Fourteen helicopter flights, five departure points and one decision that comes before all the others: which part of the South Island you are standing in. Franz Josef puts you on a glacier in twenty minutes. Queenstown puts you on an alpine ridge above a lake. Mount Cook flies you under the highest mountain in the country. Pick your town with the switch below and the page shows only the flights that leave from it — from $167 to $687.
From, per person
14 flights compared$167
And Queenstown to Milford Sound and back is $687
Average rating
Across all 14 flights4.8 ★
Across 3,590 verified reviews
Time in the air
The number that sets the price20–90 min
Twenty minutes to a snow landing, ninety to Milford Sound and back
Everything you can book here
Fourteen flights from five towns, cheapest first. Use the switch to show only the ones that leave from where you are staying — that single filter removes most of the confusion, because a flight from Queenstown and a flight from Franz Josef are not alternatives to each other. They are different mountains.
★ 4.8 · 233 reviews
★ 4.9 · 18 reviews
★ 4.9 · 190 reviews
★ 4.7 · 514 reviews
★ 4.9 · 305 reviews
★ 4.8 · 693 reviews
★ 5.0 · 93 reviews
★ 4.7 · 402 reviews
★ 4.9 · 527 reviews
★ 4.7 · 356 reviews
★ 4.1 · 9 reviews
★ 4.7 · 11 reviews
★ 4.9 · 225 reviews
★ 5.0 · 14 reviews
Two questions
Fourteen flights from five towns, and they are really three flights with different names. Twenty minutes onto a glacier, twenty-five under Aoraki, or forty-five and up into Fiordland. Pick what matters and the page picks the flight.
See it before you pay for it
Three things, depending entirely on where you lift off: a glacier that comes down almost to the rainforest, the highest mountain in the country with its glacier field behind it, or a fiord where the cliffs go straight into the sea.
Side by side
Every helicopter tour in New Zealand is one of three flights wearing different names, and which one you can take depends on which town you are in. Twenty minutes onto a glacier from the West Coast. Twenty-five under Aoraki from the Mackenzie. Forty-five or more into Fiordland from Queenstown or Te Anau.
Swipe the table sideways →
| MOST BOOKEDFranz Josef Glacier: Helicopter Flight & Alpine Landing | Mount Cook: Scenic Helicopter Flight with Alpine Landing | Milford Sound Scenic Helicopter Flight with Landings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per person | $216 | $207 | $687 |
| Time in the air | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 90 minutes |
| Cost per minute | $10.80 | $8.28 | $7.63 |
| Lands | On the glacier | In the alpine zone | Twice |
| Departs from | Franz Josef | Mount Cook | Queenstown |
| What you see | The glacier icefall and the neve above it | Aoraki and the alpine zone beneath it | The Southern Alps, Fiordland and Milford Sound |
| Whole visit | About 90 minutes | About 90 minutes | About 3 hours |
| Rating | 4.8 · 693 | 4.7 · 514 | 5.0 · 14 |
| Best for | A first flight, and the evidence | Seeing the island itself | The longest time in the air |
| Book this one→ | Check dates | Check dates |
Free cancellation up to 24 h · Reserve now, pay later
Verdict
Twenty minutes from Franz Josef township, over temperate rainforest and then straight onto the ice, with an alpine landing in the middle of it — and 693 ratings at 4.8 behind it, which is more evidence than any other helicopter flight in New Zealand on this page. The one reason to book something else is geography: if you are staying in Queenstown or the Mackenzie, fly from there instead.
Check dates and availability→Before you book
Four flights on this page carry more than three hundred ratings each, and two carry fewer than fifteen. That does not make the newer listings bad — but a score from nine people tells you very little, and a score from 693 tells you a great deal. Read both numbers before you decide.
Two-minute check
Fourteen flights from five towns, twenty to ninety minutes in the air, and the listings describe them in almost identical language. Three answers narrow it to one: which town you are staying in, whether landing on snow matters, and how long you want to be flying.
Where are you staying?This decides which flights you can take at all
What are you willing to spend?Per person, per flight
How long do you want to be in the air?The advertised minutes are flying time, not the visit
You'll get the flight that fits your answers, the thing about it that catches people out, and an honest word about how much evidence its rating rests on.
Six kinds of flight
Ratings are the operators’ own numbers on GetYourGuide, shown exactly as published. We do not write reviews and we do not average other people’s into a score of our own. Four flights here carry more than three hundred ratings each; two are newer listings with a handful, and we say which is which.
