Question 1

How much is a Franz Josef helicopter tour?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 2

Can you still walk onto Franz Josef Glacier?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

Do all the flights land?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 5

How often are flights cancelled?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 6

Franz Josef of Fox Glacier &mdash; which flight is better?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 7

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

Accepted Answer

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 n&eacute;v&eacute;, and puts you on top of them. They are not the same view of the same thing.

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