Mt Cook Scenic Tour From Queenstown
To: Mt Cook
From: Queenstown (return trip)
Duration: Approx. 13 Hours
Join us and visit Mt Cook in a day from Queenstown.
Experience the unique alpine landscapes of the Southern Alps as you travel with us through Mackenzie Country and into Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, with free time in Mount Cook Village to enjoy local walks or activities.
- Take the opportunity to visit Mt Cook on an easy one-day tour from Queenstown
- Travel in a specially designed premium Mercedes Sprinter for a comfortable touring experience.
- Enjoy a small-group sightseeing tour limited to just 16 people.
- Experience multiple scenic stops on the drive, including Cromwell, The Lindis, Omarama, Twizel, and many more.
- Benefit from informative and engaging commentary provided by an experienced guide.
- Enjoy 3.5 hours (approx.) of free time to explore Mt Cook Village, with options to sightsee, hike, or join an optional activity (we recommend booking in advance to secure your spot).
- Take advantage of complimentary access to the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre.
Your Adventure Begins
Start your day by meeting our friendly local guide at your Queenstown accommodation or nearby. You’ll travel in style in a premium Mercedes van designed for touring with only 16 seats onboard. As we depart Queenstown, the first leg of our journey takes us through the Central Otago wine regions of Gibbston and Cromwell. We then cross the dramatic Lindis Pass before making a brief stop in Omarama for refreshments and an opportunity to purchase lunch (highly recommended for those planning to hike, Heli Hike, or join the Glacier Explorers experience).
Welcome to Mackenzie Country
The scenery transforms as we enter Mackenzie Country, and our guide will entertain you with stories and interesting facts as we trace the edge of the Southern Alps. Along the way, we’ll pass a network of lakes and canals near Twizel, renowned for its fishing of fresh Mt Cook Alpine salmon. Once we veer off the main road, we’ll follow the stunning bright blue waters of Lake Pukaki before arriving at Mt Cook Village.
Mount Cook Adventure
Welcome to Mt Cook! Arriving at approximately 12 pm, you’ll have around 3.5 hours to explore at your leisure. Choose from various options such as a self-guided hike, taking a scenic flight for an up-close view of the mountain, participating in a Heli Hike on the Tasman Glacier, or witnessing the icebergs on the Tasman Glacial Lake with Glacier Explorers. Your guide will assist you in getting to your chosen activity and provide instructions for the remainder of the day. If you’re planning to get outside and explore, remember to come prepared with enough food and water, dress warmly, and wear appropriate footwear, as the weather in this alpine town can change quickly, no matter the season.
For those seeking a more relaxed experience, all guests receive complimentary access to the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, located at The Hermitage. This museum and theatre offer insights into Mt Cook’s unique history and the adventures of one of New Zealand’s most famed explorers.
The Journey Back
At approximately 3:30pm, you will rejoin our guide and van to commence the return journey to Queenstown. Sit back, relax, and take in the views. This day tour spans approximately 12 hours, and our smaller vehicles and attentive guide ensure your comfort and entertainment throughout the journey.
Experience the Unforgettable
Let us take you on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to Mount Cook and discover more with Altitude Tours. The 12-hour Mount Cook day tour departs Queenstown daily at 7:30am, returning by 7:30pm.
Operator Terms & Conditions – Altitude Tours Ltd
1.0 Bookings
1.1 Once you have clicked ‘process my booking’ your credit card will be charged the full amount owing in New Zealand dollars. A window will then appear allowing you to check your booking details. Please email us immediately if any details are incorrect. A sales consultant will then process your booking request and send your confirmation via email promptly. Please note that our office hours are 6:30am – 6.00pm 7 days.
1.2 This booking confirmation becomes your proof of payment.
1.3 If you are unsure which tour or services you require, please contact one of our experienced Queenstown based sales consultants for advice before you finalize your booking.
