Milford Sound Coach & Cruise from Queenstown: Panoramic Views
Recommended by 94% of travelers
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Queenstown, New Zealand
- 12 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Offered in: English
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Overview
With waterfalls cascading down mighty cliffs and some of New Zealand’s most impressive natural scenery, Milford Sound is one the South Island’s must-see destinations—but its remote location makes it hard to reach alone. On this tour, spin through the New Zealand countryside in comfort from central Queenstown with your guide. Admire panoramic views from your glass-roof, low-emissions coach, and cruise the calm waters with a picnic lunch included.
- Reach remote Milford Sound with ease from Queenstown
- Admire sweeping countryside views from the comfort of your coach
- Cruise onto Milford Sound with a picnic lunch included
- Hassle-free round-trip travel from central Queenstown
What's Included
- Return transport from Queenstown to Milford Sound on premium coach
- Milford Sound Nature Cruise for up to 2 hours
- Cruise beneath the waterfalls of Milford Sound and look for native wildlife
- Freshly prepared Lunch
- FREE tea and coffee onboard the cruise
- Multi-lingual app for commentary available: App Store and Google Play search Southern Discoveries
- Alcoholic drinks (available to purchase)
- Appropriate child restraints are not provided by the operator and must be supplied by yourselves.
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Southern Discoveries - Queenstown Visitor CentreSt Omer Wharf 110 Beach Street, Queenstown 9300, New Zealand
Please head inside the Southern Discoveries office situated at the above address (110 Beach Street, Queenstown) to check in for your trip. Please make sure you arrive at least 15mins before your departure time.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
Southern Discoveries - Queenstown Visitor Centre (Pass By)
1
Queenstown
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Te Anau
30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
3
Eglinton Valley
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
4
Mirror Lakes Walk
15 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
5
Eglinton Valley Camp
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Lake Gunn (Pass By)
6
Monkey Creek
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Homer Tunnel (Pass By)
Cleddau River (Pass By)
7
Milford Sound
2 hours 10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
8
Southern Discoveries - Milford Sound Visitor Centre
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Mitre Peak (Pass By)
Stirling Falls (Pass By)
Sinbad Gully (Pass By)
Bowen Falls (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- Please advise of your country of origin at the time of booking
- Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
- Sunscreen and insect repellent advisable
- Appropriate child restraints are NOT provided by the operator. These must be provided by the parent or caregiver - without this you may be turned away and unable to travel - please be prepared.
- Please make sure you arrive at least 15mins before your departure time.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 49 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Meixiao_L
The driver/tour guide is very friendly, highly experienced and knowledgeable. It’s great to learn from him about the history and other interesting facts in more depth. The itinerary of the trip to Milford Sound was perfect with stopping at the famous attractions along the way.
Reviews
4.7
based on 448 reviews
Nancy_W, Mar 2026
Milford Sound Coach and Cruise tour was beautiful. However, working with Viator—retrieving the tickets and getting the information about where to meet for the tour was very frustrating and time consuming. We won’t use Viator again. Many phone calls and emails were made. Their customer service was excellent, but we felt it could have been avoided.
Heng_A, Feb 2026
My tour was yesterday. I forgot the driver’s name. The driver is friendly, funny and excellent driver. The boat buffet food is good. The boat approach the waterfall very close. Overall is a good experience.
stephen_s, Jan 2026
well organised, drivers like guide and stops at some places take photo not doing the duty but they like fellow travellers
hats off
Rama_D, Dec 2025
Beautiful weather. Excellent tour guide. Delicious lunch. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
David_H, Nov 2025
Great day trip (although a long day, well worth it). You have the opportunity (at extra cost) to fly back to Queenstown from Milford Sound by either fixed wing plane or helicopter, well worth it if a fine day. The driver, (Stan) was excellent with enough dialogue to make the trip fun to be on. Excellent organisation and logistics. Would do this trip again when next in NZ.
Mena_V, Nov 2025
So worth the money & time. The coach bus was comfortable and we had great views of the fjords and valleys. Our driver was safe & very informative.
Taylor_B, Nov 2025
Absolutely incredible scenes on the cruise, truly feels like you’re on another planet. Our driver/guide Chris was fantastic, incredibly knowledgeable and very friendly.
Vidushan_P, Apr 2025
This was such a good pick! We were not bored a single bit during the 4 hours trip in as Shale kept us entertained with the history of NZ and interesting facts about surroundings. He even put on a movie on the way back. We stopped at Te Anu and 2 other scenic places on the way in. It was a great experience and 100% would recommend
The cruise had a really good buffet lunch and was not too packed even for the Easter holiday. Highly recommend
Alleyne_J, Apr 2025
Well worth it. Long day but our driver Stan made it entertaining. Great
buffet meal on board plenty of food.
