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 2026

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

Other Juneau Activities You May Enjoy

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

Make Sure You Have Binoculars For Your Whale Watching Tour!

	Vortex Optics Diamondback HD	HD Binoculars With Phone Adapter	Nikon PROSTAFF P3 Binoculars
Magnification:	8x to 15x Available	15x	8x
Lens:	28 mm to 56 mm Available	52 mm	42 mm
Phone Mount:	No	Yes	No
	Check Price on Amazon	Check Price on Amazon	Check Price on Amazon

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

A Guide to Juneau Whale Watching Tours

The captain cuts the engine, and for a second the only sound is water slapping the hull, then a humpback surfaces forty feet off the bow and blows a spout of mist you can smell.

That happens on a good number of trips out of Auke Bay, not a rare one, and it is the reason Juneau has a real claim to being the best place in the country to see a whale from a small boat.

Why Juneau for Whale Watching

Juneau sits on Southeast Alaska’s Inside Passage, a stretch of protected water between the mainland and a wall of islands, and humpbacks feed here all summer because the water is full of herring and krill. You are not chasing whales across open ocean like you might off California.

You are motoring twenty or thirty minutes out of a harbor into water where the whales already are.

Most tours run three to four hours total, including the boat ride out and back, so this fits into a single day even if you are on a cruise ship with a tight window. It also works for people who get seasick easily, since Auke Bay and the nearby channels are more sheltered than open water.

This is not the trip for someone who wants a guarantee. Whales are wild animals, not the reason a marketing department wrote that word.

Most operators run sighting rates north of 90 percent in season, which is genuinely high, but it is not 100, and the honest ones will tell you that upfront.

Most boats leave from Auke Bay Harbor, about twenty minutes north of downtown Juneau, and several operators include the drive out as part of the tour rather than making you find your own way there. If your cruise ship docks downtown, factor that transfer time into how tight your port schedule really is.

When to Go

The season runs roughly May through September, and the character of the trip changes across those months. Early summer, May into June, tends to bring more orcas moving through, along with the first humpbacks arriving to feed.

July and August is peak humpback season, more whales in the water and more boats out looking for them, which means better odds but also more company on the water. September is quieter, fewer boats, and the whales that are still around tend to be the ones bulking up hardest before they head south.

If you are booking around a cruise ship stop, you do not get to pick the month. If you do have flexibility, July and August give you the best combination of whale numbers and daylight, since Juneau gets close to eighteen hours of light in midsummer.

What You Are Actually Looking For

Humpback Whales

Humpbacks are the whale you are here for. Adults run 40 to 50 feet, they feed by lunging through bait balls of herring, and the move everyone wants to see is a full breach, the whale launching most of its body out of the water and crashing back down.

A good naturalist on board will teach you to identify individual whales by their flukes, the undersides of their tails, which are as distinct as a fingerprint. Some operators track named, returning whales year over year, and a captain who can point one out by name has been doing this a long time.

Bubble net feeding is the thing to ask about if you want the rare version of this trip. It is a cooperative hunting behavior where a group of humpbacks blows a ring of bubbles underwater to trap a school of fish, then all surface through the middle at once with their mouths open.

It does not happen on every trip, but Southeast Alaska is one of the few places on earth where it happens at all, and a captain who knows the current feeding grounds gives you a real shot at it.

Orcas and Other Wildlife

Orcas, killer whales, show up less predictably than humpbacks but are a real possibility, especially earlier in the season. You are also likely to see Steller sea lions hauled out on rocks, harbor seals, and bald eagles working the shoreline, which around Juneau are common enough that locals barely look up.

Most tours build in a stop to view Mendenhall Glacier from the water on the way back in, which is worth the extra twenty minutes even on a trip that is nominally about whales.

Where to Book

• Juneau Tours and Whale Watch. Alaska-owned, in its seventeenth year running, and the largest independent operator in Southeast Alaska. They do not contract directly with the cruise lines, which is part of why they run cheaper than boats booked straight through your ship.
• Harv & Marv’s Outback Alaska. Smaller boats, some capped at six passengers, with roughly three hours of actual water time on their standard tour, an hour more than most competitors pack into the same four-hour trip. Book the whole boat if you want a private group.
• Juneau Whale Watch. A member of Whale Sense Alaska, a certification program for operators who follow responsible wildlife viewing distances and speeds. Departs by coach bus from the Mount Roberts Tramway lot downtown, thirty minutes out to Auke Bay Harbor.
• Juneau Lighthouse Tours. Pairs whale watching with a stop at Sentinel Island Lighthouse in Lynn Canal, one of the first lighthouses activated in Southeast Alaska, plus a Brotherhood Bridge stop for a Mendenhall Glacier view on the way.
• Jayleen’s Alaska. A private charter option if you want the whole boat to yourself rather than sharing a deck with strangers, priced by the boat rather than by the seat.

What It Costs

Standard small-group tours run $150 to $200 per person for three to four hours, snacks usually included, sometimes a Mendenhall Glacier stop bundled in. Watch for the difference between a straight whale watching tour and a combo tour that adds a Mendenhall Glacier hike, since the combo runs closer to $199 and eats a bigger chunk of your day.

Booking directly with a local operator instead of through your cruise line’s shore excursion desk is usually the better move on price. The cruise line adds a markup for convenience, and the boat you end up on is often the same one you could have booked yourself for less.

Private charters are a different math entirely. Jayleen’s Alaska prices a four-hour private boat at $1,200 flat, plus $350 for each additional hour, which only makes sense if you are splitting it across a group of six or more, or you specifically want no other passengers on board.

Check the cancellation policy before you book, especially in shoulder season when weather is more likely to cause a reschedule. Most operators charge a small fee for cancelling a week out and get progressively less forgiving the closer you get to your tour time, with little to no refund inside 24 hours.

Tipping your captain and naturalist is expected and not included in the tour price. Ten to fifteen percent is standard if the crew worked to find you whales rather than just running a fixed loop and hoping.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are my actual odds of seeing a whale?

Most established operators run sighting rates above 90 percent during the summer season. It is genuinely high, but no honest operator promises 100 percent, since these are wild animals in open water.

Is a whale watching tour worth it if I am on a tight cruise ship schedule?

Yes, if you pick a standard three to four hour tour rather than a combo. Book through a local operator directly rather than the ship’s excursion desk if your port time allows it, since it is usually cheaper for the same boat.

Will I get seasick?

Less likely here than on an open-ocean whale watching trip. Auke Bay and the nearby channels are sheltered water, though a rough day still happens, so take precautions if you know you are prone to it.

Is a smaller boat or a bigger boat better for seeing whales?

Smaller boats can get closer and maneuver faster when a whale surfaces nearby, which some people prefer. Bigger boats are steadier and have more space to move around, which matters more if seasickness or mobility is a concern.

What should I actually bring?

Layers, since it is cold on the water even in July, and a windproof outer layer matters more than anything else. Bring real camera gear if photos matter to you, since a phone camera struggles at the distance and speed a breaching whale usually happens at.

Should I book a private charter instead of a shared boat?

Only if you have a group large enough to make the per-person math work, roughly six or more people, or you specifically want the boat to yourself. For two people or a small family, a shared small-group tour gets you the same whales for a fraction of the price.