Which Doubtful Sound Tour? Day, Overnight or Helicopter

Every trip to Doubtful Sound crosses the same lake and the same mountain pass before it reaches the water. What you choose is where your day starts, how long you spend on the fiord and what the fare carries. If you already want a night aboard, the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise tours are compared on their own page.

Which Doubtful Sound tour fits your trip?

A handful of questions decide it. Where do you sleep the night before? Do you have a car? Do you want a night on the water? Would you rather look down on the fiord than sail it? Answer those and the choice usually makes itself.

Fares are per person and move with the date you pick. The rest of this guide takes the questions one at a time.

Where does your day start?

Every boat trip starts at Pearl Harbour, 64 Waiau Street in Manapouri, where you check in 20 minutes before departure. Book there and you drive yourself: Manapouri is about 20 minutes from Te Anau, Visit Fiordland says. The Doubtful Sound tours from Manapouri are the day cruise and the overnight, with no coach in the fare.

From Te Anau, a coach leaves the RealNZ visitor centre on Lakefront Drive and drives you to the jetty and back. The Doubtful Sound tours from Te Anau also include the helicopters, which leave Te Anau Airport at 42 Aviation Drive.

From Queenstown, the coach leaves 88 Beach Street, and you arrive 15 minutes early. Visit Fiordland puts the drive to Manapouri at 2.5 hours, so the Doubtful Sound tour from Queenstown spends about five hours of its day on the road.

How long are you on the fiord?

Less than the length of the day suggests. Before the cruise, you cross Lake Manapouri by boat to West Arm, then ride a coach over Wilmot Pass, 671 m, to Deep Cove. DOC puts the pass road at about 45 minutes each way. Then the cruise begins, and afterwards you make the same journey back.

RealNZ's own listings give the day cruise as 2 hours, 2 hours 45 or 3 hours on the fiord, depending on where you book it. Plan on 2 to 3 hours. The overnight is different in kind: about 20 hours on the water, from an afternoon cruise to the next morning.

The helicopters work the other way round. The one-hour flight spends about 40 minutes over the ranges and the fiord and 15 over the lake. The 90-minute flight adds Dusky Sound, with a landing above each fiord.

What does each fare carry?

Every boat fare carries the whole way in: the lake both ways, the coach over the pass both ways, and the cruise with a nature guide. The Te Anau and Queenstown fares add the coach from town. What changes is food, bed and refund.

• The day cruises: no lunch. Food and drinks are sold on board, and the bar takes cards only, so bring lunch or a card.
• The overnight: a cabin, dinner and breakfast, and a specialist nature guide. Drinks from the bar are extra.
• The 3-day trip: the coach from Queenstown, a 3-star hotel night in Te Anau, the glowworm caves, dinner aboard and two breakfasts.
• The helicopters: the flight, the pilot's commentary on headsets and the landing fees. No food.

No fare carries a park fee, because Fiordland National Park has none. Most international visitors pay New Zealand's NZ$100 levy with their visa or NZeTA; the visitor guide explains it.

Day cruise or overnight?

The day cruise gives you 2 to 3 hours on the fiord for $207 and asks for one day. The overnight gives you about 20 hours for $462 a person, booked in twos, and asks you to fix your dates, because it cannot be refunded or changed.

What the night buys is the evening and the morning. You cruise in the afternoon, eat dinner, sleep in a cabin at anchor and cruise again after breakfast. You share the boat with 36 guests at most, where a day boat carries up to 135 to 140.

If that sounds right, read the night at anchor from Manapouri. If you want the fiord in a day, the seven-hour day from the jetty is the lowest fare there is.

Cruise or helicopter?

Choose the boat for time. You spend hours at water level, where Visit Fiordland says New Zealand's southernmost bottlenose dolphins live, with tawaki, the Fiordland crested penguin, and kekeno, the fur seal. Nobody can promise any of them on the day. On the day cruise from Manapouri, the engines go off for a moment of silence.

Choose a helicopter for shape. From above you see the three arms at once, which no boat can show you, and you land at a lookout if the weather allows. The longer flight reaches Dusky Sound, where Captain Cook spent five weeks in 1773, DOC says, and no boat trip here goes there.

A flight carries six people at most, each up to 120 kg, and costs $547 to $897. It is also the only format marked wheelchair accessible. The post on whether to take the boat or the helicopter weighs the two in more detail.

Which trips refund?

Most of them. The day cruises and the helicopter flights refund in full up to 24 hours before. If the operator cancels for weather, you are offered another date or a full refund.

The overnight and the 3-day trip are the exceptions. Both are non-refundable and cannot be changed. Book them once your dates are fixed, and keep a day cruise as the fallback if they are not.

Which suit children?

The day cruises take children with an adult, at discounted child fares. The seven-hour day from Manapouri is the easiest length for a young family, and the 13-hour day from Queenstown the hardest.

The overnight books in twos for a twin cabin, so a family of four is two bookings. The helicopters carry infants on a lap and list discounted rates for them. The 3-day trip takes strollers. The post on taking children to the fiord has the details.

Whatever you book, bring snacks and layers for children: the day boats sell food by card, and the fiord is cold on deck in any season.

Which work in rain?

The boats do. The cruises run in all weather, and rain is when the waterfalls come down the walls. Doubtful Sound gets around 6 m of rain a year, Visit Fiordland says, so there is a good chance of some on your day whatever you book.

The helicopters are the ones weather can stop. They land only if it allows, so book a flight early in your stay and leave a day to spare. DOC also warns that Lake Manapouri can turn rough and choppy, particularly in the afternoons. The Doubtful Sound weather page has the rain month by month.

What does the day from Queenstown cost you in hours?

Nine or ten of them off the water. The day from Queenstown runs 12 to 13 hours, and the cruise is 2 hours 45 minutes to 3 hours of it. The rest is the coach each way and the lake and the pass twice.

Move to Te Anau for a night and the same cruise sits inside a day of 8 hours 30 minutes to 9 hours, with an evening free. Or take the 3-day trip, which sleeps you in Te Anau, then on the fiord, and brings you home on day three. The itinerary from Te Anau lays out the days.

Frequently asked questions

A day, a night or a flight

Doubtful Sound Wilderness Day Cruise from Manapouri

Seven hours from the jetty in Manapouri: the lake by boat, the pass by coach and about 2 hours on the fiord with nature guides. You drive yourself to the start.

From $207 per person

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Doubtful Sound Overnight Cruise

About 20 hours on the fiord: an afternoon cruise, a three-course dinner, a cabin at anchor and breakfast on the water. Booked in twos, and non-refundable.

From $462 per person, bookings of two

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Discover Doubtful Sound // Helicopter Scenic Flight from Te Anau

One hour from Te Anau Airport in a helicopter of up to 6: over the lake, across the ranges to the fiord, and a lookout landing if the weather allows.

From $547 per person

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