Where to Stay in Franz Josef
Where to sleep in Glacier Country and what each choice gives up
For a first visit, stay in the village of Franz Josef, for two nights. Dinner and the tour offices are a short walk away, and the second night gives the weather a chance to clear.
- Everything on foot: the village. Our default.
- Rainforest, quiet and a car: the edge of the village.
- Lake Matheson at dawn, or a lower price: Fox Glacier.
- The lagoon and the sea: Ōkārito.
Franz Josef is a two-night base on our South Island itinerary and on New Zealand in three weeks. Our guide to Franz Josef covers what to do while you are here. For meals, see where to eat in Franz Josef.
How this page was madeWe have been to the South Island, but long enough ago that we claim nothing from it. So this page is researched: from Glacier Country, the region’s visitor body, from each place’s own website and from our own sample of prices. We name only places we could confirm from their own sites. When we go back, we will say so here.
Areas and places to stay reviewed 4 October 2026
How the areas compare
| Area | First visit | Quiet | Families | Transport | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The village | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | $$$ |
| The edge of the village | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | $$$ |
| Fox Glacier | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | $$ |
| Ōkārito | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ | Not sampled |
The stars are a quick read across the qualities most travellers weigh up — more stars means a stronger fit for that quality, not “better” overall. Price is shown as a band rather than stars, since cheaper isn’t a virtue in itself. Quiet means how still the evenings and nights are. Transport means how much you can do without a car.
Price positions are relative to the other areas in this table, not market rates. They come from our own sample of 19 places for the night of Tuesday 24 November 2026, two adults. We read the lowest rate shown for each place on a hotel comparison site, before tax, on 4 October 2026. Seven were in the village, and their prices ranged very widely. Two were at the edge of the village, priced close to the village’s middle. Ten were in Fox Glacier. Two of those, a holiday park and a hostel, were far cheaper than the rest and are left out of the bands. The middle price of the other eight was well below the village’s. Nothing in Ōkārito was in the sample.
Where the areas are
The village sits on State Highway 6, with the glacier valley a short drive to the south. The edge of the village is a few minutes’ drive north on the same road. Fox Glacier is about thirty minutes south, with Lake Matheson just beyond it. Ōkārito is about thirty minutes north-west, on the coast, at the end of a side road.
A guide to each area
The village
$$$ · everything on footWhy stay here?
The village is one street on State Highway 6, about ten minutes’ walk end to end, with Cron Street running behind it. Motels, hotels, places to eat, the supermarket, the fuel pump and the helicopter offices all sit here. Stay here and you can walk to dinner and to the check-in for a glacier flight. Buses stop in the village, so it works without a car. It is a busy place for its size: one property outside it calls it “the busy township”. Motel units and family rooms are easy to find. For a first visit of two nights, this is where we would sleep.
Good for
- Dinner, shops and tour offices on foot
- The widest choice of beds
- Workable without a car
Watch for
- The busiest of the four areas
- The highest middle price in our sample
- A street of offices, not a retreat
The edge of the village
$$$ · rainforest and quietWhy stay here?
A few minutes’ drive north of the village on the highway, the beds are villas, suites and small lodges set in farmland and rainforest. You gain quiet, dark skies and space. Some places have two-bedroom villas with full kitchens, which suits a family. You give up the walk to dinner: you drive in, cook for yourself, or ask your host about a lift. On a first visit that means a drive before every tour and meal. Choose it if you have a car and want the forest more than the street.
Good for
- Quiet nights and forest views
- Villas with kitchens and space
- Five minutes or so from the village by car
Watch for
- A car for every meal out
- Few places, which fill early
- No shop nearer than the village
With about 5,555 millimetres of rain a year, the odds are that it will rain while you are here. If it does, do not wait indoors for it to stop. Stand in a doorway or under a porch and listen. What does it do on the roof, in the leaves, in the gutters? What does the air smell of? Look for the mountains, and see whether the cloud has taken them. This is the same weather that falls as snow high above you and feeds the ice. You are standing inside the thing that makes the glacier.
Fox Glacier
$$ · quieter, cheaper, further southWhy stay here?
Fox Glacier is the other glacier township, about thirty minutes’ drive south. It is smaller and quieter than Franz Josef, with about three hundred people, and it has its own shop, fuel, cafés and a bus stop. Its motels were the cheapest in our sample, and several have kitchens and family units. Lake Matheson and the walk towards Fox Glacier are a few minutes away by car. The cost is distance. Fox sits at the southern end of the sights, not the middle, so on a first visit Ōkārito and Whataroa become nearer an hour each way. Choose it if Lake Matheson at dawn matters to you, or if you are driving on south to Wānaka.
