Franz Josef Glacier & Fox Glacier, South Island -
Glacier Country of New Zealand

A Memorable Train Trip and Meeting Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier

This is an experience we look forward to in the South Island – Boarding The TranzAlpine – consistently rated among the top ten train journeys in the world!

A must-do for anyone visiting the South Island.

Don’t miss this unforgettable trip that travels over the Canterbury Plains, through the heart of Southern Alps; passing tunnels, untouched forests and spectacular gorges to the West Coast.

This is the best train trip I have ever had!

We made our way to Greymouth, picked up our rental car in New Zealand and then en route to the West Coast, South Island.

This is one of New Zealand’s natural best in the South Island. The uniqueness of glacial ice meeting the temperate rainforest on the South Pacific Island.

Where else can you find glaciers just 305 above sea level and just few km from the beach? We arrived at Franz Josef township after a 3 hours drive.

It is hard to imagine how Franz is like during the busy months, given that it is the busiest tourist stop on the West Coast.

There are heaps of adventures in Franz and you can ‘shop’ for your adventures and options here.

No trip to Franz is complete without doing the glacier walk. We did ours by driving to the car park 5km south of the town and walk to the terminal face.

You can only do that if you have a rental car in New Zealand.

It was one rough adventure with Clayton on a pram. We couldn’t complete the glacier walk for that reason!

Use a baby carrier if you plan to bring a young toddler for the walk (we didn't have that!)

Nevertheless, we had a great time.

Our pictures will convince you that we did!

You need a full day to complete the walk if you are taking it in a leisure pace.

Do spend some extra on a guided glacier walk and climbing experience in Franz if you can afford the time.

Our Franz Josef Glacier Hike with Clayton in the pram

We booked ourselves on the flight of a lifetime, “The Grand Traverse”, with Air Safaris in Franz.

And yes, they take small children too! Just so long the little ones have no cold or flu.

This is a spectacular scenic flight seeing experience allowing us to explore the Mount Cook and Westland National Parks.

It is definitely an experience worth investing! Fine weathers are necessary for any helicopter flights.

So do plan an extra day at the Franz Josef or Fox Glacier, just in case.

Our close encounters with the Glacier (from the plane)...

Heli-hiking is another option if you want to combine a short helicopter flight with couple of hours of exploring ice caves and pinnacles that you couldn’t reach on foot in a day!

Or if you just want to set foot on the glaciers for that special photo moment, check out Heliservices who can land at any of the designated landing sites in the Westland National Park.

You probably will spend your money on adventures and food more than shopping in Franz and Fox Glacier.

The shopping scene needs more development but you can still find yourself a new Zealand gift; there are some lovely New Zealand souvenir to take home.

In Franz, we had lunch in The Landing, a popular and casual place to hang out; the chocolate brownie is yummie!

For dinner, it was at Blue Ice Café. Blue Ice is a nice, cosy restaurant with an intimate feel.

It is probably the only finer (slightly dearer)restaurants in this area and we are glad it is baby-friendly.

Blue Ice offers personal and friendly service and delicious menu, run by two sisters.

I had the fish of the day (fresh and tasty) while Alex ordered a handsome portion of Shanks.

You can even adjourn to the bar upstairs if you feel like some partying! Blue Ice is fully licensed.

Our brunch in was at Alice May, a cheaper family dining with lots of steaks and great chips. Big servings, great prices!

It's definitely a good choice if you are thinking of saving your money for the plane rides!

Fox Glacier

Fox Glacier (Fox, to the locals) is the smaller of the two glacier towns.

It offers an intimate ‘village’ experience than Franz. You may prefer to do your glacier walk here if you find the ones in Franz too crowded.

It delivers an excellent experience too.

A ‘must-do’ at Fox Glacier is a visit to Lake Matheson, 6km west from town.

Alternatively, you can also drive to the glacier carpark 8 km from town and walk to the foot of the glacier in around 30 minutes.

We did the full walk with Clayton on the pram, another ‘interesting’ and tiring experience for us!

It is an easy walk through the native forest which encircles the lake. It usually takes around an hour (took us longer with Clayton).

It was unfortunate that we didn’t get that ‘perfect shot’ of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman mirrored in the crystal waters like in a NZ picture book… yet, it’s a nice walk.

Our shots of Lake Matheson, Fox Glacier

I heard from a local that the best picture perfect location of the glaciers would be at the café at the Lake Matheson car park.

The dining options at Fox is limited being a smaller town.

The most popular place to dine is Café Neve located on the main road.

The food is simple and delicious.

The Garoupa fish I had was fresh and nicely done and Alex raved about the pizza he had that night. Just be prepared to wait a little longer on busy nights.

Our journey at the glaciers end at Fox Glacier as we made our way to the adventure capital of the South Island, Queenstown.

Back to the top of Franz and Fox Glacier
Take me back to the South Island