Franz Josef Glacier walk is an easy 1.5 hour round trip walk to the base of Franz Josef Glacier from the car park.
Walk past a waterfall along the wide river stone track, suitable for children. You can’t get that close to the glacier face anymore because it’s receded too far. After you’ve finished your walk, why not relax in the main hot pools at Franz Josef Glacier Hot Pools. Or even better, take a soak in the Franz Josef Glacier Private Hot Pools. The hot pools even have a Private Pamper Package!
If you’d prefer to have a guide take you and explain all about the glacier, discover the legends and history, learn all about the flora and fauna along the way, then book a 3 hour guided valley walk to Franz Josef Glacier. This tour doesn’t go on the ice.
Another awesome way to see the Franz Josef Glacier if you don’t want to walk there, is to take a scenic flight. Book a scenic flight over Franz Josef Glacier & Fox Glacier, leaving and returning from Franz Josef town.
Quick Facts about this walk
- Location: Franz Josef, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand
- Distance: 5.4 kms
- Time needed: 1.5 Hours
- Difficulty: Easy
- Wheelchair Access: No
- Route: Double back, return
- Elevation: 264m
- Wet Feet: No
- Toilets: Yes
- Dogs: No
- Mobile Coverage: No
- Last Updated: March 2020
Summary points about this walk
Points of interest along the walk
How to get to the Franz Josef Car Park – start of the walk
It is a short 4.6 km drive from Franz Josef Village on a sealed road to the Franz Josef Glacier car park. You can no longer walk up the Waiho River via Callery Gorge. From the Callery swing bridge the track has been taken out by a slip. DOC have decided not to fix it. Now you walk along side the road into the Franz Josef Glacier car park. You can pay for a shuttle to pick up and drop off from Franz Josef village. This summer the price was $12.50 each.
Observation point for good photos
From the Franz Josef Glacier car park, make your way to the information board then follow the path to the right. Five minutes into the walk there is a small up hill climb to a good observation point to take photos of the Waiho valley and up to the Glacier. A word of warning. Do not fly your drone anywhere around Franz Josef. The police will lock you up for the night and fine you thousands of dollars. One so and so, flew his drone past a chopper, almost causing the tourist laden chopper to crash. Guess where he spent the rest of his holiday.
To the Franz Josef Glacier Lookout
Back down onto the Waiho valley floor, this is the one and only bridge to cross, to your right there are three small waterfalls where you could top up that water bottle with fresh cold mountain water.
The last 300mt of the walk is the last small climb to the viewing point of the Franz Josef Glacier, but alas the Glacier is still hundreds of meters away, very disappointing. Going back to 2010, I could almost touch the Glacier face if the boys were not watching, but today the Franz Josef Glacier has receded back up into the Southern Alps by almost 1000 Meters.
In ten years time it will be nothing but a speck of white ice you can only see with a pair of power 10 binoculars. The best view of the Franz Josef Glacier is from the five hour return walk to Roberts Point, 600m on the opposite side of the Waiho valley from where you are standing. Click here to see the Roberts Point Walking Track at Franz Josef.
Relax in the Glacier Hot Pools after your walk
It can get quite cold in Franz Josef even in the summer. The new hot pools located right in Franz Josef town are an excellent place to relax and warm up after walking or hiking around the Franz Josef area. Book a single ticket to the main pools or enjoy the luxury of a private pool. Even better is the private pool pamper package where you’ll have extra’s with a robe and antipasto platter for 2. For more details about the Glacier Hot Pools click here.
More things to do near From Franz Josef
What sort of walking and hiking gear will you need
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