Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve - Plan Your Visit

Glacier Bay National Preserve by National Parks Service

Operating Hours Seasons

Glacier Bay National Park is open year-round. The park Visitor Center is open from late-May to early-September. Services in winter are extremely limited.

Getting There

Plane

Alaska Airlines provides daily jet service from Seattle via Juneau to Gustavus during the summer visitor season. The Gustavus airport is 10 miles by road from park headquarters at Bartlett Cove. Several air taxi companies provide daily small-plane flights year-round from Juneau to Gustavus as well. Air taxis also fly a network of routes that link Juneau and Gustavus to Haines, Skagway, and other southeast Alaska towns. Click on the Visitor Services Directory link above for a listing of these air services.

For those wishing to visit Glacier Bay National Preserve at Dry Bay, air transportation can be arranged from Yakutat, which has daily jet service from Seattle and Anchorage.

Car

There are no roads to Glacier Bay and no Alaska Marine Highway ferry service. The only road in the park runs ten miles between Bartlett Cove and the neighboring community of Gustavus. There is a rental car business in Gustavus. Most Gustavus lodging establishments provide transportation to Bartlett Cove for their guests.

Public Transportation

A passenger ferry operates between Juneau and Gustavus/Bartlett Cove on a limited schedule (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday trips).

Several cruise ship lines offer Alaska cruises from major west coast cities that include a Glacier Bay visit. Tour boats, which are generally smaller and carry fewer passengers, offer cruises to Glacier Bay that depart several times a week from Juneau and other southeast Alaska towns. Charter boat services originating in local communities are also available.

A taxi and a bus service run between Gustavus and Bartlett Cove.

Getting Around

For those arriving at Bartlett Cove or Gustavus and desiring to travel into the park, Glacier Bay is best seen by boat. The distance to the tidewater glaciers is 50-60 miles. The Glacier Bay Lodge park concession runs a daily tour boat beginning in late May through mid-September. The journey takes about eight hours round trip. A National Park Service ranger-naturalist is on board to point out the bay's natural features and wildlife and to answer questions.

There are few trails in the park, and most campers journey through the bay by kayak, either on their own or as part of a guided trip. Kayaks may be rented, and a kayak drop-off vessel operates daily during the summer months.

Limited hiking opportunities are available from Bartlett Cove, either along the beach or on one of the approximately seven miles of trails that wind through the rain forest.

In addition to traveling by tour boat or kayak, other options include seeing Glacier Bay by locally chartered vessel or viewing the park from a flightseeing aircraft.

Pleasure boats are welcome. A free permit is required, and there is a limit on the number of vessels allowed in the park at one time

The Tatsenshini/Alsek Rivers begin in Canada, run through the northern edge of the park, and empty into the Gulf of Alaska at Dry Bay in Glacier Bay National Preserve. Commercially guided trips are available, and a permit is required for private trips.