★★★★★
Based on 3,590
verified reviews
All fourteen flights on this page, rated by the people who took them on GetYourGuide.
Read all 3,590→Franz Josef Glacier: Helicopter Flight & Alpine Landing
From $216 · 693 reviews
★★★★★
Twenty minutes from Franz Josef township onto the glacier, with an alpine landing in the middle. 693 reviews at 4.8 — more evidence than any other helicopter flight in New Zealand on this page.
Queenstown: Remarkables Helicopter Flight & Alpine Landing
From $167 · cheapest here
★★★★★
Twenty minutes over the Remarkables above Lake Wakatipu with an alpine landing, and the cheapest helicopter flight on this page. 233 reviews at 4.8.
Mount Cook: Scenic Helicopter Flight with Alpine Landing
From $207 · 514 reviews
★★★★★
Aoraki / Mount Cook is 3,724 metres, the highest in New Zealand, and this flight puts you in the alpine zone beneath it for twenty-five minutes. 514 reviews at 4.7.
Milford Sound Scenic Helicopter Flight with Landings
From $687 · 90 minutes
★★★★★
Ninety minutes from Queenstown across the Southern Alps to Milford Sound and back, with two landings on the way. It is the longest and most expensive flight here, and the only one that gets to Fiordland without a five-hour drive.
Mount Cook: Ski Plane and Helicopter Glacier Combo Flight
From $300 · two aircraft
★★★★★
A ski plane lands you on the Tasman Glacier and a helicopter flies you back, which is a combination almost nowhere else offers. 356 reviews at 4.7.
Wanaka: Scenic Helicopter Flight with Glacier Experience
From $246 · rated 5.0
★★★★★
Thirty minutes from Wanaka over the lake and into the alps, with a glacier landing. Rated 5.0 across 93 reviews, and the quiet alternative to flying from Queenstown.
What it really costs
From $167 a person for twenty minutes over the Remarkables with an alpine landing, to $687 for ninety minutes from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back. Almost everything in between is a twenty-to-thirty-five-minute flight with a landing, between $196 and $300.
Swipe sideways →
| What you are paying for | Price | What you get | Cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| A short alpine flight, 20–25 minutes | $167–$216 | One range or one glacier, with a snow or alpine landing | Free cancellation 24 h |
| A longer glacier flight, 30–40 minutes | $246–$357 | Two glaciers, or the Tasman, or Wanaka into the alps | Free cancellation 24 h |
| Fiordland, 45–90 minutes | $325–$687 | Milford Sound, with one or two landings on the way | Free cancellation 24 h |
The honest answer
Yes, and more clearly here than almost anywhere — for one reason. Nearly every flight on this page lands: on snow, on a glacier, on an alpine ridge. You are not buying a view from a window, you are buying twenty minutes standing somewhere you could not otherwise reach.
The flight, minute by minute
Check in about three quarters of an hour before the slot. Bring the ID you booked with. Everybody is weighed, and the weights decide where you sit.
This is the New Zealand part. Mountain weather changes fast, and the operator will tell you honestly whether the window is open. Flights move more often here than anywhere else we cover, and the crews will not push it.
On the glacier flights you are issued overboots if you need them. The briefing covers the harness, the door, and the rule about never walking uphill of a helicopter on a slope.
Straight into the valley. On the West Coast the rainforest is below you for about ninety seconds and then the ice starts, which is a transition almost nowhere else in the world offers.
Franz Josef and Fox break into blue seracs where the ice runs over a step in the bedrock. From Queenstown the same minutes buy you the Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu below.
The part that makes these flights different. The skids touch snow, the engine winds down, and you step out into silence at two thousand metres. Ten minutes, usually.
A different line home so you see new ground, and the valley floor arriving fast.
Allow about ninety minutes for the whole visit even on a twenty-minute flight.
The one decision that matters
Everything else on this page is a preference. This one is weather. New Zealand mountains make their own conditions and they change inside an hour: a valley that is clear at eight can be closed at eleven, and an operator that will not fly a marginal window is an operator doing its job. The practical consequence is simple and it is the single most useful sentence on this page. Take the first slot of the morning, because the window is usually widest early and because a cancelled morning can often be rebooked the same afternoon. And if you have any flexibility at all, keep one spare day in the trip. People who fly on their last morning and get weathered out have no second chance; people who fly on day two almost always get up.
Four parts of the flight
Ice that reaches almost down to the rainforest, which is rare at this latitude.
Three thousand seven hundred and twenty-four metres, the highest in New Zealand.
