Feb – Apr
The best window
The most settled weather of the year on the coast, with snow still deep on the neve. Fewest cancellations and the light is long. If you are planning around the glaciers, plan around these weeks.
The glaciers
Franz Josef glacier helicopter flight: rainforest to blue ice
Ninety seconds after lifting off you are still over tree ferns. Three minutes later you are over an icefall. Franz Josef and Fox are two of very few glaciers in the world that descend through temperate rainforest almost to the valley floor, and that single fact is why a glacier landing here costs $196 rather than four times as much.
Quick answer
A Franz Josef glacier helicopter flight costs from $196 for twenty minutes with a snow landing. The best-evidenced listing is the alpine landing flight at $216 with 693 reviews at 4.8 — more than any other helicopter flight in New Zealand on this page. For both glaciers, the thirty-five-minute flight at $270 adds the Fox icefall and carries 527 reviews at 4.9. Every one of them lands on snow.
The West Coast glacier flights, at a glance
- Flights from Franz Josef
- Fourall of them land on snow or ice
- Cheapest
- $19620 minutes, 190 reviews at 4.9
- Best evidenced
- $216693 reviews at 4.8 — the most in the country
- Both glaciers
- $26530 minutes, 402 reviews at 4.7
- Longest
- $27035 minutes, 527 reviews at 4.9
- Time on the snow
- About 10 minengine off, on the neve
- Reviews across the four
- 1,812more than any other town on this page
- Whole visit
- About 90 minfrom check-in to walking back out
- Weather
- The main variablethe West Coast is one of the wettest places in the country
- Free cancellation
- All fourup to 24 hours before
Why the ice is so low
What makes Franz Josef and Fox unusual
Ocean weather makes the ice, and the same weather closes the valley.
Most glaciers at this latitude sit high in the mountains and you need an expedition to reach them. Franz Josef and Fox do not: they pour off the Southern Alps down steep valleys and end within a few kilometres of a road, surrounded by temperate rainforest.
The reason is the West Coast weather. Moist air off the Tasman Sea hits the Southern Alps and dumps enormous quantities of snow on the neve above these glaciers, and the ice moves down fast enough to survive at low altitude. It is the same weather that cancels helicopter flights here more often than anywhere else in the country — the thing that makes the glaciers is the thing that closes the valley.
What it means for you. A twenty-minute flight can reach the snowfield, land, and come back. Nowhere else offers a glacier landing that cheaply. And the transition is the part people describe afterwards: rainforest, then rock, then blue ice, inside three minutes.
The four flights
Which one to take
They leave from the same field and they are genuinely different flights.
- Twenty minutes, snow landing, $196
The cheapest way onto the ice. 190 reviews at 4.9. The icefall, the neve above it, and ten minutes standing on snow.
- Twenty minutes, alpine landing, $216
693 reviews at 4.8 — more evidence than any other helicopter flight in New Zealand. Our pick for a first flight, and twenty dollars more than the cheapest.
- Thirty minutes, both glaciers, $265
Franz Josef and Fox in one flight, with a snow landing. 402 reviews at 4.7, and the answer if you want to see how different two neighbouring glaciers can be.
- Thirty-five minutes, two glaciers, $270
527 reviews at 4.9, and the longest of the four. Both icefalls plus more time over the snowfields that feed them.
When to fly the West Coast
The weather is the whole story here
Franz Josef gets several metres of rain a year. Flights run all year and cancellations are more common here than anywhere else on this site.
Dec – Jan
Busy, and usually fine
Long days and reliable enough weather, with the heaviest demand of the year. Book ahead and take a morning slot.
Sep – Nov
Unsettled
Spring westerlies bring fronts through in sequence. Between them the visibility is excellent. Keep a spare day.
May – Aug
Deep snow, fewer windows
The best snow on the landing sites and the clearest air between fronts, with the shortest days and the most cancellations. A gamble that sometimes pays extraordinarily.
The landing is the point of these flights. Here is what ten minutes on a glacier is actually like.
What a snow landing is like→Common questions
The glacier flights, answered
How much is a Franz Josef helicopter flight?
From $196 for twenty minutes with a snow landing. The best-evidenced listing is $216 with 693 reviews at 4.8.
Do the flights land on the glacier?
Yes, all four of them, on the snowfield above the icefall rather than on the broken ice itself. You get about ten minutes outside with the engine shut down.
Can you walk on the glacier?
On the flights here you step out onto the snow at the landing site. Guided walks on the ice itself are a separate product — a heli-hike — and take several hours.
How often are flights cancelled?
More often than anywhere else in New Zealand. The West Coast is very wet and operators will not fly a marginal window. Take a morning slot and keep a spare day if you can.
What is the difference between Franz Josef and Fox?
A few valleys and about twenty minutes of flying. Fox is slightly longer and less visited; the thirty and thirty-five-minute flights cover both.
Is it cold on the snow?
Yes, even in February. Closed shoes and a warm layer, whatever the month. Overboots are issued where the landing site needs them.
Go deeper
More on flying over New Zealand
Cost
What it costs
From $167 to $687, and what a minute in the air is worth.
The verdictWhich flight is best
One recommendation for each town, and why.
AorakiFlights at Aoraki
Under the highest mountain in New Zealand, from $207.
QueenstownFlights from Queenstown
Four flights, from the cheapest here to Milford Sound.
FiordlandMilford Sound by air
Ninety minutes that replaces a ten-hour drive.
WanakaFlights from Wanaka
The quiet alternative to flying from Queenstown.