Good for
- Lake Matheson close for dawn
- The lowest middle price in our sample
- A shorter drive south next day
Watch for
- About an hour to Ōkārito or Whataroa
- Fewer places to eat
- A smaller choice of beds
Ōkārito
Not sampled · lagoon, sea and silenceWhy stay here?
Ōkārito is a tiny settlement on a tidal lagoon, about thirty minutes’ drive north-west of Franz Josef, at the end of its own road. People come for the lagoon, the beach and the birds. One place to stay says plainly that there is “no village shop”, and another puts dinner out about thirty minutes away in Franz Josef. So you bring your food and cook it, and you need a car. There are very few beds, in cabins, studios and lodge rooms that suit two people better than a family. Choose it for a second or third night, when the glaciers are done and you want the coast to yourself.
Good for
- The lagoon and beach at the door
- Real quiet and dark skies
- Kitchens in the places we found
Watch for
- No shop, so bring every meal
- Thirty minutes from the village
- Very few beds, some closed in winter
Whataroa is a farming township about 25 minutes north of Franz Josef. The white heron tours leave from here. White Heron Sanctuary Tours lets two self-contained units at 64 Main Road, with kitchens and covered parking. You enquire by phone or email. Checked 4 October 2026. We found too few beds here to call it an area of its own.
Before you book
Our guide to accommodation in New Zealand covers what applies everywhere: motels, holiday parks, how prices are shown and what to expect at check-in. What follows is particular to Glacier Country.
Why two nights, not one
The weather decides what you do here. Helicopters do not fly in low cloud, and this coast is wet. Our guide to Franz Josef gives the figure: about 5,555 millimetres of rain in an average year. Franz Josef Glacier Guides, who run the heli-hikes, say that “an extra day gives you the best chance of getting on the ice”. They suggest booking your flight for your first day, so there is a day in hand. One night leaves no room for that.
What kind of place you will find
Glacier Country lists four kinds of bed: hotels, motels and self-contained units, bed-and-breakfasts and lodges, and camping, hostels and backpackers. In our sample the village had the hotels and the widest range of prices. Fox Glacier was mostly motels. Prices shown to you in New Zealand must include GST, the 15% sales tax, unless they say otherwise.
When it fills up
Glacier Country’s own advice is to book ahead. There are few beds for the number of people who come, and the small places outside the village fill first. We found no single event that fills the townships. Summer, from December to February, is the busy time. Some small places close for the winter, so check before you plan a winter stay in Ōkārito.
The drive along this coast is part of the reason to come, and State Highway 6 is the only road to all of these places. Heavy rain can close it: in March 2019 a flood washed away the Waiho River bridge at Franz Josef. Check the highway conditions on the morning you drive, and keep your next booking flexible if you can.
Food and fuel
Glacier Country’s visitor information, read on 4 October 2026, lists a supermarket in Franz Josef, open every day from 7.45am, and fuel at any hour. In Fox Glacier it lists a general store, open 8am to 8pm, and fuel at any hour too. Ōkārito has no shop, so buy food in Franz Josef on the way. A room with a kitchen saves money in all four areas. For eating out, see where to eat in Franz Josef.
Without a car
InterCity buses stop at Franz Josef and at Fox Glacier, about 35 minutes apart. So the village and Fox Glacier both work without a car. The edge of the village and Ōkārito do not. The nearest airport is Hokitika, about an hour and three-quarters’ drive north. Our guide to getting around New Zealand has more.
If the glacier is the point
Sleep in the township your flight leaves from, and check the access report on the morning you go. Our guides to Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier cover what you can see from the ground and from the air.
From what we have read, we would take two nights in the village on a first visit, and a kitchen if we could get one.
— Andrew + MargaretA final word on staying in Franz Josef
Sleep in the village and stay two nights, so the weather has a second chance. Go out to the edge of the village for forest and quiet, if you have a car. Choose Fox Glacier for Lake Matheson at first light, or to pay less. Keep Ōkārito for an extra night, when you want the lagoon and the sea.
Andrew + Margaret
- Franz Josef Overview
- Franz Josef Glacier Highlight
- Lake Matheson Highlight
- Ōkārito Lagoon Highlight
- South Island itinerary Journeys
- Accommodation in New Zealand Practical