I love a good helicopter ride and there’s nothing more beautiful than the helicopter ride I did in Mount Cook (Aoraki), New Zealand. You can do helicopters almost anywhere beautiful on New Zealand’s south island like Milford sound, Queenstown, Abel Tasman, and more. You’ll likely run out of money in no time so you must choose your battles.
I knew I wanted to save my money for the famous Mount Cook helicopter ride where you can also land and walk around a glacier! This is exactly what I did and here are all the tips I can provide in booking your own tour.
What is the Mount Cook Helicopter tour?
My goodness, where do I even start?! A New Zealand helicopter tour that lands on a glacier was always on the top of my bucket list. The pictures looked surreal! I’ve been on numerous helicopter flights before in places like Fiji, the Okavango Delta, and Victoria Falls and I’ve loved every minute of it.
The helicopter tour in New Zealand is world famous for its ability to land on the glaciers and allow for a walk in the snow.
Where to take the helicopter tour in New Zealand
There are helicopter tours literally everywhere on the south island. There’s so much stunning scenery that a helicopter is often times the best way to experience the beauty. From Milford Sound, to the Abel Tasman National Park, you’ll find helicopter tours in every national park and town in between.
For the purpose of this trip, I will focus on the helicopter tours specifically from Mount Cook and the area surrounding it.
In this area, you can take a helicopter tour from Mount Cook village, or from Franz Josef town. These helicopter tours will fly by the famous mountains in these New Zealand alps and allow for a stop on a glacier. Mount Cook village and Franz Josef town are only about 50km from each other in distance but they are not connected by road as you’ll have to drive back about 5h through Wanaka to reach one another.
I chose to visit Mount Cook village and not Franz Josef so I can only comment on the tours from Mount Cook.
The helicopter tours from Mount Cook Village visit the following depending on the package you book:
Mount CookTasman GlacierFranz Josef GlacierFox GlacierHelicopter landing on the Tasman Glacier
Helicopter tours from Franz Josef village will visit the following:
Franz Josef GlacierFox GlacierMount CookTasman GlacierHelicopter landing on either the Franz Josef or the Fox glacier
As I was staying in Mount Cook village, I was only able to land on the Tasman glacier which is the largest of all the glaciers in New Zealand. The helicopter continues to fly over to Franz Josef and the Fox Glacier but will not land on them.
Price of the Helicopter tours in Mount Cook
There are three companies that do the helicopter tours in the Mount Cook Village
Inflite (Also known as Mount Cook Ski Planes and Helicopters)Southern LakesThe Helicopter Line
All three companies offer similar trips at similar price ranges. Depending on the length of your tour, you can expect to pay more obviously. There are typically three trips these companies offer:
Short flight (20-25 min) which will land on a nearby mountain with panoramic views of the Tasman glacier and Mount Cook. $300-400 NZDMedium flight (40-45min): Will land on the Tasman glacier with a scenic flight all around the glacier and Mount Cook. $500-600 NZDLong flight (55min-1h): Will land on the Tasman glacier and continue on flying over the Franz Josef and Fox glacier. $700-800 NZD
In order to actually land on the glacier from Mount Cook, you’ll need to book a more expensive flight that is longer since the Tasman glacier is a bit further away from the village. The shorter 20-25 min hike will not land on the glacier.
Helicopter tour from Franz Josef
From Franz Josef village, the shorter flights do land on the glacier (either the Franz Josef or the Fox Glacier) since it is much closer to the town. If you’re in Mount Josef, you can get away with paying the $300-$400 NZD prices as opposed to the $500-$600 NZD prices on the Mount Cook side.
My sister did the cheaper hike that lands on a mountain overlooking the glacier while I paid up to do the glacier landing and the pictures I was able to get are definitely much more amazing.
The Helicopter ride itself
As for the ride itself, I went with the longer and most comprehensive flight with Inflite. I paid roughly $650 NZD for the 55 minute trip that flies around Mount Cook, Tasman Glacier with a landing, Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. Sadly, the weather on the west coast was not good that day which meant they had to cancel the Franz Josef and Fox Glacier part of the trip (got a partial refund).
The flight is absolutely breathtaking. Flying thousands of meters above sea level and coming right up to Mount Cook and Mount Sefton are absolutely amazing. The landscape is truly out of this world in this part of New Zealand.
After 15 minutes in the air, we approached the Tasman glacier which looked every bit as amazing as advertised. A blanket of snow sandwiched by the sandstone peaks of the mountains around us was a sight to behold.
After landing on the glacier, we walked around for another 15-20 minutes enjoying the views from the mountain around us. I really wish I could just pick up some skis and ski down the perfectly flat snow.
The helicopter pilot was very adept at taking photos of us because he does this multiple times a day which was a perk. You can’t leave the glacier without that iconic photo next to the helicopter.
After our time on the glacier, we took off again and flew right past Mount Cook for an amazing close up view before landing. If the weather was better, we would have flown further west to the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers.
Nevertheless, the trip was almost 1h in total and worth every penny in my opinion.
