Guided Tours Of The Inside Passage

Top Alaska guides know exactly where and when to take you for the best sights and adventures. This seven-day itinerary sends you on many of Southeast Alaska’s best guided adventures, including bear viewing and glacier dog sledding.

Day 1: Ketchikan

Arrive in Alaska’s “First City” by commercial jet, Alaska Marine Highway ferry, or cruise line. For a firsthand experience of Alaska Native culture, take a city tour that includes either Saxman Native Village or Totem Bight State Historical Park; you’ll see traditional totem poles standing tall in both places, but Saxman is the destination of choice if you want to see artisans at work. In the afternoon, take a boat or flightseeing tour to Misty Fjords National Monument, where you’ll be surrounded by some of Alaska’s finest wild scenery and glacier-carved fjords.

Day 2: Wrangell

Take the morning flight from Ketchikan to Wrangell or, if the schedules line up, get up early and take the six-hour ferry ride to Wrangell. (Note: Be sure to check the Alaska Marine Highway ferry schedule prior to departure and book your tickets in advance.) Once in town, board a jet boat for a short, fast ride to the Anan Creek Wildlife Observatory. Anan Creek hosts one of the largest pink salmon runs in the state, drawing numerous black bears and sometimes brown bears to feed on the bounty of fish. Once you return to Wrangell, take a city tour that includes a visit to the restored Chief Shakes Tribal House. If the ferry schedules line up, board a ferry tonight for an overnight, 12-hour trip to Juneau. Otherwise, spend the night in Wrangell and take a commercial flight to Juneau in the morning.

Day 3: Juneau

Once you arrive in Juneau, take a guided tour that includes the highlights of the city and a stop at the spectacular Mendenhall Glacier, where you can take a guided trek to the glacier’s ice caves (they aren’t safe to wander on your own). Once back in town, you’ll have just enough time for a guided zip-lining tour that sends you soaring through the giant trees of the Tongass National Forest.

Day 4: Juneau

Start the day with a short helicopter trip to a nearby glacier, where you’ll enjoy the thrill of dog mushing on snow, even in the middle of the Alaska summer. Once back in town, enjoy lunch and a few hours of browsing Juneau’s excellent downtown shops before you hop a small plane, fast ferry, or seasonal jet to Gustavus, the small community that serves as the gateway to Glacier Bay National Park. Stay overnight at a rustic lodge or local B&B.

Day 5: Glacier Bay National Park

Embark on a full-day narrated cruise into the world-famous, 3.3-million-acre Glacier Bay National Park. This place is a wildlife-watcher’s dream come true: watch for bears on shore, and humpback whales, orcas, seals, sea lions, and numerous seabirds in the water. The breathtaking scenery and spectacular glaciers will make this a day to remember. After the cruise, board a small commuter plane for Skagway.

Day 6: Skagway

Historic wooden storefronts are perfectly preserved in Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, also known as Skagway’s downtown area, a testimony to the tens of thousands of gold-seekers who braved the Chilkoot and White Pass trails in 1898. A visit to Skagway would not be complete without taking the tour on the town’s historic, narrow-gauge railroad, the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad. Relive the adventure of ascending to the pass, much as the gold seekers did, from the comfort of your seat on the train. After returning from the roundtrip ride you’ll take an evening flight to Juneau and then on to Sitka.

Day 7: Sitka

In Sitka, take a guided city tour that includes a visit to 113-acre Sitka National Historical Park, Alaska’s oldest federally designated park, which was established in 1910 to commemorate the 1804 Battle of Sitka. All that remains of this last major conflict between Russian occupiers and the Tlingit people is the site of the Tlingit fort and the battlefields. Watch for a performance by the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi Dancers and/or the Russian New Archangel Dancers before you depart back to Juneau or home.