Parking
Small roadside car park directly off Milford Road (SH94); the signed boardwalk starts nearby.
Overview
About Mirror Lakes Walk
Why go
- Wheelchair and stroller-friendly boardwalk with immediate views
- Ultra-short, high-reward photo stop when conditions are calm
Heads up
- No toilets on-site; plan stops elsewhere (nearest at Knobbs Flat)
- Wind or rain quickly kills the mirror effect
This is the definition of low effort, high reward. Mirror Lakes is a flat, fully accessible boardwalk just off Milford Road that serves up classic reflections of the Earl Mountains when the water is still. It’s only about 0.25 miles (400 m) total out-and-back, so it’s ideal as a leg-stretcher on the drive between Te Anau and Milford Sound.
Parkwolf’s verdictWhy goMap & elevation
The route
Loading the Fiordland map
Full mapElevation348–348 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Fiordland Tour Guide
Your drive to Mirror Lakes Walk, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Fiordland National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Fiordland audio tourRecorded for this area
Mirror Lakes: Reflections of the Earl MountainsListen
“Keep an eye out for the stop for Mirror Lakes. It's a very short boardwalk to a series of ponds that, on a calm day, create a perfect reflection of the Earl Mountains.”
Plays on the road 0.1 km from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Fiordland Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Fiordland’s Living Sponge
- Kārearea vs. Kāhu: Fiordland's Sky Hunters
- Deer Flat Campsite: A Quiet Riverside Spot
- Hear Fiordland: A Birdsong Cheat Sheet
- 126 audio storiesacross Fiordland’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Kea, Fiordland Penguin, Blue Duck, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 68 trails, 124 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Mirror Lakes Walk
What you’ll seeOn calm mornings, the small lakes live up to their name—mountains, sky, and bush all line up in…
On calm mornings, the small lakes live up to their name—mountains, sky, and bush all line up in the glassy surface. The boardwalk threads across wetlands edged with native beech forest, with waterfowl and wetland plants easy to spot—great for kids and quick wildlife watching. The broader landscape is classic Fiordland: glacially carved valleys and rain-fed wetlands backed by rugged peaks.
Logistics and tipsThere’s a small roadside car park beside Milford Road, and the signed boardwalk starts nearby.
There’s a small roadside car park beside Milford Road, and the signed boardwalk starts nearby. The track is pram- and wheelchair-friendly. There are no toilets here; plan a stop elsewhere (the nearest public facilities are at Knobbs Flat a short drive away). No dogs are allowed. If you’re photographing, budget extra time to wait for still water and to work around crowds during peak mid-day traffic.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Fiordland
1,181 sightingsKeaMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
199 sightingsFiordland PenguinMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
228 sightingsBlue DuckMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
32 sightingsBottlenose DolphinMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
247 sightingsNew Zealand Fur SealMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
58 sightingsKākāMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Fiordland. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
