Top 5 Aoraki Mount Cook Helicopter Tours: Reviews & Insights
Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, or Te Wahipounamu as it’s also known, boasts landscapes that are, well, almost too breathtaking to believe. The scale is huge, the peaks are super impressive, and those turquoise lakes? Yeah, they’re real alright! There are many ways to experience the park, yet there’s, just maybe, no finer method than soaring through the air on a helicopter tour. These tours aren’t, at all, just scenic flights; they’re opportunities to get pretty up close and comfy with New Zealand’s tallest peak, land on glaciers that glitter in the sunshine, and absorb views most folks, actually, only ever dream about.
Picking the correct tour is that thing that you should spend time on, though, so I’ve compiled this, very hopefully, helpful guide to the top five Aoraki Mount Cook helicopter tours. I considered aspects like the duration of the trip, the sights you’re gonna get to drink in, landing options (because who doesn’t, naturally, wanna say they stepped foot on a glacier?), and those little extras that kinda turn a good experience into something unforgettable. This guide’s supposed to give all the info you need to figure out that, just maybe, perfect Aoraki Mount Cook helicopter tour for your next visit. Let’s get right into it!
1. The Grand Circle: A Complete Aoraki Mount Cook Experience
First off, we’ve got what many think is the Grand Circle tour, that actually provides one seriously all-encompassing experience of the Aoraki Mount Cook region. This is, clearly, not your quick peek at the mountains; rather it’s a pretty extensive flight that promises amazing views of, clearly, everything the park has to offer. The highlights of this trip? You are, almost certain, to see not just Aoraki Mount Cook himself, rather also the park’s numerous valleys, glaciers, and those distinctive turquoise lakes.
What’s genuinely striking is the amount of time they allow, actually, for landing on a glacier. How nice! To wander round on these ancient rivers of ice provides one utterly otherworldly experience, and it is that sort of opportunity that seriously separates this tour. The views, alright, they’re amazing, too! You get, almost for certain, that real appreciation for the sheer size and scale of this special landscape. This tour might tend to be slightly on the pricey side, yet folks seem to mostly agree that the sheer quality of the experience makes it, apparently, worthwhile. If you want a comprehensive introduction to Aoraki Mount Cook by air, the Grand Circle should, in some respects, be one excellent choice.
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2. Glacier Explorer: Up Close and Personal with Ice Giants
For those pretty keen on seeing some glaciers real close, the Glacier Explorer tour needs to be one to watch. The principal aim of this tour is to take guests just right up close and snug to some of the region’s most gorgeous glacial formations. The flight generally focuses upon the Tasman Glacier, so apparently New Zealand’s biggest, offering pretty awesome views of its icy expanse, and the debris-covered ice formations and meltwater lakes which are, actually, scattered across the surface.
Glacier landings actually form a core element of the Glacier Explorer experience, enabling travelers to step onto the glacier. This chance isn’t at all, simply a quick photo opportunity; it’s rather the occasion for wandering, actually, all around this massive natural structure, and drinking in the feeling of standing on so ancient and still environment. It really adds a quite tactile quality to the tour that other flights might not offer. Something to remember, very naturally, is the possibility of it being cold on the glacier, even when the sun is shining; therefore packing some warm apparel actually might be one fantastic idea. So, If you’re all about getting just super intimate with ice, this tour’s quite hard to top!
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3. Aoraki’s Majesty: The Short and Sweet Scenic Flight
Aoraki’s Majesty tour is there to provide anyone after an epic, and, so too, brief fly-by of the major attractions, with something that hits the spot. So that if you’re squished for time, or maybe you are just attempting to find one more budget-friendly option, this should be just about perfect. Even though shorter than other tours, this flight really still brings those key highlights; the perspectives on Aoraki Mount Cook really are gorgeous, and you will, usually, still get an admirable outline of the area.
The trick is always getting straight to the greatest bits, such as aerial views that bring those snow-capped mountains and braided river systems that wind their way, by the way, across the park. Frequently there isn’t one glacier landing within the usual package; nonetheless, that’s the one possible compromise for many given the, frequently, considerably lower price tag. You could argue that This option really might tend to be superb for people that choose a fairly digestible chunk of scenic brilliance, without that all-day dedication. This tour does exactly what is expected with great views and pretty efficient timing. You might even agree that, in the circumstances, it’s difficult to criticize.
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4. The Hochstetter Icefall Adventure: For the Intrepid Explorer
The Hochstetter Icefall Adventure stands right out because its primary point really is access towards a few much more distant and incredibly spectacular natural sights within Aoraki Mount Cook Park. It is created for folks just aching for something kinda ‘more’, one step even beyond those commonly seen vantage points. This trip commonly includes a flight along to the Hochstetter Icefall; therefore, pretty famed with its impressively jumbled ice formations, and you get sights that numerous travelers don’t ever view. Very impressive!
There actually can be, just maybe, other special features too; these could contain landings which provide more time far away from all of those tourist throngs. Landings like that add a sense, seemingly, of exclusivity because travelers access and drink in landscapes where it’s much easier just to feel one’s self fully immersed and a small bit detached far from that wider planet. A slight drawback often seems to be how weather dependency that one should know regarding. Faraway spots tend, potentially, to become tougher to get towards throughout periods with awful conditions, however actually, that often applies anywhere. This tends actually to get advocated like one pretty cool option while aiming to boost your overall Aoraki Mount Cook experience to something extremely memorable; definitely the thing which appeals for anyone looking for adventure on top of the usual landscape gazing.
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5. The Mount Cook Alpine Combo: Heli-Hiking at Its Best
Last is The Mount Cook Alpine Combo tour which genuinely provides an appealing spin: therefore, combining those thrills from that helicopter journey utilizing walking around too – hence this whole ‘heli-hiking’ element! Instead of simply soaring over spectacular sights from that comfortable helicopter chair, the trip usually really involves putting anyone just perfectly onto the spot with amazing alpine scenery subsequently spending quite some period discovering them on your own 2 feet. To experience nature just so totally using a landscape truly feels significantly deeper after becoming an individual from the picture, too.
Many variations contain routes appropriate a range of fitnesses and abilities therefore just inquire very clearly ahead based on a capability when that appeals actually the most! One great highlight has been that sense relating to accessibility; You get an opportunity to simply get above those standard trekking destinations yet still encounter everything more directly than achievable solely from up within an aircraft seat. Just be mindful when that type does occur that weather will have a fairly large state on process given most time happens away; plans, usually, could call switching so frequently review situations very carefully nearer departure. These Heli-Hiking combos absolutely attract many folks just eager make his landscape experience energetic instead passively witnessing just because some tour brings you fairly unique options simply connecting more carefully along to surroundings. Well, it might just hook anyone that seeks deeper bonding with gorgeous spots above.
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