New Zealand Travel Forum

Hi,

I am thinking of doing a glacier walk in nov. Can anyone advise if i should do fox or FJ ? Would like to be able to see lots of blue and walk amongst thin/narrow gorges..

Btw, what is the difference between the two ?

For walks around the glaciers, which one is better and allows us to get closer to the glacier ?

For unguided walks Fox is the better one. You can get much closer to glacier terminal.

On the ground we did both. They are both a little different as far as the scenerey around and we enjoyed both. Franz Josef has a great spot called Peter's Pool from where you get some great pics.

As for actual glacier walks I believe you need a guided a tour. We didnt do any of these. We did an amazing helicopter flight to the top of Franz Josef where we were to get out and have a quick walk around which was totally awesome.

Cheers
Col & Sue

You see blue ice in/on both glaciers. Tracks change permanently, so one day you can get the narrower gorges on Fox, the other day on Franz Josef. Also ice tubes get bigger by the day, as the heat of crawling tourists make them melt, and then they disappear and new ones appear.

In general Franz Josef is steeper and the walks are a bit more strenuous, and the walk to the terminal face is longer.

The walk to Fox's terminal face is more diverse but goes up and down whereas the way to Franz Josef is flat.

More info about the glaciers on my West Coast page.

We did a guided walk on the Fox Glacier because it is less crowded. It was amazing. There are pros and cons of each though. I've set out a list of pros and cons at www.squidoo.com/newzealandtop5 if you want to have a look.