Milford Sound Tours - 10 Things to Be Aware Of When Choosing
- The Luxe Team
- Jul 16, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 13
A Milford Sound tour will be a highlight of your journey to Fiordland in New Zealand. Rain or shine, the fjord on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island is one of the world's must see destinations.
A tour to Milford Sound is a common mode of transport and as many of our other articles explain - the journey is equally as beautiful and full of wonder as the destination. Therefore, it is crucially important to choose the right tour for you. In this article, we break down 10 things to look out for and help guide your decision of which Milford Sound tour you will take.
1 - "We do 20 stops on the way the way to Milford Sound."
The road to Milford Sound is 120km long from Te Anau and 288km from Queenstown. You can do a tour from either Te Anau or Queenstown, with a Te Anau departure offering more time on the Milford Road due to its closer proximity to Milford Sound.
The road has a lot of winding corners and travelling at the road speed limit of 100km the whole way is not possible. It takes about 2-hours from Te Anau and 4-hours from Queenstown if you were to drive with no stops. But you want to do all the best stops, of which there are about seven great and very popular stops, with then a few extras such as waterfalls that local guides might know about.
However, there are some Milford Sound tours stating "we do up to 20 photo stops during our tour".
It is possible, but it takes two hours to drive to Milford, followed by a two hour cruise and then two hours back to Te Anau. With passenger loading, unloading, some stops that have walks and then the remaining stops, which you would spend 5-10 mins at each, it becomes either a very, very long day, or a blitz of rushing from place to place. Neither is that enjoyable.
If you are coming from Queenstown, the longer travel distance means there is less time for stops along the Milford Road. You can still expect around 10 photo stops, depending on the tour operator, along with the drive and cruise.
Tours from Te Anau have more time to explore the road at a relaxed pace, but a Queenstown departure is a great option if you're based there and want to see Milford Sound without needing to relocate.
Recommendation: There are about seven great photo stops that aren't to be missed, and then about five others that we at Luxe Tours think are great too. Beyond that, it's too many and you will come to regret the start/stop nature of your tour.
2 - What is your guide's experience in Fiordland?
All good Milford Sound tours are led by knowledgeable and passionate guides. What makes a great Milford Sound guide isn't necessarily where they're from, but how much time they've spent exploring Fiordland. The best guides will have spent considerable time on the Milford Road and in the national park, building up local knowledge of the wildlife, geology, and hidden spots that make the journey special.
At Luxe Tours, our guides have spent extensive time exploring Fiordland and travelling the Milford Road. This hands-on experience means they know the best stops in any weather, where to spot wildlife, and the stories behind the landscapes you'll pass through.
Recommendation: A guide who knows Fiordland well can make a real difference to your tour. Look for a tour operator whose guides have spent extensive time exploring the area.
Learn more about our local tour & guides below 👇
3 - Time of departure.
There is a sweet spot of when to depart Te Anau for Milford Sound and we recommend it being around 9am.
If you are coming on a Milford Sound tour from Queenstown, you will usually depart between 6:30am and 7:30am (and return around 7:30pm - 8:30pm).
There are tours from Te Anau that depart as late as 11am for a cruise in Milford Sound at 1:30pm. This leaves very little time to enjoy the Milford Road which has many spectacular locations to get out of the vehicle and enjoy.
Recommendation: Find a tour departing Te Anau between 8am - 10am or a tour departing Queenstown between 6:30am - 8:00am.
4 - Is the price fair?
We run a tour business, we know the margins.
You should expect in 2025/26 to pay between $269 - $379 for large and small group Milford Sound tours departing from Te Anau, and $299 - $449 for a Queenstown departure.
On top of this, there will likely be options to add food/lunch packages.
Typically you can expect to pay a bit more, usually $20 - $40, for a small group tour as in recent history these have become more popular and of course there are less guests onboard.
They offer a more hands on guided journey to Milford Sound and less crowds as you explore at each stop along the Milford Road.
5 - The scenery is the same no matter the tour.
We suggest not getting too hung up on which Milford Sound tour to take, the main reason being that the road into Milford Sound is the same one that every tour and every visitor will experience. There is no other road access to Milford Sound.
This means that on the same day, at roughly the same time, you are going to see out the window what a visitor in the bus or coach in front of you is seeing.
