New Zealand

Fiordland National Park

Region

Fiordland, at around 12,500 square kilometers, is New Zealand's largest national park and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Te Wāhipounamu.

by Felix Gillen

Fiordland, at around 12,500 square kilometers, is New Zealand's largest national park and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Te Wāhipounamu. Fourteen fjords, including Milford and Doubtful Sound, cut deep into mountains covered in rainforest. Te Anau is the gateway for almost all tours.

The park occupies the entire southwest corner of the South Island and is largely undeveloped. Only one road, the Milford Road, leads in. Most travellers stay in Te Anau or Manapouri and from there visit Milford Sound by car or bus, and Doubtful Sound with a combined boat and bus tour. Three Great Walks start in the region: Milford, Kepler, and Routeburn Track. It rains a lot; the main hiking season runs from late October to April. Sandflies are ubiquitous; bring insect repellent.

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Doubtful Sound

The Doubtful Sound, in Māori Patea, is three times longer than Milford Sound and considerably more secluded. It is only accessible via a boat trip across Lake Manapouri and a bus journey over the Wilmot Pass, so fewer visitors share the fjord.

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Manapouri

Manapouri is a small town on the eastern shore of Lake Manapouri, approximately 20 kilometers south of Te Anau. Boats for Doubtful Sound tours depart from Pearl Harbour, and it's also a quieter overnight stay option than Te Anau.

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Milford Sound

Milford Sound, called Piopiotahi in Māori, is New Zealand's best-known fjord and the only one in Fiordland that can be reached by road.

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Te Anau

Situated on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau, the South Island's largest lake, Te Anau is the main base for Fiordland National Park. From here, tours depart for Milford and Doubtful Sound, and the Kepler Track starts at the town's edge.

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Sights in Fiordland National Park

Discover the most important sights and attractions

Attraction

Homer Tunnel

The approximately 1.2-kilometer long, single-lane tunnel through the rock of the Darran Mountains is the bottleneck of the Milford Road. Keas often wait at the eastern portal, don't feed them. The traffic light phases can mean longer waiting times.

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Mirror Lakes

A short wooden boardwalk on the Milford Road leads to small ponds in the Eglinton Valley, in which the Earl Mountains are reflected when there is no wind. The stop takes about ten minutes.

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Essen & Trinken

Pio Pio Restaurant

Cafe and restaurant on the Milford Sound Highway in Milford Sound, near the boat dock.

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Milford Sound Information Center & Cafe

Café in the Freshwater Basin Information Centre, at State Highway 94's end, by the car park and boat terminal. Handy for a coffee or snack before or after your boat ride.

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Nature and History

Glaciers shaped the fjords during the Ice Ages, then the sea flooded the valleys. For the Kāi Tahu, the region was primarily a hunting and gathering ground, hardly permanently settled. Europeans arrived as sealers and whalers, later as explorers and gold miners.Fiordland was declared a National Park in 1952. In the Murchison Mountains, the 'extinct' Takahē was rediscovered in 1948; Department of Conservation programmes now protect endangered birds on predator-free islands off the coast.

Exploring Fiordland

On the Road in FiordlandWithout your own car, you depend on tours. Te Anau is reachable in about two hours from Queenstown, where you'll find a supermarket, petrol stations, and the DOC visitor centre.The Milford Road (SH94) is around 120 km long and has no petrol stationYou can only reach Doubtful Sound by boat via Lake Manapouri and bus via Wilmot PassGreat Walks huts must be booked in advance with DOC during peak season

Round trips through this region

New Zealand South Island Road Trip In-depth

The route leads from Lake Tekapo to Aoraki/Mount Cook, on to Queenstown and Te Anau, then via Wanaka and Haast Pass to the West Coast glaciers. From Te Anau, it’s just over two hours’ drive to Milford Sound; Wanaka to Franz Josef is about four hours.

15 Days

6 stops

Nearby

Doubtful Sound

Te Anau

Manapouri

Milford Sound

Milford Sound, called Piopiotahi in Māori, is New Zealand's best-known fjord and the only one in Fiordland that can be reached by road. Steep rock walls, the 1,692-meter-high Mitre Peak and waterfalls such as Stirling Falls shape the roughly 15-kilometer-long inlet.

Glenorchy

Glenorchy is located at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu, a 45-minute drive from Queenstown, at the entrance to the Dart and Rees Valleys. The town is a starting point for the Routeburn Track and the backdrop for numerous film scenes, including from The Lord of the Rings trilogy.