Photo Credit: Homer Ocean Charters

Homer Day Tours & Attractions

With a plethora of activities, Homer offers something for everyone, like fishing charters, bear-viewing tours, off-road adventures, sea kayaking expeditions, flightseeing tours, guided hikes, and more. You can also immerse yourself in the local culture by exploring museums and cultural centers, or embark on private boat charters for a truly personalized experience. And don’t miss out on the town’s exciting festivals and events!

Fishing Charters View All

Fish for monster halibut and salmon
Season: Mid April to September $195+ 3/4 to Full Day Excursions

Homer is the hal­ibut cap­i­tal of Alas­ka, and this long­time char­ter com­pa­ny offers a blue-chip way to get to the fish. They have high-qual­i­ty boats, expe­ri­enced cap­tains, and enthu­si­as­tic crews — as well as an inside line on find­ing hal­ibut, rock fish and sil­ver salmon. But they also offer a vari­ety of oth­er ways to enjoy the waters off Kachemak Bay, from wildlife cruis­ing to pad­dling a kayak or hik­ing in Kachemak Bay State Park. 

Season: Year Round $310+ ¾ & Full-day

Go fish! Cast your line for icon­ic Alaskan salmon and hal­ibut — as well as oth­er species — as you explore the shim­mer­ing waters around Homer with the pas­sion­ate fish­ing pros of Mav­er­ick Char­ters. The stun­ning area is one that many trav­el­ers don’t get to explore, and all ages can enjoy this unfor­get­table out­ing — no expe­ri­ence necessary!

Season: May 15 - Oct 1 $8750 (Up to 10 Guests)

34 hal­ibut fish­ing char­ters, or skip the 2‑hour boat ride to the fish­ing grounds and fly straight to the boat instead! From world-class hal­ibut to five species of native salmon runs, the ocean is teem­ing with life. All trips are pri­vate to ensure you and your group have the best pos­si­ble expe­ri­ence. Fur­ther cus­tomize the expe­ri­ence by adding a din­ner or wildlife cruise to your day on the water.

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Bear Viewing Tours View All

Watch bears in their natural habitat
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: 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: 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.

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

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ATV Tours View All

Drive your own amphibious Argo on a scenic trail with views of mountains, glaciers, and alpine meadows

Season: May 10 - Sep 15 $1565 per Argo (Up to 3 Guests) 7.5 hrs

There are reg­u­lar ATVs, and then there are ATVs built for explor­ing Alas­ka: 8 x 8 Argos. These sim­ple to dri­ve, amphibi­ous vehi­cles make explor­ing the Alaskan back­coun­try even more fun — and you can find the unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to dri­ve one with Des­ti­na­tion Alas­ka, out of Homer.

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Sea Kayaking Tours View All

Guided tours or rentals for experienced paddlers
Season: May 9 - Sep 6 $140+ 4.5 to 8.5 hours

Explore a qui­et coast­line just a few miles from Homer, where you’ll kayak through the pro­tect­ed waters of Tut­ka Bay in search of amaz­ing views, wildlife and adven­ture! Your guide leads the way on a half-day or full-day tour, glid­ing past dense woods, rugged shore­line and hid­den coves. Add on fish­ing for the fresh­est in Alaskan salmon or rockfish!

$229+ per person Half to Full-Day

Enjoy remote Alas­ka at its best. Go with this small, fam­i­ly-owned com­pa­ny in Homer for a mag­i­cal kayak­ing expe­ri­ence and a gor­geous hike to an ice­berg-stud­ded glac­i­er lake! 

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Jet Ski Tours View All

Fly from Homer via floatplane for a jet skiing adventure in the McCarty Fjords

Season: June 15 - Aug 25 $865 Per Guest, $750 Per Rider 9 hrs

Jet ski­ing in Alas­ka?! Absolute­ly! This activ­i­ty is not as extreme as it sounds — you’ll be toasty warm all day as you cruise along the shore­line of Kachemak Bay. Your adven­ture begins with a 25-minute float­plane flight, the M/V Pere­grine will be anchored await­ing your arrival. After a safe­ty brief and dri­ving tuto­r­i­al, you’ll be ready to tour the coast of Alas­ka. After sev­er­al hours of wildlife view­ing you’ll enjoy hearty bar­beque lunch before  ...more

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Flightseeing Tours View All

See volcanoes and massive icefields from above
Season: May 15 - Oct 1 Private Air Charter $1160+ (Up to 5 Guests)

Fam­i­ly-owned and oper­at­ed, Des­ti­na­tion Alas­ka Adven­ture Com­pa­ny, has a pas­sion for show­ing peo­ple Alas­ka. Whether your must-see list includes nation­al parks, glac­i­ers, vol­ca­noes, great fish­ing, bear view­ing, or more, Homer is not only a great base for flight­see­ing but also a great home base for your trip. Browse avail­able tours, dream up an adven­ture of your own, or let the pros at Des­ti­na­tion Alas­ka help you cre­ate one!

