Discover the best of New Zealand’s natural beauty on this small-group 4-hour Franz Joseph Glacier walk. Travel by helicopter to the Pinnacles area of the glacier with your guide. Navigate your way through the maze of ice on your moderately difficult hike. Learn of the dramatic environmental changes affecting the glacier and gain insight into the geological forces at play. Afterwards, take a soak in the hot pools to warm up and soothe your muscles. Group size is limited to 11 to ensure a personalized experience.
Choose from four different morning departure times to suit your schedule, then head to the centrally located tour base in Franz Josef to meet your guide. Wrap up against the elements with the protective jacket, trousers, hats, gloves and leather boots provided, and don’t forget to grab your crampons! When you’re fully kitted out, head to your helicopter and start your journey with a short flight up onto the Franz Josef Glacier.
Enjoy breathtaking views of the glacier and surrounding area from your vantage point high in the sky, then land gently on the glacier and set off with your guide. An amazing sight to behold, there are forests of ice formations jutting out at different angles from the mighty glacier .
Follow your experienced guide through the maze of ice as you explore the magnificent natural landscape. Discover first-hand the dramatic environmental changes that are affecting the glacier and gain insight into the amazing geological forces at play.
At the conclusion of your glacier hike, return to Franz Josef by helicopter and relax with a soak in the Glacier Hot Pools. Nestled in a lush rainforest on the edge of town, the hot pools are fed by pure glacier water. Sit back, relax and rejuvenate your muscles in the soothing water — the perfect way to end the day in style!
Außergewöhnlich!!!_br/_ Tolle Besatzung, super Flug! Wir haben uns jederzeit sicher gefühlt. Empfehlenswert! Der Ablauf war Problemlos und sehr professionell. Es war eine atemberaubende Erfahrung mit einem Helikopter auf einem Gletscher zu landen. Wir hatten genug Zeit um tolle Fotos zu schießen und uns von unserem tollen Piloten die Landschaft erklären zu lassen. Sehr zu empfehlen!!! _br/_ Wir würden jederzeit wieder fliegen._br/_ Der Flug auf den Gletscher war eines der schönsten Unternehmungen die wir je gemacht haben. Wir hatten schönstes Wetter und tolle Sicht auf Gletscher und schneebedeckte Gipfel. Ein muss in Neuseeland....
Review by: Crysann I, February 2018
Hands down the best tour I have been on! The glacier was amazing! Our guide, Justin did a great job keeping us all entertained and telling us about the glacier! The equipment they provide was clean and in excellent condition.
Review by: Ei S, February 2018
Awesome. Totally worth it.
Review by: Paul S, January 2018
Wow!! What an adventure. This was a great excursion. The helicopter ride was about 10-15 minutes and then 3 hours on the ice. Don't be afraid of walking on ice and through crevasses. The guide was helpful and started slowly so everyone became comfortable walking with crampons. Highly recommend this excursion.
Review by: yarwain, January 2018
It's not my first glacier and I can say it was really amazing! The track on the glacier was really interesting, including walking inside the glacier and watching a lot of stunning views. Strongly recommended.
Review by: UpieNguyen ., December 2017
Really fun. Worth it. What's not amazing about taking a helicopter up on a glacier and walking around. The pools, which are included, were busy but you have 24h to use the voucher. I would say try to get on the glacier asap during your stay in Franz Josef.
Review by: tjfoster22, December 2017
I was in New Zealand for 9 days and this was my favorite part of the trip. The guides were great and the hike really made you appreciate the enormity of the glacier. We trekked through some crevices in the ice that allowed you to see the inside of the glacier. All in all it was definitely worth the money.
Review by: Silvana M, November 2017
Não foi possível fazer o passeio por causa do mal tempo. Não posso avaliar, não fiz o passeio. tenho de pedir o ressarcimento do valor pago a VIATOR.
Review by: rclaeys, October 2017
Great experience. Tour guide was awesome. The thermal pools at the end were great as well especially if the temperatures are a little cooler. Don't forget to drink some of the glacier water that is running either.
