We thought that after Fox Glacier and Queenstown, Milfor Sound would have to be something pretty special to beat the scenery and features of thos places.

Milford Sound fulfilled that.

We chose the cruise that left mid-morning and arrived back early afternoon before all of the tour buses arrived.

The scenery is spectacular. We experienced all of the subtle differences of weather throughout the cruise from calm to very windy, cold to mild.

The crew were very knowledgeable and great fun.

Thoroughly recommend Mildford as a must see.

If we were to do things differently we would fly in from Queenstown as we spent a day driving to Te Anau, a day in Te Anau to see Milford and the Glow Worms, and a day driving from Te Anau to Dunedin. For the cost of petrol, and accommodation we would probably fly in from Queenstown if we were to do it again.

When I was travelling with friends 4 weeks through New Zealand we also stopped by at Milford Sound. If you are ever in the area take part in a morning canoe paddling tour through the sound, you will most likely encounter otters and dolphins. It was just amazing! ;)

Milford Sound was one of the most beautiful places we had ever been. We had arrived in Queenstown from New York and only had one day to make the trip to Milford Sound as the following day was Christmas and nothing was open. We had decided on real journeys and opted to take the bus, nature cruise and fly home. The bus trip there was much better than we expected, our driver/guide Lloyd was fantastic and even
stopped at extra spots where we had expressed interest. The weather cleared up and the cruise was great, we were so happy we opted on the nature cruise as it is all English and less people. We saw dolphins and seals. The only frustrating issue was despite the clear weather they were not flying home, meaning we were given the option of a $500/
person helicopter trip, or the bus home. Granted we did get a refund for the flight, it was frustrating as the weather was fine to fly (sunny, and clear) and the 4.5 hour bus ride was not ideal. Overall, we were thrilled we made the trip to milford sound, it was one of the hightlights of our trip, and real journeys ended up being a good choice. They do give you the option to add the flight on the day of your trip, and they had told me ahead of time this wasn't an option. Keep this in mind.

Milford Sound and the drive there rank as some of the best scenery I saw in New Zealand. The road there has breathtaking views of mountains and snow, but take care as it has the sharpest bends i've seen on any roads and has a high accident rate and high risk of injury if involved in an accident.

The Homer Tunnel is amazing, and make sure you stop to admire the views before entering when heading towards the sound. I have heard that this may be dangerous in winter time due to avalanches though. Also don't be afraid of the parrots, but please don't feed them. Yes they might bite you if you let them, and they do like to rip up windscreen wipers and mudflaps, but they're gentle birds as long as you make sure they know who's boss.

The sound itself offered spectacular views of cliffs, mountains, snow, waterfalls, seals, penguins, and other beauties of nature.

I did a roughly 2 hour cruise on Mitre Peak Cruises, which was awesome value. They're a smaller operator than a couple of the others, but don't let that discourage you. The boat is small and nimble enough to get up close to the shore and under waterfalls. The Captain made sure we got up close to thing so interest like the seals and penguins and even under a waterfall so people could get wet for fun is they chose. Good commentary and skillful piloting. Free tea and coffee too, a pity they ran out of soup as it was the last cruise of the day.

If you take the last cruise of the day, you won't be able to visit the underwater observatory as part of your cruise, but what they don't tell you on the website is that you can come back the next day and visit the observatory for free. I'd highly reccommend Mitre Peak Cruises.

A word of warning though, be prepared for the mosquitos (or whatever they are). During the cruise they were not to be seen, but as sun was setting and we were in the car park before heading home, massive swarms of insects would gather around each person. Make sure you wear lots of insect repellant.