You’d be remiss to visit one of the top whale watching spots in the world and not, well, whale-watch. After winter is over, hundreds of whales make their way to Juneau to spend the summertime, practically guaranteeing a spotting or mostly likely a lot of them!

These life-changing experiences are perfect for the entire family, no matter the age or background. It’s an absolute must-do if you want to really immerse yourself in the raw beauty of Juneau, and makes for some incredible photos, too!

We know you’re eager to get started, so without further ado, here are the top Juneau whale watching tours!

Best Whale Watching Tours in Juneau

	Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching	Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier	Juneau Whale Watching and Salmon Bake
	Best Half-Day Tour	Best Combination Tour	Best Tour With Lunch/Dinner
Departure:	490 S Franklin St, Juneau	470 S Franklin St, Juneau	490 S Franklin St, Juneau
Start:	Depends on time of year	Depends on time of year	Between 8:00 AM - 4:15 PM
Duration:	3.5 hours	4.5 hours	6 hours
Includes:	100% Guarantee to see Whales, Roundtrip Transportation, Complimentary Snack & Bottled Water	100% Guarantee to see whales, roundtrip transportation from cruise terminal, snacks, bottled water, live commentary on board	Naturalist Guide, Transportation, Live Entertainment, Buffet and Hot & Cold Beverages
	Tour Information & Booking	Tour Information & Booking	Tour Information & Booking

Quick Answer: The 7 Best Juneau Whale Watching Tours For 2024

1. Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching
2. Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier
3. Juneau Whale Watching and Salmon Bake
4. Juneau’s Premier Whale Watching! – More time on the water!
5. Premier Whale Watch and Mendenhall Glacier Combo
6. Whale and Dolphin Watching in San Diego
7. 3 Hours Guided Whale and Dolphin Watching Experience in San Diego

Juneau Whale Watching Tour Reviews

1. Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching

Listen, there’s a lot to do in Juneau despite it not being a bustling metropolis like LA or NYC. It can be easy to pack a lot into a day, so if you are worried you won’t have enough time for something like a whale watching tour, we’re happy to present the Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching Tour to you.

After this phenomenal 3.5-hour experience, you’re sure to look at the world differently. You have many different departure time options available, making it easy to fit into a busy schedule.

Arrive at the main cruise ship terminal, where you’ll meet your tour guide and board a comfortable, modern boat perfect for the task. While it’s smaller than most, this means you don’t have to share it with tons of other tourists and get to head where other boats can’t.

Receive a safety briefing before setting off to ensure everyone has a positive time. While the captain is certainly knowledgeable, you’ll also benefit from a naturalist onboard who does a great job of explaining the whales’ behavior and natural habitat.

They’re also pros at spotting whales – they even have some of them named – and will make sure everyone revels in the sightings!

As you watch and listen, enjoy free snacks and bottled waters to keep comfortable. Outdoor decks are best for unobstructed views, but the heated cabins are also a thoughtful option if things happen to get really chilly. With roundtrip port transfers, it’s hard to get more convenient than this!

More Information & Tour Booking

100% refund for cancellations within 24 hours of tour experience

2. Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier

Spanning almost a whopping 14 miles of electric shades of blue, it’s no wonder why the Mendenhall Glacier is known around the world. It’s one of the most beautiful attractions in Juneau, and if you know the area, you know that’s saying a lot.

Why not check out both this stunning formation and local wildlife with the Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier tour?

This tour does last about an hour longer than the previous one, as you’ll be spending extra time just at the glacier. Meet up with your tour group at the cruise ship terminal and hop onboard their climate-controlled transport bus that will bring you to Mendenhall Glacier.

You’ll have plenty of time to learn at the visitor’s center, but also be able to explore the hiking trails, bear-viewing platforms, and salmon-spawning streams!

Then head to the local harbor where you’ll board their magnificent boats designed specifically for wildlife viewing! This isn’t some creaky old fishing boat – you’ll have impeccably clean onboard restrooms, heated cabins with huge windows, padded seats, and spacious outdoor decks for unobstructed viewing of these beautiful creatures.

Take a seat and get comfortable, as you set out to spot some whales! Your onboard naturalist will point out different animals and other points of interest, teaching you all about them and offering more insight.

Feel free to enjoy complimentary snacks and beverages, and ask any questions you may have. Keep your camera close by, as these guys love to sneak up and make an appearance!

