Every price, and the free alternative
A Mount Cook heli hike is $497 for three hours, of which about ninety minutes is walking on the Tasman Glacier. A second operator runs a comparable trip at $523, and the version that starts in Queenstown is $995. Beside them sits a twenty-five minute scenic flight at $210 and a ten-kilometre walk that costs nothing. This page does all four sums honestly.
Quick answer
The short answer. Budget $497. You are paying for two helicopter transfers, a guide for a small group, boots and crampons, and a route cut into moving ice that morning. The online price is the price — there is no walk-up rate at the hangar and no discount for booking direct.
Every trip, current fare
All twelve sorted by price, with cost per hour of the whole trip — the only fair way to compare a thirteen-hour day tour with a twenty-five minute flight.
| Trip | Duration | Price | On the ice | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Cook & Lake Tekapo Day TourThe cheapest day out from Christchurch | 13 h | $130 | No — from the road | $10.00 | 4.8 · 632 |
| Mt Cook & Hooker Valley Day TourThe Hooker Valley, with transport and a guide | 12 h | $152 | No — the valley track | $12.67 | 4.8 · 566 |
| Mt Cook, Tekapo & Tasman GlacierAoraki, Tekapo and the Tasman viewpoint | 13 h | $193 | No — viewpoints | $14.85 | 5.0 · 3 |
| 25-Minute Alpine LandingThe cheapest way onto the snow | 25 min | $210 | Yes, on snow | $504.00 | 4.7 · 514 |
| 30-Minute Alpine LandingHalf an hour, with a landing | 30 min | $268 | Yes, on snow | $536.00 | 4.8 · 46 |
| Ski Plane & Helicopter ComboThe only ski-plane landing in the country | 45 min | $304 | Yes, ski plane on snow | $405.33 | 4.7 · 356 |
| Tekapo Stargazing & Mount CookAoraki by day, the darkest sky by night | 2 days | $320 | No | $6.67 | 5.0 · 9 |
| 40-Minute National Park FlightForty minutes over the national park | 40 min | $351 | Yes, on snow | $526.50 | 4.7 · 22 |
| 40-Minute Tasman Glacier FlightThe whole length of the Tasman from above | 40 min | $362 | Yes, on the névé | $543.00 | 4.7 · 11 |
| 3-Hour Tasman Glacier Heli HikeThe only way to walk on the Tasman | 3 h | $497 | ~90 min walking | $165.67 | 4.9 · 322 |
| 3-Hour Heli Hike to the TasmanThe second heli hike on the same ice | 3 h | $523 | ~90 min walking | $174.33 | 4.8 · 259 |
| Tasman Heli Hike from QueenstownAoraki in a day, from Queenstown | 6 h | $995 | ~90 min walking | $165.83 | 4.3 · 10 |
Where the money goes
People compare $497 against $210 for a scenic flight and it looks absurd. Both start with a helicopter over the same valley.
The difference is what happens after the skids touch. A scenic flight is twenty-five minutes of shared machine time with ten minutes on the snow beside it; your seat is a small marginal cost. A heli hike commits a guide to your group for most of a morning — a guide who was on the ice at seven that day cutting a route, because the Tasman is moving and last week’s route has gone.
Then there is the gear: boots stiff enough to hold a crampon, the crampons, a shell, a pack, issued and checked for every customer every day. And the cancellation rate, which is real here — an operator that flies half the mornings it planned has to cover a full guiding roster out of the ones it does.
Divide by time actually on the ice and it comes out at roughly three hundred and thirty dollars an hour, against about twelve hundred an hour on the snow beside a scenic flight.
The extras
Three real costs and two things people wrongly budget for.
About four and a half hours from Christchurch or four from Queenstown, up a fifty-five kilometre dead-end highway. If the trip exists only for the glacier, the transport is the bigger line in the budget.
Beds at Aoraki are limited and not cheap, and one night is a gamble on the weather. Budget the extra night as part of the heli hike, because that is what it is.
The only clothing you actually need to supply. A fleece and decent socks from your own bag cost nothing; buying them on the morning does not.
The operator issues boots specifically because they are stiff enough to hold a crampon. Ordinary walking boots flex and a crampon on a flexing boot comes off. People turn up having bought boots for this and do not use them.
If you arrive without, they hand you a pair. Glare off snow at 1,300 metres is severe enough that operators treat this as equipment rather than a courtesy.
Wondering whether the walking alternative is enough for you? It is free, and it is very good.
The Hooker Valley Track→Book direct
Three heli hikes and the scenic flight people compare them with.
★ 4.9 · 322 reviews
★ 4.8 · 259 reviews
★ 4.3 · 10 reviews
★ 4.7 · 514 reviews
Common questions
From $497 for the three-hour trip from Aoraki / Mount Cook Village, including both helicopter transfers, a guide, boots, crampons and a jacket. A second operator charges $523, and the Queenstown day trip is $995.
A scenic flight is twenty-five minutes of shared helicopter time. A heli hike is two transfers plus a guide committed to your group for a morning, a full set of issued gear, and a route cut into moving ice that day. Per hour on the ice it works out cheaper.
No. The online price and the walk-up price are the same, and booking ahead gets you the morning slots, which are the ones that go. There is no standby rate.
Both helicopter transfers, the guide, boots stiff enough to take a crampon, the crampons, a jacket and a small pack, and sunglasses if you turn up without. Food is not included.
No, just different. It runs on the same glacier with its own route and its own guides, and it carries 259 reviews at 4.8 against the top pick’s 322 at 4.9. If the first is full for the morning you want, book the second rather than a worse time slot.
Yes, in full, when the operator stands the trip down for weather. Through the listings here you can also cancel yourself free of charge up to twenty-four hours before.
Go deeper
Six marked tracks from the village, with real DOC times and distances.
On the iceThe only walk on the longest glacier in New Zealand, and what the three hours contain.
The famous oneTen kilometres return, three swing bridges, a lake full of icebergs, and it is free.
The hard one2,200 steps and 600 metres of climb, and where the walking stops and mountaineering starts.
The free view300 steps to a viewpoint over a lake that did not exist in 1970.
VerdictWhich glacier to walk on, decided on ice time, group size and what is included.
3-Hour Tasman Glacier Heli Hike
★ 4.9 · 646 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h