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Hiking the Kepler Great Walk might just be the best thing you do in all of New Zealand. But it’s one the harder tracks due to it’s unpredictable weather and steep alpine section.
I hiked the Kepler Great Walk in the 2025 season and I’ve put together this guide to help you do the same!
I’ve done 5 great walks in New Zealand and honestly Kepler has been my favorite! With sweeping alpine views and rewarding hiking, this well maintained track is an adventure!
If you don’t have time to read the whole thing – jump around with the table of contents
The Kepler Great Walk is located in the Fiordland National park on the south island of New Zealand and is, of course, incredibly popular.
This national park is actually home to 3 great walks (Kepler, Milford, Routeburn) and if you’re planning to walk any of them during the “great walk season” make sure you book your huts well in advance! Like truly, months in advance if you can. And it’s truly no wonder why – this area boasts incredible natural landscapes, from picturesque mountains to beautiful lakes and of course, fjordlands.
What is a fjordland? A fjord is (sometimes spelled with a “j” sometimes with an “i”) essentially a flooded canyon. In a fjord the sea is surrounded by steep cliffs on either side, making it long and usually narrow. It’s typically formed from glacial activity.
Okay science break over.
I loved loved loved my 4 day tramp on the Kepler Great Walk, and I didn’t even do it during the great walk season! I took a gamble and planned my trip for the first week of the winter season. I paid off season prices but lucked out and got the same “on season” views!
The Kepler Great Walk is known to be difficult but every step is so rewarding, especially during the alpine section. I was daunted by this track and its reputation, but I found it to be quiet manageable! When people talk about the rigor of this track they are really referring to the alpine section, which is only 1 day of tramping. While this is the more strenuous part of the track, it also has the most beautiful and breathtaking scenery.
I truly loved this hike, I’ve written this guide to help you make the most of your Kepler Great Walk experience!
When to Hike the Kepler Track
New Zealand has 11 great walks located all over the country. The Department of Conservation lists the “great walk season” as being from November to April. AKA summatimmeee! This is when the huts all have rangers in them (hopefully), the huts are reliably stocked, you can utilize gas and maybe even lights and power outlets, and you’ll pay a bit more for the huts themselves.
The “on season” fee for staying in a hut is $132 nzd / $78 usd per night for international visitors. This is also summertime so the weather is hopefully going to be more in your favor. During the off season or winter months you won’t find hut rangers, gas or flushing toilets but you will find the price per night to be significantly reduced! $30 nzd / $18 usd for both local and international trampers. Most great walks also have the option to camp which may be restricted during the winter.
Now, this is important, for the great walks located in more temperate regions (like the Able Tasman Track) the summer/winter delineation may not matter as much for weather. But for the Kepler Great Walk, it matters a lot. Sometimes the track can be covered in snow even during the summer months! I spoke with a Kiwi bloke who has attempted the Kepler track 3 separate times, each time having to turn back because it was too windy on the alpine section to continue. I think the number one recommendation I have for this track is to be prepared to turn around. And carry a personal locator beacon.
With all of this in mind I took a big gamble (in my opinion) and planned to tackle the Kepler Track May 1 – 4 2025, the first 4 days of the off season. I figured the track would still be in relatively good condition having just come off summer maintenance, and I would pack extra warm layers. I crossed my fingers that the weather would allow us to hike the full loop.
Overview of the Kepler Great Walk
For this section of the guide I’ll be discussing hiking distances and direction, so it may be helpful to look at a map of the track, found here.
Most people hike this track counter-clockwise starting at “the control gates.” There is free overnight parking at the control gates and it’s a short 5 minute drive from the town of Te Anau. The Kepler track is a looped track but there’s also the option to hike it not as a loop. If you hike the Kepler track starting and ending at the control gates you will hike about 40 miles / 60 km.
BUT there’s another end point that still gets you full Kepler Great Walk credit as far as I can tell. You can exit the track 6 miles / 10km before the control gates at the “rainbow reach” carpark. There are shuttle services that can bring you back to the control gates if you left a car there, or back to town if you started your journey there. While I was on the track many of my trail friends opted to stop at the rainbow reach entry point.