More Information & Tour Booking

100% refund for cancellations within 24 hours of tour experience

3. Juneau Whale Watching and Salmon Bake

If you’re wondering what are the top 2 things you should do in Juneau, leave it to us: whale watching and trying local salmon. Alaskan salmon is known as the world’s healthiest due to how it’s harvested and managed, making it the number one food in the state!

Try it all with the delicious and exciting Juneau Whale Watching and Salmon Bake Tour! As this is the longest tour on our guide (clocking in at 6 hours), we do recommend setting aside half a day for this excursion. Whether it’s just you and a partner or the entire family, plan on having a ton of fun.

Start out by meeting up at the cruise ship terminal and hop on the state-of-the-art, 48-passenger vessel also made specifically for whale-watching.

That’s right, it comes with heated cabins, big windows, padded seats, and even a hydrophone system for listening to whales communicate underwater! It’s truly like nothing else we’ve ever seen, and your onboard naturalist will interpret their habits to you.

If you’d like to watch out from the spacious, open decks, they’ll provide binoculars to make sure you get a great view of these wonderful animals.

After, you’ve surely worked up an appetite so head by coach to the Gold Creek Salmon Bake, which has a kind of old-school Gold Rush setting with mining artifacts. Enjoy the unique environment as the smell of fresh-baked salmon and wood fire wafts through the air.

Once it’s ready, enjoy the all-you-can-eat buffet of salmon, parmesan chicken, potatoes, baked beans with reindeer sausage, and a soft blueberry cake!

More Information & Tour Booking

100% refund for cancellations within 24 hours of tour experience

4. Juneau’s Premier Whale Watching! – More time on the water!

If you’re wondering what are the top 2 things you should do in Juneau, leave it to us: whale watching and trying local salmon. Alaskan salmon is known as the world’s healthiest due to how it’s harvested and managed, making it the number one food in the state!

Try it all with the delicious and exciting Premier Juneau Whale Watching tour! As this is the longest tour on our guide (clocking in at 6 hours), we do recommend setting aside half a day for this excursion.

Whether it’s just you and a partner or the entire family, plan on having a ton of fun. Start out by meeting up at the cruise ship terminal and hop on the state-of-the-art, 48-passenger vessel also made specifically for whale-watching.

That’s right, it comes with heated cabins, big windows, padded seats, and even a hydrophone system for listening to whales communicate underwater! It’s truly like nothing else we’ve ever seen, and your onboard naturalist will interpret their habits to you.

If you’d like to watch out from the spacious, open decks, they’ll provide binoculars to make sure you get a great view of these wonderful animals.

After, you’ve surely worked up an appetite so head by coach to the Gold Creek Salmon Bake, which has a kind of old-school Gold Rush setting with mining artifacts. Enjoy the unique environment as the smell of fresh-baked salmon and wood fire wafts through the air.

Once it’s ready, enjoy the all-you-can-eat buffet of salmon, parmesan chicken, potatoes, baked beans with reindeer sausage, and a soft blueberry cake.

More Information & Tour Booking

100% refund for cancellations within 24 hours of tour experience

5. Premier Whale Watch and Mendenhall Glacier Combo

This next tour combines two of the coolest activities to do in Juneau: whale-watching and visiting Mendenhall Glacier. With tons of different departure times throughout the day, it’s easy to fit into just about any schedule and comes with roundtrip transportation from Mt. Roberts Tramway!

If that sounds like fun to you, go ahead and sign up for the Premier Whale Watch and Mendenhall Glacier Combo tour! Start out at the Mt. Roberts Tramway where you’ll meet your guide and enjoy an educational ride to the boat harbor.

Once there, board either a 24-passenger or 49-passenger whale watching vessel designed specifically for the purpose. Just like the others, it has plenty of space both on the open decks and in the heated, luxurious cabins.

Your guide will help point out whales as they make their appearances in their natural habitats. The captain always announces a sighting and slows down so everyone gets a chance to see, while the naturalist teaches guests about the wildlife.

If you have any questions, they seem to be able to answer just about all of them! Then, head over to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, where you can either stay in the center and learn or head out to the hiking and nature trails.

The visitor center can get pretty crowded, so definitely spend some time outdoors enjoying the view. There are shuttles that head to the Mt. Roberts Tramway every half-hour, making it easy to get back to your hotel or city center whenever you want.

