Tasman Glacier Tours

The best Tasman Glacier tour for most people is a heli-hike, and The Helicopter Line’s 3-hour Tasman Glacier heli hike is a strong pick at $569 per person: a helicopter lands you on the ice and a guide walks you across it for about two hours, which no viewpoint or boat can match. If $569 is more than you want to spend, the Tasman Glacier View Track costs nothing and takes 30 minutes, and the Glacier Explorers boat puts you among the icebergs on Tasman Lake from September to mid-June.

Five ways to see the Tasman Glacier

The Tasman is New Zealand’s longest glacier, about 23 km from its upper snowfields to the lake at its foot. Where you see it from decides what you see. The lower glacier is covered in rock debris and looks like a gray rubble field, so the viewpoint and the boat show you the lake, the icebergs and the ice face, while flights and heli-hikes take you up to the white ice and snow.

The heli-hike: standing on the glacier

A heli-hike is the only option on this page that puts you on your feet on glacier ice for any length of time. The Helicopter Line’s version is guided by Alpine Guides, who have worked in the park since 1966. You fly about 15 minutes from Mount Cook Airport over Tasman Lake, walk for around two hours in boots and crampons that are supplied, then fly back past the Hochstetter Icefall. The minimum age is 10 and you need moderate fitness, meaning you can walk more than a kilometer and use stairs easily.

Mt Cook Glacier Guiding sells a close rival at the same $569 with a lower minimum age of 9. Choosing between the two, and the fly-in packages from Queenstown, gets a full page of its own in our Tasman Glacier heli hike comparison. Our breakdown of The Helicopter Line heli hike covers the day itself.

Snow landings on the upper glacier

If you want the ice without the walking, a scenic flight with a landing on the upper Tasman Glacier gives you 10 to 15 minutes on the snowfields, where the glacier is white and wide beneath the peaks. The Mount Cook Ski Planes & Helicopters combo costs $314 on GetYourGuide, is rated 4.7 from 361 reviews, and flies one leg in a ski plane and the other in a helicopter. Our combo flight breakdown has the detail.

For the ski plane both ways, the same operator’s Glacier Highlights flight is booked on Viator, where it is rated 4.9 from 19 reviews. Ski planes land on skis on the snow, and this company has flown them in the park since 1955.

45-Minute Glacier Highlights Ski Plane Tour from Mount Cook

• ★ 4.9/5 (19 reviews)
• 45 minutes
• Free cancellation
• Operated by Mount Cook Ski Planes and Helicopters

Includes 45-minute scenic ski plane flight · Landing at the top of the Tasman Glacier · Live commentary on board in English

From $380 per person Check Availability

You'll choose your date and complete the booking on Viator.

Children of any age can join these flights, which makes them the family answer when a heli-hike’s minimum age rules someone out. The aircraft shuts down on the snow, so the landing is quiet.

Glacier Explorers: the boat on Tasman Lake

Glacier Explorers runs small boats among the icebergs on Tasman Lake, a lake that only began forming in the 1970s as the glacier retreated and has been growing since. The trip takes about 2 hours 45 minutes: you check in at the Activities Centre in the Hermitage Hotel, ride a bus to the Blue Lakes car park, walk 1.5 km (about 25 minutes) to the jetty and spend about an hour on the water, close to the terminal face.

It is sold on neither GetYourGuide nor Viator. You book direct with the Hermitage by phone or email. From 1 October 2026 the operator’s own NZD rate is NZ$219 for adults and NZ$99 for children aged 4 to 14. The minimum age is 4, and everyone must manage the 25-minute walk each way.

The boat stops running from mid-June to the end of August, when the lake freezes, and restarts around 1 September. Icebergs and calving are not guaranteed on any trip. The head guide makes a weather call just before each departure, and a weather cancellation gets you another time or a full refund.

The free option: Tasman Glacier View Track

The Tasman Glacier View Track is 1.5 km return and takes about 30 minutes, but it climbs more than 300 steps up the moraine wall to a lookout over the lake and the lower glacier. From the top you see how far the ice has pulled back and, in summer, icebergs on the lake; in winter the lake can be frozen. A short side trip reaches the Blue Lakes, which are now fed by rainwater and look green. If the steps are too much, the Tasman Lake and River Track (2.5 km return, about 50 minutes) reaches the lakeshore without them.

To drive there, take Tasman Valley Road, the second road on the left as you leave Mount Cook Village, cross the one-way bridge and follow it to the end, about 10 minutes. Parking is free but fills from November to April, when large tour groups use the track.

Day tours that stop at the viewpoint

Without a car, several day tours include the viewpoint walk. The Tekapo Shuttle Mt Cook day tour ($97, rated 4.8 from 423 reviews) reaches the Tasman Glacier View Track at about 10:15am, then leaves time for the Hooker Valley before the 3pm return. From Christchurch, NZ South Island Tours’ Mount Cook & Lake Tekapo day tour ($134, rated 4.8 from 639 reviews) allows about 1.5 hours at the Tasman Glacier area for the Blue Lakes and viewpoint walk. More options are in our Mount Cook day tours guide.

Scenic flights over the glacier

A longer scenic flight shows you the whole length of the glacier, from Tasman Lake to the upper snowfields. The Helicopter Line’s 55-minute Aoraki/Mount Cook & the Glaciers flight follows the Tasman, lands on snow, then crosses the Main Divide to view the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. From Lake Tekapo, Air Safaris’ 50-minute scenic flight ($300, rated 5.0 from 132 reviews) flies over the Tasman, Fox and Franz Josef glaciers without landing. Our scenic flights comparison sets the flights side by side.

Tasman Glacier vs Fox and Franz Josef

Franz Josef and Fox glaciers are on the West Coast, on the far side of the Main Divide, and the walk to Franz Josef’s viewpoint runs through rainforest. There the river has cut off foot access up the valley, so the DOC walk ends at a viewpoint and a helicopter is the only way onto the ice. Heli-hikes there run up to about 2.5 hours on the ice.

The Tasman is the longer glacier, and it has something the West Coast lacks: a lake full of icebergs that you can walk to in 30 minutes or cross by boat. Its lower reaches are debris-covered, so the white ice starts higher up, where the heli-hikes and snow landings go. If you are visiting both sides, do the boat or the viewpoint at Tasman and save your heli-hike for whichever side has the better forecast on the day. The Helicopter Line’s Fox Glacier and Mount Cook flight ($277) covers both glaciers in one trip from the West Coast side.

When to go

Heli-hikes and flights run year-round when the weather allows. The boat runs from about September to mid-June. Summer brings icebergs on the lake and busy car parks; winter brings lake ice and a closed boat. Snow, strong winds and sunburn are possible in any season, so pack layers whichever tour you choose.

When you have a date in mind, check availability for The Helicopter Line heli hike, or compare every tour type on the homepage.