Alaska Bear Viewing Tours

There are several ways to view bears while on a visit to Alaska, the most popular being a fly-in experience to places like Chinitna Bay, Redoubt Bay, Katmai National Park, or Lake Clark National Park. Each bear viewing tour has a season based on when food sources are abundant at that location. Here's a general guide:

• Chinitna Bay - Late May through August
• Redoubt Bay - Late June through July
• Brooks Falls at Katmai National Park - Through July
• Crescent Lake at Lake Clark National Park - August through mid-September

Show More

Chinitna Bay Bear Viewing

• Six-hour tour
• Arrive by bush plane, beach landing
• Bear viewing by bus and on foot

The Chinitna Bay Bear Viewing Tour departs from Anchorage's Lake Hood Seaplane Base, continues over scenic Cook Inlet, and past Mt. Redoubt. Your plane will land on the beach at Bear Mountain Lodge where you'll hop into modified buses for the short drive to viewing areas around Chinitna Bay. Here you can watch bears feed on clams, sedge grass, and fish among the waving meadow grasses and sandy wetlands. Experience a similar by slightly shorter excursion out of Homer via helicopter.

Redoubt Bay Bear Viewing

• Six-hour tour
• Arrive by floatplane
• Bear viewing by boat

Redoubt Bay is an excellent location to view brown bears, this time from the shelter of a covered pontoon boat. This excursion departs from Lake Hood and provides a roundtrip flight, viewing opportunities, a dedicated naturalist guide, and a homemade lunch served at Redoubt Bay Lodge, a rustic retreat for fishermen and bear enthusiasts.

Brooks Falls Bear Viewing at Katmai National Park

• 11-hour tour
• Arrive by floatplane
• Bear viewing by platforms, unguided, travel by foot

At two to three hours, the flight out to Katmai National Park is the longest of other bear viewing tours. On it you'll pass through some remarkable mountain scenery before landing on Naknek Lake. Here you'll have several self-guided hours to observe bears from the park's riverside viewing platforms. The whole excursion is about 11 hours long. Note that trips to Katmai are most often impacted by poor weather. If it's your hope to see the bears at Brooks Falls, we recommend leaving some open time in your itinerary in case you have to reschedule for weather.

Crescent Lake Bear Viewing at Lake Clark National Park

• 11-hour tour
• Arrive by floatplane
• Bear viewing by boat

The Lake Clark National Park full-day tour departs from Anchorage's Lake Hood in the morning and travels 70 minutes by air into the heart of this remote national park. Here you'll land on Crescent Lake near Redoubt Mountain Lodge for several hours of unrushed bear viewing by boat.

Do I have to go on small plane to see bears in Alaska? No, there are many land-based ways to see bears in Alaska. One of the favorite options is a guided Denali Park bus tour.

Show Less