Stay the Night at Fiorland National Park

Overnight cruises are a leisurely, thorough way to experience the sounds. If you choose Doubtful Sound, your tour company will provide a boat across Lake Manapouri and a bus ride to your cruise vessel. Drive to Lake Manapouri, or, for an extra fee, arrange for a coach transfer from Te Anau or Queenstown. Sleeping quarters aboard the vessel range from bunking with three others to a private cabin and bathroom. Dinner and breakfast are included, and you can arrange for a picnic lunch. The park's deepest sound, Doubtful, has three distinct arms and features the 619-meter (2,031-foot) Browne Falls. If you are lucky, you will see Fiordland crested penguins on the rocks or bottle-nosed dolphins swimming at the bow. Cliffs rise from the sea to 900 meters (2,953 feet), often disappearing in a mist. You can explore the sound in kayaks once you anchor at the evening's mooring. Or you can sit on a viewing deck, sip a beverage from the bar, and take in the sights from your floating hotel. Milford overnight cruises generally leave around 4:30 pm and return around 9 the following morning; Doubtful cruises generally leave around noon and return around noon the next day.