Flight Tours Queenstown

Our most popular Milford Sound tour is our Fly-Cruise-Fly.
No trip to the South Island is complete without visiting the breathtakingly beautiful Milford Sound. The fiord itself extends 16km inland from the Tasman Sea, with sheer granite cliffs extending up to 1700m above sea level. Like all the fiords and valleys in the Fiordland National Park, Milford was carved by five different glacier actions during the last great ice age 75,000 to 14,000 years ago. Some glaciers still remain, with the large blue cracking ice-falls providing a stark contrast to the rainforests below.
With between seven and eight metres of rainfall per year, Milford Sound is the wettest place in New Zealand. The lush rainforests cling to the cliff faces while seals, and the occasional dolphins and penguin ply the waters below.
You’ll leave from Queenstown Airport for the Fly-Cruise-Fly Milford Sound tour, with a guaranteed window seat, soaring across three mountain ranges, magnificent alpine valleys, lakes and glaciers into Fiordland National Park, New Zealand’s largest National Park. After arriving overhead Milford Sound, we will descend into the fjord to give you a close up of the features that make up this unique landscape before landing at Milford Sound Airport. Your pilot will escort you to the boat terminal to join our cruise boat partners, on the Gem of the Sound to enjoy a 2hr cruise of the fjord. Your journey will take you out to the Tasman Sea where you’ll encounter some of the wildlife that makes up this region. Expect to see seals and occasionally dolphins and penguins as you pass close to magnificent waterfalls and sheer granite cliffs, while your skipper provides you with a detailed and entertaining commentary of the region and its history. Berthing back at the wharf, you’ll be met by your pilot and escorted back to your awaiting aircraft. After leaving Milford, you’ll climb out over more snow-capped mountains on a different flight path, returning over Lake Wakatipu and descending back into Queenstown.
Our pilots pride themselves on providing an entertaining and knowledgeable commentary covering the entire flight. They love what they do and they will go out of their way to make you feel special on your Milford Sound tour. We can provide courtesy transport to and from your accommodation and Queenstown Airport, and we have free parking available should you choose to drive yourself.
Total tour duration: 4 hours

Pick ups for this tour begin at 07:30am. This tour is approximately 10 hours in duration.
The Coach-Cruise-Fly trip is for those who want to experience the best that Milford Sound has to offer. This trip includes a close-up view of the vegetation of the Eglington Valley, a visit to Te Anau township on the shores of Lake Te Anau and a stop-off at the Mirror Lakes, courtesy of your luxury coach journey through Fiordland National Park to Milford Sound. Upon arrival at your Milford Sound tour, you’ll board the Gem of the Sound Cruise for a leisurely 2hr boat ride along the length of the Sound, beneath the towering granite cliffs and with a dip under Stirling Falls as the boat drifts under the waterfall. On returning to the berth, you’ll be introduced to your pilot who will escort you to your awaiting aircraft for an awe-inspiring flight through the glacier-carved valleys back to Queenstown.
The sheer scale and staggering beauty of Milford can be experienced from a different perspective as the aircraft climbs out over the fjord, returning to Queenstown past majestic peaks, over glacial formed river valleys and waterfalls. You’ll also have a view of the road that you travelled earlier in the day by coach, giving you the full perspective of the vast landscape that makes up the Fiordland and aspiring National Parks. As you arrive back over Lake Wakatipu, you’ll make your descent into Queenstown Airport. On arrival, our ground staff will meet you and arrange your courtesy transport to your accommodation upon completion of the Milford Sound tour.
All seats on the plane are window seats and our pilots provide an interesting and informative commentary.