$675+ per person 2 - 8 hrs

Tour­ing Alas­ka by heli­copter gets you to unimag­in­ably wild and remote places. Some of the most amaz­ing have been scout­ed by Alas­ka Ulti­mate Safaris. Explore a glac­i­er sur­round­ed by snow-capped moun­tains, or climb to the steam­ing sum­mit of an island vol­cano. In either case, the views are unpar­al­leled and the expe­ri­ence is surreal.

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Water Taxis View All

Access Kachemak Bay State Park, Halibut Cove, Seldovia & more
Season: May - September $100+ 2 hrs - Full Day

Whether you’d like to go on a per­son­al­ized boat tour of the Homer area or take a water taxi to the Alaskan back­coun­try, Homer is an ide­al place to launch from, and Cold­wa­ter has the boats and exper­tise to get you there. Explore places like Kachemak Bay State Park, the small town of Sel­dovia, and pic­turesque Hal­ibut Cove.

Season: Mid April to September $195+ 3/4 to Full Day Excursions

Homer is the hal­ibut cap­i­tal of Alas­ka, and this long­time char­ter com­pa­ny offers a blue-chip way to get to the fish. They have high-qual­i­ty boats, expe­ri­enced cap­tains, and enthu­si­as­tic crews — as well as an inside line on find­ing hal­ibut, rock fish and sil­ver salmon. But they also offer a vari­ety of oth­er ways to enjoy the waters off Kachemak Bay, from wildlife cruis­ing to pad­dling a kayak or hik­ing in Kachemak Bay State Park. 

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Guided Hiking View All

Guided hikes in Kachemak State Park
$229+ per person Half to Full-Day

Enjoy remote Alas­ka at its best. Go with this small, fam­i­ly-owned com­pa­ny in Homer for a mag­i­cal kayak­ing expe­ri­ence and a gor­geous hike to an ice­berg-stud­ded glac­i­er lake! 

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Stand Up Paddleboarding View All

Explore Kachemak Bay on a stand up pad­dle­board on your own or with a guide

Season: May - August Tours $550+ | Rentals $45+ 4+ hrs

With snow-capped peaks and tow­er­ing trees all around, you’ll set off onto the calm waters of shim­mer­ing Kachemak Bay in a thrilling way — pad­dling a standup pad­dle­board. These long, wide, stur­dy boards are built to han­dle the waters of Alas­ka, and no expe­ri­ence is nec­es­sary. Go with your own pri­vate group; an expe­ri­enced guide will be right there to offer instruc­tion and fun tales of the area. Or rent a board and explore this stun­ning area on your  ...more

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City Sightseeing Tours View All

Learn from the locals

Season: Year Round $14.99+

Dri­ve through Alas­ka with an audio tour guid­ing you along icon­ic routes. Audio Tour Alas­ka gives you an insider’s take on every­thing from points of inter­est to his­to­ry, wildlife, and cul­ture, along with cap­ti­vat­ing sto­ries. Guides to pop­u­lar routes include Anchor­age to Tal­keet­na; Tal­keet­na to Denali Nation­al Park; Denali to Fair­banks; Anchor­age to Seward; and Tern Lake to Homer.

Vis­i­tors (and/​or locals) can trav­el aboard the Homer Trol­ley to vis­it high­lights in Old Town, down­town and the Spit from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. while enjoy­ing nar­ra­tive by their Homer sour­dough dri­ver, Berk­ly Davis. The tours start this Fri­day (June 14) and run through the sum­mer. Pas­sen­gers can hop off and on as many times as they wish to vis­it the Pratt Muse­um, down­town art gal­leries and restau­rants, Old Town (more art and fine din­ing and…  ...more

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Sailing & Private Yacht Charters View All

Charter & live-aboard a private yacht

Season: May 1 - Sept 15 $3,450 per day Four-day, four-night

Char­ter their pri­vate, live-aboard, 60’ yacht. Wake up each day in the mid­dle of untouched wilder­ness and go sea kayak­ing, hike through bore­al forests, fish for tro­phy hal­ibut and salmon, or spend a qui­et day on the water pho­tograph­ing wildlife

