Photo Credit: Jaime Hammond

Alaska Bear Viewing Tours

Alaska's Wild Bears

Powerful and primal, bears are the ultimate symbol of the Alaskan backcountry. And seeing a bear in the wild is an extraordinary—and humbling—experience. So it’s no surprise that thousands of visitors each year tell us that bear viewing is at the top of their Alaskan bucket list.

It’s unlikely, however, that you’ll just happen upon a bear roaming the state’s massive untamed wilderness.

So what's the secret?

Increase your chances by hiring a professional guide. These experts know the prime spots to find bears.

Book your bear-viewing adventure with one of our recommended guide companies below. A typical day of bear viewing includes a flight, a short hike to the viewing location, hours of photographing bears, then a return flight.

Bear Viewing Map and FAQs

Bear View Map 2

Price Range

$250 walk-in tours, - $900 for remote fly-in

Best Time to Go

Mid-June to mid-August

Where to Go

Most bear-viewing tours leave out of these places:

  • Anchorage
  • Kenai/Soldotna
  • Homer
  • Juneau
  • Ketchikan
  • Kodiak

Ketchikan View All

Tours from Ketchikan include a short flight or boat ride into prime bear viewing territory. Anan Creek and Traitors Cove are remote, untouched wilderness areas in Southeast Alaska. The area is home to a large population of black and brown bears, and visitors can expect to see both species sharing the same habitat. The area is part of the Tongass National Forest and is home to some of the best salmon runs in Alaska.

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Kenai / Soldotna View All

Tours from the Kenai/Soldotna areas concentrate on traveling to Lake Clark National Park, seeing coastal brown bears along the shoreline. You will see breathtaking scenery, including mountains, glaciers, rivers, and lakes. You may also see moose, caribou, and countless bird species.

Season: May 25 to Sep 15 $550+ 2 to 3 hrs

Fly out of Sol­dot­na with Natron’s own­er and pilot, Tim. You’ll soar over the Cook Inlet towards Mt. Iliamna Vol­cano and land on a beach, right where the bears are. You’ll watch them play­ing and clam­ming and be close enough to take amaz­ing photos.

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Anchorage View All

Tours from Anchorage include destinations such as Katmai and Lake Clark National Parks, seeing wild brown bears along the coastline. Both locations are two of the best places to see brown bears in their natural habitat. In addition to brown bears, visitors may see caribou, deer, wolves, moose, and many species of birds. There are also many beautiful landscapes to explore and take in, including glaciers, snow-capped mountains, and active volcanoes.

Season: May 10th – Mid September $1075+ 6.5 to 10 hrs

Hop aboard one of Regal Air’s planes depart­ing from Anchor­age and after a short, scenic flight you can be watch­ing enor­mous brown bears swat salmon from Alaska’s rush­ing waters. Tours vis­it one of two des­ti­na­tions: Lake Clark Nation­al Park or Brooks Falls in Kat­mai Nation­al Park.

Season: May to Mid September $945+ 6 - 10 hrs

Take off by sea­plane for an all-day bear-view­ing expe­di­tion. Fly past glac­i­ers and vol­ca­noes to the brown-bear coun­try of south­west Alas­ka. Your Sea­plane Bear Safari will take you to Brooks Riv­er Falls in Kat­mai Nation­al Park, home of the world ’ s largest salmon run. You can also fly 70 miles south­west of Anchor­age to Lake Clark Wilder­ness Pre­serve for amaz­ing bear view­ing and lux­u­ri­ous accom­mo­da­tions at the Redoubt Bay Lodge. Rust’s, which has  ...more

Season: Jun 01 to Sep 04 $6595 to $6795 (+ internal air) 6 Days / 5 Nights

In the best way pos­si­ble. you’re out­num­bered by bears dur­ing your stay at this pri­vate fly-in wilder­ness camp. Fly by char­tered plane from Homer to Alas­ka Bear Camp on a 5‑night, 6‑day all-inclu­sive pack­age. This deluxe back­coun­try camp accom­mo­dates just 14 guests in some of the best bear habi­tat in the world. In con­trast to day trips cater­ing to dozens of vis­i­tors at a time, Bear Camp offers a rare and exclu­sive wilder­ness immersion.

