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Mt Cook Tour and Heli Hike Combo from Queenstown
4.8
46 Ratings
Queenstown
Experience Mt Cook's highlights and a thrilling Heli Hike on Tasman Glacier with expert guides, scenic flights, and secret stops. Book your unforgettable adventure now.
Duration:
12 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
- Queenstown - Your tour starts in the stunning city of Queenstown. As we drive out of the city your guide will not only set the scene for your adventurous day but also point out and guide you past some of the area’s top highlights.
- Kawarau Suspension Bridge - Departing Queenstown we then make our way through the Kawarau Gorge, passing stunning views, the Kawarau Suspension Bridge and the famous Roaring Meg Lookout. Time and light permitting we will stop for that first great shot of the tour.
- Cromwell - Exiting the Kawarau Gorge we enter the fruit and wine growing region of Cromwell. Passing huge fields of vines, we cross Lake Dunstan and follow this beautiful lake towards Lindis Pass.
- Lindis Pass - Climbing in altitude, Lindis Pass has amazing views down through the valleys. Being one of only three alpine roads through the otherwise impassable Southern Alps, we stop at the famous lookout at the top of the pass for an essential photo.
- Omarama - While driving through the endless plains of the Mackenzie district we will spot several of the famous Merino breed of sheep before stopping at the quaint township of Omarama. While in Omarama we have time for a break or even to try the best creamy chicken pie in NZ (in our opinion)!
- Lake Pukaki - Turning west we begin to enter the Aoraki National Park and Lake Pukaki begins to emerge in front of us. Lake Pukaki is one of the bluest lakes you will ever see and is stunningly framed by the backdrop of Aoraki/Mt Cook and the Southern Alps. We stop for some amazing photos and to marvel at the sight that we are beholding. It’s not hard to see why many Lord of the Rings scene were filmed nearby and we will point them out for you.
- Mount Cook Ski Planes & Helicopters - Helihike - check-in and get ready for an adventure of a lifetime with a Tasman Glacier Heli Hike. Your trip with Inflight includes return Scenic flight to & from the Aoraki/Mt. Cook base.
- Tasman Glacier - As part of your Helihike you will land on and explore the Tasman Glacier. Combine the excitement of walking on New Zealand’s biggest glacier with the stunning scenic helicopter fly-bys of New Zealand’s largest mountain, Aoraki/Mt Cook. You will fly to your drop off point on a remote part of the glacier before beginning a guided exploration of the amazing ice formations. Follow your guide as they cut steps in the glacier, using skills handed down from NZ’s mountain pioneers.
- Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (Te Wahipounamu) - After your flight we arrive at the Mt Cook Village, weather depending, we should get some amazing shots of the mountain from the ground. At 3724m, Aoraki/Mt Cook is New Zealand’s highest peak, however the mountain can be viewed without any acclimatisation whatsoever from the village which is just 750m above sea level.
- Mt. Cook Village - As part of you many stops during your Mt Cook tour you will see the Mt Cook Village.
- High Country Salmon - Farewelling Aoraki/Mt Cook Village and making our way back to Queenstown we stop in at High Country Salmon, a local salmon farm, where you can feed the fish and taste some of the freshest salmon in New Zealand.
- Jackson Orchards - During summer months when the sun is still up and as we get close to Queenstown, we often stop at Jacksons Orchard to try or buy her delicious local fruit or real fruit ice cream.
- Queenstown - Sadly the tour must come to an end as we re-enter Queenstown and say our goodbyes.
What's Included
- Small Group Fully Guided Bus Tour
- Bottled water
- 2 Scenic Helicopter Flights
- Snacks
- Tasman Glacier Heli Hike including all equipment
What's Not Included
- Alcoholic beverages (available to purchase)
- Gratuities
- Lunch - opportunities to purchase along the way.
Additional Information
While the destinations you will be visiting are truly spectacular, we at Cheeky Kiwi Travel believe it is our small groups, our guides, the journey and the little details that set our tours well apart. Secret stops, wildlife viewings, specially designed vehicles, complementary refreshments and many other pleasant surprises ensure our tours are an experience to remember.
Mt Cook Tour & Heli Hike Combo, this small group, fully-guided day trip combines all of the key highlights of Mt Cook with an incredible Heli Hike on Tasman Glacier including two scenic helicopter flights. Led by our famously passionate tour guides, notorious for bringing your journey to life by sharing their stories and rich background knowledge, and run in modern, comfortable minibuses packed with extras ensuring your comfort and safety.