1.4 The business name that will appear on your credit card statement will be Altitude Tours.
2.0 Cancellation, Changes and No Shows
2.1 If a booking is cancelled by Altitude Tours Ltd and you are unable to reschedule, you can contact us for a full refund. Please explain the reason for the refund and the person you spoke to. We will then credit your card the refund amount and email you with confirmation.
2.2 If you need to reschedule, change or cancel your booking you will need to contact Altitude Tours Ltd via phone or email to get authorization to do so. To avoid cancellation charges, all cancellation or change requests are to be made at least 48 hours prior to your departure date/time.
2.3 Change & Cancellation Protection (CCP).
When purchasing an Altitude Tours experiences online, some experiences give you the ability to purchase CCP to give you peace of mind and flexibility to cancel your tour up until 6pm the day prior to departure.
When purchased, as long as you contact us by 6pm the day prior to your tour date, you can choose to change to another date or use the value towards another Altitude Tours small group experience. Wish to cancel altogether for a refund? If you choose to do this, CCP allows you to claim a 75% refund which would be processed back to the card used at the time to make your booking.
How it works:
- Altitude Tours must be notified of a cancellation or change request either via email at info@altitudetours.co.nz or phone (NZ) +64 3 441 4788.
- CCP is not travel insurance. Altitude Tours does not take any responsibility or cover for any out-of-pocket expenses caused before, during, or after travel. CCP is limited only to the value of the experience booked and paid for via Altitude Tours at the same time the CCP was purchased.
- CCP is only available prior to the completion of your transaction and cannot be purchased retrospectively.
- CCP is non-refundable.
Group Bookings & Private Charters
(Excluding Milford Business Class)
2.4 Cancellations received more than 7 days before the booked start time will be refunded in full.
2.5 Cancellations received between 7 days and 48 hours before the booked start time will receive a 50% refund.
2.6 Cancellations received within 48 hours of the booked start time, or no shows on the day, will not receive any refund.
Daily Tours (Excluding Milford Business Class)
2.7 Cancellation outside of 48 hours will receive a full refund. Cancellation inside of 48 hours no refund.
2.8 Altitude Tours Ltd reserves the absolute right to cancel any service as a result of weather conditions, insufficient numbers or any other unforeseen event or circumstances. In this instance, you can choose to reschedule or request a full refund from Altitude Tours Ltd.
Milford Business Class
2.9 The Milford Business Class Experience is operated in conjunction with RealNZ and follows a seprate cancellation policy as outlined:
100% cancellation fee applies for cancellations made within 24 hours of departure.
For direct bookings, including those exceeding a group size of 10: Full refund for cancellations made at least 24 hours prior to departure. 100% cancellation fee applies for cancellations made within 24 hours of departure.
For group bookings of 10 or more made through an agent or for Conference & Incentive groups: 100% refund for cancellations made 7 days or more before departure. 50% cancellation fee for cancellations made between 6 days and 24 hours before departure.
Third Party Extra Consideration
2.10 If you book an experience in conjunction with an extra (e.g., a jet boat ride, scenic flight, helicopter flight, glacier explorers, or heli-hike), please note that these are operated by third-party providers and are separate from the core Altitude Tours product.
If an Altitude Tour is operating but a third-party provider cancels (typically due to poor weather), you will receive a refund for the extra activity portion of your booking. However, your core tour will proceed as scheduled. No refund will be provided for the main tour portion outside of our cancellation policy. If you choose to cancel 48 hours before departure, you will receive a full refund as per our cancellation policy.
Cancellations Due to Travel Restrictions or Unforeseen Circumstances
2.11 If your tour cannot be attended due to government-imposed travel restrictions, pandemic-related health issues, or other unforeseen circumstances beyond your control, and it falls within the cancellation period stated above, we will honour the booking value as credit for 12 months.
3.0 Extended terms and conditions
3.1 Altitude Tours Ltd accept no responsibility for any loss or additional expenses arising from changes, delays or cancellations of the services provided.
