Westland Tai Poutini National Park Visitor Centre

The girls here know what they are talking about, and really help you out with a smile. All the information centre should hire this kind of peoples

So close to town, a warm cosy little cottage with everything you need. Highly recommended.

We went there to ask information about the place, walks, etc and there was a very friendly young lady who gave great tips. Very good service!

The Westland Tai Poutini National Park Visitor Centre is located on Cron Street and is open from 8.30am to 5pm daily.This is a good place and opportunity to find information and maps on area hikes, weather, road conditions and other general travel information you might need. There are also gifts, souvenirs and plenty of brochures for other areas of South Island that you may intend to visit during your travels. Staff are on hand to answer travel related questions you have.Note: the Westland Tai Poutini National Park Visitor Centre is located in the same building as the local i-Site, which can also help you will activity and tour arrangements as well as local accommodation and dining options.

Worth popping for a quick visit

helpful friendly staff. lots of information. learnt something new about native birds song and predators through the seasons

Very friendly people who are happy to provide you with the latest weather conditions around the glaciers and the hiking opportunities. Recommended before exploring the area!

We did not received a warm welcome at all, saying that it was pretty hard to see the glaciers with the recent washouts, and not proposing any alternatives to the closed trails.Furthermore, the lady try to discourage to hike on the most beautiful hike of the area (which I will keep silent as maybe they don't want to send inexperienced trampers) without asking our level of fitness.Hopefully we did the walk and the view was amazing and the hike not so hard as we took less time than the DOC said.Instead of saying than the helicopter is the safer (and most profitable obviously) way to see the glacier, they should do what they are here for : advising people according to their experience of the mountain.To conclude, please stop defending the terrible way of tourism that is Helicopter Tours, as if is was necessity to use choppers to see glaciers which are drastically melting.

I was supposed to join Franz Josef glacier helicopter tour but unfortunately due to the bad weather the tour was cancelled. I had no idea for my day in Franz Josef. The staff in i site was very helpful and nice. She gave me very useful suggestions for dining and indoor activities for example kiwi visit. She even gave me a 2 dollar coupon for kiwi visit. I was totally thankful.