Review by: Kristen S, May 2017
First I have to say that we were supposed to do a helihike but were not able to due to weather. This was a huge disappointment, and although we knew weather could cancel the helihike, I wish we had known that it happens quite frequently. We questioned whether it was worth it if we could only get within 700 meters of the glacier. It was definitely worth taking the valley walk! It was still cool to see the glacier and it felt closer than I thought it would. The walk was beautiful, with rushing water, the mountains, waterfalls, and rain forest. It's not that the walk wasn't good, but, It is worth noting that you can take this walk for free, even parking your car in the same car park our bus dropped us off in. I'm not sure we learned anymore from our guide either than we could have just by reading the signs posted at the walk. We also had to go at the pace of the group, although they did break us into 2 groups when we got off the bus, a fast and a slow group, in the end we had to wait for everyone before we could leave. We had some stragglers. Pros of paying for group: hot chocolate when you arrive at glacier access to hot pools afterwards is included in fee they provide rain gear and boots great IF the weather is bad. The hot pools are just large hot tubs, although they are set beautifully outside, they aren't anything special. The facilities for changing were excellent: clean, large, showers, lockers. You can also pay to do just the hot pools.
Review by: Analise O, April 2017
Everything about this walk was excellent! The pilot, the guide, the staff preparing the glacier. And of course, how amazing to be walking on a glacier and squeezing between blue ice crevices!
Review by: David S, February 2017
We were so lucky having a cloudless sky for our visit. We had 3 hours on the glacier and had no problems with the crampons etc. The crawl through the ice cave was different and exciting.
Review by: Andrey G, January 2017
We had a great time on the walk and our guide Andrew was excellent. He told us stories about how the glacier got its Maori and English names, told us about the features of the glacier, and guided us through some tricky portions with patience and good advice. He also had a great sense of humor. It's amazing being on the glacier, and we were lucky to get a chance to do so due to good weather it was raining on previous days. Highly recommend going if you're moderately physically fit.
Review by: Jonathan S, December 2016
Good experience. Fun hike!!
Review by: matthewjohndunn86, December 2016
Guide was passionate and informative. Overall great experience and highly recommend!
Review by: d.m., October 2016
This was absolutely amazing. The views were great and wandering around a glacier was a very unique and fun experience.
Review by: SHARUL NAKHODA, October 2016
Nathan Russell our glacier guide was awesome and he gave above and beyond service for our family of 4, and the glacier terrains were spectacular. Cheers
Review by: donovanplusmonica, October 2016
This tour was amazing! From the helicopter to our tour guide Nathan! We had such a great time exploring the glacier ! Highly recommended. The hot pools at the end were a nice finish as well.
Review by: janjazz16, September 2016
The walk was amazing and the guide was very informative
Review by: Natasha S, August 2016
Amazing trip! From the helicopter ride there to walking around! I would recommend this to everyone. With a small group i can only imagine that it's a quicker trip around the glacier than it would be with a larger group. We had a few slower walkers which worked out well for us because we were up front and got to stop and enjoy the scenery. Our guide, George, was awesome and he made it fun too!
Review by: Kirsty G, July 2016
Tour was great same with your guide nick!
Review by: yi ming L, June 2016
Great tour guides and extremely informative. Awesome experience. Only real way to experience the glaciers.
Review by: Varun A, June 2016
Wonderful experience walking on the glacier. Snow all around. We had great fun. Weather was awesome and we really enjoyed it :
Review by: Miss K. D, April 2016
I loved the glacier soo much!!! It was amazing experience, definitely recommended!
Review by: Karis C, April 2016
Loved it....so much better seeing it up close than from the bottom at the valley walk. Glad I went on the 2nd morning flight group as there was less people traffic up on the walk. We didn't see other groups til the very end. Short helicopter ride was fun and 3 hrs on the ice was perfect. Fairly easy hike for this low-moderate fit girl, but a few steeper areas that might be hard for someone with bad knees. Next time I want to do the ice climbing to get closer to the serac and have a more challenging hike. Adam was a great guide! _br/_ This activity is entirely weather dependent as rain isn't uncommon there so it's luck of the draw. Glad I prebooked knowing I could get a refund thru viator if weather cancellation bc it was raining badly when I arrived to town but sunny and gorgeous the day of the helicopter-hike and all tours were sold out so there were some disappointed tourists.
Review by: chef.monty1330, March 2016
What an awesome adventure
Review by: Kelly S, November 2015
Great experience! Awesome helicopter flight up to the glacier, knowledgable and entertaining guides, gorgeous scenery! Everyone should go on this glacier walk!
Review by: Pam R, November 2015
What a unique and wonderful experience. A must do if you visit Queenstown.
Review by: Tzu-Ying K, September 2015
Amazing!
