Parking
Use the Fantail Falls car park off SH6, about 85 km north of Wānaka. It is also the start of Brewster Track.
Overview
About Fantail Falls Walk
Why go
- A waterfall payoff in about five minutes
- Short, easy concrete path
Heads up
- The main view can feel distant from the falls
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Mount Aspiring map
Full mapElevation460–461 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Mount Aspiring alert
- CautionRob Roy Track: stop at lower lookout during avalanche seasonFrom May through November, end your Rob Roy Track hike at the lower lookout; DOC strongly recommends against continuing to the upper lookout because the track crosses active avalanche paths.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Mount Aspiring Tour Guide
Your drive to Fantail Falls Walk, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Mount Aspiring 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 Mount Aspiring audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Fantail Falls and the Road Builders0:00 / 0:26
“You're nearing the Fantail Falls car park, for a five-minute return walk to a fan-shaped cascade across the Haast River.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Mount Aspiring Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Months Underwater, Days in the Air
- The Forest's Dusk Shift
- Haast Pass Lookout at Tioripatea
- Gates of Haast: Rapids Beneath the Bridge
- 80 audio storiesacross Mount Aspiring’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Kea, Rockwren, Yellowhead, and 8 more
- Works offlinemaps, 50 trails, 52 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 Fantail Falls Walk
A five-minute waterfall stopFantail Falls Walk is an easy 200 m return walk from the Haast Highway car park to a view of…
Fantail Falls Walk is an easy 200 m return walk from the Haast Highway car park to a view of the fan-shaped falls at the foot of Fantail Creek. A short concrete path passes through bush to the bed of the Haast River. Allow about five minutes; it’s a quick break in the drive, not a longer hike.
What the view is likeYou look from the riverbed toward the falls, with rocky gravel bars and forest around them.
You look from the riverbed toward the falls, with rocky gravel bars and forest around them. The view can feel farther away than some people expect, so come for the shape of the cascade and its setting rather than a close-up waterfall walk. If you take a photo, include some of the riverbed at the base to show how the creek meets the Haast.
Start off SH6The car park is on Haast Highway (SH6), about 85 km north of Wānaka.
The car park is on Haast Highway (SH6), about 85 km north of Wānaka. It also starts Brewster Track, a separate, much longer route. The nearest toilets are at Pleasant Flat Campsite, 10 km north. Dogs aren’t allowed.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Mount Aspiring
60 sightingsKeaMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
112 sightingsRockwrenMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
26 sightingsYellowheadMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
13 sightingsTūīMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
27 sightingsBellbirdMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
35 sightingsRiflemanMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Mount Aspiring. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
