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Experience the best of Te Anau

Te Anau is a small lakeside town in New Zealand's Fiordland, the gateway to Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and some of the country's finest walking tracks.

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Te Anau sits on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau, the largest lake in the South Island, on the edge of Fiordland National Park. Snow-capped mountains rise across the water and dense beech forest covers the slopes, and the park is part of the Te Wāhipounamu World Heritage area. The town is small, with a lakefront path and a wildlife centre where takahē, a rare flightless bird rediscovered in the nearby mountains in 1948, are kept.

Limestone caves across the lake hold a glow-worm grotto reached by boat. The Milford Road runs north through the Eglinton Valley and the Homer Tunnel to Milford Sound, where Mitre Peak rises from the fiord, and Doubtful Sound is reached by boat and road from Lake Manapouri. The Kepler, Routeburn and Milford tracks are among New Zealand's Great Walks.

Southland cooking offers venison from local deer farms, blue cod, whitebait fritters, lamb and the cheese roll, a toasted cheese-and-onion roll beloved across the province, as well as oysters from Bluff. Fiordland is wet and the weather changes quickly, but Te Anau itself is drier. Summer is the long, light season for walking, and autumn brings golden colour to the beech and poplars.

  • Free cancellation on 98% of experiences
  • 4.8 across the top 19

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Day trips from Te Anau

22

Cruises and boat trips in Te Anau

5

Guided tours in Te Anau

9

Outdoor and adventure activities in Te Anau

6

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