Routeburn Track

Walk Overview

This walk is one of New Zealand’s nine “Great Walks” as designated by the New Zealand Government’s Department of Conservation (DOC). It is one of three Great Walks that are located in the famed far south-west Fiordland region of New Zealand’s South Island. It is the shortest of these three walks and New Zealand’s best known walk after the Milford Track.

The walk takes you into a wilderness region that has been shaped by the movement of glaciers over a two million year period. The products of the glacial activity include towering mountain peaks, sheer cliffs, vast twisting valleys and innumerable lakes and tarns. Accompanying these geographical features are dense forests of silver beech, mountain beech and podocarp and prolific resident birdlife.

Prior to European settlement, the Routeburn Valley and its neighbouring Greenstone Valley provided routes for the Maori to seek out greenstone and access the west coast.  European settlers quickly recognised the outstanding beauty of the area, with tourists first being guided up to Routeburn Flats in the late 1880’s. A recreational track following today’s route was completed in 1914. 

The walk is a “point to point” walk, running between the Routeburn Shelter (near Glenorchy, 68 km from Queenstown) and The Divide Shelter (on the road to Milford Sound, 85 km from Te Anau). The walk may be tackled in either direction, but is more commonly done by starting at the Routeburn Shelter end. The highest point of the walk is Harris Saddle (1255m).

The Routeburn Track is located in the Fiordland National Park and the Mount Aspiring National Park. These parks form part of the larger South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. The Fiordland and Mount Aspiring National Parks themselves covers an extraordinary 1.5 million hectares, while the World Heritage Area extends to 2.6 million hectares.

Given its popularity, use of the Routeburn Track is quite regulated, especially during the “Great Walk Season” (approximately mid-October to the end of April). It’s not as regulated as Milford as camping is permitted and you can walk the track in either direction. However, during the season, use of the designated campsites and DOC huts must be pre-booked.

Itinerary

The walk takes 2-4 days to complete. An itinerary completing the entire track is shown below.

Day 2

Routeburn Falls Hut to Lake Mackenzie Hut

Distance: 11km

Time: 6 hours

Accommodation or Camping: Huts

Day 3

Lake Mackenzie Hut to Lake Howden Hut

Distance: 9km

Time: 4 hours

Accommodation or Camping: Huts

Walk Options

Guided

Due to DOC rules, there is only one tour operator offering the full walk as a guided trip. That is the operator currently granted exclusive rights to use the two private lodges located on the track. Other tour operators offer guided walking trips in the region that include the first day and/or the last day of the track, but not the full track.

The tour operator’s three day walking itinerary broadly follows the itinerary described above, but in reverse and combines Days 3 and 4 (as shown in the above itinerary). The two private huts are quite close to the DOC huts.

Obviously, the guided, private hut version of the walk comes with quite a different price-tag to the DOC hut version of the walk.

The package offered by the guided tour operator includes:

• Transfers to and from Queenstown

• 3 day tour with professional guides

• 2 nights accommodation in comfortable private lodges (twin share/double/four person single bed rooms)

• All meals

• Day packs for use on walk

• National park entrance fees

As mentioned above, other tour operators offer guided walking trips in the region that include the first day and/or the last day of the track, but not the full track.

Assisted self-guided

Some tour operators provide self-guided services for the Routeburn Track. Typically, the service includes some or all of the following (customers select what they want):

• Information pack

• Booking service for buses and DOC huts

• Accommodation at Te Anau/Queenstown

• Vehicle transfer between start and end of track

• All hiking equipment/gear

• Walk provisioning

During the season, the DOC huts include bunks with mattresses, running water, cooking facilities with fuel, heating, flushing toilets and a resident DOC ranger. Outside the season, gas is not provided (so no gas for cooking facilities or heating), running water inside the huts is turned off and there are no resident rangers.

Accommodation options in Queenstown and Te Anau are extensive but are limited in Milford Sound.

Independent

Given the very high demand, use of the Routeburn Track is quite regulated, especially during the “Great Walk Season” (approximately mid-October to the end of April). During the season, spaces at the campsites and DOC huts must be pre-booked.

The two main DOC huts - Routeburn Falls Hut and Lake Mackenzie Hut -  take between 48 and 50 people, while the less heavily utilised Routeburn Flats Hut and Lake Howden Hut take between 20 and 28 people. DOC hut places book out very quickly, so a decision must be made a number of months out. Mid-December to mid-February is the most popular period.

During the season, the DOC huts include bunks with mattresses, running water, cooking facilities with fuel, heating, flushing toilets and a resident DOC ranger. Outside the season, gas is not provided (so no gas for cooking facilities or heating), running water inside the huts is turned off and there are no resident rangers.

Essential Information

Access

The starting point for the Routeburn Track is either the Routeburn Shelter or The Divide. 

Routeburn Shelter is the more common starting point. It’s located near Glenorchy, 68 km from Queenstown. There are no public transport facilities to Routeburn Shelter but there are plenty of private transport operators providing shuttle services.

The Divide is essentially just a car park on the road to Milford Sound. Again, there are plenty of private transport operators providing transport services from The Divide to Te Anau, Queenstown and Milford Sound.

Park entry

No entry permit is needed for access to the Mt Aspiring National Park or the Fiordland National Park but tickets must be obtained for use of the DOC huts and campsites on the Routeburn Track. Tickets can be bought online and printed yourself or collected from the DOC Visitor Centre at Queenstown or Te Anau.

Best time

While the track can be walked year round, the best time to do the walk is during the “Great Walks Season” which is mid-October to the end of April. Outside the season, the winter environment in the area can be very challenging, with ice and snow at the higher levels. Also, facilities at the DOC huts are reduced (eg no gas for heating or cooking and limited water) and DOC rangers are not at the huts.

Difficulty

This walk is rated by the DOC as “Intermediate: Great Walk/Easier tramping track”.

Accommodation

In addition to the DOC and private huts described in ‘Walk Options’ above, there are many excellent accommodation options at Te Anau, Queenstown and Milford Sound. 

Accommodation options range from camping, caravan park cottages and cabins through to upmarket hotels and resorts. 

Some of the accommodation providers are attuned to walkers’ needs or offer amenities suited to walkers. 

We can assist walkers in choosing the accommodation options which best suit their needs.

Other activities

As a popular tourism destination, the Mount Aspiring National Park region offers many attractions in addition to the Routeburn Track. For one thing, there are the other Great Walks in Fiordland, being the Milford Track and the Kepler Track.

Non-walking attractions include jet boat rides, fishing, lake/sound/fjord cruises (Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound being the two standouts), visit to glowworm caves, kayaking, mountain bike riding and helicopter rides.

Assistance

We can assist walkers with various aspects of their walking holidays.