Routeburn Track

While the Routeburn Track may be a shorter multi-day hike, it has some of the biggest scenery. With soaring mountain peaks, huge valleys, waterfalls and jewel-like lakes the track links the Mount Aspiring National Park with Fiordland National Park.The highest point of the track is 1,255 metres above sea level - so the views are simply spectacular.

The part of New Zealand that the Routeburn Track winds through has been shaped by successive glaciations into fiords, rocky coasts, towering cliffs, lakes and waterfalls. Birdlife is prolific through forested sections of the track; native tomtits, robins, fantails, wood pigeons and bellbirds are commonly seen, as well as the cheeky Kea, the world's only alpine parrot.

This is not a loop track and can be walked in either direction; one track end is at the Routeburn Shelter (near Glenorchy) and the other is at The Divide (closer to Te Anau). It is recommended that this track is avoided between May - September, when there is high risk of avalanches.