Photo Credit: Alpine Air Alaska Dogsledding

Dog Sledding Tours In Alaska

Dog Sledding in Alaska  (:54)

You're speeding through Alaskan forest, sitting on a sled that's being pulled by some of Alaska's most powerful creatures. This is dog sledding—and it's not only an Alaskan tradition, but also a state obsession, one that's celebrated every March with the running of the 1,150-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome. Taking a dogsledding excursion is a chance to see what the fuss is all about. You'll meet Iditarod racers and their dogs and hear what it's like to run this brutal race. And often, you'll experience the thrill of dogsledding first-hand.

This is an outing you can do from Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks, Girdwood, and Juneau. Options vary, but usually include touring the kennels of these champion dogs, seeing how they're trained, and cuddling their puppies. Many Iditarod racers and champions have tours, so you'll hear a first-person account of what it's like to travel through some of Alaska's harshest terrain. Most of these tours are great for kids, but they're geared for all ages.

Three Different Kinds of Tours

  • Party on wheels (summer). You'll visit a kennel and be surrounded by the cacophony of dogs, meet team members and cuddle some of the puppies. You typically get to ride on one of the wheeled carts (on the ground, not snow) that the dogs use for training
  • Flying to, and riding on the snow (summer). You'll combine about 20 minutes of dog sledding on a glacier with either a fixed-wing plane or helicopter flightseeing trip. These trips are pricier: $250 and up.
  • Dog Mushing (winter). These trips are typically November - March, depending on snow conditions. You'll be given the option to ride in the sled or take your turn behind the sled and mush through the winter wonderland.

Price Range

$70+ summer kennel tours, $140+ winter dog mushing, $499+ summer glacier dog sledding

Where to Go

Here are the most common spots and a popular tours:

Denali National Park

Tours just 30-minutes south of Denali National Park

Season: Year Round $125+ per person 2-4 hrs

Expe­ri­ence the thrill of the icon­ic Alaskan sport of dogsled­ding from vet­er­ans of the Idi­tar­od and Yukon Quest races! Oper­at­ing in sum­mer and win­ter from Cantwell, about a 30-minute dri­ve south of Denali Nation­al Park, the pri­vate tours will be just you and your group, led by expert guides. Win­ter tours can involve learn­ing to dri­ve your own dog team or rid­ing out to see the north­ern lights. In sum­mer, the excit­ed dogs pull a side-by-side on  ...more

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Juneau View All

Take a glacier dog sled across a glacier

Season: May 06 to Aug 31 Call for rates

Get great views with some hands-on fun — com­bine a scenic flight­see­ing heli­copter tour with the exhil­a­ra­tion of dog mush­ing on a glac­i­er with a team of Alaskan Sled dogs! 

Season: May - September $359+ 2-3 hrs

A tour aboard a TEM­SCO heli­copter offers beau­ti­ful views of Alaska’s Cap­i­tal City, and up-close explo­ration of Menden­hall, one of the state’s most acces­si­ble glac­i­ers. Look out on alpine lakes, moraines, and crevass­es before you land and check out the Juneau Ice­field for yourself.

Season: May - September $659+ 1.5 hrs

Hop on a TEM­SCO heli­copter for an Alaskan adven­ture com­bin­ing avi­a­tion, sled dogs and mas­sive glac­i­ers. Get an amaz­ing view of the gor­geous land­scape sur­round­ing Juneau, and then ride along as an ener­getic team of huskies tours you around the ancient, snow-packed Menden­hall glacier.

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Gates of the Arctic National Park View All

Season: February 20 - April 10 $9,895+ per person, all-inclusive 3-5 nights

This fam­i­ly-owned, fly-in lux­u­ry wilder­ness lodge is 200 miles north of Fair­banks and 60 miles above the Arc­tic Cir­cle. Stays are all-inclu­sive and exclu­sive — they only accept one group at a time. Go dogsled­ding, snow­shoe­ing, or scan the skies for the north­ern lights. The lodge’s huge pic­ture win­dows make it easy to keep a look­out for the auro­ra from a warm, com­fort­able interior.

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Seward View All

Meet with sled dogs in their kennel and take a wheeled cart ride through forested Resurrection River Valley or take a fly-in glacier tour

Season: Mid-May to Mid-September $99+ 1.5 to 6 hrs

Vis­it Idi­tar­od cham­pi­on Mitch Seavey’s home­stead, home to three gen­er­a­tions of Idi­tar­od mush­ers. Expe­ri­ence an excit­ing two-mile dog sled ride, tour the rac­ing ken­nel, meet the dogs, cud­dle adorable husky pup­pies, and lis­ten to sto­ries from the Idi­tar­od trail. Then climb aboard a cus­tom-designed sled; an Idi­tar­od race fin­ish­er dri­ves you through rain­for­est to a riv­er-cut canyon sur­round­ed by mountains.

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Fairbanks View All

Year-round tours in Fairbanks and near the North Pole; in winter take an exclusive aurora dog sledding trip

Season: Year Round $145+ Dogsled Tours 1-3 hrs

Plen­ty of peo­ple come to Fair­banks to look at the sky — for north­ern lights, or to bask in the mid­night sun. But this dog-mush­ing expe­ri­ence out­side of Fair­banks is proof that there’s plen­ty more of Fair­banks to be seen at eye — or even paw — lev­el. May through Octo­ber, take a a trail ride with 16 dogs hitched up to an ATV. Novem­ber through April, take a mush­ing tour through the snow!