3.2 We advise that all tours may carry a degree of risk and that by participating in the tour or service provided by Altitude Tours Ltd you are expressly assuming those risks personally and are releasing Altitude Tours Ltd from any liability, claims, losses, damages or expenses.
4.0 Privacy Policy
4.1 Altitude Tours Ltd is dedicated to keeping your details private. Any information, we collect in relation to you, is kept strictly secured. We do not pass on/sell/swap any of your personal details with anyone. We use this information to identify your orders and to personalise your shopping experience with us; that’s all.
4.2 Altitude Tours Ltd uses cookies to allow you to acess and purchase items in your shopping cart. Cookies sent to your computer from Altitude Tours Ltd only last while you’re browsing our website. We do not store persistent cookies on your computer.
4.3 By agreeing to our Terms & Conditions you give Altitude Tours Ltd permission to email you occasionally with promotional material.
4.4 Whenever you use our web site, or any other web site, the computer on which the web pages are stored (the Web server) needs to know the network address of your computer so that it can send the requested web pages to your Internet browser. The unique network address of your computer is called its “IP address,” and is sent automatically each time you access any Internet site. From a computer’s IP address, it is possible to determine the general geographic location of that computer, but otherwise it is anonymous.
We do not keep a record of the IP addresses from which users access our site except where you have specifically provided us with information about yourself, in which case we also record your IP address for security purposes. An example of this would be when proceeding to a checkout to finalise an order you may wish to make. After completing the form provided, your IP address will be stored along with a transaction number that allows us to track your order.
5.0 Security Policy
5.1 Altitude Tours Ltd protects your credit card transactions with powerful 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology. SSL encrypts all your personal and credit card details to prevent it being read during transmission over the Internet. It changes it into 1 of more than 3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 different combinations (that’s 3 quadrilliard if you’re wondering). SSL safe connection, and other proven secure transaction technologies, safely protect all Altitude Tours Ltd customers who book online via our secure website.
Health & Safety
Altitude Tours priority is to provide the safest possible travel environment for our premium small group day tours. We follow industry and government advice to create our safety management plan to keep clients, staff and our suppliers as safe as possible. Our vehicles are all luxury Mercedes Sprinters that follow a strict servicing and maintenance schedule and guides conduct thorough pre departure inspections to ensure the vehicle is fit for purpose for operating that tour. Our office also operates 7 days a week and we have an on-call phone from 6.30am – 9.30pm daily to ensure our guides have support whenever out on tour.
Industry associations
We are a member of the Tourism Export Council of New Zealand (TECNZ), Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA), have a number of Department of Conservation (DoC) permits and are a Qualmark GOLD-endorsed business which means we have access to the best industry advice and safety standards for tour operators and are recognised by Qualmark as one of ‘the best sustainable tourism businesses in New Zealand, with the delivery of exceptional customer experiences an integral part of everything they do. A Gold Sustainable Tourism Award identifies those businesses leading the way in making the New Zealand tourism industry a world-class sustainable visitor destination.’ For more information about Qualmark please visit here.
Qualworx Audit
Although Altitude Tours does not operate any experiences that are considered Adventure Activities and therefore require external audits, we have chosen to have our Safety Management System audited by Qualworx to ensure we are operating best practices. We have an annual satellite audit and a 3-yearly full audit.
Risk Disclosure
With any tour there is an inherent risk that could include, but is not limited to the following:
- • Motor vehicle accident
- • Pedestrian collision
- • Injury when entering or exiting the vehicle
- • Intoxication (on wine, beer or gin tours)
Altitude Tours guides are all internally trained, have a first aid certificate and operate tours with our customer’s safety at the forefront and to minimise these risks. We also work with a number of third-party suppliers including but not limited to helicopter companies, boat cruise companies, cellar doors and fixed-wing flight operators. We have a third-party health and safety acknowledgement form that these suppliers are required to fill in to be included in our tours.
Contact us
If you have any questions related to this statement or any data protection concerns, or would like to exercise your rights, please contact us.