Season: June 1 - October 1 Custom, call for rates. Up to 10 guests

A ful­ly cus­tomiz­able expe­di­tion that show­cas­es Alaska’s beau­ty by land, sea, and air. The trip starts with a pri­vate flight from Anchor­age to Homer, where guests stay in a pre­mi­um log chalet. Choose from var­i­ous activ­i­ties includ­ing dri­ving an amphibi­ous vehi­cle, bear view­ing, fish­ing, hik­ing, and kayak­ing. On the fourth day, board the M/V Pere­grine and explore Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, glac­i­ers, ice caves, and water­falls while look­ing for  ...more

Season: May 1–Sept 30 $300 4 hrs / $10,500+ 3+ days 4 hrs - 3+ days

Set sail on a lux­u­ri­ous 70-ft yacht out of Homer for 3+ days of fish­ing, hik­ing, kayak­ing, and wildlife view­ing while indulging in mass amounts of seafood. Your itin­er­ary will depend on the inter­ests of the group, and the expe­ri­enced local crew can ful­fill those interests.

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Day Cruises View All

Opportunities to view sea otters, whales & more
Season: Mid-May to October 1 $3450+ (Up to 6 Guests) 5 - 8 hrs

Spend 5 to 8 hours ply­ing the gor­geous waters of Kachemak Bay on a lux­u­ry ves­sel. Your pri­vate group will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to see dif­fer­ent types of wildlife: Orcas, Hump­back and Minke whales; sea lions; Dall’s por­poise; sea otters; puffins; seabirds; and more. Enjoy a gourmet meal aboard, stop in the vil­lage of Sel­dovia, or take a skiff ashore for beachcombing!

Season: Mid April to September $195+ 3/4 to Full Day Excursions

Homer is the hal­ibut cap­i­tal of Alas­ka, and this long­time char­ter com­pa­ny offers a blue-chip way to get to the fish. They have high-qual­i­ty boats, expe­ri­enced cap­tains, and enthu­si­as­tic crews — as well as an inside line on find­ing hal­ibut, rock fish and sil­ver salmon. But they also offer a vari­ety of oth­er ways to enjoy the waters off Kachemak Bay, from wildlife cruis­ing to pad­dling a kayak or hik­ing in Kachemak Bay State Park. 

Season: May - September $100+ 2 hrs - Full Day

Whether you’d like to go on a per­son­al­ized boat tour of the Homer area or take a water taxi to the Alaskan back­coun­try, Homer is an ide­al place to launch from, and Cold­wa­ter has the boats and exper­tise to get you there. Explore places like Kachemak Bay State Park, the small town of Sel­dovia, and pic­turesque Hal­ibut Cove.

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Museums & Cultural Centers View All

Learn about the landscape, communities, and ecosystems of the area
Season: Year Round $10 adult, $5 child

Homer’s Pratt Muse­um pre­serves the sto­ries of the Kachemak Bay region and pro­vides a gath­er­ing place for peo­ple to learn and to be inspired by this region and its place in the world. The museum’s exten­sive col­lec­tion offers an excel­lent way to learn more about the land­scape, com­mu­ni­ties and ecosys­tems of the area.

While you’re explor­ing Homer and it’s eco­log­i­cal-rich envi­rons, a stop at the Cen­ter for Alaskan Coastal Stud­ies adds to your appre­ci­a­tion of the his­to­ry and wildlife of the area.

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Fairs & Festivals View All

Meet locals at annual festivals

All races are on cours­es that make them easy to watch from the end of the Spit. Fre­quent­ly they race around the green can’ mark­er on a shoal west of the Spit, and Gull Island, a few miles across Kachemak Bay from end of the Spit. Some­times there are only four boats rac­ing and oth­er times up to 20. They are very open-mind­ed sailors and whether or not you have had any sail­ing expe­ri­ence they wel­come new crew. Cap­tains and Crews meet on P…  ...more

The Homer Jack­pot Hal­ibut Der­by is the longest run­ning der­by in Alas­ka and boasts the largest jack­pot, too.

