · 278 |
| From Queenstown: Milford Sound Coach, Cruise, Scenic FlightRoad in, fly home — nine hours | 9 h | $512 | Road one way | $56.89 | 4.7 · 141 |
| Glenorchy | Milford Sound Helicopter Tour & Scenic CruiseHelicopter from Glenorchy, both ways | 4 h | $777 | Fly both ways | $194.25 | New |
| Milford Sound Extended Helicopter Flight & 3 LandingsThree landings, including the beach at the Tasman Sea | 2h 30m | $806 | With a landing | $322.40 | 4.9 · 39 |
| Queenstown: Milford Sound Cruise & Helicopter Alpine TourCruise plus an alpine landing by helicopter | 4 h | $808 | With a landing | $202.00 | 4.9 · 196 |
| Queenstown: Milford Sound Cruise with Helicopter TransferHelicopter both ways with the cruise between | 4 h | $918 | Fly both ways | $229.50 | 5 · 34 |
| Milford Sound Heli-Cruise-Heli | 4.5-Hour Scenic ExperienceHeli, cruise, heli — with an alpine landing | 4h 30m | $953 | With a landing | $211.78 | 5 · 5 |
| Queenstown: Milford Sound Cruise + Return Helicopter FlightRoad out, helicopter home over the fiord | 9h 30m | $1,057 | Road one way | $111.26 | 5 · 1 |
What the money buys
Both legs, plane or helicopter, and whether it lands.
Whether you fly both legs. The cheapest combinations fly you in and out; the dearest and the mid-priced ones sometimes drive one leg. Driving a leg saves money and costs you four to five hours, because the road is 288 km each way.
Plane or helicopter. This is the single biggest jump on the table. A light aircraft costs from $431; a helicopter from $777. The helicopter is not faster and does not see more fiord — it can land.
Whether it lands on the way. Three listings put down on a beach at the mouth of the fiord, on a snowfield, or on an alpine ridge above it. No road and no boat reaches any of those places.
Notice what is not on the list: the cruise. Every combination here includes about two hours on the water, and the cruise is very similar whichever aircraft brought you.
What the headline fare does not always include
None is ruinous. All of them surprise people at check-in.
Most listings include a pickup from Queenstown town centre, but not all. Check the listing rather than assuming.
Some combinations feed you on the boat and some do not. On a four-and-a-half-hour trip that matters less than people expect; on a nine-hour one it matters a great deal.
Not a charge, but a constraint. Seats are assigned by weight, and some operators apply a surcharge above a stated figure. It is on the listing.
Fiordland weather moves flights. Operators rebook rather than refund, but if you have no spare day you may end up taking a refund instead of the trip.
The fiord is cold on the water even in January, and the boats have open decks. Nobody budgets for buying a jacket in Queenstown.
Book direct
The cheapest, our top pick, the cheapest helicopter and the helicopter that flies both legs.
★ 4.9 · 1,831 reviews
★ 4.9 · 322 reviews
★ 5 · 34 reviews
Cost per hour
Five hours is cheaper per hour than four and a half.
Divide the fare by the hours and the table rearranges itself. $431 for five hours works out at about $86.20 an hour, which is the cheapest time on this page. $454 for four and a half hours is about $100.89. The helicopter listings sit between $194 and $230 an hour.
That is a fair comparison between the fixed-wing combinations, which are genuinely doing the same thing at different lengths. It is not a fair comparison against the helicopters, because what a helicopter sells is not hours — it is the ability to stop somewhere.
The road tours look absurdly cheap on the same measure, and they are: twelve to thirteen hours for a fraction of any Milford Sound flight and cruise fare. They are also twelve to thirteen hours, and they never leave the ground.
Three ways people overpay
None of these is the operator’s fault.
If landing on a ridge is not the point, $431 shows you the same fiord and the same Alps.
The saving is real and the cost is half a day. Work out what that half day is worth before you book.
Fiordland moves flights. A trip that cannot be rescheduled becomes a refund, and a refund is not what you came for.
Common questions
From $431 a person for return flights and a two-hour cruise. Our top pick is $454.
Because a helicopter can land on a beach, a snowfield or an alpine ridge on the way. A fixed-wing aircraft cannot land in any of those places at any price.
Yes, on every listing on this page. That is what makes them combinations rather than scenic flights.
Much cheaper, and it takes twelve to thirteen hours instead of four and a half. We list the coach prices for comparison but we do not sell them.
Less than you would expect. What changes is availability — January is the month that sells out.
Usually a pickup from central Queenstown is, but it varies by operator. It is stated on each listing.
In short
The floor, our pick, and where helicopters start.
$431. The floor, and the most proven listing in the niche: 1,831 reviews behind the cheapest Milford Sound flight and cruise on the page.
$454. Our top pick, and thirty minutes shorter. Any Milford Sound flight and cruise between these two prices is buying you minutes rather than scenery.
$777. Where the helicopters start. Above this line a Milford Sound flight and cruise stops being a scenic flight and becomes something that can land on a ridge.
Everything else on the table sits between those three points. If you remember nothing else about the pricing, remember that the jumps are caused by the aircraft and by the landings, never by more fiord.
Four questions that decide your budget
In this order, because each one narrows the field.
Then you want a helicopter, and the cheapest Milford Sound flight and cruise that does it is $777.
If not, $512 drives one leg and flies the other for nine hours.
Then $431 with 1,831 reviews, rather than our top pick with 322.
Then $454 is the same fare and a better route in.
In short
Evidence, or minutes, or the ability to land.
Pay $431 if you want the most proven Milford Sound flight and cruise in the niche.
Pay $454 if you want the shortest of the good ones.
Pay $777 or more only if you want a helicopter, and understand that you are buying the ability to land rather than more fiord.
Go deeper
Twelve combinations, and the four worth your money.
Road or airTwelve hours of coach against four and a half in the air.
Heli or planeWhat each one can do that the other cannot.
LandingsBeach, snow and alpine ridge — the stops no road reaches.
BookingWeights, weather rules and what sells out.
When to goMilford has 182 rain days a year, and that is the point.
Queenstown: Milford Sound Flight and Cruise
★ 4.9 · 322 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h