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 route, minute by minute

What you actually see on a Franz Josef helicopter flight

Rainforest, a braided riverbed, the terminal face, two kilometres of broken ice and a snowfield you land on. Here is the sequence, in the order it happens, and what changes on the longer flights.

8 min read Routes checked against the operators' listings, September 2026

Blue ice and crevasses on the surface of Franz Josef Glacier

Quick answer

The short answer. Every flight starts the same: village, rainforest, riverbed, terminal face, icefall, névé. The twenty-five-minute flight lands there and comes back. The thirty-five-minute flight crosses the divide to Fox or Tasman and passes Aoraki / Mount Cook first. The eighteen-minute flight does the first half and turns for home without landing.

The sequence

0–1 min: Village and rainforestpodocarp forest under the skids
1–3 min: The Waiho riverbedgrey braid where the glacier used to end
3–5 min: The terminal facethe ice the walking track no longer reaches
5–8 min: The icefallseracs and crevasses, the part no walk crosses
8–12 min: The névéthe snowfield that feeds everything below
Landing: About 10 minuteson flights that include one
Longer flights: Fox or Tasmanplus Aoraki / Mount Cook

The first three minutes

Rainforest to moraine

The pad is in the village, which means there is no transfer and no build-up. The skids leave the ground and within seconds you are over dense podocarp forest — a single green surface with the road cut through it.

Then the Waiho riverbed opens: a wide grey braid of shingle and meltwater that is visibly too big for the stream running down it. That is the first honest piece of information the flight gives you. The glacier used to fill that valley.

The ice

Terminal face, icefall, névé

The terminal face comes next, seen from directly above rather than from the viewpoint a kilometre back. It is grey with rock flour, split across the front, and clearly retreating into its own valley.

Above it the glacier changes character completely. The icefall is where Franz Josef drops out of the Southern Alps in a staircase of seracs — blue where the ice is old and compressed, white where it has broken recently. There is no route through it on foot and it is the reason the flight exists.

Then the ground flattens into the névé, a clean white bowl of snow, and on most flights that is where you land.

What the longer flights add

Across the divide

The thirty-five-minute flight climbs over the main divide and drops down the other side to Fox — longer, straighter, in a wider valley — or swings inland over Tasman, New Zealand's longest glacier, with Aoraki / Mount Cook standing off to one side.

The fifty-minute Shackleton flight goes further again, over the Shackleton Glacier, with the story of the Antarctic expedition and a taste of the whisky on the ice.

The return is down the far side of the valley, so you rarely fly the same line twice.

Every flight, current fare

Which flight covers what

Duration, landings and price for each route.

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

What the landing is like →

Book direct

Every route from the village

A helicopter flying low over the snowfield above Franz Josef

18-Minute Twin Glacier

Eighteen minutes over two glaciers
Franz Josef and Fox in one flight
The shortest flight on offer
Free cancellation

$232$12.89 / min

Check availability→

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→

The long tongue of the Tasman Glacier from the air

30-Minute Franz Josef & Tasman

★ 4.8 · 84 reviews

Franz Josef and Tasman in one flight
Thirty minutes in the air
Glacier landing included
Free cancellation

$235$7.83 / 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→

A single helicopter alone on a wide alpine snowfield

Shackleton 50-Minute Endurance

★ 5.0 · 2 reviews

Franz Josef, Tasman and Shackleton
The Shackleton expedition story
A taste of his whisky on the ice
Fifty minutes, the longest flight

$468$9.36 / 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

What you see

What do you see on a Franz Josef helicopter flight?

Rainforest, the Waiho riverbed, the terminal face of the glacier, the icefall with its seracs and crevasses, and the névé snowfield above it. Longer flights add Fox or Tasman and pass Aoraki / Mount Cook.

Can you see Mount Cook from a Franz Josef flight?

On the thirty and thirty-five minute flights, yes — you cross toward Tasman with Aoraki / Mount Cook alongside. The shorter flights stay on the western side.

What is the icefall?

The section where the glacier falls steeply out of the mountains and breaks into seracs and crevasses. It is the most spectacular part of the flight and the part no walking route crosses.

How much of the flight is over the glacier?

On a twenty-five-minute flight, roughly half. The first three minutes are forest and riverbed and the last three are the way home.

Do you fly the same route back?

Usually not. Pilots typically return down the other side of the valley, so you see different ground each way.

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

The road viewpoint shows the valley and the end of the ice from a kilometre away. The flight shows the icefall, the crevasse field and the névé, and lands on them.

Go deeper

What you actually see on a Franz Josef helicopter flight

The sequence

Rainforest to moraine

Terminal face, icefall, névé

Across the divide

Which flight covers what