Photo Credit: Regal Air

Anchorage Flightseeing Tours

From the majesty of Denali to the shimmering waters of Prince William Sound, Anchorage’s central location serves up an amazing menu of sightseeing adventures by plane. JUMP TO LIST OF FLIGHT TOURS

What Can You See on a Flightseeing Tour from Anchorage?

Mt. Denali

Even though Denali is 140 miles away, you can get an intimate look at it on a 3-hour flightseeing tour from Anchorage. Trips are available year-round and are perfect if you can’t dedicate the time to drive to Talkeetna or Denali. The trade-off is more time in the air (oh darn!). You’ll fly north over a roadless wilderness of braided rivers, vast forests, and thriving wetlands, where you’ll look for moose and bears. Some 45 minutes into the flight, the glacial amphitheaters of Denali will come into view. And soon you’ll be up close to the crevasses, granite walls, and Denali itself, which you’ll fly around for about 30 minutes.

Anchorage & The Chugach Range

If you’re short on time but crave the experience of an Alaska bush plane, take a 30-minute tour of Anchorage and the surrounding Chugach Mountains. Look for sheep and other wildlife in the mountains, and soak in the views of stunning Turnagain Arm, where the mountains seem to rise right out of the water.

Glaciers in Prince William Sound

Explore endless miles of winding fjords and stunning inlets. If you’re on a floatplane, you can even touch down in the Sound, where you’ll taxi right past tidewater glaciers and likely see some wildlife. Keep an eye out for bears, otters, and eagles!

Knik Glacier, Colony Glacier, and Lake George

Most companies based in Anchorage offer quick tours (1.5–2 hours) to one of the many nearby glaciers, like Colony Glacier, Knik Glacier, and Lake George. Take advantage! Flying over these ancient flowing rivers of ice—scarred with crevasses and dotted with bright blue pools—is an experience unlike any other.

What Else?

Flying isn’t just about sightseeing…it’s also about access! In a state with so few roads, flying is a way to reach remote areas inaccessible by any other means. Visit national parks off the road system, like Katmai and Lake Clark. Fly to see bears feeding on salmon and foraging for clams. Get dropped off for a multi-day float trip. Soar to a river all your own and fish with no one else in sight. And that’s just the beginning—your options are truly endless.

Show Map

Anchorage Flightseeing Tours

Season: Year round - water landing approximately May 1st - October 5th $175+ .5 to 3 hrs

Explore Alas­ka from above with this fam­i­ly-owned com­pa­ny that oper­ates out of Anchor­age. Options include fly­ing above Denali, Knik and Colony Glac­i­er, the Chugach Moun­tains, and more!

Season: Year Round $175+ 30 min to 3 hrs

Enjoy a bird’s eye view of Alaska’s scenic high­lights on a flight­see­ing tour with Rust’s Fly­ing Ser­vice, where every pas­sen­ger gets a win­dow seat. Tour options include a short 30-minute Anchor­age Flight­see­ing Safari, a flight to Denali, Denali plus a glac­i­er land­ing, and more. Tours begin at Anchorage’s Lake Hood, the world’s busiest sea­plane airport.

Season: Year Round $319+ 30 - 90 min

There are few things more spec­tac­u­lar than lift­ing off in a heli­copter and soar­ing over Alaska’s glac­i­er-filled ter­rain or out across its shim­mer­ing waters. Get a taste for heli­copter flight­see­ing on a 30-minute trip or choose a longer tour with a glac­i­er land­ing. Shut­tle avail­able from Anchorage.

Season: May 01 to Sep 10 $295+ per person 30 min - 3.5 hrs

You’ll take off from Anchor­age, and Alas­ka will open up for you as you appre­ci­ate its vast­ness from the air. Where will you go? That’s up to you! Choose from a vari­ety of tours. Take one of the clas­sics, like flight­see­ing to Denali, or opt to explore one of the state’s hid­den gems. You can also fly to see glac­i­ers, go bear view­ing in Lake Clark Nation­al Park, or work with the pros at Alas­ka Air Ser­vice to cre­ate your own cus­tom itinerary.

Season: Year Round $329+ 1.5+ hrs

Glac­i­er trekking, kayak­ing, ice climb­ing, and oth­er activ­i­ties are even more spe­cial when com­bined with a spec­tac­u­lar heli­copter ride through Alaska’s dra­mat­ic scenery. Thanks to key part­ner­ships with oth­er expe­ri­enced Alaskan tour oper­a­tors, Palmer based Out­bound Heli Adven­tures is able to coor­di­nate seam­less out­ings of a life­time! And, they pride them­selves on offer­ing the most amount of flight time with their excursions.

Season: Year Round $215+ 1-5 hours

Trail Ridge Air offers an on-demand per­spec­tive of Alaska’s wilder­ness, with per­son­able and knowl­edge­able pilots. Watch for wildlife, check out mas­sive glac­i­ers, alpine lakes, Denali, or even Lake Clark Nation­al Park. Trail Ridge accom­mo­dates for the busiest of sched­ules, with flights rang­ing from one hour to a full day.

Season: Year Round $429+ 1 hr - full day

For out­stand­ing view­ing and incred­i­ble access to remote places, there’s noth­ing like flight­see­ing by heli­copter. Join Alas­ka Heli­copter Tours – a local­ly-owned, high­ly-respect­ed heli­copter tour and char­ter com­pa­ny – for excur­sions that reveal hid­den sites just min­utes from Anchor­age. Spot wildlife from the air, stand on a glac­i­er or land on a remote airstrip.

[{"slug":"anchorage","title":"Anchorage"},{"slug":"girdwood","title":"Girdwood"},{"slug":"palmer-wasilla","title":"Palmer \/ Wasilla Area"}]

Explore Further

Expert Advice