Milford Sound Activities

Milford Sound | Regional Information | Activity Highlights | Scenic Highlights | History

Milford Sound is nestled in a region that will leave you gasping in awe. Milford activities include guided tours, boating, scenic flights and tramping.

Milford Sound Activity Highlights Overview

Milford Sound enjoys a range of outdoors activities. Come and explore some of the finest scenery in all of New Zealand!

» Milford Sound Activities Directory

Milford Cruises

The main activity in Milford is boat tours that normally last between one to two hours. The tours include shorter and longer tours. There is also the option of extended overnight cruises on the Sound.

The skippers come close to the shore so that tourists can get close up views of seals basking in the sun on the rocks or of penguins or of other animals and sights.

The cruises also go within the spray of the waterfalls so that all those choosing to stand outside get soaked.

Milford Canoeing

Canoeing and some other water sports are also available. Canoeing enables one to travel at a much slower pace and to really take ones the time to absorb all the dramatic landscape and paddle directly under the sheer cliff faces that characterize the sound.

The Milford Track

Milford Sound also has the Milford Track commonly known as "The Finest Walk in the World".

The track is 53 kilometres long cutting through some of the most beautiful scenery on earth. It follows an ancient track that the Māori used to follow to find the precious green stone that is to be found at Milford Sound.

Milford Underwater Tourist Observatory

The sound has an underwater tourist observatory, in the observatory one can view black coral. Black coral are normally only found in much deeper water but due to a dark surface layer of fresh water, stained by tannins from the surrounding forest, this allows the corals to grow close to the surface.

The sound is so protected by the surrounding mountains and receives such a high rainfall that the fresh water gushing into the sound does not mix with the salt water instead forming a layer of fresh water sitting on top of the salt water.

Viewing the Waterfalls

On rainy and stormy days tourists can admire the play of the wind with the numerous waterfalls in Milford Sound. When meeting the cliff face the powerful wind often goes upward and waterfalls with a vertical drop get caught by wind, causing the water to go upwards.

Useful Milford Sound Links

To help plan your Milford Sound holiday choose from the main categories below:

• Milford Sound Accommodation
• Milford Sound Tours
• Milford Sound Attractions and Activities
• Milford Sound Transport
• Milford Sound Visitor Information

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Milford Sound Region Information

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