Franz Josef

Franz Josef is a compact tourist town that offers excellent accommodation options for backpackers. Everything here revolves around glacier tours and helicopter flights, but there are heaps of other activities available, including skydiving, quad biking, white water rafting and ice climbing. Kayaking on Lake Mapourika is very popular for the fantastic mountain reflections and sunsets. Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are similar and offer basically the same thing, but travellers tend to stay in Franz Josef for the facilities. You can visit the Hukawai Glacier Centre to get acquainted with the area and its offerings; there is an indoor ice climbing wall here as well.