Cascade Creek Campsite
Milford Rd
4.3 185 reviews
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Cymen Crick
Rankers Crew
Closest to the big time
Closest to the big time
Cascade Creek is the largest and busiest camping ground on the Milford Road. 140 camping sites all told.
It's location is also closest to the best stretch on the Milford road. There's some on NZ's best 2 -4 hour hikes right on your doorstep. Also closer to Milford itself, which means potential for free parking and the quietest Milford experience, see my other posts about that.
I tend to park further away from the main road, next to the early origins of the Eglinton River (little swimming holes can be found - dodge the sandflies!).
There's even a few campfire pits.
I like the easy little 45 min round trip wander to Lake Gunn. It's quieter later in the day, after the bus traffic has rolled through.
Sandlfies are an issue, as they are for all camping grounds around here. Keep your Campervan doors closed and use your insect screens.
The toilets sometimes have a pong, and sometimes they don't. Can't really explain that! There's a few of them to choose from.
All in all, Cascade Creek is a goodie :)
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Information
Cascade Creek Campsite
This is a standard campsite in northern Fiordland that is good for larger vehicles.
This large sheltered campsite is suitable for larger vehicles. There are lots of different areas to park up on and call your own and there is a large turning bay at the end of the gravel road. Toilets are quite new, but often quite smelly. Beautiful river nearby. Bring sandfly repellent.
This is a great place for fishing, swimming, BBQing and walking. The Lake Gunn Nature Walk starts from here, it is a flat, easy, 45 min return walk from the campsite to the edge of Lake Gunn
Accommodation
DOC Campsite Pricing
Cascade Creek Campsite is categorised as a DOC Standard Campsite. The following pricing indicates usual pricing. Prices vary for some campsites and may include seasonal pricing. Visit the DOC website for exact pricing.
DOC Standard Campsite
Standard campsites have a more limited range of facilities and services than Serviced campsites. These campsites have toilets, a water supply that could be treated or untreated tap water, or from a stream or lake, and vehicle or boat access. Bring your own soap for washing hands. Untreated water should be boiled before use to ensure it's safe. Wood BBQs and fireplaces, cold showers, picnic tables, a cooking shelter and rubbish bins may be provided; this will vary from site to site.
| Feature | Value | Value |
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| Unpowered Site | Adult | $15.00 to $20.00 per night |
| Unpowered Site | Child | $7.50 to $10.00 per night |
| Unpowered Site | Infant | $0.00 per night |
Adults are 18+ years, children are 5-17 years, infants are 0-4 years.
Details
| Feature | Value | Info |
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Organisation |
DOC FiordlandCentral government organisation |
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Location |
South Island ▷ Fiordland ▷ Te Anau |
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Operating Season And Hours |
This campsite cannot be booked; sites are on a first-come, first-served basis. |
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Basic Camping
Reviews
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Lots of information there on nature and trees.
Jill Grange -
Great campsite with a large area available.
Paul -
Beautiful scenery & nice location.
Nigel & Annie Dale -
Great spot!
Chantal D -
Super friendly Rangers.
Harriet Smith
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Over 100 spots and half filled when we arrived around 7pm.
Toilets ok but a bit smelly. No internet reception. Fantastic views in the morning after the rain clouds started to clear.
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Beautiful campsite with unreal views, and the drive in is ridiculously scenic.
Perfect base to get an early start to Milford Sound.
But: sandflies. So many sandflies. Bring emotional resilience.
Facilities are just long-drops and pretty dirty. No frills at all. Definitely book online in advance — winging it is brave.
8/10 views, 3/10 insect diplomacy.
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Biutiful place to stay between two rivers.
Infortunately it was really windy and also we was attacked by a swarm of sandfly.
Drop Toilets was really simple but ok ( without water to wash the hands).
We stayed almost all the time in our closed camper van
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View at the campsite are absolutely fantastic.
Fields of lupins by the river on one side and snow capped hills directly opposite. Loads of space even when it's busy. A few flies but not really a bother.
Otherwise facilities are fairly basic, (clean enough) long drop toilets but no facilities to wash up or shower.
100% worth a stay but come prepared.
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Bon emplacement sur la route de Milford Sound.
malgré le fait de payer et d'avoir des membres du DOC pour surveiller, on s'installe à peu près comme on veut. Nombreuses toilettes sèches. Le coin peut être venté. Lac Gunn à proximité.
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Ce camping est très bien situé pour aller visiter Milford Sound.
L'emplacement est parfait, il est très spacieux, et très agréable. Les sanitaires sont minimalistes, mais ça ne surprend pas dans un tel environnement de nature.
Nous avons passé une très bonne nuit dans ce camping.
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Beautiful view.
We spent 4 nights here and it was a great place. It was close to all our trips. Plenty of parking. Clean toilets. Possibility to use shelter. No phone signal.
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Solid off-Grid location for one night before the start of a tour in Milford sound.
Don’t forget bug spray. There are toilets without flushing.
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This camp is good but too big for me.
This is used as base for Milford sound for most tourists. Also no phone signal anywhere in the camp. I would rather use another one smaller, further away but with signal and toilets that are used less often and less smelly
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Good place to stay if you're going to or from Milford, it's alot of native birds and native bush, also have a beautiful stream next to the campsite..
But don't forget the bug spray!!
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A great spot to park up about half way between Te Anau and Milford and get ahead of the many who stream into Milford.
This is a large site with plenty of level spots and plenty of toilets. From here you can do the Lake Gunn walk. If you haven’t booked online then do the right thing and pay upon entry.
