How much is a Franz Josef helicopter tour?

Seats run from $232 for the eighteen-minute flight and the twenty-five-minute alpine landing, through $235 and $291 for the thirty and thirty-five minute flights, to $529 for a guided heli-hike and $911 for the full-day version with lunch. Those are per person and they are the same at every desk in the village.

Can you still walk onto Franz Josef Glacier?

Not onto the ice. The valley track was cut back after the terminal face retreated and became unstable, and it now ends at a viewpoint well short of the glacier. Guided access to the ice itself is by helicopter only, which is why the heli-hike exists as a product at all.

What is a heli-hike, and how is it different from a scenic flight?

A scenic flight puts you over the glacier and, on most options, down on the snowfield above it for ten minutes. A heli-hike flies you onto the ice, hands you boots and crampons, and a guide walks you through the crevasse field for two and a half hours or more before flying you out.

Do all the flights land?

No. The eighteen-minute flight stays in the air. The twenty-five, thirty and thirty-five minute flights all include a landing on the snow, usually ten minutes. If the landing is the reason you are booking, read the duration line before you pay.

How often are flights cancelled?

Often enough that it should change how you plan. This is one of the wettest inhabited places in New Zealand. Operators fly when the cloud base is above the tops, refund you when it is not, and cannot promise you a seat the next day. Book the first morning of a two-night stay.

Franz Josef or Fox Glacier — which flight is better?

They are twenty-five kilometres apart and most flights from Franz Josef cross both. Franz Josef has the steeper icefall and the bigger operation; Fox is quieter and the valley is longer. For a base, Franz Josef has more beds and more aircraft, which matters when the weather compresses everyone into one clear morning.

Is it worth it if I have already seen the glacier from the road?

The road viewpoint shows you the valley and the end of the ice from about a kilometre away. The flight shows you the icefall, the crevasse field and the névé, and puts you on top of them. They are not the same view of the same thing.

The wider trip

Franz Josef in two days: the plan we would follow

Franz Josef is four to five and a half hours' drive from anywhere, and the weather will take one of your mornings sooner or later. Two nights is the difference between flying and not. Here is how to spend them.

8 min read Checked September 2026

The braided riverbed and green valley below Franz Josef Glacier

Quick answer

The plan. Arrive in the afternoon. Book the flight for the first slot of the next morning. Walk the valley in the afternoon of day one so you have seen something whatever happens. If the morning is cancelled, you still have day two. Drive on after lunch on day two.

Getting there

From Queenstown: 4 hoursvia Haast Pass
From Christchurch: 5.5 hoursvia Arthur's Pass
From Greymouth: 2.5 hoursstraight down SH6
From Fox Glacier: 25 minutesthe next village south
Where the pads are: In the villageno airport transfer
Fuel: Fill in Hokitika or Haastoptions are thin between them

Day one

Arrive, walk, book the morning

Afternoon. Arrive and check in. The village is small enough to walk end to end in ten minutes, and every helicopter base is on it.

Late afternoon. Drive to the end of the valley road and walk to the glacier viewpoint — ninety minutes return, flat, free. It gives you the scale of the retreat and it means you have seen the glacier even if the weather takes tomorrow.

Evening. Confirm your slot. Operators generally message the night before with a realistic read on the morning. Eat early; the village closes early.

Day two

Fly first, everything else after

First slot. Check in thirty minutes before. Weigh-in, briefing, and away. A twenty-five-minute flight with a landing puts you back in the village inside an hour; a heli-hike takes until early afternoon.

If it is cancelled. Ask to be moved to a later slot the same day rather than refunded — the cloud often lifts by mid-morning, and you have the day. This is exactly what the second night bought you.

Afternoon. Drive on. Fox Glacier is twenty-five minutes south if you want a second valley; otherwise it is a long run either way and worth starting early.

If the weather takes both mornings

What there is to do here

It happens. The valley walk works in rain. The Waiho hot tubs in the forest are the local answer to a wet afternoon. Lake Matheson, twenty-five minutes south near Fox, is a short circuit that is genuinely beautiful in flat light and famous for reflections on a still morning.

