Fox Glacier Helicopter

To walk on Fox Glacier (Te Moeka o Tuawe), book Fox Glacier Guiding’s Fox Glacier: Up to 3 Hours Hike with Helicopter Transfer. It costs from $480 per person, is rated 4.9 from 370 GetYourGuide reviews, and gives you up to 3 hours on the ice in a 4-hour trip from 44 Main Road in Fox Glacier village. For a flight with a snow landing, two leave from the village itself: Glacier Helicopters’ 25-minute Fox Glacier: Scenic Helicopter Flight with Snow Landing, from $223, and The Helicopter Line’s 35-minute Fox Glacier and Mount Cook Helicopter Flight, from $280.

Fox Glacier village is about 24 km and 25 minutes’ drive south of Franz Josef. Several flights that GetYourGuide files under Fox Glacier check in at Franz Josef, so read the base on each listing before you book.

Quick picks

• A walk on the ice: the Fox heli-hike, $480, up to 3 hours on the glacier.
• The shortest flight from Fox village: the $223 Glacier Helicopters flight, 25 minutes with an 8-minute photo stop on its itinerary, in a group of up to 6.
• Fox Glacier and Aoraki/Mt Cook: the $280 Helicopter Line flight, with a snow landing of about 10 minutes, then past Aoraki/Mt Cook.
• Both glaciers in half an hour: HeliServices’ Twin Fox & Franz Josef Glaciers Helicopter Trip, $260, rated 4.9 from 154 reviews, with a 10-minute landing.
• The Tasman side as well: The Helicopter Line’s Franz Josef, Fox Glacier & Mt Cook Helicopter Scenic Flight, $393 for 40 minutes over Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, across to the Tasman Glacier and past Aoraki/Mt Cook. It starts in Franz Josef and is rated 3.9 from just 13 reviews.

Which flights really leave from Fox village

Prices are per person in US dollars, checked October 2026. Ratings are GetYourGuide’s, with the review count in brackets.

Three trips start in Fox village: the heli-hike and the two flights from Glacier Helicopters and The Helicopter Line. The HeliServices twin-glacier trip sits under Fox Glacier on GetYourGuide, but its description has you departing from Franz Josef town, so confirm the base when the operator emails you. The last three start in Franz Josef and cover Fox Glacier from the air. If you are staying in Fox, that means a 25-minute drive north before check-in. Our twin glacier page covers the flights that take in both glaciers, and the Mount Cook page covers the Grand Circle.

The Fox Glacier heli-hike

After check-in on Main Road you get a safety briefing of about 30 minutes and your gear: leather boots and socks, crampons, walking poles, and a wet-weather jacket and over-trousers. A bus and a 5-minute helicopter flight take you onto the ice in a remote part of the glacier. The listing says the flight passes ice caves, icefalls and Victoria Falls, the meltwater river from the hidden Victoria glacier. On the ice your guide cuts steps as you go and leads you among the formations of the day for up to 3 hours, weather permitting.

The listing asks for a reasonable level of fitness and agility on variable, reasonably challenging terrain. It is not suitable for children under 9, and people over 116 kg face restrictions that may include cancellation. Bring warm clothing, a hat, gloves, sunglasses, sunscreen, your own food and drinks and any medication. Jeans are not allowed. One low-star reviewer found the time on the ice too short, which matches the “up to” in the listing: the weather sets the length. Note the change rule too: guest-requested changes or cancellations inside 24 hours of the trip are not refunded, while a weather cancellation is refunded in full.

Snow-landing flights from Fox village

The $223 Glacier Helicopters flight follows a short itinerary: about 10 minutes up past the icefalls and crevasses of Fox Glacier, an 8-minute stop on the snow, and 7 minutes back to the township. Groups are limited to 6. Children aged 4 to 14 over 15 kg need their own seat, and infants under 4 and under 15 kg sit on an adult’s knee. One low-star reviewer got an overflight with no landing, and another felt passengers were asked to choose whether to fly when a landing was already unlikely. Ask at check-in what happens if the landing site is closed.

The $280 Helicopter Line flight leaves from its base on Main Road (State Highway 6) and lands on a snowfield at the top of Fox Glacier for about 10 minutes before flying past Aoraki/Mt Cook and back to the village. Check in 30 minutes before departure. Every landing on both flights depends on the weather and the pilot’s call on the day.

Fox Glacier from the ground: the valley road and the South Side Walkway

DOC closed the Fox Glacier valley access road on the north side indefinitely in August 2019, after the Alpine Gardens landslide. Treat it as closed, and check DOC’s page before you plan a visit. Today you see the glacier on foot from the South Side Walkway and Cycleway: 6.4 km return, about 2 hours, with the first viewpoint about 40 minutes in. The trailhead is 2 km south of the township across the Fox River bridge. The viewpoints are hundreds of meters from the face, DOC asks you not to go past the marked end because of extreme flood hazard, and rockfall or flooded rivers can close the track. You can see Fox Glacier from the ground, but every trip onto the ice listed here starts with a helicopter.

Lake Matheson

Lake Matheson is 5 minutes from Fox Glacier village and about 30 minutes from Franz Josef. The loop is 4.4 km and takes about 1.5 hours; the first section to Jetty Lookout is 2.4 km return, about 45 minutes, and wheelchair accessible. DOC says dawn and dusk on a fine, windless day give the best mirror reflections of Aoraki/Mt Cook and Mt Tasman. Parking is free, and it gets busy from November to April. If cloud cancels your flight, the lake walk is an easy second plan, though the reflections need still, clear air.

Weather days

Book your flight or hike for your first full day in Fox and keep a second day free. Glacier Country Helicopters says the township and the Alps can have quite different weather, so a clear sky over the village does not mean the landing sites are open. On GetYourGuide every booking here can be cancelled free up to 24 hours before, and weather cancellations are offered another date or a full refund.

Fox or Franz Josef

The two villages sit 24 km apart and both have one heli-hike. Of the flights on this site, three trips start in Fox village and the rest check in at Franz Josef. If you have not chosen a base, our Franz Josef or Fox guide compares them, and the Franz Josef heli-hike page covers the trip on the other glacier.

When you have a date in Fox, check availability for the heli-hike.