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Absolutely brilliant campsite for our trip to Milford sound.
Lots of toilets scattered about the campsite. Heaps of campsites to choose from. Nice shelter offering protection from the wind and rain. Nice short trail right from the carpark too.
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Pretty nice campsite, relatively nice drop toilets well spread around too.
The campsite is really big and nice places next to the river and amazing mountain views. $ 15 pp and DOC staff came checking whether people had paid (we were there on a Saturday night). Good location for an early cruise in the morning, it took us about 50 minutes to drive to Milford Sound.
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Most disgusting toilets ever, genuinely had to hold my breath or I'd throw up.
Location is great though and plenty of space. If you have your own toilet this place is probably fine.
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15 dollars per person, really nice area.
But toilets are very disgusting! There is an open area to use like kitchen, nothing else.
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We booked and payed online, but upon arrival there were only instructions on how to pay cash.
We used the cash check-in form and wrote down the booking number where the $ amount was supposed to go. Long drop toilets were close to overflowing and the shelter only has two walls, so they don't protect against wind. The water supply is rainwater from big tanks at the shelter. You must do your dishes in your car as there are no drains. The upside is the close location to Milford Sound and an access to a neat hike up to Lake Gunn. Other than that the only thing you get are sandflies (same as everywhere around Milford Sound)
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Over 100 spots and half filled when we arrived around 7pm.
Toilets ok but a bit smelly. No internet reception. Fantastic views in the morning after the rain clouds started to clear.
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Beautiful campsite with unreal views, and the drive in is ridiculously scenic.
Perfect base to get an early start to Milford Sound.
But: sandflies. So many sandflies. Bring emotional resilience.
Facilities are just long-drops and pretty dirty. No frills at all. Definitely book online in advance — winging it is brave.
8/10 views, 3/10 insect diplomacy.
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Biutiful place to stay between two rivers.
Infortunately it was really windy and also we was attacked by a swarm of sandfly.
Drop Toilets was really simple but ok ( without water to wash the hands).
We stayed almost all the time in our closed camper van
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View at the campsite are absolutely fantastic.
Fields of lupins by the river on one side and snow capped hills directly opposite. Loads of space even when it's busy. A few flies but not really a bother.
Otherwise facilities are fairly basic, (clean enough) long drop toilets but no facilities to wash up or shower.
100% worth a stay but come prepared.
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Bon emplacement sur la route de Milford Sound.
malgré le fait de payer et d'avoir des membres du DOC pour surveiller, on s'installe à peu près comme on veut. Nombreuses toilettes sèches. Le coin peut être venté. Lac Gunn à proximité.
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Ce camping est très bien situé pour aller visiter Milford Sound.
L'emplacement est parfait, il est très spacieux, et très agréable. Les sanitaires sont minimalistes, mais ça ne surprend pas dans un tel environnement de nature.
Nous avons passé une très bonne nuit dans ce camping.
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Beautiful view.
We spent 4 nights here and it was a great place. It was close to all our trips. Plenty of parking. Clean toilets. Possibility to use shelter. No phone signal.
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Solid off-Grid location for one night before the start of a tour in Milford sound.
Don’t forget bug spray. There are toilets without flushing.
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This camp is good but too big for me.
This is used as base for Milford sound for most tourists. Also no phone signal anywhere in the camp. I would rather use another one smaller, further away but with signal and toilets that are used less often and less smelly
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Good place to stay if you're going to or from Milford, it's alot of native birds and native bush, also have a beautiful stream next to the campsite..
But don't forget the bug spray!!
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A great spot to park up about half way between Te Anau and Milford and get ahead of the many who stream into Milford.
This is a large site with plenty of level spots and plenty of toilets. From here you can do the Lake Gunn walk. If you haven’t booked online then do the right thing and pay upon entry.
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Absolutely brilliant campsite for our trip to Milford sound.
Lots of toilets scattered about the campsite. Heaps of campsites to choose from. Nice shelter offering protection from the wind and rain. Nice short trail right from the carpark too.
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Pretty nice campsite, relatively nice drop toilets well spread around too.
The campsite is really big and nice places next to the river and amazing mountain views. $ 15 pp and DOC staff came checking whether people had paid (we were there on a Saturday night). Good location for an early cruise in the morning, it took us about 50 minutes to drive to Milford Sound.
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Peaceful location near the river.
Drop toilets are clean. Couple fire pits and picnic tables. Not huge amount of sandflies and there's 4G signal. We're hoping to hike Key Summit tomorrow and head to Milford Sounds the day after so the location is good, especially if you've topped up water and food in The Anau beforehand.
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Stayed 2/1/25.
$15 pp, DOC.
Long drop toilets and no showers. Water must be boiled before using.
Beautiful location with a huge variety of quite private sites.
Stay near the trees where it is sheltered!
Beware the biting bugs...
Lots of people turned up later in the evening.
Handy picnic tables scattered about.
Walking distance to a lake/forest hike.
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Closest DOC campsite towards Milford Sound.
Large area with some loos and shelter. Was clean and nice when we wete there. Water tanks wete half-full but you have to boil it before use. The small river is nice for a short bath in the morning. Lake Gunn trail provides you with a stunning view!
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Large campsite with a lot of spots that fills up but didn’t feel crowded.
Great access to Milford and nearby hikes, clean toilets and cooking shelters, and some nice spots along the creek to park or camp.
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Very nice views and the nearby short Lake Gunn walking track is pleasant.
The camping site is however quite big, and while that makes it almost certain you can find a spot it also makes it a lot less cozy.
Basic DoC site with only toilet and nothing else.