If you opt to not hike the remaining 6 miles from rainbow reach carpark to the control gates you’ll be missing out on a lovely forested walk with slight, undulating, hills next to a lovely river. Truly nothing crazy as it is very similar to the other 3 days of forest hiking on the track.
You can also walk to the control gates from Te Anau, which is about a 45 minute flat walk along the lake. So as you can tell, the track can be customizable. There are 3 huts and 2 campsites along the track. Some people hammer out the whole thing in one day (it’s popular for ultrarunning), some people do 2 days one night, some people even double up on the alpine section and go out and back (staying at Luxemore hut twice). We opted for the popular 4 days, 3 nights approach.
The most popular direction is to go counter-clockwise, which means your first hut will be the beautiful Luxemore hut. For some of the other great walks I’ve done I truly don’t think the direction matters. For the Kepler Great Walk I think counter-clockwise is absolutely the way to go. You’ll have a steady but manageable incline on the first day to get up to the alpine section. Going clockwise, however, will be a much fiercer incline to get above the treeline and then you’ll still have a big day to get to Luxemore hut. So yeah, go counter-clockwise.
Day 1
The start of the Kepler Great Walk is at “the control gates.” From the control gates to Luxemore hut – 8.5 mi /13.8 km, 2955 ft / 900m ish of climbing. Luxemore hut is at 3546 ft / 1081m
Side adventure! From the hut, you can hike 15 minutes on a side trail to the Luxemore cave. My partner Nate almost took us down into an unofficial cave, so look out for a WELL MARKED cave with CLEAR SIGNS hahaa. Thankful common sense kicked in and we walked 3 more minutes until we came upon the true opening to the cave. Remember your headlamp!
Day 2
Luxemore Hut to Iris Burns Hut – 14.1 mi / 22.8 km, big climb followed by some up and downs followed by a STEEP decline
Side adventure! About an hour into your walk you’ll come upon the side trail to Mount Luxemore. It’s just 10 minutes up to the summit and so awesome! As long as the weather is looking good don’t miss this! We were there on a very cloudy and foggy day but due to our patience at the summit (1 hour waiting) we got some beautiful views.
The summit is at 4593 ft / 1400 m
Day 3
Iris Burns Hut to Moturau Hut – 10 mi / 16.2 km
Not as flat as the elevation profile made me think! Certainly some hills to go up and on day 3 legs I was rolling my eyes a bit. Why is day 3 always the worst?!
Day 4
Moturau to control gates – 9.6 mi / 15.5km mostly flat with a few small surprise hills
Is the Kepler Great Walk Customizable?
Is this route customizable? Yes! Absolutely! You can opt to end at the rainbow reach carpark which is just 3.7 mi / 6km past the Moturau hut. If you plan your walk like this you can even skip the Moturau hut (going straight from Iris Burns to the carpark) making the whole trip 1 day shorter.
Where to Stay in Te Anau
You’ll likely spend the night before your trip in the cute as-a-button town of Te Anau. I’ve stayed in Te Anau twice. The first time was at the Te Anau lakefront backpackers hostel.
I had a great experience at this hostel! It had a good atmosphere and was really clean. Especially the kitchen (dirty hostel kitchens really give me the ick). The dorm beds were $40NZD. My friends and I were in a 6 person room and there were no bunk beds! Which I think is rare in a hostel haha.
This time around we opted for an airbnb so we could spread out all our hiking gear and get organized. Surprisingly an airbnb was only a little bit more than a private hostel room and oh so much nicer.
I’ve never gone out to eat in Te Anau so I can’t tell you about restaurants but I can tell you about the grocery stores. There’s a small “four square” grocery store and the larger “fresh choice” store which is right down the road. Save time and just go to the fresh choice, you’ll get a better selection and probably a better price. If you can, do your grocery shopping ahead of time as both grocery stores are on the pricy side.