More Information & Tour Booking

100% refund for cancellations within 24 hours of tour experience

6. Whale and Dolphin Watching in San Diego

San Diego is a huge maritime city, and I feel it’s practically sacrilege to not enjoy the beautiful nature all around it. The Whale and Dolphin Watching in San Diego tour is a 3-hour experience that’s super easy to fit into even the busiest of schedules.

Plus, it’s a great way to become acquainted with the sea and sea life off the coast with professionals to lead the way! There are various tour times, so you can select which one works best for you and the rest of your party.

The vessel for the day will be a 22’ Zodiac expedition-style boat which is not a luxury boat. Rather, it’s designed to neither scare nor harm animals, and let guests see much more up close than what larger vessels allow for.

I felt that the captain was super knowledgeable and friendly, making the experience all that more enriching. It was almost like having a close friend take us out on the water and showing us the coolest animals around.

Speaking of which, we were able to see beautiful giants like the blue whale, along with grey whales, fin whales, and even humpback whales!

While it’s never a guarantee, we went in confident as our captain definitely proved that he knew exactly where to go to find these breathtaking creatures. We also saw plenty of different types of dolphins, which can be seen no matter what time of year it is.

I know that other groups saw different types of fish, birds, sea lions, seals, and so on, so it does depend on the tour. To ensure our safety and comfort, we were also thoughtfully provided with waterproof windbreakers and USCG-approved life jackets.

More Information & Tour Booking

100% refund for cancellations within 24 hours of tour experience

7. 3 Hours Guided Whale and Dolphin Watching Experience in San Diego

Next up is yet another fascinating 3-hour whale and dolphin tour that you can’t miss. The 3 Hour Guided Whale and Dolphin Watching Experience in San Diego is perfect for adrenaline junkies and those who want the complete unedited, “real” experience!

This isn’t one of those slow and boring tours where the guide rattles off facts found on a Google search. We met up with our captain at the time that worked best for us, and they accommodated us very well. Upon meeting, we received a safety briefing where we were able to ask any questions we had.

They also gave us the option of using one of their suits just in case we didn’t bring a warm hoodie or jacket (it gets pretty chilly out on the water). The boat we rode on really impressed me, seeing as it was a former military boat that we were informed were not only the safest boats on the water, but also the fastest.

They’re the best at finding wildlife without scaring them away, and really get you as close as possible to the action. Not to mention, we experienced virtually no sea-sickness which was a huge plus!

I also appreciated that the views are full 360-degree, as there is no obstruction or worrying about someone is standing in your way like with larger boats.

While it can feel a bit scary at first being all the way out there on a rather small boat, the captain made us feel safe and confident in his skills and knowledge. Overall, I can’t recommend this amazing experience enough, and we saw quite a few dolphins and grey whales!

More Information & Tour Booking

100% refund for cancellations within 24 hours of tour experience

Juneau Whale Watching Tips

• When to go: The best time to go whale watching in Juneau is from April to November. This when the humpbacks migrate to the nutrient-rich waters of the Inside Passage to feed. On your tour you will also see orcas (killer whales), seals and sea lions.
• Take a tour: There are quite a few whale watching tour operators in Juneau. Your tour options range from a small inflatable boat to get up close or large vessels with a hundred or more people on board. There are options available where you can go for a few hours to a full-day adventure. We would recommend the Juneau Wildlife Whale Watching & Mendenhall Glacier tour. Some tours also combine whale watching with other activities, such as visiting the Mendenhall Glacier or kayaking.
• Ask questions: All of the tours we review above have a whale naturalist on board who will explain the behavior and biology of the whales. You may even have an opportunity to listen to the whales’ sing through a hydrophone system. Don’t be shy, ask questions about the whales, they are happy to answer all your questions.
• Dress warm: You don’t want to be cold, dress in layers and wear a waterproof jacket since there is a good chance you will get splashed by waves. You should bring binoculars and a camera, you will want to take lots of photos!
• Listen to the tour guides: While you are out there, follow the instructions of the captain and naturalist. Don’t try and feed them or make any loud noises.
• Appreciate the moment: Whale watching in Juneau is a thrilling and educational activity that will leave you with memories that will last a lifetime. You will hopefully see the humpback whales and their grace and power. Take some time to appreciate the beauty of Juneau!