Season: February 20 - April 10 $9,895+ per person, all-inclusive 3-5 nights

This fam­i­ly-owned, fly-in lux­u­ry wilder­ness lodge is 200 miles north of Fair­banks and 60 miles above the Arc­tic Cir­cle. Stays are all-inclu­sive and exclu­sive — they only accept one group at a time. Go dogsled­ding, snow­shoe­ing, or scan the skies for the north­ern lights. The lodge’s huge pic­ture win­dows make it easy to keep a look­out for the auro­ra from a warm, com­fort­able interior.

Season: Year Round $90+ per person 30+ min - Multi-Day

Take part in the thrill of win­ter and fall dog sled­ding out of Fair­banks. You’ll expe­ri­ence the sport with one of Alaska’s longest-run­ning dog tour com­pa­nies. Go for a ride, attend mush­ing school, or go on a mul­ti-day adven­ture to the his­toric Tolo­vana Roadhouse.

Season: November–March (depending on snow conditions) $89+ per person 1/2 - 4 hrs

Glide over the snow on a sled that’s being pulled by a team of dogs — many of whom have run the Idi­tar­od, Yukon Quest, or oth­er races. Go with Rod’s Alaskan Guide Ser­vice and expe­ri­ence the thrill of dog sled­ding with dogs that love to run and pas­sion­ate mush­ers who will offer a deep­er under­stand­ing of this unique sport.

Season: Year Round Summer 2 hrs | Winter 2-7 days

Vis­it the world’s old­est Siber­ian Husky ken­nel any time of the year with tour options rang­ing from a cou­ple of hours in the sum­mer to mul­ti-day win­ter adven­tures explor­ing Fairbanks.

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Skagway View All

Glacier dog sledding in summer

Season: May - September $629+ 2 hrs

Dog sled­ding on a glac­i­er is the ulti­mate blend of Alaskan adven­ture, as you also get there by heli­copter! Board a TEM­SCO flight that whisks you thou­sands of feet above sea lev­el to the Den­ver glac­i­er and a dog mush­ing camp hid­den away on a snow field, where Alaskan sled dogs will greet you ener­get­i­cal­ly, ready to take you on the ride of your life.

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Anchorage (Tours depart from nearby Girdwood and Willow) View All

Tours depart from nearby Girdwood (45 min drive) or Willow (1.5 hr drive). Several companies provide a shuttle from Anchorage.

Season: May 01 to Sep 10 $599+ 1.5 - 2.25 hrs

Stun­ning scenery, a thrilling ride and hap­py pup­pies: this tour out of the Anchor­age area offers an unbeat­able com­bi­na­tion of clas­sic Alas­ka expe­ri­ences that will delight fam­i­lies or — real­ly, any­body. Tak­ing a total of about 90 min­utes, and run­ning from mid-May to ear­ly Sep­tem­ber, this tour includes a Flight­see­ing round trip, a small friend­ly group envi­ron­ment, and plen­ty of one-on-one time with the dogs and their mushers.

Season: May 15 - Aug 31 $579 2 hrs

Ratch­et up the adven­ture fac­tor and try your hand at dogsled­ding. Alpine Air Alas­ka flies to a dog camp run by the old­est estab­lished dog-sled tour busi­ness in Alas­ka. With a shut­tle option avail­able from Anchor­age, you’ll trav­el by heli­copter from Girdwood’s green forests up over a small sad­dle to land on a glac­i­er and be intro­duced to the dog team. Dri­ve” the dogs your­self, or sit in the sled and enjoy hang­ing glac­i­ers that sur­round you.  ...more

Season: Year Round $69+ 1-3.5 hrs

Sum­mer or win­ter, vis­it a fam­i­ly-run cham­pi­on ken­nel, meet friend­ly dogs and an expe­ri­enced mush­er for a ride along pri­vate trails with views of Denali. Opt to ride in the sled or mush your own. Or, for a tru­ly authen­tic adven­ture, go on a train­ing run for the Idi­tar­od! Large groups and spe­cial events wel­come when orga­nized in advance.

Season: June 1 - August 31 $162 per person 3 hrs

Vis­it and snug­gle real Idi­tar­od sled dogs with their mush­er on this unique sum­mer­time tour. After tour­ing their ken­nel, you’ll har­ness up and explore trails along Gird­wood’s moun­tains which offer spec­tac­u­lar views while your guide offers fas­ci­nat­ing gold min­ing his­to­ry in the area.

Season: Year Round Summer: $75+ | Winter: $150+ 2+ hrs

Win­ter or sum­mer, expe­ri­ence the thrill of run­ning Idi­tar­od sled dogs and even have a chance to dri­ve! Meet the sled dogs and hear first-hand just what it’s like to run the Iditarod.

Season: November - March $329+ 8 - 9 hrs

Every­body loves sled dogs, and Salmon Berry Tours offers you the chance to get behind the sled year-round. In sum­mer and win­ter, you’ll head to the ken­nel of Idi­tar­od Cham­pi­on Dal­las Seavey, where you’ll see a gear demon­stra­tion, meet the dogs, and ride on the sled behind them. They also have a mul­ti-day adven­ture for Idi­tar­od enthusiasts. 

Season: Winter $169+ 1 - 8 hours

Expe­ri­ence the excite­ment of rac­ing cham­pi­on sled dogs at the Alas­ka Mush­ing School, just 75 min­utes from Anchor­age. Get a professional’s insight into the mush­ing lifestyle as you ride behind a team of ener­getic sled dogs on trails con­nect­ed to the famous Idi­tar­od route. Bun­dle up and ride in com­fort, or brave the cold and dri­ve the team yourself!

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