Kkimkim

Doubtful or Milford sound?
Which would you choose?
Or both?
We are traveling for 3 weeks and don't know if we should go to both or just one.

Our trip is looking like this:

1. Land in Auckland in the morning
2. Waitomo Caves and Rotorua
3. Whakatane/White Island
4. Play in Rotorua and Poly Spa day
5. Taupo
6. Tongariro Crossing
7. Hawkes Bay – Cape Kidnappers
8. Wellington – Te Papa the national museum (4:20/303k)
9. Ferry to the south island, Drive to Kaikoura , Afternoon whale watch
10. Whale watch again
11. Hamner Springs (2 hour drive)
12. Pancake rock (3 hour drive), Hokitika (hoe-ka-tick-ah) to buy Jade (1 hour drive), Franz Josef Glacer (2 hours drive)
13. Glacier Day
14. Drive to Queenstown (6 hours drive)
15. Milford?
16. Doubtful?
17. Queenstown
18. Te Anua
19. Queenstown to Dunedin (4 hours), Shot Over Jet Boat (best on by Nick)
20. Dunedin to Akaroa / Christchurch (5 hours)
21. Home ==

We have yet to finalize our Queenstown/Doubfult/Milford Sound section of the trip. Suggestions please!

We leave, 2 of us, on the 18th! Woo Hoo!

As always, thank you all for your suggestions. They helped us put together this intinerary!

Safe travels everyone!
Kim

ANUJ

I think both sounds might be an overkill -and milford is the most famous - so I'd go with that. Also something wrong with the sequence - Te Anau is midway between milford and queesnstown, so the route would be queenstown-sounds-te anau - dunedin

Tim_and_Liz

We have a similar South Island itinerary to your days 10-18. We decided to do a self-drive to Milford Sound from Te Anau, stopping for walks along the drive and taking a cruise in the sound. We will be doing the overnight cruise in Doubtful Sound.

I agree with ANUJ that it would make sense to alter your itinerary.
We are driving Queenstown-Te Anau- Milford- Te Anau - Doubtful- Dunedin.

You will be backtracking to Queenstown. Instead, how about:
Day 15: Queenstown
Day 16: Morning shotover jet boat, drive to Te Anau in afternoon/early evening
Day 17: Milford Road/Sound, overnight in Te Anau
Day 18: Depart Manapouri on Doubtful Sound overnight cruise
Day 19: Drive Manapouri to Dunedin

craiginowensound

I have been to both Sounds. In spite of the additional cost, I would recommend Doubtful Sound as a better choice. Doubtful is more remote, and provides more spectacular scenery -- we saw Milford afterward and the Sound itself was disappointing after Doubtful. We saw at least 8 to 12 rainbows on the Doubtful Sound trip and numerous dolphins. The most scenic part of the trip to Milford is the drive to the tour boat -- the sheer cliffs are phenomenal, especially through the avalanche prone area. You would also enjoy the mirror lakes. This is one of the most spectacular drives you will ever take. But in terms of what you see on the water, stick with Doubtful Sound. By the way, we travelled in July (winter in NZ).
Regardless of your choices, enjoy your trip. NZ is a super destination.

Kkimkim

Thanks for the update. Just realized that we can get to the sounds easier than from Te Anau instead of Queenstown. So we are going to cut our stay short in Queenstown, head down to Te Anau and then see the sounds from there. We'll have 2 weeks to decide which one or both! Thank you for your suggestions! I'll add them in my travel book!

Can't wait 'til Friday!
k

jcasale

Thanks, craiginowensound, for the info. We will be on the South Island in early July and I had wondered if we would be able to see much (especially in terms of wildlife) in either of the sounds. Based on your comments (and our own typical preferences) it sounds as if Doubtful Sound is the better bet for us and then maybe just drive the road to Milford Sound to see the views from there. We're probably going to keep that part of the trip fairly flexible so we can take advantage of weather. I assume there are trips to Doubtful Sound from Te Anau?

Tim_and_Liz

jcasale,
Yes, you can get to Doubtful Sound from Te Anau. If you have a car, it is likely just as easy to drive to Manapouri yourself and take the coach from there. (That is what we've decided to do.)

Here is the link for the daytime cruise and transportation options:
http://www.realjourneys.co.nz/Main/Doubtfuldaytime/

And the overnight cruise and transportation options:
http://www.realjourneys.co.nz/Main/Doubtfulovernight/

jcasale

Thanks for the website. Yes, we will have a car (and by that point in the trip should be pretty comfortable with driving on the "other" side of the road) so we may do the same thing and drive ourselves.

mlgb

ttt