#19 of 79 · mountain
Milford Road
Te Anau, New Zealand → Milford Sound
120 km · Oct – Apr · Moderate
The road to the sound. Beech forest, a homer tunnel through a mountain, and Mitre Peak at the end like a full stop.
Viewpoints
Mirror Lakes
A five-minute stop. The Earl Mountains, twice.
58 km
300 m
Homer Tunnel
1.2 km of raw rock. Wait for the light.
100 km
945 m
Milford Sound
The road ends. The water starts.
120 km
3 m
- Road
- Excellent, alpine, and closed by avalanche in winter without notice. The Homer Tunnel is one-way in pulses. Coach traffic in high summer.
- Permits
- Fiordland National Park. No extra permit for the road itself. Book the tunnel wait into your day.
Tips
- 01
Leave Te Anau early
The tunnel queue and the sandflies both prefer late morning.
- 02
Rain is the view
A wet Milford has waterfalls that a dry one does not.
From the road
2 notes
Field reports from people who have driven this route.
Driven this road? Join as a driver to leave a note from the road.
James P.
Dec 2025
Rain the whole way from Te Anau. Homer in a pulse of lights. Milford was a wall of waterfalls you do not get on a dry day. Sandflies at the sound were the tax.
Hana T.
Feb 2026
Mirror Lakes still enough to double the Earls. Left Te Anau at six — tunnel queue was nothing. By eleven the coaches had arrived.
