Book a trip to Alaska and within no time you will be dreaming of gossamer veils of fog, icebergs stretching out in front of your eyes, flying over glaciers that stretch out for miles in a helicopter, meeting grizzly bears, or hiking on frozen fields of ice. There is truly no dearth of options offered by travel agencies and tour companies in the area – dozens of excursions vie for your attention, as they did ours! But as we found out, some are definitely better than others. Here are five of our favourite experiences from Alaska:
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The White Pass and Yukon Rail
The White Pass and Yukon Rail starts in the picturesque town of Skagway and crosses the Canadian border en-route to Yukon. It is often touted as one of the most picturesque train journeys in the world, and with good reason. The railroad was made during the Klondike Gold Rush years and retains much of its original charm. Vintage carriages, fascinating stories about the Gold Rush years, and spectacular scenery make for a great afternoon out. Expect to see tunnels, mountains, waterfalls, cliffs, and the gorgeous Alaskan countryside.
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Canoeing by a glacier in Juneau
It’s not every day that you get to stare at a mass of ice so blue that it’s hard to take eyes off it. The Mendenhall Glacier is one such sight! Visitors can go to a viewing point and see the glacier from a platform. But if you want to get truly up close and personal, then opt for a kayaking or canoeing tour and go right to the edge of the glacier!
As you glide on the still water, you can examine the crevices in rock solid ice, the intricate formations, and sharp edges of The Mendenhall Glacier. If you’re lucky, you might even see chunks of ice calving off the glacier. The mass of ice, stretching out in front of your eyes will leave you gobsmacked at the marvels of mother nature.
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Flying over glaciers and icebergs in a helicopter
If you have to pick just one excursion during your time in Alaska, make it this! The feeling of boarding a tiny helicopter and flying over entire masses of ice and floating icebergs in glacial lagoons is second to none. Opt for a helihike that drops you on a glacier when you can go for a short hike (under the guidance of experts of course!) before flying back. For sheer spectacle, this excursion can hardly be bettered!
Don’t believe us? See this short video we took from our helicopter in Skagway:
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Whale watching in Juneau
If you’ve had enough of excursions in and around landscapes draped with saphire ice, then head into the untamed Alaskan wilderness for a spot of Whale Watching. There are a number of other wildlife excursions available in the area including grizzly bear spottings, but we loved our time spent whale watching in Juneau. In fact we got really lucky and spotted 13 hump-back whales together. What’s more, we got to witness a rare phenomenon known as bubble net feeding, a complex and intricately co-ordinated technique where whales blow bubbles below entire schools of fish, forcing them to come to the surface. This makes it easier for whales to devour thousands of fish all at once. Did you know just one humpback whale can have upto 800 pounds of fish every single day?
As we watched the highly co-ordinated tactics of the whales in front of our eyes, we couldn’t help but feel we’d walked into a National Geographic documentary. I squealed in excitement everytime a whales giant tail swooshed out of the water!
Take a look at just how close you can get to these rare majestic creatures in Alaska:
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Floating through Glacier Bay National Park
This is one of those surreal experiences that is made even more special if you are on an Alaskan cruise! Glacier Bay National Park is truly the most wondrous thing we’ve seen on our travels. An ethereal mist hangs low as mountains and glaciers stretch in the distance. In front of your eyes, you will see hundreds of icebergs floating around. The most spectacular vision comes in the form of Margerie glacier. It appears like a wall of ice in the middle of the ocean and it’s easy to imagine the vast Tundra with polar bears that lies beyond it. Truly the edge of the world!
Imagine waking up to this view of the panoramic Margerie from your cabin’s balcony. Crazy eh? If that happens, order room service and have breakfast in your cabin pretty please! 🙂
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Alaska looks like a dreamland, the color of those glaciers is unreal. Can’t wait to see it all for real.
Hope you make it there soon Lila – it well and truly is incredible 🙂
How much will it totally cost for this Alaska curise trip if I will travel from India.
Hi,
Costs can vary significantly depending on flights, excursions you take while on cruise, the type of cabin you take etc. but you should budget around at least $3500 per person
wow..wow..wow.. Alaska is my bucket list for long time now..your intricate details about the Alaska trip is too tempting.. Hope you guys are having an amazing time Costa Rica now…
Thanks Madhu – we have another post about Alaska coming up soon. We hope it tempts you into visiting this gorgeous corner of the world 🙂
Hi guys, do you have a detailed itinerary of your trip to Alaska? Thank you!