- Heli-Hike is always ‘on request’ until confirmed by our airline partner
- Heli Hike is weather dependent and may be cancelled if unsafe to fly.
- A large amount of hiking is involved.
- Please dress in 3 – 4 layers of warm upper body clothing and no jeans
- Children under 12 years are not permitted for this activity.
- Due to uneven surfaces, this tour is not recommended for those with walking disabilities or using a wheelchair.
Location
The Station - Home of Adventure in Queenstown
Shotover Street
Please pick this location if your hotel is not on our list. We do not pick up from your hotel, motel or private property if it is not listed.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.8
(46 Ratings)
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Yunmei_c
Apr 25, 2024
Hunter is the guy!! - The glacier ice cave tour and actually all the activities that “Hunter” lead us to is great… we fully enjoy the trip!!
Review provided by Viator
Jiaying_y
Apr 24, 2024
A good trip - I think the trip was very meaningful, met a lot of new friends, the guides were very professional and humorous, everything was good
Review provided by Viator
Steve_f
Mar 18, 2024
Amazing experience - One of the best experiences of my life. Our bus driver was great she was an excellent driver and gave us a lot of info during the tour. Plenty of stops for photos and breaks.
The heli hike was amazing and something I would recommend if you are able to.
I would book this trip again. Cheeky kiwi did a great job.
Review provided by Viator
E8470riroberta
Mar 6, 2024
Amazing hike on a glacier - We hiked on the Tasman glacier. Absolutely beautiful but you need to be in shape. The guide Pavel was outstanding. The bus driver Sarah was informative and delightful.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Careyt530
Feb 24, 2024
Wonderful experience - Great trip….very flexible on pick up/drop off, the guides are so friendly, and what a great experience to be able to hike on a glacier!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mariane_m
Jan 17, 2024
Best day - Thank you Collen from cheeky kiwi for giving us the best day and d guide from d hike too, you guys are great!😊
Review provided by Viator
Victoria_r
Jan 8, 2024
Remarkable experience - This was the highlight of our trip to NZ. We were fortunate to have such perfect weather to be able to make the flight. We recognize that sometimes due to weather the heli ride up needs to be canceled so feel very fortunate to have such an amazing day.
This was such a remarkable experience I would highly recommend it. This books up fast and needs to be booked advanced. Although it was a bit pricey on aviator perhaps check with other local tour groups to optimize your price.
Our tour guide Jeff was super knowledgeable and really a lovely person. Appreciate his patients with the crew and helping to shepherd everyone along!
Review provided by Viator
Cbpnola
May 21, 2024
Awesome guide, super informative - We signed up for the heli tour and glacier hike - the reason for the four star rating is because we were unable to fly that day because of the weather, which was not our tour guide's fault. Our tour guide was absolutely awesome, knowledgeable, polite, funny, a real eco warrior and super interesting guide. His name was Cameron, and we met two of the other guides as well just crossing paths and they were also excellent helping us navigate what to do without the flight and hike (we did another bike that was outstanding). Totally dug Cameron and hope you connects when he comes to the States (Cam the email is cpetersen1115@gmail.com when you make it to New Orleans. The area is absolutely beautiful and totally worth the trip down from Queenstown. Again I cannot say enough good things about our guide he was really cool and made a bad trip good.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Josephine_t
Dec 29, 2023
Book in advance but cancelled heli hike, but the tour is good and worth - The most important thing I wanna to do is Heli hike on glacier, I booked in very advanced. But just before few days, they told me the heli hike fully booked and need swap to other activities ( but not due to the weather problems). I’m shocked and disappointed for that.
The tour keep going, just cancel the heli hike. FYI, then I swap to helicopter and landing ( without hike). They tried very hard to reorganise, I felt very thankful about that. And, The tour was good, the guide super nice and very informative and knowledgeable, really learnt a lot. But, the tour ultimately didn’t go to the Mt cook village & in the fruit Orchard, little disappointed. However, all the staff and the plan is very smooth. For what happened during the tour time was very good. I would said super worth for it. Just something different with what the tour page said.
Review provided by Viator
Michael_d
Mar 30, 2024
Incomplete Rating - but tour guide was awesome for us not being able to fly - Unfortunately, we were unable to fly to the summit of Mt Cook because of poor flying conditions. The Cheeky Kiwi team made the most of it by guiding us to Hooker Valley and the scenic route prior to Mt Cook area. Our tour guide, Cameron, was outstanding! He really made the experience exponentially more enjoyable despite us not being able to fly up that day. We really wished we could've heli-ed & hiked. Will have to rebook the heli-hike only in the future!
Review provided by Viator