The sum­mer out­door Farmer’s Mar­ket, on the right side of Ocean Dri­ve en route to the Spit, offers not only fresh pro­duce and art, but also per­form­ing artists on stage. It’s a very pleas­ant aspect of Homer life. The enter­tain­ment ranges from singer/​songwriter gui­tarists, quar­tets, elab­o­rate dance per­for­mances to marim­ba bands to men­tion a few. In a town so full of tal­ent, one can always expect an added treat at the Farmer’s Mar­ket, not only in  ...more

A beau­ti­ful 100k race on remote pis­ton bul­ly snow trails in the spec­tac­u­lar Cari­bou hills out­side of Homer. Rac­ers pick one mode: FAT­BIKE, SKI, or RUN and must fin­ish in one day or less. Start­ing point is McNeil Canyon Ele­men­tary School.

The first Sun­day of August brings a spe­cial event to Homer: the oppor­tu­ni­ty to step into pri­vate gar­dens that show­case the unique­ness of Alaskan gar­den­ing and get some real insight into what it’s like to work the land in a place where the grow­ing sea­son is short and the days long. Some 400 peo­ple come to Homer from all over, some of them gar­den­ers from oth­er parts of Alas­ka, and oth­ers from out­side the state who sim­ply have an inter­est in  ...more

Locat­ed on the shores of Kachemak Bay, Homer is one of the most acces­si­ble and beau­ti­ful places for shore­bird view­ing in Alas­ka. Many vis­i­tors fly in (with the birds) while oth­ers dri­ve the scenic road, about four hours south from Anchor­age. Over 100,000 shore­birds migrate through this area, some stay­ing to make their homes here. Many trav­el thou­sands of miles rest­ing and feed­ing at a few crit­i­cal stop-over points such as the base of the Homer  ...more

The Kachemak Bay Wood­en Boat Soci­ety holds an annu­al fes­ti­val in Sep­tem­ber. Fea­tures include a tour of the waters includes a WWII era wood­en tug con­vert­ed for char­ter use, kids boat build­ing, marine demon­stra­tions (includ­ing knot tying, net mend­ing, and bronze cast­ing. For enter­tain­ment, lis­ten to tall tales and poets.

The Homer High­land Games are ded­i­cat­ed to the edu­ca­tion of the gen­er­al pub­lic about the Celtic Cul­ture through ath­let­ics, music and infor­ma­tion about one of the most ancient ath­let­ic events in his­to­ry start­ing back in 1057 A.D. when King Mal­colm Can­more, who called upon the Clans to send their best run­ners, for he need­ed mes­sen­gers, send their best fight­ers, for he need­ed a pri­vate army, and send the strongest, for he need­ed per­son­al guards.  ...more

This unique fes­ti­val in Homer, Alas­ka is an art-lovers dream.

Every Sep­tem­ber since 2004, an inter­est­ing tra­di­tion has tak­en place: locals cre­ate a giant woven bas­ket with birch, fire­weed, and grass, set it out on the beach, dec­o­rate it, throw notes into it, and then, at sun­down, burn it up in spec­tac­u­lar fash­ion. Artist Mavis Muller began this unique event, and today, it makes for a vibrant evening, filled with music and danc­ing, that show­cas­es a strong com­mu­ni­ty spir­it and respect for the local  ...more

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Visitor Information Centers View All

Stop in for help planning your time in Homer

Out on the tip of the Kenai Penin­su­la, at (lit­er­al­ly) the end of the road, sits the quirky town of Homer — the eco­tourism cap­i­tal of Alas­ka. Artists, adven­tur­ers, and food­ies all come to expe­ri­ence the town’s cre­ative ener­gy, great restau­rants, and gor­geous wilder­ness. And at the entrance to town, just off the Ster­ling High­way, you’ll find the Homer Cham­ber of Com­merce Vis­i­tor Center.

The Islands and Ocean Vis­i­tor Cen­ter is a com­pre­hen­sive estab­lish­ment on the Bypass that hous­es the Alas­ka Mar­itime Nation­al Wildlife Refuge, ded­i­cat­ed to under­stand­ing and con­serv­ing the marine envi­ron­ment. Their pro­grams include nat­u­ral­ist-guid­ed estu­ary and bird­ing walks and tide pool explo­rations just a lit­tle ways out­side the back door and down to the beach below the Center.

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Points of Interest View All

Discover some of Homer's hidden gems

Vol­ca­noes not only shaped the face of Alas­ka but also make for spec­tac­u­lar sights. Here are the top vol­ca­noes to look for and pho­to­graph dur­ing your Alas­ka vacation.