Kepler Track Pre Trip Checklist
Ahhhh pre trip prep, also known as my favorite part of the trip (just kidding).
First of all, secure your dates! The Kepler Great Walk is one of the most popular great walks so book your huts as early as you possibly can. You can reserve your huts on the Department of Conservation (DOC) website.
You must reserve all your huts during the great walk season, but during the off season only a booking at Luxemore hut is required. During the winter, all you need to do is purchase backcountry hut passes for Iris Burns Hut and Moturau Hut. You’ll deposit these passes at the hut. You can purchase them online through the DOC or at the visitors center in Te Anau.
Which leads me to… the visitor’s center! Be sure to stop by as it’s chalked full of good information about the national park, and you can get the most up to date weather and trail info from the staff. If you’re hiking Kepler Great Walk during the off season like I did, the visitors center may be closed some days. They can still be reached by phone and email those days, just don’t count on getting in the building.
Personal safety is a big one on the Kepler Great Walk. It’s famed for being unhikeable at times and you don’t want to be caught up there when the weather turns. You can (and should) register your group’s intentions on NZ’s ‘Adventure Smart’ webpage. My partner Nate and I also rented a personal locator beacon for just $40NZD from the caltex gas station. Which is the official spot to rent them from oddly enough.
Make sure you know your route and generally what each day will look like. There are sometimes side trails or accidental routes other people have taken, you want to make sure you’re on the true Kepler Great Walk. Because it’s a great walk it is very clearly marked but you can never be too safe. Nate uses ‘All Trails’ while we hike which is nice because we can always pull up the map and see where we are, even out of service.
I also think group safety and looking out for your fellow hikers is an important aspect of backpacking that people don’t always talk about! Knowing your fellow hikers names and intentions for the day isn’t just pleasantries, it can really come in handy if someone doesn’t turn up at the hut and you were expecting them to.
This happened to us on the Kepler trail and Nate and I were the only ones that knew the solo hikers name. We were all pretty concerned when it was 8pm (well past sundown), below freezing and the hiker wasn’t at the hut. We discussed walking back the trail a bit and calling his name. Thankfully it didn’t come to that because the bright light of his headlamp popped through the door and we saw the big smile on his face. He was just taking it slow and taking photos! Phew!
As always hiking in New Zealand, rain can come on in a second. You may be able to manage being cold, but being cold and wet? Forget about it! I always pack my rain gear and for Kepler Great Walk I also brought winter gators. Nate bought these for me as a present just before the track, I’d never even worn gators before. Although we didn’t need them I was certainly glad to have them.
Huts on the Kepler Great Walk
Every hut in New Zealand is a little different. The Kepler Great Walk huts were beautiful and felt spacious, although that could have been because there were only 15 of us in the 50 person hut.
The huts have gas, running water and flushing toilets during the summer months. Which of course they turn off during the winter, so make sure you pack gas if you’re hiking in the off season. I thought since we were hiking on day 1 of the off season perhaps these amenities would still be available…. I thought wrong. Good thing we brought gas. I would also advise to bring toilet paper, sometimes the resupply can’t get to the hut and they may run out of TP.
They do have very nice mattresses, you just supply the sleeping bag and pillow! As for drinking water, all the huts had a rainwater catchment system which they advise you to purify in some way. Either by boiling, filtering or using tablets. To save on fuel we have a Sawyer filter which conveniently screws on to most plastic water bottles (we punctured the original filter bag).
I’d never stayed in a hut until coming to New Zealand and I didn’t realize that you sorta have to sleep right next to strangers. Nightmarish for some of us. And of course there’s other peoples night time behaviors like getting up to use the restroom, rustling and of course snoring. Nate always brings silicone ear plugs which is honestly a smart call.
Backpacking Food Inspiration
I have to include this in the pre-trip prep because I spend hours agonizing over what food to pack. How much does it weigh? What’s the protein content? Calories? Will it fill me up? Can I do this on a budget?
