Te Anau Glow Worm Caves Tour
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Te Anau, New Zealand
+8
- 2 hours 15 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
See the glowworm caves of Te Anau on an underground adventure sure to charm visitors of all ages. An informative guide joins you on the tour, which starts with a cruise across Lake Te Anau. Then marvel at the shimmering illumination of thousands of glowworms as you glide through the quiet darkness of this magical underground world.
- See the glow worms and beautiful rock formations on this tour from Te Anau
- Enjoy a return cruise trip on Lake Te Anau
- Friendly and informative guide
- Warm up with complimentary tea and coffee
Why Travelers Choose This Tour
Multiple departure times means this tour can fit easily into any itinerary.
What's Included
- Lake cruise on Lake Te Anau
- Complimentary Tea & Coffee
- Food and drinks, unless specified
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- RealNZ | Te Anau Glowworm Caves85 Lakefront Drive, Te Anau 9679, New Zealand
Please arrive at the RealNZ Visitor Centre, 85 Lakefront Drive, Te Anau at least 20 minutes before your scheduled departure.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
Meet your informative guide at the tour office to begin your 2 hour and 15 minute tour of the Te Anau Glowworm Caves. Start with a scenic cruise across Lake Te Anau before continuing underground to the cave system, located on the lake’s western shore.
Upon arrival at the Cavern House, listen to an interesting talk about the life cycle of the glow worm as well as the history of the caves. Your guide leads you on an exploration of the caves by footpath and small punt along the rushing underground river.
Observe water-sculpted rock formations and drift into the glow worm grotto to marvel at the mysterious sight of thousands of tiny glow worms. Learn what feats of nature create the incandescence in the silent darkness.
Afterward, you’re returned by boat across the lake to Te Anau.
Upon arrival at the Cavern House, listen to an interesting talk about the life cycle of the glow worm as well as the history of the caves. Your guide leads you on an exploration of the caves by footpath and small punt along the rushing underground river.
Observe water-sculpted rock formations and drift into the glow worm grotto to marvel at the mysterious sight of thousands of tiny glow worms. Learn what feats of nature create the incandescence in the silent darkness.
Afterward, you’re returned by boat across the lake to Te Anau.
1
Te Anau Glowworm Caves
2 hours 15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Lake Te Anau (Pass By)
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Infants must sit on laps
- Infant seats available
- Most travelers can participate
- Children aged 0-15 must be booked with at least one adult.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 72 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
We visited as a group of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids) and all loved it. The glowworm experience in the caves is magical and the educational video afterward about the glowworm lifecycle was fascinating. The ferry ride also has great views. The guide was entertaining. Highly recommended.
Reviews
4.5
based on 1,125 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Enjoyable couple of hours. Very knowledgeable guides. You do get a little bit wet in the cave. Hot cup of tea at the end was nice.
The tour left from the Real NZ dock at Te Anu lakeshore, which was super easy to find and you were welcomed by the very friendly staff.
A short boat ride across the lake brought us to the glow worm caves. The guides organized us into groups and brought us into the caves. The caves were amazing and very accessible to visitors with scaffolding and adequate lighting.
The tour led up to a 15 minute-ish boat ride through a pitch black section of cave to view the glow worms themselves. The lights were fainter than pictures led me to expect, but still quite amazing. It felt a bit like the early Bayou stage of the Pirates of the Caribbean boat ride at Disneyland — except real, of course— if I had to compare the experience to something.
After retracing our steps out of caves, the guides treated us to hot beverages and provided a short lecture on the full life cycle of the glow worms, giving perspective to what we just experienced, before the boat took us back to Te Anu.
A truly unique experience and not to be skipped if you are in the Queenstown vicinity.
Wear waterproof shoes and ensure to wear warm clothes. Tour guides are very friendly and are happy to answer any questions.
Excellent. Everything ran on time and the staff were great!
Recommend for the family................
Very underwhelming experience. The glow-worms were merely dimly lit fairy lights in a dark room. Tour was quite short - 15 minutes or so. Expected longer cave experience for the cost of the tour.
Cruise on the water was nice and in itself a nice experience as the views are amazing across the water. Staff were great and can not be faulted.
Can’t take photos within the caves, so cannot show how underwhelming the worms were.