Quick: what’s the longest com­bined rail and high­way tun­nel in North Amer­i­ca? It’s the Ander­son Memo­r­i­al Tun­nel, and you’ll dri­ve through it on the scenic and his­toric dri­ve to Whit­ti­er. The Kenai Moun­tains-Tur­na­gain Arm Nation­al Her­itage Area is a place whose val­leys and moun­tains, com­mu­ni­ties and peo­ple tell the larg­er sto­ry of a wild place and a rugged fron­tier. This audio guide gives you the inside scoop on its fas­ci­nat­ing his­to­ry. You’ll…  ...more

The Homer Spit is a long, nar­row fin­ger of land jut­ting 4.5 miles into Kachemak Bay. Dot­ted with busi­ness­es, the area caters to vis­i­tors and pro­vides numer­ous recre­ation oppor­tu­ni­ties, from fish­ing and beach­comb­ing to shop­ping and boating.

Here’s our list of places to see wildlife on the Kenai Penin­su­la, as well as tours to get you to the good spots.

Jean Keene, wide­ly known as the Homer Eagle Lady,” shared her love and knowl­edge of eagles with vis­i­tors before she passed away Jan­u­ary 13, 2009. She was 85. In 1977 Keene relo­cat­ed from Aitkin, Min­neso­ta to Homer, where she lived in a motorhome parked with­in a small enclo­sure, in the mid­dle of a camp­ground near the out­er end of the Spit.

The Nick Dudi­ak Fish­ing Lagoon (aka The Fish­ing Hole) is a pop­u­lar park with both locals and vis­i­tors. The lagoon is stocked with fry that grow up to pro­vide sport fish­ing. The fish­ing hole has a hand­i­capped acces­si­ble plat­form and ramp. King salmon return mid-May to ear­ly July fol­lowed by an ear­ly run of sil­vers mid-July to ear­ly August and a late run ear­ly August to mid-September.

As you head down the Homer Spit, you’ll see a col­lec­tion of ground­ed boats. Some are occu­pied, and oth­ers are aban­doned. All add to the charm of the Homer Spit. 

Close to Anchor­age and endowed with abun­dant recre­ation­al oppor­tu­ni­ties, cen­tral Kenai is Alaska’s play­ground. Two high­ways, numer­ous trails, and sev­er­al major rivers slice through the spine of the Kenai Moun­tains. World-class fish­ing, hik­ing, riv­er raft­ing, and canoe­ing – plus alpine lakes and gold his­to­ry – make for an ide­al day trip or week-long vacation. 

Below the Bypass and accessed main­ly from Main Street, the dis­trict was once the heart of Homer. It is still a vibrant area that draws locals and vis­i­tors for beach walks, din­ing, enter­tain­ment and art as well as basic needs like help with computers.

The Swiss Kilch­er fam­i­ly came to this coun­try on a boat in the 1940s escap­ing the hor­rors of World War II in Europe, bless­ing Homer with out­stand­ing tal­ents in the per­form­ing as well as visu­al arts. They home­stead­ed 600 acres at mile 12.5 East End Road, near the head of Kachemak Bay.

The 125-mile water trail is intend­ed to inspire explo­ration, under­stand­ing and stew­ard­ship of the nat­ur­al trea­sure that is Kachemak Bay. Peo­ple will take their own boats, kayaks, skiffs, or canoes on a mapped route which high­lights the stops and the views along the way. On the web­site, you will find sug­gest­ed itineraries.

An amaz­ing array of inver­te­brates (ani­mals with­out back­bones) live with­in Home­r’s inter­tidal zone-between the water’s reach at high tide and the water’s edge at low tide. All you need is a pair of rub­ber boots and a tide book to explore their world.

In an area known for out­stand­ing artists, Nor­man Low­ell, whose stu­dio is off in the wilder­ness north of town (near Anchor Point) sev­er­al miles, is one of the best known and least vis­it­ed because of his remote loca­tion. His work is exhib­it­ed in a very dif­fer­ent gallery set­ting and it is pre­sent­ed in a per­son­al way by the artist. Through his hang­ing arrange­ment, light­ing, and sequenc­ing of the work with thoughts on each paint­ing, the view­er is  ...more

Four qui­et and seclud­ed Russ­ian Old Believ­er com­mu­ni­ties have been devel­oped on the out­skirts of Homer. They left their home coun­try in search of free­dom to wor­ship in their own way. The first (and eas­i­est to vis­it) Russ­ian Old Believ­er com­mu­ni­ty on the Kenai Penin­su­la was Niko­laevsk, locat­ed 10 miles east of Anchor Point on the North Fork Road, near the North Fork of the Anchor Riv­er. Pri­va­cy and pre­serv­ing their lifestyle are impor­tant to  ...more