So if you need backpacking meal ideas, I’ve got you. This is what I ate as a vegetarian on the four day hike. Oh you’re not vegetarian? Don’t worry, Nate’s got you covered, I’ll put his meat meals in parenthesis.
Breakfast | Lunch | Snacks | Dinner | |
Day 1 (11 miles) | Pre trail – rice and eggs | Pasta salad | Mixed nuts OSM bars (beef jerky) | Burritos (beef bolognese) |
Day 2 (10 miles) | Protein oats | Pad See Ew | Fruit leather Mixed nuts OSM bars | Chickpea bolognese (beef bolognese) |
Day 3 (14 miles) | Protein oats | Burritos | Mixed nuts OSM bars Hot coco | Chilli mac n cheese |
Day 4 (10 miles) | Protein oats | Off trail (car snacks) | OSM bars | Off trail (restaurant yay!) |
We ate oats every day on the Kepler Great Walk! We premade the protein oats with ¾ cup rolled oats, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 scoop whey protein powder and dried fruit. As for the other meals, we actually dehydrated them ourselves! This is probably not an option if you don’t have access to an oven in New Zealand. Many of these meals were inspired by store purchased dehydrated meals (i.e ‘backcountry essentials’ or ‘real foods’).
Even before we discovered dehydrating in our oven we found the backpacker meals to be expensive and not worth it. We would often make our own lightweight “just add water” meals by packing ramen, instant mashed potatoes, tuna, couscous and ‘San Remo’ mac and cheese. We wouldn’t mix all that together of course, but you get the vision.
Cutting out excess packaging also helped us keep the weight down, which allows us to bring extra food for those just in case moments!
How Much Does it Cost to hike Kepler?
I try to be a budget queen, which is probably the number one reason we hiked this trail during the first week of the off season. If you’re curious about how much a 4 day trip like this will cost you, I’ve done a brief cost breakdown below.
Note the amount is in NZD and it’s the cost PER PERSON. So for the airbnb / hostel this was my share of the cost. I’ve kept the cost in NZD because the exchange rate was quite good during my time here ($0.59 USD / $1 NZD) and I don’t want to throw anyone off by using this exchange rate.
Here’s how much is cost to hike the Kepler Great Walk
Lodging
$84 airbnb the night before
$90 for 3 nights of huts
$45 hostel the night after
Food
$73 on trail food
$25 post trail restaurant meal
Safety
$0 Registering our intentions
$40 Personal Locator Beacon (my share being $20)
Miscellaneous
$120 merino wool top
I’ve included the merino wool base layer because I didn’t have one but felt I would need it for this trail…. And I did!! I bought it in town from the outdoor gear shop and it was a very worthwhile purchase!
All together (excluding getting there) backpacking Kepler Great Walk cost me $457 NZD ($270.80 USD). Dehydrating our own food has proven to really help keep the costs down!
So that’s the Kepler Great Walk in a simple breakdown. 4 days of AMAZING and GORGEOUS backpacking, new memories, feeling strong in your body and meeting cool new people, yeah, it’s worth the hype. I hope you enjoy the trail as much as I did!
Bree is a hobby travel writer who specializes in backpacking guides and ocean based travel. She’s worked in marine based tourism in Alaska and in ocean outdoor education on Catalina Island. She is currently living with her partner in New Zealand where she is working and backpacking.
Ahoy! I’m Bree and I’ve started this blog to help you plan your next great outdoor adventure. With a background in marine science, I’ve got an aptitude for all things ocean, but you’ll find land based adventures here too! Everything you see here is based on my own travel experience and paid for myself. I hope you stick around!
This is great thank you for putting this together.
I do have a question about the cost breakdown. You mentioned you are traveling and hiking with your partner Nate. The breakdown says cost me x dollars?
Is that cost just for you alone or for the both of you ?
Thank you and well put together, Eric
Hi Eric! Thanks for the comment. Yes the cost breakdown would be per one person! So some things appear cheaper because Nate and I split them. Like the personal locator beacon.
This one is so great!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Thanks for leaving a comment Dagny!
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