I was a little worried this experience might be underwhelming because we had visited the glowworm caves in the North Island before, which were much larger. However, we were pleasantly surprised and had a fantastic experience. The cave here is lower, so the glowworms felt closer to us, making the experience a little different from what we had experienced in the North Island. It was also a bonus being able to take a cruise to reach the cave.
We saw so many glowworms, and it was truly magical. It was my family’s first time seeing glowworms, and they absolutely loved it. They said they had never seen anything quite like it. I only wish the limestone cave was larger so there was more to explore, but the waterfall and unique rock formations were still really cool.
Our tour guide was also fantastic. He was very informative, entertaining and funny, which made the experience even more enjoyable.
A relaxing boat trip preceded our journey through the amazing tunnels where we witnessed the light show from the glowworms. Nathan was our fantastic guide. He was incredibly patient and attentive to our daughter’s needs. Being disabled, she sometimes requires extra time to process instructions or directions and Nathan was understanding and supportive throughout the experience.
His kindness and engaging manner made the experience so much more enjoyable for her and us.
Nathan was very informative and interacted in a relaxed and friendly manner. Along with his fellow team members all visitors were made welcome.
Was an awesome experience. Loved every minute of it, boat ride over at night was a cool experience. Our guide Keegan was awesome and was very informative throughout the whole tour! Highly recommended to anyone!
Lovely boat ride across the lake, followed by a fun walk through the cave and then a boat ride inside the cave to see the glowworms in person. A little strange how the staff focused on how weird and gross the glow worms are (they are the larvae/ maggots of flies), rather than talking about how weird and cool it is.
Not for claustrophobic people but it’s well worth going to see these unique little creatures. The team could not be more helpful. Really enjoyed it.
Please temper your expectations if you are expecting bright glow that lights up a cavern. Otherwise, a beautiful time.
Great morning out with the family - boat across the lake then a tour through the caves. The tour guides were very knowledgeable. The kids loved the hot chocolate at the end.
Fewer glow worms in the winter months, so that was a bit underwhelming. But the boat ride and walking through the caves was cool.
Very popular trip. Lovely ride across the lake to the caves. Very well organised with knowledgeable guides giving a full presentation prior to entering the caves themselves. Magical boat ride around the caves in silence so you can really appreciate what you're experiencing. A 'must do' trip. Don't miss it
Very well organized activity. Beautifully presented to get maximum effect. Going onto these beautiful caves with a stream running through it and seeing these millions of glow worms was other-worldly.
We have been to many many cavesv worldwide, but have never experienced glow worms before. An excellent tour with small groups, not very commercial at all. Highly recommended.
Broken up into groups of 12 for the boat ride- and the time actually seeing the glow worms was only about 15 mins
So much fun. Informative, enjoyable day for our whole family. Boat ride over had great commentary and caves were equally as interesting in terms of commentary and observing the glow worms. Highly recommend.
Well worth it, better than I could have imagined! The numbers in the cave are limited to about 11 so it’s comfortable and safe. Magical boat ride under a galaxy of glow worms. We did this in silence.
It is a must do. Very unique and wonderful.
you may want to go without toddlers and kids as it can get really dark and kids get scared.
Great experience felt a little rushed in the cave but all in all fascinating to see the glow worms and the cave and all the gushing water from the melting glacier
Such a cool experience and well worth it. Informative, drove over 2 hours each way to attend and it was well worth it
Well run and a very unique experience. We saw a ton of glow worms. They looked like constellations spread out on the cave walls and ceiling. Well worth the money and time.
Very well organised trip. Friendly guides, easy trip across the lake. Well set up facilities with hot drinks and information about the glow worms. Caves were spectacular and the boat trip through silent dark caves with glow worms magical. Underground waterfall was stunning!
I thought the Glow Worm experience was great. Our guide was really knowledgable and gave a great overview of the tunnel system
A lovely cruise over the lake following by an informative tour of the unique isolated caves and a pitch black boat ride viewing the glow worms on the ceiling. Totally unique experience, well worth going to
Wear a warm jacket, it gets a bit chilly. The staff were really informative and the tour in the cave was really good.
Highly recommend this tour. It was very a very enjoyable experience. Loved going on a boat through the cave and being in total darkness and total silence. All there was to see were the glow worms (note: this is only part of the tour)
Absolutely amazing tour informative staff
Really enjoyed the boat ride over
There were an abundance of glow worms to see
This is an amazing experience, highly recommend
Went on last trip of the day, probably the best time to go
From $77.15
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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