About twenty-three kilometres long, the longest glacier in the country.
Mitre Peak stands 1,692 metres straight out of the water.
Start here
Here is the thing that makes New Zealand different from every other helicopter destination we cover, and it explains the prices as well as the appeal: almost every flight here lands. On snow, on a glacier, on an alpine ridge. You are not buying twenty minutes of window; you are buying ten minutes standing somewhere with no road to it, and the flight is how you get there.
The second thing is that this is five niches, not one. A helicopter flight from Franz Josef and a helicopter flight from Queenstown have nothing to do with each other. They are different mountains, different weather, different prices and different days. That is why the switch above the cards exists: pick the town you are actually staying in and the page stops showing you flights you cannot take.
On the West Coast the ice comes to you. Franz Josef and Fox are unusual glaciers: they descend through temperate rainforest almost to the valley floor, which is why a twenty-minute flight from the township can put you on the neve. Ninety seconds after lifting off you are over tree ferns; three minutes later you are over blue seracs.
In the Mackenzie the mountain is the point. Aoraki / Mount Cook stands 3,724 metres and the Tasman Glacier below it runs about twenty-three kilometres, the longest in the country. Flights from Mount Cook Airport and Glentanner work along the glacier and land in the alpine zone beneath the peak. One listing here uses a ski plane for the landing and a helicopter for the return, which is a combination almost nowhere else offers.
From Queenstown you are buying variety. The Remarkables for twenty minutes, the hanging glaciers of Earnslaw Burn for fifty, or the full crossing to Milford Sound for ninety. It is the busiest helicopter town in the country and it has the widest range of flights on this page.
What the advertised duration means. Twenty minutes is time in the air, and about ten of the minutes on a landing flight are spent with the engine off, which does not count. The visit is about ninety minutes from check-in to walking back out.
And the last thing, which no listing says plainly: mountain weather moves more flights here than anywhere else. Operators are honest about it and they will not push a marginal window. Book a morning slot, build a spare day into the trip if you can, and take the rebooking rather than the refund if they offer it — the same week usually clears.
If twenty minutes is not enough
The short flights land on one glacier and come home. These three keep going: thirty-five minutes over both West Coast glaciers, an hour with a ski plane landing on the Tasman, and ninety minutes across the alps to Milford Sound and back.
35 min · ★ 4.9 (527)
$270See dates 55 min · ★ 4.7 (356)
$300See dates 90 min · ★ 5.0 (14)
$687See datesPractical
Five things decide how it goes: which town you fly from, the weather window that day, what you are wearing when you step out onto snow, the weigh-in, and the fact that mountain weather moves more flights here than anywhere else we cover.
Onto the glacier with an alpine landing, from $196. The most-reviewed flight in the country.
The Remarkables above Lake Wakatipu with an alpine landing, from $167 — the cheapest here.
Under the highest mountain in New Zealand, with a landing in the alpine zone.
Two glaciers on the West Coast, the Tasman at Mount Cook, or Wanaka into the alps.
Hanging glaciers and waterfalls in a valley with no road into it.
Queenstown across the alps to the fiord and back, with two landings.
The highest mountain in New Zealand, and the centre of the national park that carries its name.
The longest glacier in the country, with a terminal lake that has grown within living memory.
Two glaciers that descend through temperate rainforest almost to the valley floor.
The range above Queenstown that gives the town its skyline, and the easiest alpine landing in the country.
A fiord where Mitre Peak rises 1,692 metres straight out of the water.
About 500 kilometres of mountains along the spine of the South Island.
Allow about ninety minutes at the hangar regardless of which flight you book.
Every operator does it, and the weights decide the seating.
Closed shoes and a warm layer, whatever the month. Overboots are issued where they are needed.
More often here than anywhere else. Take a morning slot and keep a spare day.
Glare off fresh snow at two thousand metres is genuinely strong.
Hats and loose items stay in the hangar; rotor wash on a snowfield picks up everything.
Standard on all fourteen flights on this page.
A flight from Franz Josef is not an alternative to one from Queenstown. Use the switch above the cards.
Four flights here carry more than three hundred ratings each; two have fewer than fifteen.
The window is usually widest early, and a cancelled morning can often be rebooked the same day.
The most settled weather of the year, with snow still on the tops.
The longest days and the highest demand. Book further ahead than you think.
Best time
Flights run all year and the limiting factor is cloud rather than season. What the month really decides is how often the weather window opens and how much snow is on the landing site.
