Just keep in mind, they don’t reach the highlights you can access by air. Valley walks offer a taste of the glacier at a much cheaper rate, and are popular with families bringing children. A helicopter flight with an ice walk, an ice-climbing experience, or a valley walk. Prices don’t vary a lot between the two glaciers, and both offer similar styles of trips.Many Franz Josef tours include tickets to the Glacier Hot Pools, which are fed from the glacier itself and are a great way to relax those tired muscles. You’ll want some relaxation time afterward. Devote a good half-day to any tour that takes you to see the ice proper. The lookout over the Fox Glacier face is approximately 30 minutes walk along the valley from the nearest carpark, while the equivalent Franz Josef walk takes almost an hour. So if you have a car and aren’t planning on a helicopter tour, ice walk, or ice climb, it’s easy to visit the faces of both glaciers in one day. Fox Glacier is located approximately 20 kilometres southwest of Franz Josef.There are, however some key differences to help your planning. Because they do offer a similar experience, many New Zealand tours will only stop at one, and it’s easy to confuse the two if you don’t know New Zealand. Both are jaw-droppingly beautiful, both have picturesque valley walks that take you up to their faces, and both are serviced by nearby townships offering accommodation and tours. They are Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier, New Zealand’s most famous rivers of ice. However, two big attractions stand out, making their impossibly slow crawl down to the mountains to the rocky coastline.

Easily reached from New Zealand travel hubs like Christchurch, Queenstown, or even Wellington on the North Island, the Coast includes many South Island highlights including Haast Pass and the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. Stretching roughly from Abel Tasman National Park in the north, to Otago and Fjordland in the south, this is one of the world’s most impressive drives. No New Zealand vacation to the South Island is complete without two or three days exploring the West Coast. Once across the road the track winds its way easily up the valley through lush rainforest with abundant birdlife. The track crosses the Lake Wombat Walk just minutes from the road crossing – take care at this intersection also, cyclists watch for walkers crossing! Views of the mountains and upper valley are possible at times as you head up the valley.Ĭyclists must leave their bikes at the bike rack at the end of Te Ara a Waiau – there is no bike access on any other tracks in the area.See what to expect when you travel on a New Zealand vacation and visit the glaciers of the West Coast.

Keep off the road lanes.Īpproaching the Rata Grove, a gravel track heads into the forest on the left hand side of the road for a short time, before re-emerging from the forest and crossing the Glacier Valley Access Road. Take care to give way to all traffic and cross carefully. The track then runs along the left hand edge of the Glacier Access Road for approximately 1.7 km on a sealed lane marked for walkers and cyclists. Pick up the track on the right hand side of the road outside the Westland Tai Poutini National Park Visitor Centre, before crossing and then going under the Waiho River bridge. Cyclist on Te Ara a Waiau Walkway/Cycleway

Franz josef glacier walk