Te Anau is known as the “gateway to Fiordland” and is the jumping off point for tours to the Milford and Patea Doubtful Sound. This town is at the base of Lake Te Anau, and is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It is gorgeous.
We stopped there to stretch our legs and explore the beauty of the New Zealand Fiordland on our way north after an overnight on the Patea Doubtful Sound Cruise on a 2 week-long trip with our toddler.
Te Anau is on the traditional lands of the Maori.
Things to do at Te Anau with your kids
Te Anau is full of kid-friendly adventures.
Start your adventure in Te Anau at the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre. The knowledgeable staff will help you plan your trip, offering maps of walking paths, and hikes, as well as information about available tours.
The center also offers nature exhibits that provide some history and information about the land you’re visiting and a twenty-minute film, Stepping Into Fiordland National Park.
We spent about an hour there planning our day and left with a few goodies from the gift shop.
Go Bird Watching
The Punanga Manu o Te Anau/Te Anau Bird Sanctuary
is a great place for kids and an easy, 15-minute walk from the visitor center along Lake Te Anau.
The Sanctuary is free to access for the self-guided tour and features picnic tables, bathrooms, and a spring-fed water fountain.
Take the donation-based guided tour to learn more about the birds around you. Our kiddo loved walking along the birds, and I loved seeing birds that looked prehistoric and unlike any I had ever seen, like the Takahē.
Lake Te Anau is the second largest lake in the South Fiordland on the South Island.
Starting at the visitor center, you’ll find miles of trails to embark on, all with stunning views. We walked from the visitor center to the Bird Sanctuary and back.
Read here for a list of suggested walks.
Many travelers visit Te Anau and use it as a homebase before they start the Kepler Trek– a 37-mile, four-day-long trek from Te Anau to Manapouri. The free overnight huts along the trek look absolutely amazing.
Although our toddler loved hiking in our hiking backpack, we didn’t have time to spend 4 days along this trek on our 2 week-long NZ vacation and therefore skipped this trek. I would love to go back and hike it sometime.
Go for a bike ride
Reserve a bike through the local bike shop Wild Rides, located on Town Center, the main street of Te Anau, and ask for a map.
Bike the kid-friendly Lake 2 Lake Trail which takes you around Lake Te Anau in Fiordland National Park. We rented a bike with a toddler seat and rode for a few hours to take in the sites.
Just up the road from the Visitor Centre you’ll see a bunch of people eating happily along a grassy area on the side of the road. They are snacking on delicious meat pies and cookies from Miles Meat Pies.
Pull over and try their mushroom pie, their meat pie, and their cornflake cookie.
Our kiddo loved the pies almost as much as I did! Make sure to ask for the pies to be warmed up first.
La Toscana Pizzeria
A no-frills pizza shop that does takeout! La Toscana Pizzeria came highly recommended for families with little kids by a local, and the perfect place to grab dinner to-go.
We grabbed pizza there on our way up to our Airbnb outside of town. The pizza was decent and kid-approved.
Where to Stay
We decided to try an Airbnb that offered a private room in a home, free breakfast, and was located on a small goat farm.
Similar to our last experience staying in a room in a home while the owner was there in Lake Tekapo, we were surprisingly pleased with this Airbnb.
The room was spacious and private enough to where I didn’t feel like the whole house was listening to my toddler’s occasional cries. We ate our dinner with the host at a big table with the most amazing views of the lake. She took us for a walk around her land, bringing kibble for us to feed the baby goats.
The host was a grandma who had a ton of toys and a swing set available for our use. Breakfast was simple and quick, and included homemade yogurt.
I highly recommend this Airbnb for families traveling with little kids.
I had dreamed of traveling to NZ on my honeymoon with my husband before we found out that we were pregnant with our miracle baby. Before kids, my husband and I backpacked on miles of trails. We fell in love in Patagonia and hiked multi-day treks in the wilderness of California. So, when I came across activities like four-day treks through the Fiordland National Park along the Kepler Trek, I had a very hard time skipping them.
Part of the fun of traveling, for me, has always been getting to do what I love, like hiking, being in nature, and eating good food all with my kids in tow.
The challenging parts of traveling with kids have been much more humbling, like finding the balance between what I like to do and what my kids would like to do or be capable of doing. I’m sure we could have survived the Kepler Trek and would have a ton of stories to tell, but with the pace of travel, our limited timeline, and having to pack things for camping with a toddler, and just plain traveling with a toddler on an international trip, that hike seemed unobtainable.
Although I hope to return and hike the Kepler Trek, I want to do it sometime when my kids can carry their own packs! Maybe when they are teenagers? Can’t wait!
Have you had a similar experience where the pre-kid you is itching to do something the post-kid you thinks would be crazy to do? Share in the comments below!
This post is part of a series of posts about visiting the South Island of NZ with kids. Continue the adventure with us here:
Puerto Rican & Indigenous mama of two. Bay Area native. Salsa dancer. Backpacker. Doula. Angel (she/her/hers) is a co-founding member of the Beautiful Brown Adventures team. She has traveled to over 30 countries and loves to explore the world with her two daughters & partner - one ice cream shop at a time.
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