Hotels near Milford Sound Airport - MFN, Milford Sound

We were lucky in that we could afford to stay at the lodge for two nights, it’s a long trip, 4 hours, from Queenstown to do in one day. There are not many signs along the way telling you how far it is until your destination, that would have helped. Take your time if you are driving and stop a long the way, the views an hour away from Milford Sound are just as stunning as Milford Sound itself. Be aware parking costs $25 per day at Milford Sound although you can park up for 20 minutes without paying. It gets very very busy so leave plenty of time to park and walk to the boat terminal. Pre-book your boat tour.

The location is scenically beautiful. The mosquitoes are intense. The only reason to visit is to do the cruise. We should have done a day trip out of TeAnau which was lovely and saved the exorbitant costs associated with a stay at Milford Sound Lodge which was extremely disappointing. Staffed by well intentioned backpackers, the place lacked any semblance of hospitality expertise and finesse.

Can only recommend to drive to Milford in the morning spend the rest of the day in Milford and do some short walks. Next day do your boat trip etc and enjoy nature. Drive back the following day. A 2 night stay I would recommend to make most of this beautiful part of the world.

Staying in the Sound is special - it is a very short drive (minutes) to the cruise departure points. It's about 2 hours drive otherwise from the closest town to the national park. You are immersed in the environment and you need to be flexible in regards to weather - we had several road closures (can't leave the park), rain and significant snow fall at the Homer tunnel area. The Lodge did a good job of communicating the various conditions.

We drove our hire car from Queenstown and stayed just the one night as we had a Tour booked the next day on the boat. We enjoyed the drive and the stunning scenery on our trip to Milford Sound; however, if you are short on time, you can FLY straight out and do the Boat cruise in half a day. If you drive down- it's an ALL-DAY event and that is why we opted to stay overnight and travel back to Queenstown the next day. There is only a CAFE in the town for quick food and coffee etc... There were limited places to pull up on the trip to have a meal. Lots of scenery and a long drive but enjoyable if you like car trips?

There are a few activities and places to visit. Excellent for photography. Getting to and out of Milford Sound can be challenging because of the weather and road condition which can be quite unpredictable.