The First Fri­day shows at the art gal­leries in Homer always present a great selec­tion of art. All of the in-town shops (there are some art shops on the Spit that don’t par­tic­i­pate in First Fri­day) also host artists’ recep­tions from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. with refresh­ments (usu­al­ly cook­ies, cof­fee, punch and tea) for vis­i­tors. Some of the artists also speak about their work. All of the gal­leries leave their fea­tured artist’s work up until the  ...more

You don’t have to go into the art gal­leries (although that’s a good idea) to enjoy art in Homer. Many of the busi­ness­es, espe­cial­ly on Pio­neer Avenue, adorn their build­ings with out­stand­ing out­door art works.

A most spec­tac­u­lar view from the head of Kachemak Bay to Augus­tine vol­cano, this 180 degree panoram­ic view of ice, sea, moun­tains and sky makes a great back­drop for your sou­venir Alaskan pho­tos. The view changes sea­son to sea­son accord­ing to what wild­flow­ers are in bloom and depend­ing upon vary­ing cloud, sky, and snow conditions.

Above Homer, up East Hill and right on Sky­line Dri­ve a mile and a half (a beau­ti­ful dri­ve along the bluffs over­look­ing Homer), watch for the Wynn Nature Cen­ter, man­aged by the Cen­ter for Alaskan Coastal Stud­ies. You can stroll in the wilder­ness among the beau­ti­ful flo­ra and watch for wildlife or take a tour guid­ed by a well-informed naturalist.

A day trip across Kachemak Bay to the charm­ing vil­lage of Hal­ibut Cove offers you wildlife-view­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, an up-close look at a bustling bird sanc­tu­ary, and time to explore a tiny island com­mu­ni­ty of artists, crafts­peo­ple, and anglers. Go there on the Dan­ny J, a clas­sic wood­en fish­ing boat that fer­ries both vis­i­tors and res­i­dents across the bay, twice a day between Memo­r­i­al Day and Labor Day. Dur­ing the noon cruise, enjoy a…  ...more

Although this can be a busy spot, it is a lot less con­gest­ed than the Homer Spit. Things to do here include: tak­ing small day hikes, pad­dling in the lagoon, camp­ing, stay­ing at one of the three near­by pub­lic use cab­ins, and the most pop­u­lar, fish­ing for Kings dur­ing the month of June.

A facet of life in Homer that can be watched on tele­vi­sion is the Dead­liest Catch” about com­mer­cial crab fish­ing in Alaska’s icy waters. Co-cap­tains Johathan and Andy Hill­strand have pro­duced a new book about their adven­tures, Time Ban­dit: Two Broth­ers, the Bering Sea and One of the World’s Dead­liest Jobs. Any­one who has fished Alaska’s waters, whether win­ter or sum­mer and for any species, know that it is a chal­leng­ing and risky profession.  ...more

Homer is known through­out Alas­ka as the state’s pre­mier artist com­mu­ni­ty, home to dozens of gal­leries and artists. You’ll find a con­ve­nient clus­ter of gal­leries worth vis­it­ing along Gallery Row,” the stretch of Pio­neer Avenue between Main Street and Lake Street. Here are three we like. Pic­ture Alas­ka Pic­ture Alas­ka (448 E. Pio­neer Ave.) fea­tures orig­i­nal paint­ings and fine art prints by notable local artists. This diverse gallery also…  ...more

Vis­i­tors dri­ving down to Homer (south west from Anchor­age) find a per­fect pull out rest stop on the right side of the high­way on the hill above town. From this van­tage, they get a pre­view of the plea­sures to come. Fish­ing boats’ win­dows twin­kle out in Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay, the Spit stretch­es half way across Kachemak Bay, and the snowy moun­tains on far side of the bay, embrac­ing Kachemak Bay State Park, plus of course the the town itself.  ...more

Difficulty: Easy

Every­one wants to explore a tide­pool, don’t they? This is a must for the kids — even that lit­tle kid in those slight­ly more mature vis­i­tors. Here’s the per­fect spot. Bring a tow­el and let’s have an inter­tidal adventure.

The Salty Dawg Saloon was orig­i­nal­ly one of the first cab­ins built here in 1897, just after the town was estab­lished. Today, a vis­it to the his­toric Salty Dawg Saloon on the spit will enhance your vis­it and put you in touch with many locals. Much more than a saloon, the Dawg has reg­u­lar music per­for­mances and also serves light food.

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