Franz Josef is a small township in on the West coast of New Zealand’s South Island. It is best known for its 12km glacier, which is just 5km out of town. There are a range of walks you can do to viewpoints over the glacier. I was very jealous of people doing helicopter rides to see it up close.
The town is small, with only 450 residents, yet 750,000 people visit each year. There are a wide range of restaurants and cafes to visit, as well as many options of motels and campsites. I would recommend spending 2 nights here to get everything done.
Camping Information:
There are not any free camping spots directly in Franz Josef – this is just an area where you have to pay to camp sadly. I stayed one night in the Franz Josef Campervan Park which cost $49 for 2 of us (or is $39 for one). There was working free WiFi, unlimited hot showers and a small kitchen area. We really enjoyed our stay here and thought it was definitely worth the money. There are a few other paid camping areas in town that looked equally good.
On our second night, we drove slightly out of town to the Otto/MacDonalds Campsite. This DOC campsite is located on the edge of Lake Mapourika. It cost us $18 per night and I actually ended up wishing we had just stayed in the Campervan Park again. The mosquitoes were some of the worst I had experienced and after being awoken at 4am I could not get back to sleep. We then left at 6am after an awful nights sleep so I would not recommend this one!
Glaciers and Climate Change:
- Since 2000, New Zealand’s glaciers had shrunk by 29 percent.
- Due to being comparatively small and surrounded by warm seas, New Zealand’s glacier’s are particularly vulnerable to global temperature increases. Therefore they are “responding the first and fastest to climate change”.
- Both Fox and Franz Josef glaciers have retreated an estimated 3km since the 1800s.
- Between 2008 – 2021 Franz Josef glacier has been retreating rapidly – losing a massive 1.56km in length, at the fastest rate ever recorded.
- Fox glacier has retreated roughly 880 meters to over 1.5 kilometres between 2009 and 2020. It is currently losing about 82 meters of length per year.
- Some predictions suggests the glaciers could be reduced to small ice patches or mostly disappear by 2100.
1. Explore Franz Josef township
The views from the township are incredible and it is lovely just to wander around the town. There are some great souvenir and gift shops, I particularly liked Fern Grove Gift & Design and The Glacier Shop. They both had a great selection and I bought some great momentos.
If you have the time and money the Kiwi Centre in Franz Josef looked amazing. It costs $65 per adult or $42 per child. You can see kiwi, penguins and tuatara as well as a glacier attraction. There is live penguin feeding at 11am and 3pm daily. It takes about 2 hours to see everything. I had already been to a similar centre in Hokitika so did not feel the need to go. If you haven’t had a chance to see kiwi in the wild then this is a great place to see them up close.
2. Visit a cafe
We had a slow morning where we went to a cafe and admired the view and it was great! There are 3 in Franz Josef and we visited Full of Beans Cafe and Snakebite Brewery. Full of beans had a great coffee and cake selection with an epic view of the glacier. Snakebite brewery had great coffee and the restaurant food looked amazing.
3. Do the Franz Josef glacier walk
The walk starts at the Franz Josef car park, about a 10 minute drive out of central Franz Josef. It costs $5 per hour or $20 a day to park there.
This walk is the quickest way to see the glacier up close. It is an easy 1.7km return walk along the same track. It took us about 30 minutes in total, including spending some time at the viewpoint. The walk winds through the rainforest, along a gravel path and then there’s a slight uphill section to the valley where the viewpoint is.
4. Do the Sentinel Rock walk
We had paid for an hour of parking and the glacier walk only took 30 minutes. So, we decided to do the Sentinel Rock walk too. Both walks have a similar glacier view, but this walk is slightly better in my opinion. It is a 900m return walk along the same track, and took us 20 minutes in total. Information panels at the viewpoint indicate where the glacier used to be before it retreated. This is an interesting but very scary comparison.
5. Watch the sunset
I saw one of the best sunsets in my time in New Zealand here, so knew I couldn’t leave it off this list. We were desperately trying to find somewhere to watch it when we stumbled across the Heliservices car park. In the evening when its closed, you can walk through the car park and up onto the stony bank. There is a great view over the river and surrounding mountains.
6. Look for Kea!
Franz Josef is a great place to see the curious Kea. Kea are the world’s only alpine mountain parrot and are endemic to New Zealand. Sadly, they are endangered, with fewer than 7,000 remaining in the wild. Most often, they can be heard before they are seen. They were named after their distinctive ‘kee-ee-aa-aa’ call. They can be seen on walks in the area around the Franz Josef Glacier, in the town, and often by Lake Mapourika.
7. Hike the Robert Point track
This is my absolute TOP recommendation for Franz Josef. The Robert Point Track is a 12.3km walk with 650m of elevation which takes you to a stunning viewpoint of the glacier. It is actually the closest you can get to the viewpoint without taking a flight. It is classed as a ‘challenging’ hike, so a moderate level of fitness is needed to complete it.
There are a few stream crossings and slippery sections of the track, so this hike should only be attempted in good weather. It also starts at the Franz Josef car park, so you will have to pay $20 to park for the day as this hike takes about 6 hours in total.
First Half of the Hike:
The first 2 kilometres take you along an easy, flat gravel track which ends at Peter’s Pool. The views here are stunning with the mountains reflecting in the water.
After this there are a few stream crossings, suspension bridges and lots of trickier climbing sections. The Roberts Point swing bridge is over 100 metres long and one of the most famous parts of this walk.
Second Half of the Hike:
Hendes hut was built in 1907 by Peter Hende, while he was forming the wrought iron standards to support the Hende’s Gallery. It is no longer used as a hut, but instead as a shelter by people hiking the Robert’s Point Track.
Hende’s gallery is the name given to the suspended steps which forms a small section of the track. Their original purpose was to give tourists a good view of the Franz Josef glacier, which has since retreated a few hundred metres.
“Want to know more about this hike? Check out this link for everything you need to know.”
Kilometre 5 is extremely rocky and almost vertical in places! It is worth taking your time with this section and being careful with foot placement. The final kilometre has lots of stream crossings and tree roots to walk over.
The Franz Josef Glacier Viewpoint:
We had started the walk at midday and got to the Robert Point viewpoint at about 3pm. The views of the glacier are absolutely stunning and make the walk completely worth it.
The Descent:
We started the return walk at 3:45pm and were a little apprehensive, as some parts were so vertical we thought we’d almost fall down! Happily, it ended up being far more manageable than we thought and was lot faster than the way there.
We returned to the car park at 6pm, almost 6 hours exactly after we had left. After doing 20,000 steps, we were tired by the end of the day! I would absolutely recommend doing this walk on one of your days in Franz Josef.
8. Do the Fox Glacier South Side Walkway
Fox glacier is located a 30 minute drive away from Franz Josef. There is a small town there but very limited accommodation options. Instead of staying there, I decided to do a walk in Fox Glacier on the way to my next destination.
The Fox Glacier South Side Walkway is a 6.4km return walk starting at the free car park. This is the quickest, easiest (and cheapest!) way to see the glacier. It is a very easy walk along a gravel path which results in stunning views of the 13km long Fox Glacier. I completed this walk in 90 minutes.
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Look at the links below for other New Zealand related blogs:
Tongariro Alpine Crossing Guide: What to expect and how to prepare
8 Incredible things to do in Arthur’s Pass National Park
Ultimate 2-Day Rotorua Itinerary: Must-Do Activities
Top 10 things to do in The Catlins (Complete Travel Guide)
Roy’s Peak Hike Guide: Everything you need to know before you go
The Ultimate Wanaka Guide: Top 10 things to do
10 Unmissable things to do in Queenstown for first-time visitors
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