Queenstown
Queenstown helicopter flight: four flights, from $167
Queenstown is the busiest helicopter town in New Zealand and it has the widest range on this page: twenty minutes over the Remarkables for less than most people spend on dinner, fifty minutes into a valley with no road, or ninety minutes across the Southern Alps to Milford Sound and back.
Quick answer
A Queenstown helicopter flight costs from $167 for twenty minutes over the Remarkables with an alpine landing — the cheapest flight on this page, with 233 reviews at 4.8. The best-rated Queenstown listing is the pilot’s choice flight at $210 with 305 reviews at 4.9. For something longer, Earnslaw Burn at $399 reaches hanging glaciers in a roadless valley, and the Milford Sound crossing at $687 replaces a ten-hour drive.
Flying from Queenstown, at a glance
- Flights from Queenstown
- Fourthe widest range on this page
- Cheapest
- $16720 minutes, alpine landing, 233 reviews at 4.8
- Best rated
- $210305 reviews at 4.9
- At sunset
- $19420 minutes in the last hour of light
- The long one
- $39950 minutes to Earnslaw Burn, 225 reviews at 4.9
- To Fiordland
- $68790 minutes, two landings
- Lake Wakatipu
- About 80 km longand shaped like a lightning bolt
- The Remarkables
- Up to about 2,300 mthe range that gives the town its skyline
- Getting to the pad
- Minutesthe heliports are at or near the airport
- Free cancellation
- All fourup to 24 hours before
What you fly over
Lake Wakatipu, the Remarkables, and the valleys behind them
The lake explains the town; the ridges are where you land; the valleys are why you pay more.
The lake first. Wakatipu is about eighty kilometres long and bent into a shape that only makes sense from the air — a lightning bolt, with the town tucked into the elbow of it. Ten seconds off the pad and the whole geography of Queenstown explains itself.
Then the Remarkables. The range on the far side of the lake, rising to around two thousand three hundred metres, with a ski field on one flank and nothing at all on the others. Almost every Queenstown flight lands on a ridge or a snowfield here.
And on the longer flights, the country behind. Earnslaw Burn is a valley north of the lake with hanging glaciers on the headwall and waterfalls that fall hundreds of metres off them. There is no road into it. Fifty minutes and $399 is the shortest way to see it, and the listing carries 225 reviews at 4.9.
The four flights
Which one to take
They all leave from the same field within minutes of town.
- The Remarkables, $167
Twenty minutes with an alpine landing and the cheapest flight on this page. 233 reviews at 4.8. The right first flight for almost everybody.
- At sunset, $194
The same twenty minutes in the last hour of light, when the tussock goes gold and the lake turns black. A newer listing, rated 4.9.
- Pilot’s choice, $210
Thirty minutes, and the pilot picks the route on the day for the weather — which in these mountains is a feature rather than a cop-out. 305 reviews at 4.9, the best-rated Queenstown listing here.
- Earnslaw Burn, $399
Fifty minutes into a roadless valley with hanging glaciers and a landing. 225 reviews at 4.9, and the flight to take if you have already done a short one.
Queenstown is also the only town with a helicopter route to Fiordland.
Milford Sound by air→Common questions
Queenstown flights, answered
How much is a helicopter flight in Queenstown?
From $167 for twenty minutes over the Remarkables with an alpine landing, which is the cheapest flight on this page.
Which Queenstown flight is best?
The Remarkables at $167 for a first flight, or the pilot’s choice at $210, which has the best rating here at 4.9 from 305 reviews.
Do Queenstown flights land?
Yes, on an alpine ridge or a snowfield, usually for about ten minutes with the engine shut down.
Can you fly to the glaciers from Queenstown?
Not to Franz Josef or Fox — they are about five hours away by road and their flights leave from Franz Josef. The Earnslaw Burn flight reaches hanging glaciers much closer to town.
Can you fly to Milford Sound from Queenstown?
Yes, ninety minutes there and back with two landings, at $687. It is the longest and most expensive flight on this page.
What is the best time of day?
Morning for reliability — the air is calmest and a cancelled slot can often be rebooked the same day. The last hour of light for the photographs.
Go deeper
More on flying over New Zealand
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.
The glaciersThe glacier flights
Rainforest to blue ice in ninety seconds, from $196.
AorakiFlights at Aoraki
Under the highest mountain in New Zealand, from $207.
FiordlandMilford Sound by air
Ninety minutes that replaces a ten-hour drive.
WanakaFlights from Wanaka
The quiet alternative to flying from Queenstown.