Season: June 1 - Sept 18 $1350 Day Trips from Anchorage Day trip & multi-day excursions

Brooks Lodge offers their own bear view­ing tours which are less expen­sive than most, and give you more time at Kat­mai Nation­al Park to watch bears feast­ing on sock­eye salmon from sev­er­al view­ing plat­forms. A com­mer­cial flight from Anchor­age takes you to King Salmon where you’ll switch to a small float plane for a quick 20-minute flight to Brooks Camp. After a brief safe­ty ori­en­ta­tion, you can watch bears from sev­er­al view­ing plat­forms, join the  ...more

Season: July 1 - Sept 30 $1250+ per person 6 - 12 hrs

View­ing brown bears in their nat­ur­al habi­tat is one of the most amaz­ing things you can do in Alas­ka. If it’s high on your list, book a flight-see­ing/ bear view­ing trip with Trail Ridge Air, know­ing that per­son­able pilots will take you to where bears splash and fish, and where vis­i­tors run out of words to describe their amazement.

Season: May 22 to Sep 01 $930 per person 6-7 hrs

With Alas­ka Air Ser­vice you’ll fly from Anchor­age to Lake Clark Nation­al Park, where they’re a licensed park con­ces­sion­aire. On the 6- to 7‑hour expe­di­tion with an inti­mate group (there’s a 4‑to‑1 guest-to-guide ratio), you’ll start with a land­ing inside the park on a beach or in the grass­lands to watch bears. Then you’ll trav­el, unrushed, to oth­er spots in the park. Few oper­a­tors include mul­ti­ple loca­tions, but show­ing you as much of the park’s  ...more

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Juneau View All

Tours from Juneau include a short flight into prime brown bear viewing territory. Pack Creek is a remote, untouched wilderness area on Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska. The area is home to a large population of brown bears, and visitors can expect to see majestic landscapes, diverse wildlife, and untouched forests. Other sights include rivers, streams, glaciers, and alpine meadows.

Season: May - September $939 7 - 8 hrs

Pack Creek Bear Tours offers ful­ly guid­ed adven­tures to Admi­ral­ty Island or Chichagof Island, each home to more than 1,500 brown bears! After a beau­ti­ful 20- or 25-minute float­plane ride, you’ll land on a remote beach. Take a short walk to the bear-view­ing area, where you can watch these mag­nif­i­cent crea­tures for hours in their nat­ur­al environment.

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Kodiak View All

Tours from Kodiak focus on the coastal brown bear species, seeing brown bears along the Katmai coast and the subspecies of Kodiak brown bears on Kodiak Island. Both locations are two of the best places to see brown bears in their natural habitat. In addition to brown bears, visitors may see caribou, deer, wolves, moose, and many species of birds. There are also many beautiful landscapes to explore and take in, including glaciers, snow-capped mountains, and active volcanoes.

Season: Sep 18 to Sep 23 $6000 per person 5 nights / 6 days

On this six-day, all-inclu­sive sum­mer­time expe­di­tion, you’ll head to gor­geous Kodi­ak Island with Dan M Lee and Jes­si­cal Hay­dahl, two pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­phers spe­cial­iz­ing in Alas­ka. Your small group tour includes two brown bear view­ing fly-outs and a marine wildlife tour. You’ll come away not only with bet­ter tech­ni­cal skills, but you’ll also learn how to think out­side the box in order to cap­ture the sto­ry behind the image, and how to document  ...more

Season: Mid-June - October 1 $6,998+ 4 day / 3 night +

Kodi­ak Island is a wide­ly known bear-view­ing hotspot. The eco-focused Kodi­ak Brown Bear Cen­ter & Lodge — owned by the Alu­ti­iq peo­ple, who have inhab­it­ed Kodi­ak Island for more than 7,000 years— offers the thrilling oppor­tu­ni­ty to see these amaz­ing crea­tures for your­self. Choose from a 3‑, 4‑, or 7‑night pack­age. Each day includes guid­ed excur­sions to one of three bear-view­ing locations.

