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Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island within Fiordland National Park, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound) Marine Reserve, and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey (the 2008 Travelers' Choice Destinations Awards by TripAdvisor) and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination. Rudyard Kipling had previously called it the eighth Wonder of the World. The fiord is most commonly accessed via road (State Highway 94) by tour coach, with the road terminating at a small village also called Milford Sound. Milford Sound / Piopiotahi is one of roughly 90 places to have been given a dual name as part of a 1998 Treaty of Waitangi settlement with Ngāi Tahu, recognising the significance of the fiord to both Māori and Pākehā New Zealanders. This name consists of both the Māori name and the former European name used together as a single name, instead of as interchangeable alternate names. In te reo Māori, the fiord is known as Piopiotahi after the now extinct piopio, a thrush-like bird which used to inhabit New Zealand. According to the Māori legend of Māui trying to win immortality for mankind, a single piopio flew to the fiord in mourning following Māui's death. The name Piopiotahi refers to this bird, with tahi meaning 'one' in Māori. The fiord was given its European name in 1823, when the sealer John Grono named it Milford Sound after Milford Haven in his birthplace of Wales. The Cleddau River, which flows into the fiord, was also named for its Welsh namesake.

As a fiord, Milford Sound was formed by a process of glaciation over millions of years. The village at the end of the fiord is also known as Milford Sound. Milford Sound runs 15 kilometres inland from the Tasman Sea at Dale Point (also named after a location close to Milford Haven in Wales) the mouth of the fiord—and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) or more on either side. Among the peaks are The Elephant at 1,517 metres (4,977 ft), said to resemble an elephant's head, and The Lion, 1,302 metres (4,272 ft), in the shape of a crouching lion. Milford Sound sports two permanent waterfalls, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls. After heavy rain temporary waterfalls can be seen running down the steep sided rock faces that line the fiord. They are fed by rain water drenched moss and will last a few days at most once the rain stops. Milford Sound is home to a variety of marine mammals, including seals and the southernmost wild population of bottlenose dolphins. Whales, especially the humpback and southern right whales, are increasingly observed due to recoveries of each species. Penguins are also common within the sound, which is a breeding site for the Fiordland penguin and has subsequently been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. As a result of Milford Sound's high rainfall and the density of saltwater, the surface of Milford Sound is a layer of freshwater containing tannins from the surrounding rainforest. This filters much of the sunlight which enters the water, allowing for a variety of Black coral to be found at depths of as shallow as 10 metres, significantly closer to the surface than usual.

Milford Sound was initially overlooked by European explorers, because its narrow entry did not appear to lead into such large interior bays. Sailing ship captains such as James Cook, who bypassed Milford Sound on his journeys for just this reason, also feared venturing too close to the steep mountainsides, afraid that wind conditions would prevent escape. The fiord was a playground for local Māori who had acquired a large amount of local marine knowledge including tidal patterns and fish feeding patterns over generations prior to European arrival. The fiord remained undiscovered by Europeans until Captain John Grono discovered it c.1812 and named it Milford Haven after his homeland in Wales. Captain John Lort Stokes later renamed Milford Haven as Milford Sound. Following the passage of the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, the name of the fiord was officially altered to Milford Sound / Piopiotahi.

While Fiordland as such remained one of the least-explored areas of New Zealand up to the 20th century, Milford Sound's natural beauty soon attracted national and international renown, and led to the discovery of the Mackinnon Pass in 1888, soon to become a part of the new Milford Track, an early walking tourism trail. In the same year, the low watershed saddle between the Hollyford River and the Cleddau River was discovered, where the Homer Tunnel was to be developed about sixty years later to provide road access. As of the 2006 census, just 120 people lived in Milford Sound, most of them working in tourism or conservation.