Review by: Tzu-ting H, September 2015
glacier walk was awesome and great experiece
Review by: Phil L, September 2015
The tour was as advertised, we felt it was well organised and the glacier leader, Nick, was professional and very good as a leader._br/_ The only problem we experienced was the requirement for us the print the e-mailed voucher. As a tourist travelling internationally, we had no access to a printer and could not understand the requirement for the printed voucher as the reception desk already had our details._br/_ Otherwise, a very enjoyable experience.
Review by: jagdish P, July 2015
A must do . A word of caution- You have to be moderately fit - I am 60 Years and found the steps and slopes a bit steep - will do it again if I get an opportunity. We visited in in Mid April and had to extend our stay by a day as the weather was bad on the day we originally scheduled the trip.
Review by: Ram, June 2015
The glacier walk was awesome amd enjoyed whole of 3hrs in ice. The tour group and guide were very friendly and amazing experience. Initially the day we planned the tour was cancel due to bad weather but they arranged it to next day same time. Check for climate before booking the tour.
Review by: Darren W, June 2015
Great fun! Our guide Rob was fantastic - very knowledgeable and made the trip more enjoyable with his stories along the way. The helicopter trip to the glacier was outstanding, as was the trek itself. Plenty of time on the glacier to explore. The service from these guys is A
Review by: Linda S, June 2015
Fantastic experience
Review by: CHIA-YU C, June 2015
very very lovely
Review by: Anthy C, May 2015
This tour was great itself, however, the booking system of Viator isn't synchronised to the suppliers available time slots. Our tour was meant to depart at 8:15 am (as what we have chosen on the Viator website), but we ended up departing at 12pm, which delayed all our upcoming events... :/
Review by: Mai- Quan W, March 2015
Absolutely amazing! Views to die for! Guides are friendly and helpful. highly recommended and well worth the price.
Review by: Stanley O, March 2015
We did this trip with 4 people and enjoyed it immensely .From check in time at the office this tour is very professionally run,the office staff that fit you out with the climbing gear, the helicopter pilot,ground staff at the helipad and of course our wonderful guide for the day.
Review by: Graham A, March 2015
Absolutely Spectacular - The experience of a lifetime.
Review by: Shail M, March 2015
Helicopter ride was fantastic. Really appreciated our Kiwi guide - seemed more authentic (Maori pronunciation and all). _br/_
Weather was perfect on the day. Great trip all up - highlight of our travels.
Review by: Loraine W, March 2015
Amazing tour, beautiful scenery, knowledgeable and friendly guide. A great adventure.
Review by: mandgsto, February 2015
Only disappointment was not seeing more of the glacier from the helicopter. Excellent guides. Quite demanding physically. Colours and ice froms amazing. Well worthwhile.
Review by: Kelly L, February 2015
The leaflets and poster and videos give you false expectations. It seemed long when you are up there and just climbing with very few stops. You get the impression of seeing blue and white pristine ice and glaciers but all you see is muddy,gritty and ice that has been churned up with thousands of boots trekking through it. The ice cave we saw....well I hardly would call it that. It took a few seconds to get through it and compared to what the leaflets and videos invite you to see there was nothing that exciting up there at all. The guide was informative and knowledgeable and loves his job. But overall I would not recommend or do it again myself. The Heli-hike we did 2 years previous was amazing and worth every penny.
Review by: Kit Yan W, January 2015
The trip was amazing! Couch Tom is professional!
Review by: Christopher C, January 2015
Unfortunately bad weather cancelled our helicopter flight but our guide, Cliff, was upbeat and enthusiastic nonetheless! We did the glacier walk. The wet-weather gear was excellent and Cliff's informative and witty commentary made our day. Amazing views of the glacier itself. A great way to discover the natural beauty of Fox Glacier. Chris and Sarah, UK.
Review by: Martin O, December 2014
Pricey but sure worth the money spent. Short 5-10min heli flight, couple of hours on the ice. There are several groups that offer this tour but the glacier is big enough for everyone to enjoy in their own respective areas. When you check in, make sure you're in the correct line, there are a few operators immediately next to each other. Knowledgeable and approachable staff, educational experience and also physically engaging. One member of our group knee problems and couldn't continue. I would suggest doing an early flight before winds/weather pick up. Alas, weather is never guaranteed, so can come down to luck and timing. It was a great experience one of the top highlights of our trip, highly recommended.
Review by: Jezz, December 2014
This tour was amazing!
Review by: Michaela M, September 2014
Great guide (Jagged rocked), great weather, unforgettable scenery. Walking on blue ice is truly magical! The organisation was fantastic, worth every $$$ spent.
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