Hey Atul – unfortunately not. We had a long roadtrip planned there in 2020, but we all know what happened to that 🙁
Thanks for the memories. We loved this cruise and meeting you two was a high point!
Hope you enjoyed going through the photos Susan – it was lovely meeting you two and I can’t wait to catch up again, somewhere around the globe 🙂
You photos are amazing. Agree with you about Alaska… just magical.
Hey Jess – so happy to hear we’re not the only ones who think it’s dreamy 🙂
Amazing pictures! We finally planned out trip to this beautiful place.. Do you remember which rail road excursion you took? Was it the White Pass Summit?
Hey Priyanka,
Yes, it was the White Pass Summit excursion (basically the train journey to the summit and back). Are you going with Holland America Lines too? 🙂
You are truly an inspiration to so many ppl and especially to travel bugs like me! The photos look unreal! I have been observing and reading all your posts and I truly cannot fathom the amount of hard work and detail put into every post! Bruised passports are one of the few travel websites which is very holistic and informative Keep up the great work! Full respect to you guys from a fellow Indian!
Thank you so much Sudarshan for your encouraging words- this is what keeps us going.No doubt there is immense work involved, but all of it bears fruit when we get such feedback from our readers. It makes us so happy to know that you enjoy reading what we publish.
Hi Savi and Vid,
What’s the best time to visit Alaska?
I am looking for some travel options during the month of Dec. I am in the US so winter is the big factor for me. Please suggest from your experience.
Hey Mugdha,
We visited in July so won’t be able to help in terms of ideas for a winter vacation in Alaska 🙂
Hey guys,
Do you have an itinerary for Alaska? My husband and I were planning to go there in August and wanted to know if there was an itinerary we could follow?
Thanks!
Hey Ashwita – we visited Alaska on a cruise. You’ll find pointers in our article about our Alaskan cruise, which you can use for a land-based trip too 🙂
Wonderful as always 🙂
I was looking at the day excursions to do along with the cruise, how do you suggest I cover
– The White Pass and Yukon Rail
– Whale watching in Juneau
when most of the cruise halt only for one day at the Juneau port ?
Thanks,
Fellow traveler
Hello,
The White Pass and Yukon Rail excursion is from Skagway, which is a different port 🙂
Hi Savi, thanks for your detailed writing on every page of this website. Appreciate! We are are planning to go to Alaska do we need Canadian visa for this rail as it goes thru Canada? I am in USA right now.
Thanks Angelica
We believe you will need a Canada visa, but it’s always best to check the latest rules with the Canadian consulate as these rules keep changing
Which month of the year did you visit?
Hey we visited in July 🙂
Hello.. May you remember which Heli ride you have booked.. we are visiting this July with Holland Line only. There are many so got confused. Also White Pass summit for 2.5 hours was booked.. as we have options for 5 hours and 8 hours as well..
If you can please help..
Hey Deveshree
It was the Glacier discovery by Helicopter excursion if we remember correctly
Hey Savi and Vid,
Thank you for sharing this guide about Alaska! Did you guys visit Alaska only on the cruise or did you also extend your trip after the cruise? I understand that is a possibility if your cruise ends in Alaska versus Vancouver/Seattle.
I am looking into booking the Holland Line cruise as well and was wondering what experiences would I have to book on my own outside of the cruise?
Hi Vartika,
We did the cruise in Alaska, and after that we spent a few weeks driving in Canada. All the experiences listed in the article were available as part of the cruise (with additional expense). If you’d like to book independently, then you can always contact local tour operators in each port 🙂
Thanks for your reply! I am in the process of booking the excursions. Did you all book the excursion with the cruise (which I’ve heard is more expensive) or independently with the local operators?
In case of the latter, could you share links? 🙂
Hi Vartika,
We booked with the cruise only.
Hi Savi,
Thanks for replying! One last question-
How did you decide between doing the helicopter ride in Skagway vs Juneau? We are confused which one to go for!
HEy
On that sailing, this was the only helicopter ride that was offered, so we went for it. You can choose either, both will be amazing 🙂