Juneau Travel Forum

Hi - Hoping someone can help with what is the best thing to do in Juneau in one day. My wife and I are going to be visiting in late August off a cruise ship and there are too many excursions to choose from on our itinerary. We are from Australia and are keen to see glaciers, bears, moose, eat salmon, crabs & explore Alaskan heritage & history. Any help from other travellers would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks. Rob & Vicky

On our cruise to Alaska several years ago, we separated for the day in Juneau as my then husband wanted to bike to one of the glaciers. He really loved that. I, on the other hand, went on an excursion to a rainforest and found that very interesting. I found out a lot about bears. :-) There are lots of salmon places in Juneau, and I think we also took a ride up the side of a hill for a view down to the town.

I was there for 3 days, my husband and I enjoyed the Mt. Roberts tramway and hiking further up for great views.
You can also see the Mendenhall glacier there, but it's receded a lot, so you can't get all that close to it.
If money is no object, I recommend a helo ride that take you out to a glacier, where you put on crampons and really get to see the cracks, crevaces, and pools of really blue and clean water. Unfortunately, I don't remember waht company I went with.
My favorite restaurant was the Twisted Fish. The Hanger has a neat atmosphere too (you watch the seaplanes landing!)
My parents went on an Alaska cruise last year. They said it's a lot cheaper to plan your own tours than to sign onto the one the cruise ship company puts together.

You're right - lots to see and do.
Ride out to Mendenhall Glacier - very close to town, but you aren't likely to see bear and moose from that. It has receeded as have most glaciers in the world, but you can hike out fairly close to a great waterfall. Have been a few black bear sightings right near the governor's mansion downtown this summer.
We saw a bear on our whale watching trip (and eat a great salmon bake lunch at a remote lodge).
History and heritage displayed well at the Alaska Museum downtown.
Twisted Fish or The Hanger as above writer mentioned are two "best bets" for salmon and crab (and a whole bunch more).

We took the one day "best of Juneau" tour which was advertised as a whale watching trip, visit to Mendenhall glacier and a salmon bake. I think a similar tour is offered by most cruise lines. This was one of the best days of our entire trip. The whale watching was wonderful, great scenery and plenty of whales, sea lions and more. While it would have been nice to have more time to hike around Mendenhall glacier area, it was great to have the hour or so to go to the Visitors Center, take a short hike (saw a young bear close up)and the salmon bake was great fun and delicious. I'd recommend that type of tour highly.

When I was there in 1994, I enjoyed an organ concert in a shopping mall. Is that still available? If so, when & where (street address) is the mall? I remember an antique organ on display & a man giving a short concert that was excellent...at lunchtime. I hope it is still an event to enjoy in Juneau.
Thanks for your help.
Linda

Budget Queen was kind enough to email me about this concert...it is in the Staate Office Building in Juneau, still going on. Here is an article about it:
http://www.pstos.org/instruments/ak/juneau/state-bldg.htm

If you are into music or happen to play the organ, or just want a nice detour from busyness, you might want to check this out in Juneau. & best of all, it's free.

Aloha, Linda