Feb – Apr
Late summer and autumn: the most settled weather of the year on both sides of the alps, long light, and snow still on the tops. Fewest cancellations, and the flights are not yet as busy as in January. If you can choose, choose these weeks.
Dec – Jan
The longest daylight of the year and reliable weather, with the highest demand and the earliest sell-outs. Book further ahead than you think, and take a morning slot.
Jun – Aug
Deep snow on every landing site and the clearest air of the year between fronts. Also the shortest days and the most cancelled flights. A gamble that sometimes pays extraordinarily.
Sep – Nov
Spring brings unsettled weather and strong westerlies, and it also brings the snow line back down. Later in the period the windows open up and the crowds have not arrived.
Worth knowing
Book the town you are actually staying in. A flight from Franz Josef and one from Queenstown are different mountains, not cheaper and dearer versions of the same thing. Use the switch above the cards and the page stops showing you flights you cannot take.
Almost every flight here lands, and that is the product. Ten minutes standing on snow at two thousand metres is what separates these flights from scenic flights anywhere else. If a listing does not say it lands, it probably does not.
Mountain weather moves more flights in New Zealand than anywhere else. Take the first slot of the morning, keep a spare day in the trip if you can, and take the rebooking rather than the refund — the same week usually clears.
Dress for the snow, not for the cabin. You will step out onto a snowfield in whatever you are wearing. Closed shoes and a warm layer, in February as much as in July, and sunglasses for the glare.
The advertised minutes are flying time. On a landing flight about ten of them are spent with the engine off, and the whole visit is roughly ninety minutes from check-in.
Read the review count as well as the score. Four flights on this page carry more than three hundred ratings each. Two are newer listings with fewer than fifteen, and a 5.0 from nine people is not the same evidence as 4.8 from 693.
Round out the trip
Go deeper
Common questions
From $167 a person for twenty minutes over the Remarkables with an alpine landing, up to $687 for ninety minutes from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back. Most flights on this page sit between $196 and $300.
Five towns on this page: Queenstown, Franz Josef, Aoraki / Mount Cook, Wanaka and Milford Sound. They are different mountains rather than alternatives, which is why the switch above the cards lets you show only the flights that leave from where you are staying.
Almost all of them. Snow landings, glacier landings and alpine landings are the normal product in New Zealand, and about ten minutes of the flight is spent with the engine off and you standing outside on the snow.
The Franz Josef glacier flight with an alpine landing at $216, which carries 693 reviews at 4.8 — more evidence than any other flight on this page.
Twenty to ninety minutes in the air. Twenty minutes is the standard glacier or alpine flight with a landing; ninety is Queenstown to Milford Sound and back. Allow about ninety minutes for the whole visit on a short flight.
More often than in most places, because mountain weather changes quickly and operators will not fly a marginal window. Morning slots are cancelled least often, and every flight here is free to cancel up to 24 hours before.
Closed shoes and a warm layer, whatever the month, because you will step out onto snow. Sunglasses for the glare. Overboots are issued on the flights that need them.
Yes — ninety minutes there and back across the Southern Alps, with two landings on the way, at $687. It is the longest and most expensive flight here and it removes a five-hour drive each way.
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One PDF: all fourteen flights by town, minutes and price, which ones land on snow, and the weather pattern month by month.
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Why trust this page
Durations, prices and ratings are read off the live listings rather than copied from other affiliate pages. The heights, distances and place names come from the published record.
Every flight here is sold on scenery and priced on time in the air. We put the minutes on every card, and the cost per minute in the comparison, because that is the number that actually separates them.
A 5.0 from two reviews is not the same evidence as 4.8 from two thousand, and we label it that way rather than sorting everything by score.
Fourteen flights, ordered by price, ranked on where they leave from and how much evidence stands behind the rating. We earn a commission when you book, and it does not change what we recommend.
The answer
If you are flying once in New Zealand, take the Franz Josef glacier flight at $216. It carries 693 reviews at 4.8 — more evidence than any other flight in the country on this page — and ninety seconds after lifting off you go from rainforest to blue ice, which is a transition almost nowhere else offers. If you are staying in the Mackenzie instead, the Aoraki flight at $207 puts you in the alpine zone under the highest mountain in New Zealand.
Check dates and availability→ Free cancellation up to 24 hours · Reserve now, pay laterBefore you go
All fourteen flights by town, minutes and price, which ones land on snow, and the weather pattern month by month.
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Franz Josef Glacier: Helicopter Flight & Alpine Landing
★ 4.8 · 693 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h
