Alaska Glaciers

There are three ways to view a glacier in Alaska. By air, sea, or land. There is nothing more amazing than walking right up to the face of a glacier that you can touch.

By sea:
Cruise liners pull close to the "rivers of ice" in Glacier Bay National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Prince William Sound. Smaller boats carry sightseers on day trips to the blue ice of Prince William Sound and Kenai Fjords National Park. These trips are readily available in Valdez, Whittier and Seward. Cruises and day trips are the way to go if you want to hear the legendary thunder of calving glaciers and see huge faces of blue ice.


By land:
A number of glaciers are within viewing distance of Alaska's highways, and you can even walk up to (and on) some of them. Alaska has several roadside glaciers where the adventurous can park, walk a short distance and touch the ice. Visitors also can find themselves across a river or a lake from a glacier. They can hike on glacial moraines and admire the U-shaped valleys carved by these rivers of ice.



By air:
Sightseeing trips aboard small planes and helicopters provide both an overreaching view and sometimes a glacier landing. Flightseeing companies that land on the ice provide cold-weather gear and guide you on a safe area of the glacier.