🏞️ Milford Sound

Located approximately 3.5 hours drive from Queenstown, Milford Sound is a sight to be seen. It is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey (the 2008 Travelers' Choice Destinations Awards by TripAdvisor)[2][3] and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination.

Despite having concrete plans to be on the road well before 8am, we did not leave until almost 9am. This drastically impacted what we could do on the road. With the aim to not miss our 1:30pm cruise, we swiftly proceeded towards Milford Sound.

The journey itself is beautiful but rather long and tiring. Approximately 3 hours into the journey there is a 1.2km tunnel (Homer Tunnel) that is particularly scary and impressive from an engineering perspective.

We reached just on time without moments to spare before our cruise departure. The cruise lasted almost 2 hours and once again, its beautify is captivating. Having said that, after the first 30 minutes, I was meh about it. 

Do I recommend Milford Sound?

Having experienced it, I am pretty sure, I will not be going to Milford Sound anytime soon. Milford Sound itself remains a must see experience. The main blocker is the journey. All up, it’s more than a 7 hour journey. We did consider staying one night but there isn’t much more in Milford Sound that would warrant a one night stay. 

If Milford Sound was located within one hour of Queenstown, it would be a no brainer recommendation. It’s a difficult one. The effort of going there and back, in my view, to a large extent outweighs the positive experience of the Milford Sound experience.