Farah_B, Mar 2025
This was a very enjoyable and unforgettable trip! We called earlier to get someone to pick us up to the bus station from Oaks hotel in Queenstown, then the bus arrived and picked us up on time, the bus driver was very friendly, informative and funny! We arrived to Milford sound and went straight to the boat, had lunch on the boat with a very good selection of food (small open buffet), the view on the deck was amazing with all the waterfalls everywhere as it was raining in the morning, it would have been alot better on to go on a rainy day! When the boat cruise returned, we then had a choice to go back to Queenstown either with the same bus we came in, or in a private airplane (which you have to pay for separately), we chose the private plane ride just to experience the whole place in all perspectives! It was the best day ever! Recommend it to everyone
Peter_B, Mar 2025
Keith our guide was amazing, his knowledge and passion was one of the highlights. The day ran smoothly and the picnic box was well worth it.
Adele_N, Feb 2025
We had a great commentary and many photo opportunities and toilet stops. The cruise was also brilliant. The Milford Sound experience was one not to be missed.
CHEAK_U, Feb 2025
The views along the route was superb on the bus ride to the boat. And it got better when we got to Milford Sound.
RosaMaria_C, Jan 2025
Be ready for a FULL day of seeing beautiful scenery, so many waterfalls, great boat ride, and comfortable bus ride.
KODAI_T, Jan 2025
Thank you, Doi.
She was very nice crew.
Thanks to her, I was able to enjoy this tour.
I appreciated.
From Kodai, Japan
Olena_L, Jan 2025
Excursion was great. But we had only 45min for lunch. In this time we had to find seat first, we waited to be called to get food, then we ate, then desert and I didn’t have time to finish my wine i purchased for $9. This was disappointed part.
Medi_O, Jan 2025
The process was smooth . It was a great experience. The staff were friendly and nice. I will recommend them to friends.
MohamadNazriBin_M, Jan 2025
It was a spectacular view on the boat around Milford Sound. The boat quality was good. Good choices on buffet lunch menu as well. Paul Brown, the coach driver.. he deserves 7 star. Excellent driving skill and he provided amazing information and details including historical facts about places and culture during the bus journey.
JohnJJ_C, Jan 2025
Very well planned, stopped at good viewing spots, the guide/driver was very informative. The buffet lunch was delicious and Milford sounds was an awesome experience.
Arvind_B, Jan 2025
Worst experience with this tour. In spite of ordering vegetarian food for the entire crew there were no food available at the cruise. The ferry also ran out of food to buy. The entire crew had to go without the food the whole day. This was definitely the worst experience that we had in my life . I would never book with this operator again. I would
Not recommend this to tour to anyone.
RATNA_M, Jan 2025
We enjoyed the trip, Paul was our guide and driver, he is a great person, made our trip to an amazing experience, Milford sound is excellent, all the staff of the cruise took care for all, thank you Viator and southern discoveries
Rebecca_O, Jan 2025
We did the Milford with boat cruise and buffet the tour was lovely and Paul the driver was great! The food was lovely and the views exceptional
Mark_S, Dec 2024
Well run, driver was 100 all-around, overall I give the tour an A. Only drawback was Viator said free water and coffee, when in fact that was only for the 1.75 hr cruise portion and not the rest of the 13.5 hr tour, so I found that misleading by Viator, not the tour operator at all. Not a biggie, yet not good communication on Viator’s part. Still a solid A overall, thx mainly to the Southern Discoveries tour operator.
Nelly_T, Dec 2024
Such a long roller coaster ride. Wouldn't recommend if considering this trip with children. My son was sick most of the way as it is very steep mountains up and down. Beautiful scenery, but is very rushed due to the long distance which is covered.
Ginny_S, Dec 2024
It may seem like a long drive, and it is but the scenery is spectacular and our driver was full of interesting info and good stories.
Ajay_P, Nov 2024
Milford sound is truely magical. Not just destination but the entire journey filled with spectacular views throughout. NZ Trip is incomplete without visiting Milford sound. Loved it !
Anu_D, Nov 2024
Excellent location and a perfect spot to enjoy the scenic mountains, waterfalls. Appreciate the tour guides advice Mr Keith to explain everything and also share some tips on how to spend the time and what to look out for
Debi_N, Nov 2024
Very long bus trip but the bus driver was great (Greg) was amazing. He was our teacher, comedian and quiz master. Thank you for the awesome day.
Bonnie_R, Nov 2024
Milford Sound was the most magnificent natural landscape that I've ever experienced. Although a long bus ride to get there the stops along the way were well planned and involved beautiful scenery. We originally thought about driving our rental car but so glad we took the coach bus instead. Our bus driver-Roland was personable, knowledgeable and offered much information about the area as we traveled to Milford Sound and back. From the pick-up point in Queenstown to the boat ride in Milford Sound everything was well organized. This is a must do bucket list trip if your are in the area!!!!
Blair_F, Oct 2024
It’s a long drive out to Milford Sound, but our bus driver made our journey go quickly with his amusing anecdotes about the landmarks and history of the area. He was also careful to point out a number of photo opportunities along the way so we could have our cameras ready. The buffet on the cruise was tasty and plentiful and the views were absolutely spectacular! A highlight of our trip to the South Island.
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