The stunning Milford Track passes remote peaks, valleys, rivers, and waterfalls through Aotearoa New Zealand’s beautiful Fiordland National Park. You’ll hike 53.5 kilometres over four days and three nights and it’ll be challenging, but it’s one of the most beautiful places you’ll ever see. There are 3 different huts, and the track is only open from October to April, so snagging a booking takes a bit of planning and a dash of luck, but it’s possible to get it right. This year, Milford Track booking slots will become available at 9:30 a.m. NZST on Wednesday, May 28, 2025.
This post may contain affiliate links. Bookings or purchases through these links generate a small commission for me at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!
How to make a Milford Track booking in 2025/26
You have to make your Milford Track booking through the Department of Conservation (DOC) website. It’s so beautiful and very in-demand, but there are only 40 beds in each hut so they get booked out incredibly quickly. Hiking the Milford Track isn’t a last-minute decision, you need a bit of planning and a dash of luck to get it right. Here’s how to snag a booking for this amazing track in the 2025/2026 season.
Login or set up your DOC profile in advance
Create a profile on the official DOC website. There’s no “guest check out” option. You want to do this before you try to make your Milford Track booking so it’s easier for you to lock in the dates you select.
If you already have an account but haven’t used it since last year, give your sign in a little test run so you’re not resetting your password seconds before bookings open.
Be online as soon as the Milford Track booking portal opens
All Milford Track booking slots open at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday May 28, 2025. (And that’s New Zealand local time, of course.) And that means you should be on your computer by 9:00. If you’re booking from abroad make sure you double check the time difference!
The site will time out if you’re in the middle of the booking process and abandon it for too long, so you’ll have to be quick.
Fair warning, the DOC website also crashed the last two years in a row, which complicated things. But they’ve done a big overhaul. So I’m optimistic it won’t be such an issue this year.
Make your Milford Track booking on a big screen
This is not a small screen activity. Especially with the way the website is laid out, it’s so much easier to do this on a laptop rather than your tiny phone screen. But maybe that’s just unnecessarily millennial of me.
Have your credit card ready
You’ll have to pay for huts right then and there to secure the booking. For the 2025/2026 season, the Milford Track huts cost $92 for New Zealand residents, and $130 for international hikers — per night. So $276 or $390 per person for the whole trip, depending on whether you have local ID or not.
But keep in mind the other associated costs of hiking the Milford Track. For one, you’ll definitely need to pay for some transport to and from the track. We booked with Fiordland Outdoors which included a bus from Queenstown, the water taxi to the start of the track, a water taxi at the end of the track, and the bus back to Queenstown for $332.
Then there’s also your flights to Queenstown and accommodation before and after the track. I do a full Milford Track booking cost breakdown in another article.
Read more: Total Cost of Hiking the Milford Track
Be flexible
Have a range or several sets of dates ready and jot them down on a sticky note. The more flexible you are with your Milford Track booking, the better.
What’s nice is that you can only do the Milford Track in one direction and have to stay in every hut for one night — no repeats, no skipping. So the booking process is super clear, and you just choose your start date and the number of people in your group. The next page will show you a 12-day date range with your start date as the earliest option.
If you're doing the hike as a group, get everyone online
Might this strategy be part of the reason the website crashes every year? Maybe. But do you want to beat out the competition or not?
Get the whole gang online for a better shot at securing a Milford Track booking. And assign yourselves different dates to try for — this is what I did with my friends, and it worked! Of the three of us logged in right as the platform opened, I was the only one who got through. It’s honestly like booking tickets to a major concert or something.
Remember that going with a large group might make it harder to secure several bunks on the same dates. But I went with a group of 6 and we managed to snag dates in a single booking. So it is possible!
Read more: What Are the Milford Track Huts Like?
What to do if you don't get a Milford Track booking
If things don’t go the way you planned and you don’t get a Milford Track booking, not all is lost. You still have a few options to experience Aotearoa’s incredible natural beauty in 2025 and 2026.
Choose another Great Walk
The problem with this backup plan is that these routes become available before the Milford Track booking dates. They still fill up quickly, but not instantly like the Milford. So you can either book one as an insurance policy, or aim for Milford and see what’s still available on the other tracks after May 28 if it doesn’t pan out.
The Heaphy, Kepler, and Rakiura tracks are the first Great Walks to become available in the DOC booking portal. The bookings always open at 9:30 a.m.
- Heaphy Track, Kepler Track, Rakiura Track — Thursday, May 15
- Whanganui Journey (kayaking), Tongariro Northern Circuit, Routeburn Track — Thursday, May 22
- Abel Tasman Coast Track, Lake Waikaremoana Track, Paparoa Track — Tuesday, May 27
- Milford Track — Wednesday, May 28
The Hump Ridge Track is the newest route to join New Zealand’s 11 official Great Walks. But for some reason, it has a completely different booking system. So for that adventure, check out the details here.
Read more: What Are the Kepler Track Huts Like?
The Kepler Track
Do a Milford Track day hike
Yes! You don’t have to commit to the four days and three nights of intensive hiking. If you’re short on time, not up a big fan of switchbacks, or just don’t manage to secure the booking, there’s a day hike option.
Fortunately, you don’t need to book this one months in advance (though it’s still wise to book at least a little in advance). You’ll just need return transport from Milford Sound to Sandfly Point — technically the end point for the full Milford Track hikers. This stretch of the route is lush and lined with ferns, it features a beautiful waterfall, and maybe best of all: is pretty flat.
Sometimes you can find the boat trip discounted on BookMe.
Go on one of New Zealand's other amazing overnight hikes
Aotearoa has tons of stunning huts along trails without the “Great Walk” title. Bookings for DOC accommodation across 2025 and 2026 open at different stages from 13 May to 4 June. Research some cool huts then look up their booking availability here.
On the plus side, these options are usually a lot more affordable! Here are just a few reasonably accessible and famously stunning huts:
- Mt Heale Hut, Great Barrier Island
- Pinnacle Hut, Coromandel
- Peach Cove Hut, Whangarei Heads
- Aspiring Hut, Otago
- Mueller Hut, Aoraki National Park
You can even do an overnight hike to the first hut along the Kepler Track, Luxmore Hut.
(Don't) try to snap up a Milford Track booking cancellation
You can cancel a Great Walk booking (and you’ll get an 80-90% refund depending on when you cancel). But DOC wants to prevent scalping and price hikes, so they don’t allow name changes. Fair enough, it would be easy for these things to get out of hand! But it’s unfortunate for anyone who has a last-minute change of plans, like a family emergency, injury, or whatever else.
Off the record, some people do it anyway. They don’t expect you to carry ID on the trail, though they did ask for our names when we checked in at the visitor’s centre. I see some people in Facebook groups like “New Zealand Great Walks” seeking/offering slots all the time. But it’s a highly unreliable way to do things, and you’ll have underlying stress about getting caught the whole time you’re hiking. Not worth it, in my opinion.
And if all else fails, there’s always 2026 and 2027!