And there is the honest option: take the refund, drive on, and fly somewhere else. This coast does not negotiate.

Which flight to hold the morning for

Match it to the day you have

One night here anyway: the twenty-five-minute alpine landing at $232. An hour of your day, the cheapest flight that lands, and the one most people book.

Two nights and clear weather: the thirty-five-minute flight at $291 for the second glacier and Aoraki / Mount Cook, or a heli-hike at $529 if walking on the ice is the point of the trip.

A full day to give it: the extended heli-hike with lunch.

Every flight, current fare

Every flight, with how much of your day it takes

Door-to-door times include check-in and the weigh-in.

Flight	Time in the air	Price	Lands on the ice	Cost per minute	Rating
18-Minute Twin GlacierFranz Josef and Fox, no landing	18 min	$232	None	$12.89	New
25-Minute Alpine LandingIcefall, then a landing on the snow	25 min	$232	One	$9.28	4.8 · 693
30-Minute Franz Josef & TasmanFranz Josef and Tasman, with a landing	30 min	$235	One	$7.83	4.8 · 84
35-Minute Two GlaciersTwo glaciers plus Aoraki / Mount Cook	35 min	$291	One	$8.31	4.9 · 527
Shackleton 50-Minute EnduranceFranz Josef, Tasman and Shackleton	50 min	$468	One	$9.36	5.0 · 2
Heli-Hike, 2.5 Hours on IceGuided walk on the ice	4–8 h	$529	Two (in and out)	$3.53	4.8 · 398
Extended Heli-Hike with LunchThe full day on the glacier	8 h	$911	Two (in and out)	$2.76	5.0 · 1

Which flight is best →

Book direct

The flights to build the two days around

A blue helicopter parked on the snowfield above Franz Josef Glacier

25-Minute Alpine Landing

★ 4.8 · 693 reviews

Ice pinnacles and crevasses from above
Alpine landing in the Southern Alps
The cheapest flight that lands
Free cancellation

$232$9.28 / min

Check availability→

Two glacier tongues seen from a helicopter over the Southern Alps

35-Minute Two Glaciers

★ 4.9 · 527 reviews

Franz Josef plus Fox or Tasman
Flies past Aoraki / Mount Cook
Ten-minute snow landing
Free cancellation

$291$8.31 / min

Check availability→

Walkers on the ice below a helicopter on Franz Josef Glacier

Heli-Hike, 2.5 Hours on Ice

★ 4.8 · 398 reviews

Two and a half hours on the ice
Helicopter transfer both ways
Guided, with boots and crampons
The only way onto this glacier

$529$3.53 / min

Check availability→

Two walkers sitting on the snow beside a helicopter

Extended Heli-Hike with Lunch

★ 5.0 · 1 reviews

Up to 5.5 hours on the ice
Small group guiding
Glacier picnic lunch
The longest day on the glacier

$911$2.76 / min

Check availability→

Common questions

Planning questions

How long should I stay at Franz Josef?

Two nights. One night gives you a single morning, and on this coast a single morning is a coin toss. The second night is what gets people into the air.

How far is Franz Josef from Queenstown?

About four hours by road via Haast Pass — one of the best drives in New Zealand, and not a day trip.

How far is Franz Josef from Christchurch?

About five and a half hours over Arthur's Pass and down the coast.

What is there to do if the flight is cancelled?

The valley walk, which works in rain; the Waiho hot tubs; and Lake Matheson near Fox, twenty-five minutes south. Or take the refund and drive on.

Should I stay at Franz Josef or Fox?

Franz Josef. More beds, more operators and more aircraft, which matters when a clear morning follows two grey ones.

Can I do Franz Josef as a day trip?

Not sensibly from anywhere. The nearest town of any size is two and a half hours away and the flying window is in the morning.

Go deeper

Franz Josef in two days: the plan we would follow

Getting there

Arrive, walk, book the morning

Fly first, everything else after

What there is to do here

Match it to the day you have

Every flight, with how much of your day it takes