Season: June -  September $6,252+ 6 nights

Immerse your­self in a mul­ti-day Alaskan adven­ture that promis­es incred­i­ble views and jaw-drop­ping bear view­ing in Kat­mai Nation­al Park, along with a warm cama­raderie that only a small group expe­di­tion can cre­ate. Explore from your home base on the Island C, a research ves­sel that gets you close to the action while pro­vid­ing com­fort­able lodg­ing and deli­cious meals.

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Fairbanks View All

View polar bears in the wild

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Homer View All

Tours from Homer include destinations such as Katmai and Lake Clark National Parks, seeing wild brown bears along the coastline. Both locations are two of the best places to see brown bears in their natural habitat. In addition to brown bears, visitors may see caribou, deer, wolves, moose, and many species of birds. There are also many beautiful landscapes to explore and take in, including glaciers, snow-capped mountains, and active volcanoes.

Season: Year Round $895 Bear Viewing, $585+ Flightseeing 45 min - 5 hrs

Watch bears dig­ging for clams, wan­der­ing the sedge grass, or nurs­ing their young – all in a short flight from Homer to Kat­mai or Lake Clark Nation­al Park. Smokey Bay’s bear tours last about five hours total — includ­ing flights and about three hours on the ground. On any giv­en day there will always be a morn­ing out­ing (leav­ing at 8 a.m. at the lat­est) and pos­si­bly one that leaves around 2 p.m.

Season: May 27 - Sept 8 $1495+ 8 hrs

See Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears in the wild on a float­plane trip to Kat­mai Nation­al Park. Vis­it Brooks Falls or join a guid­ed tour to oth­er remote loca­tions with­in the park. Both trips pro­vide 5 hours on the ground with the bears. Found­ed in 1991, Emer­ald Air Service’s mis­sion is to increase the under­stand­ing and appre­ci­a­tion of the unique ecosys­tem that sup­ports bears.

Season: May 15 - Sept 15 $685+ 3 hrs -11 hrs

Spend sev­er­al hours or a full day watch­ing bears in the wild on a quin­tes­sen­tial Alaskan adven­ture with a fam­i­ly-run com­pa­ny. Start with a scenic flight out of Homer over Kachemak Bay and into Kat­mai or Lake Clark Nation­al Park. Once you land, your pilot/​guide will take you to an opti­mal spot to watch and pho­to­graph these mag­nif­i­cent crea­tures in their nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment, hunt­ing, play­ing, and relax­ing. Spend any­where from 1.5 to 9 hours on the  ...more

Season: June 1 - Sept 15 $1699 per person 4 - 8 hrs

For many Alaskan trav­el­ers, bears are the ulti­mate high­light. Pair a mag­nif­i­cent sight­ing with a gor­geous heli­copter flight­see­ing ride and you’ll have an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence. On this unique tour from Homer, you’ll take a heli­copter ride out into one of Alaska’s gor­geous nation­al parks to wit­ness these spec­tac­u­lar crea­tures in the wild.

Season: Jun 01 to Sep 04 $6595 to $6795 (+ internal air) 6 Days / 5 Nights

In the best way pos­si­ble. you’re out­num­bered by bears dur­ing your stay at this pri­vate fly-in wilder­ness camp. Fly by char­tered plane from Homer to Alas­ka Bear Camp on a 5‑night, 6‑day all-inclu­sive pack­age. This deluxe back­coun­try camp accom­mo­dates just 14 guests in some of the best bear habi­tat in the world. In con­trast to day trips cater­ing to dozens of vis­i­tors at a time, Bear Camp offers a rare and exclu­sive wilder­ness immersion.

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