Things to do at Fox Glacier

Can you still walk to Fox Glacier?

Not to the ice, and not up to the terminal face the way people did ten years ago. On 26 March 2019 heavy rain set off a huge landslide in the Fox River valley that took out the access road and car park on the north side, and that road is closed indefinitely. The glacier has also been retreating fast since about 2009, after two decades of advancing; it pulled back 374 m between 2017 and 2022 alone. If you want to stand on it, you fly.

You can still see it on foot. The Fox Glacier South Side Walkway starts 2 km south of the village over the Fox River bridge and follows the south bank through old podocarp forest for about 40 minutes to the first viewpoint, then ten more minutes on foot to a lookout. It is about two hours return, easy, and open to bikes as far as the old car park. The viewpoints are hundreds of metres from the ice, so expect a view of the glacier rather than a close encounter. After heavy rain the track closes for flooding or rockfall; check the Glacier Country site that morning.

Heli hikes and scenic flights

The heli hike is the reason most people come. A helicopter lifts you onto the glacier above the icefall, a guide fits crampons and cuts steps, and you spend up to about three hours walking through blue ice, crevasses and pressure ridges before flying back down. It is steady walking rather than climbing, but you need to be on your feet for the whole of it. 4 of our itineraries book the Flying Fox heli hike with Fox Glacier Guiding.

If you would rather not walk, fly. Scenic flights run from helipads in the village and on the highway, and most include a snow landing up on the névé, the high snowfield that feeds the glacier. 7 of our itineraries include the twin glacier flight over Fox and Franz Josef, and 7 the longer Neve Discoverer flight, both with The Helicopter Line. On a clear day the flights show you Aoraki / Mount Cook and Mount Tasman from the western side, which few people see.

Every flight and heli hike here depends on the weather. Operators make the call on the morning, and when cloud sits on the tops nobody flies. It is the single biggest reason we suggest two nights over one.

Things to do in Fox Glacier on the ground

• Lake Matheson: five minutes' drive west of the village. The lake is stained dark by the forest floor, and on a still morning it mirrors Aoraki / Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. The Jetty Lookout is 45 minutes return; the full circuit via Reflection Island is 4.4 km and an hour and a half. Go at dawn or dusk when the water is flattest. 5 of our itineraries book a half day guided eco tour there.
• Fox Glacier Valley by e-bike: 3 of our itineraries include the guided e-bike and hike with Fox Glacier Guiding, which pairs a ride on the rainforest trails with a guided walk in the valley. Good for people who want the glacier country without the helicopter.
• Minnehaha Walk: a 20 minute loop through the forest at the edge of the village. After dark with a torch pointed at the ground, the banks light up with glow worms.
• Gillespies Beach: a gravel road west of Lake Matheson ends at a wild beach where gold was mined in the 1860s. A walk north along the coast leads to a seal colony, and on a clear evening the Alps line up behind the surf.

Fox Glacier or Franz Josef: which is better?

They are 24 km and twenty minutes apart, so you can do both from either. Fox is the longer and faster moving of the two, fed by four alpine glaciers, and Lake Matheson is on its doorstep. Franz Josef is the bigger village, with more places to eat, the hot pools and more flight operators, If you want quiet and a dawn at the lake, sleep in Fox. If you want more choice at dinner, sleep in Franz Josef and drive down for the morning. The twin glacier flight covers both from the air in one go.

Our guide to Franz Josef and Fox glaciers goes through the flights, walks and heli hike options at both side by side.

How to get to Fox Glacier

State Highway 6 is the only road, and there is no airport with scheduled flights on this part of the coast. From the south you come over the Haast Pass from Wānaka or Queenstown; from the north, down the coast from Greymouth or Hokitika, often after the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch. Of our itineraries, 12 arrive from Christchurch, most by train and coach, and 11 come up from Queenstown.

The Haast Pass road runs through slip country and closes after very heavy rain, sometimes for a day or two. Check the NZ Transport Agency map before you set out, and fill up in Haast or Fox: there is very little fuel on the long stretch of coast between them.

Weather and when to go

The village gets about 5,000 mm of rain a year, and the glacier's catchment more than 8 m. That rain is why the forest looks the way it does and why the glacier reaches so low. It does not fall evenly: the coast has long spells of clear weather between the fronts, and when it clears the air is sharp enough to see the summit of Aoraki from the beach. Summer, December to February, has the longest days and the most people. Winter is colder but often more settled, with snow low on the Alps and the best odds of a clear morning at Lake Matheson. Sandflies are a fact of life here from spring to autumn; bring repellent.

Where to stay in Fox Glacier

Two hotels carry most of our itineraries. Heartland Hotel Glacier Country is where 13 of them sleep; Te Weheka, on the main road through the village, takes 7 more, with a few booked into Te Weheka Resort. Beyond those the village has motels, a holiday park and a backpacker hostel, and nothing is far from anything else. In January book early; there are not many beds on this stretch of coast and the ones in Franz Josef fill at the same time.

Next, 8 of our itineraries head south over the Haast Pass to Wānaka and 17 go north and back over the Alps. The tours through Fox Glacier are all here, from NZ$2,528.