Both glaciers30 minutes
30 min30 Minutes: Fox & Franz Josef
★ 4.9 · 152 reviews
- Both glaciers in thirty minutes
- Fox and Franz Josef in one flight
- Landing on snow between the two
- Free cancellation
$254$508.00 / hour
Check availability→ Twenty-five kilometres apart
Franz Josef vs Fox Glacier: which one to fly over
Two glaciers, two villages, twenty-five kilometres of road between them, and the same question from every visitor who has one day on this coast. They come off the same icefield and they flow down opposite sides of the same range. This page compares them on the things that actually differ — the ice, the flights, the village and the odds of getting airborne — and then points at the flight that makes the choice unnecessary.
Quick answer
The short answer. Fly from Franz Josef. It has the steeper icefall, more operators, more departures a day and more accommodation to wait out the weather in. Then book the thirty-five minute two-glacier flight at $274, which flies over both and ends the argument entirely.
Franz Josef and Fox, side by side
- Distance apart
- ~25 kmabout 25 minutes by road
- Franz Josef icefall
- Steeperthe more dramatic of the two from the air
- Fox Glacier
- Longer, flattera broader valley, a gentler grade
- Franz Josef village
- Largermore beds, more places to eat
- Fox village
- Smallerquieter, cheaper, fewer options
- Operators flying from Franz Josef
- 4twelve products between them
- Flights covering both
- 5from 30 to 90 minutes
- Cheapest two-glacier flight
- $25430 minutes, Fox and Franz Josef
- Best-reviewed two-glacier flight
- $2744.9 across 527 reviews
- Walk-on access
- Neitherboth lost it to retreat
- Lake Matheson
- By Foxthe reflection shot of Aoraki
- Weather
- Identicalthe same front covers both
From the air
What the two glaciers actually look like
Franz Josef is more dramatic. Fox is more legible. Neither is a lesser flight.
Franz Josef is the steeper of the two. It drops out of a high névé through an icefall that is genuinely chaotic — blocks the size of buildings, crevasses with blue light at the bottom, and pressure ridges that change shape between one season and the next. From a helicopter it is the more photogenic glacier by some distance, because the ice is doing something violent and it shows.
Fox is longer and lower-angled. It flows through a broader valley and it reads, from the air, as a river rather than as a cascade. It has a calmer beauty and it is easier to understand as a single object: you can see the whole length of it at once in a way you cannot with Franz Josef.
Both are fed by the same snowfields on the western flank of the Southern Alps, and on a thirty-five minute flight you cross from one to the other over a low saddle in about four minutes. Seen together they make sense as a pair; seen separately, each one looks like the only glacier on the coast.
On the ground
Choosing a village, not just a glacier
If you are flying from one and sleeping in the other, this is the part that matters.
- Franz Josef has more beds and more operators
That means more departures on a clear morning and a better chance of being squeezed onto a flight after a cancellation. On a coast where more than half of all flights are weather affected across a season, the depth of the schedule is a real advantage.
- Fox is quieter and usually cheaper to sleep in
Fewer coaches, fewer people at the viewpoints, and rooms that cost less in January. If you have three nights and a car, Fox is the more pleasant base and the drive is nothing.
- Lake Matheson is at Fox, not Franz Josef
The classic reflection photograph of Aoraki Mount Cook in still water is a twenty-minute walk from the Fox Glacier village. If that image is on your list, it is a reason to stay there rather than a reason to fly from there.
- The weather is the same in both
They are twenty-five kilometres apart under the same front. Driving to Fox because Franz Josef is clouded in almost never works. What does work is having two nights instead of one.
- Neither village lets you walk onto the ice
Both glaciers have retreated past the point where a walking route is safe. Franz Josef lost its route when the terminal face collapsed in 2012. Both valley walks now end at a viewpoint short of the ice.
Book direct
The flights that fly both
Four ways to see Franz Josef and Fox in the same flight, cheapest first.
Two glaciersSnow landing
35 min35 Minutes with Snow Landing
★ 4.7 · 402 reviews
- Thirty-five minutes over two glaciers
- Snow landing high above Fox
- The valley walls from inside them
- Free cancellation
$268$459.43 / hour
Check availability→ 
Most upgraded to35 minutes
35 min35 Minutes over Two Glaciers
★ 4.9 · 527 reviews
- Thirty-five minutes, two glaciers, one landing
- The flight most people upgrade to
- Franz Josef, Fox and the névé of both
- Free cancellation
$274$469.71 / hour
Check availability→ 
Three glaciers45 minutes
45 min45 Minutes, Three Glaciers
★ 4.8 · 164 reviews
- Three glaciers in forty-five minutes
- A landing high on the névé
- Franz Josef, Fox and the Tasman
- Free cancellation
$384$512.00 / hour
Check availability→ Wondering what is left if you skip the flight entirely and just walk up the valley?
Franz Josef without a helicopter→The flight that ends the argument
Thirty-five minutes, both glaciers, one landing
The two-glacier flight at $274 is the most common upgrade people make at the counter, and it is the correct one. Thirty-five minutes takes you up Franz Josef, across the saddle to Fox, along its length, and back, with a landing between the two.
It costs fifty-five dollars more than the twenty-five minute Franz Josef flight and it carries 527 reviews at 4.9 — the highest score of any well-reviewed flight in the village. If you have driven five hours to get here and you are going to fly once, this is the ticket that removes the regret.
If it is sold out, the thirty-minute twin-glacier flight at $254 does nearly the same job for twenty dollars less, and the thirty-five minute snow-landing version at $268 lands high above Fox instead of between the two.
Common questions
Franz Josef vs Fox Glacier, answered
Which is better, Franz Josef or Fox Glacier?
Franz Josef, for a helicopter flight. It has the steeper and more dramatic icefall, four operators flying it, and more departures a day. Fox is longer, flatter and quieter, and its village is the nicer place to stay if you have a car.
Can you see both glaciers in one flight?
Yes. Five flights cover both, from thirty minutes at $254 up to the ninety-minute Grand Adventure. The best of them is the thirty-five minute two-glacier flight at $274, with 527 reviews at 4.9.
How far apart are Franz Josef and Fox Glacier?
About twenty-five kilometres by road, or roughly twenty-five minutes of driving. From the air they are separated by a low saddle and a flight crosses between them in a few minutes.
Should I stay in Franz Josef or Fox?
Franz Josef if you are flying and have one or two nights, because the schedule is deeper and there are more beds to extend into. Fox if you have a car and three nights, because it is quieter, cheaper and closer to Lake Matheson.
Is the weather different at Fox?
No, in any way you can plan around. They sit twenty-five kilometres apart under the same weather systems. Driving from one to the other because the first is clouded in rarely helps.
Can you walk on Fox Glacier?
Not from the valley floor, in the same way you cannot walk onto Franz Josef. Both glaciers have retreated beyond safe foot access, and the valley walks now end at viewpoints short of the ice.
Go deeper
More on flying over Franz Josef
All flights
Every Franz Josef flight
Twelve helicopter flights out of one village, from twenty minutes to ninety.
PricesWhat a flight costs
Twelve flights priced per person and per minute, and where the money actually goes.
VerdictThe best flight to book
Twelve flights ranked for one decision, with a straight answer at the end.
LandingsSnow and alpine landings
Which flights actually put the machine down, and what the difference is.
Length20, 35 or 60 minutes
The only real variable, and how much country each length buys you.
WeatherWeather and cancellations
How often flights are stood down here, and how to build a trip around it.
