Fox Glacier Heli Hike

Book the Fox Glacier Heli-Hike: Up to 3 Hours on the Ice for the first full day of your stay in Fox Glacier, and keep the day after it free. It is the only Fox Glacier heli-hike sold on GetYourGuide (as of October 2026). Fox Glacier Guiding runs it from 44 Main Road in the township, from $483 per person, and it is rated 4.9 from 370 GetYourGuide reviews. Plan on about 4 hours from check-in to the finish, with up to 3 hours on the ice when the weather allows.

Fox Glacier (Te Moeka o Tuawe) lies in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the South Island’s West Coast. Floods and a landslide damaged the valley access road in early 2019, and it has stayed closed since, so you cannot walk onto the ice from the valley floor. To stand on the glacier you need a helicopter and a guide, and this trip gives you both.

Prices on this site are per person in US dollars on a real date, checked in October 2026.

How the heli-hike day runs

Check in at Fox Glacier Guiding’s base on Main Road 20 minutes before the departure time on your confirmation. The operator runs departures at 8:50 am and 11:50 am all year, with extra departures on demand. The safety briefing and kit fitting take about half an hour. You are issued leather boots and socks, crampons, walking poles, a waterproof jacket and overtrousers, a hat, gloves and a small pack, and staff can lend you a fleece if you want one more layer.

A bus takes you to the helicopter in about 5 minutes, and the flight onto the glacier takes about 5 more. On the ice your guide cuts steps and you follow them in crampons past crevasses, pinnacles and blue ice, depending on what the glacier holds that week. The ice changes constantly, so the operator promises no particular feature, ice caves included. After up to 3 hours you fly back down, ride the bus to Main Road and finish where you started. Our breakdown of the tour lists every inclusion and the full itinerary.

Who can join, and the limits

The GetYourGuide listing rules out children under 9, people over about 115 kg and wheelchair users. Children from 9 to 16 must be with an adult. Jeans are not allowed, because they turn heavy and cold when wet. The listing asks for a reasonable level of fitness and agility, since the glacier terrain is variable and reasonably challenging, but you need no glacier experience.

If the limits rule you out, or 4 hours is more than you want to give, a scenic flight from Fox puts you on the snow for a few minutes. The 25-minute Fox snow-landing flight leaves from the township from $225 per person, and our Fox Glacier helicopter flights page compares it with the longer flight past Aoraki/Mt Cook. Staying in Franz Josef instead? The twin-glacier flights from there cross both glaciers in one trip.

Fox or Franz Josef

Franz Josef, about 24 km north, has its own heli-hike with a different company, the Franz Josef 2.5-hour heli-hike, from $511 per person with up to 2.5 hours on the ice and a minimum age of 10, and our Franz Josef heli-hike page covers it in full. Fox gives you up to 3 hours on the ice from age 9, and the Fox or Franz Josef guide sets the two trips side by side.

When the helicopter cannot fly

Fox Glacier township averages about 5,000 mm of rain a year, and cloud, wind or rain can ground the helicopters in any season. Fox Glacier Guiding makes its final weather call 10 minutes before departure. If it cancels, you get a full refund or a move to another departure that has space. On a GetYourGuide booking you can cancel free up to 24 hours ahead; inside 24 hours the listing allows no refunds or changes at your own request.

A grounded day still has plenty in it. DOC’s South Side Walkway starts 2 km south of the township, and its first glacier viewpoint is about 40 minutes’ walk in, hundreds of meters from the ice. The Lake Matheson loop takes about 1 hour 30 minutes. Two guided half-day walks pick up in Fox and go out in all weather: the Fox Glacier walking and nature tour from $65 and the Lake Matheson nature tour from $68. Our page on Fox Glacier without a helicopter covers each one, and the Lake Matheson tour breakdown covers what that walk includes.

Leave a spare day in your plan

Book the heli-hike for your first full day in Fox and keep the next day open. Fox Glacier Guiding and the GetYourGuide listing both give that advice, and if your trip is cancelled the spare day gives you a second try. One night can work when the sky is clear; two nights give you a real backup. The operator names no best season, since the glacier is walkable all year, and our weather and best-time guide explains how cancellations work and what each season brings. For accommodation in the township, see where to stay in Fox Glacier.

Coming from Queenstown, you face about four and a half hours of driving. No Fox heli-hike package from Queenstown is sold on GetYourGuide; the Queenstown plane-and-heli-hike day flies you to Franz Josef instead, from $1,134 per person. Our Queenstown page compares that day with driving over and staying.

What to wear on the ice

Wear 3 to 4 warm upper layers, such as a light shirt, a long-sleeve fleece and a windbreaker, with track pants or other long pants; shorts are fine in summer. Bring sunglasses, sunscreen, any medication you take and your own food and drink, which the trip does not include. Leave your own backpack behind: you carry the supplied pack, with a 3 kg limit. Fox Glacier Guiding puts the temperature on the ice at about 5 to 15 °C in summer and about -5 to 10 °C in winter. Our what to wear guide goes layer by layer.

What it costs

The heli-hike costs from $483 per person on GetYourGuide (checked October 2026), and our Fox Glacier heli-hike price guide sets that against the operator’s own rate and the cheaper options.

Choosing between the options

If you are still weighing the heli-hike against flights, walks and the Franz Josef trips, our guide to which Fox Glacier tour to book compares all 11 by traveler.

When your Fox dates are fixed, check availability for the first full day of your stay.