The Best Things To Do In Homer

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!

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.

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

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! 

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.

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.

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.

³⁄₄ 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.

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.

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.

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

When is a golf course more than a golf course? When it’s the 9‑hole, par‑3 golf course in Homer, Alas­ka. Sure, you can play a round on this scenic course— it’s the last golf course in Amer­i­ca at ​“the end of the road”, and the only golf course in Homer, Alas­ka —but it’s also a great spot to just relax with a beer or a glass of wine. Enjoy the breath­tak­ing views of Kachemak Bay and Grew­ingk Glac­i­er, all while enjoy­ing tem­per­a­tures that are  ...more

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.

Get a spec­tac­u­lar bird’s‑eye view of the stun­ning area around homer. Take off from Homer with Alas­ka Heli­copter Tours to explore the area’s vol­ca­noes, glac­i­ers, and water­falls — or even go bear-viewing! 

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. 

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!

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!

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.

One of the top trails on the Homer side of Kachemak Bay, Dia­mond Creek is a 2‑mile trail that takes you through for­est, alders, and tall grass mead­ows before descend­ing to the beach, where you’ll find small Alaskan sealife.

This trail, hands down, is one of the most pop­u­lar hikes in the Kachemak Bay State Park. It is one of the eas­i­est hikes in the park as the trail is well main­tained, and you can’t beat the view of the glac­i­er at the lake. For the first 1.5 miles, the trail mean­ders through mixed cot­ton­wood and Sit­ka spruce. These cot­ton­woods are some of the largest in the park so take time to appre­ci­ate their enor­mous size. After 1.5 miles, the trail proceeds  ...more

From the base of the Homer Spit, take this 4‑mile paved trail to the Nick Dudi­ak Fish­ing Lagoon. The trail is in excel­lent con­di­tion and is flat as a pan­cake for most of its length. The first mile of trail is along a broad estu­ary that is great for bird­ing. Once you pass the one-mile mark you’ll be rid­ing past fish­ing boats that are out of the water being worked on as well as a few shops.

Prob­a­bly the sec­ond most trav­eled trail in the park, this trail offers a great day hike for those spend­ing time in the lagoon. You can start hik­ing the trail from the ranger sta­tion or the trail­head in Hal­ibut Cove Lagoon. The trail tra­vers­es up numer­ous switch­backs to a place called First Lake. On a hot sum­mer day, a soak in this lake can’t be beat.

This is one of Home­r’s top hikes. It starts on top of Bay­crest Hill, cross­es Dia­mond Ridge Road, then fol­lows Cross­man Ridge to the Bridge Creek Reser­voir. Through­out, it rolls through forests, mead­ows and over streams. The area is excel­lent for bird­ing and catch­ing a glimpse at the occa­sion­al moose.