There are other things to look out for when choosing a tour, such as the mentioned cost, time of departure, amount of stops and the one below - What type of vehicle does the tour operate?
Recommendation: On almost every Milford Sound tour, you are going to see and experience very similar scenery and locations as to others. Some tours will have a few extras but don't stress too much about the main sights.
Here is our Luxe Tours Milford Sound Tour from Queenstown and Te Anau
6 - What type of vehicle does the tour operate?
If you think you would prefer a larger group tour which would typically be in a large bus, then there isn't too much difference across the buses, apart from perhaps leather seats versus frabric, or a window top ceiling versus none.
When it comes to small group tour, the most common vehicle operated is a Mercedes Sprinter, ranging from a 12 - 18 seat configuration. Seats can be leather or fabric, some coaches will have USB charging, some will advertise WiFi (more on that later) some maybe even a group entertainment screen.
One thing we think you should look out for is how truly spacious the van is. Many tours claim they have spacious seating when in reality it is no better than economy on an airline.
Remember you may be spending up to 9 hours in this vehicle if you are going on a Milford Sound tour from Queenstown.
Recommendation: The vehicle is what you are going to spend between four - nine hours in depending on your departure point, don't be afraid to enquire with the tour operator as to what they have.
Do you prefer tours with few people or larger groups?
0%Small Group
0%Large Group
7 - "WiFi onboard our vehicle."
Some Milford Sound tour operators have WiFi available in their vehicle for the journey. The problem with this is unless it is Starlink, which in most cases it isn't, the WiFi will only be in range for about 10% of the Milford Road between Te Anau and Milford Sound.
There is 4G available, which tours then tap off, in Te Anau, Te Anau Downs, Eglinton Valley, Mirror Lakes, Knobs Flat, Homer Tunnel and then Milford Sound. Around these locations, you will have about 2- 4km of 4G/WiFi available, then it will go dark again.
In our opinion it is not something that changes the dial between which Milford Sound tour you take. Part of the Milford experience is the disconnection from technology and time in nature.
Recommendation: Having WiFi onboard is not effective between Te Anau and Milford Sound and we believe it is not something that should be a deciding factor in choosing a Milford Sound tour.
8 - You might miss out with Booking Sites.
Tripadvisor and other large booking sites such as Get Your Guide are fantastic for finding Milford Sound tours and working your way through what might suit you in one place.
However we have found that we are limited as a tour operator on what we can offer for two reasons:
These booking sites charge a commission to the tour operator for having someone book a ticket through their site. This can range from 15% - 30%. This means some tours cannot always be offered through the platform because the operators margin is similar or smaller to the commission.
These platforms have limited capability in being able to add extra's such as food options or tour add-ons.
You may get onto your tour, only to find out that you had an option to do something extra and have missed out.
We highly recommend in all instances, going to the tour operators own website and checking what might be available.
It is also great to book directly with the operator as they then receive all of the tour price! Most tour businesses, especially in Te Anau, are locally owned so support local!
Recommendation: Always check the tour operators website to see all possible tour options and support the business directly if possible.
9 - Does the operator have other tour packages?
There can be an advantage in finding and booking a Milford Sound tour where the operator has their add-on options, some of which may include:
Milford Sound Helicopter Tour
Milford Sound Plane flight
Other tours in Fiordland
Special package discounts
If you book a combined package of a couple of tours, not only are you likely to get a discount overall, but also those packages are likely to offer a really good highlights itinerary so you see the best of this area.
10 - Is the Milford Sound tour eco-friendly or sustainable?
Te Anau, Milford Sound and Fiordland are beautiful places that have vibrant, wild and active eco-systems that are important to New Zealand and the world. Protecting them as best as possible is crucial.
There is no hiding that tours are the biggest emitters of carbon poullution in Fiordland but some tours have ways of offsetting this to create an equal benefit back to the enviornment.
For example at Luxe Tours, all of our onboard packaging, paper, cups, waterbottles, is all either compostable or recylable. We have an internal composting system for all our waste. We also plant a native tree for every booking that travels with us which over the next 20 years will well and truly cover that guests portion of the tour.
Recommendation: The little things matter, aim to leave no footprint behind. Look for a Milford Sound tour that is working hard to benefit the area.
