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Top Anchorage Flightseeing Destinations |
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Listed below is some of what you can expect to experience when flying from Anchorage to some of the most popular flightseeing destinations in Alaska. |
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Chugach Mountains |
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Heading east over "Anchorage's backyard," a flightseeing tour over the Chugach Mountains and its glaciers is a quick and inexpensive way to experience Alaska from the air. Just after takeoff, Anchorage disappears over the first mountain ridge and you begin spotting the glaciers, lakes, and animals of wild Alaska. The surrounding mountains and valleys provide spectacular opportunities to see moose, mountain goats, Dall's sheep, and on a lucky day, bears. Some floatplane tours also make a brief lake landing for photo opportunities and refreshments. |
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Cost: $95 – $295 |
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Length: 30 minutes to 2.25 hours |
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View all Chugach Mountain Flightseeing Tours» |
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Prince William Sound |
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This flightseeing destination offers both a wondrous landscape and a myriad of wildlife. Fly down the Turnagain Arm and over the Chugach Range to Prince William Sound, which has the densest concentration of tidewater glaciers in the world, and animals that cover land, sea and air. If you're in a floatplane and the weather is good, you can land in a secluded bay right on the waters of the sound to view marine life, including sea otters, seals, and occasionally whales. Some operators set their planes down along the coast of islands to let you hop out and beachcomb, take pictures, or eat lunch. Add a little extra time and cost for this, as well as for going the extra distance to Columbia Glacier, the largest tidewater glacier on the sound (300-foot vertical face) and one that calves directly into the waters below several times a day. |
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Cost: $255 – $285 |
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Length: 2.5 – 3 hours |
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View
all Prince William Sound Flightseeing Tours» |
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Mt. McKinley |
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By far the most popular flightseeing destination in Alaska, a tour to Mt. McKinley from Anchorage will send you flying 100 miles north over braided rivers, vast forests, and thriving wetlands to the most impressive mountain in the world. As you approach, its bottomless crevasses and mile-high cliffs fill every window of your plane. You'll see summer turn into a permanent winter and can spot climbers on the massive south face or fly over the deepest gorge in the world (the Great Gorge of Ruth Glacier). Most operators make a lakeside stop for picture taking and refreshments. If you take off from Talkeetna (two hours north of Anchorage by car), you can save a bit of money and spend more of your flight time exploring the sheer rock walls, cavernous glaciers, and endless peaks. Pay a little more for a glacier-landing tour and hop out of the plane for what will probably be the best photo opportunity of your entire Alaska vacation. Flying from Denali is another option, with views of the mountain's north face. |
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Cost: $295 – $395
(Anchorage); $175 – $325 (Talkeetna);
$225 – $295 (Denali) |
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Length: 3 hours (Anchorage); 1 – 2 hours (Talkeetna); 1 – 2.5 hours (Denali) |
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View all McKinley Flightseeing Tours» |
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Bear Viewing Destinations |
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Though you may well see a bear or two on other flightseeing tours out of Anchorage, taking a specific bear-viewing flight tour will guarantee the experience, as well as allow you to spy on and listen to these massive animals as they frolic and feed in the raging rivers. Bring lots of film and set up a tripod to assure yourself some lasting pictures of this one-of-a-kind experience. Brooks River Falls in Katmai National Park, the Katmai coast, and Big River Lakes are the most popular destinations. Which location you'll visit on a particular day depends on where your flight operator decides the best opportunities are. Operators usually tour with a floatplane or seaplane, and most serve an Alaskan lunch. Many tours also include a riverboat ride, so that you can access the salmon-filled riverbanks where brown bears snatch up agile fish as they fight their way upstream. |
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Cost: $550 – $695 |
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Length: 6 – 10 hours |
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View all Fly-In Bear Viewing Tours» |
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Other Flight Tours |
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Besides the popular destinations described above, there are lots of other possibilities for you to consider when taking a flight tour from Anchorage. Fly-in fishing trips and visits to remote cabins or lodges are among the most enjoyable. Others include volcano tours, whale watching trips, rafting or hunting tours, and you can even fly along the historic Iditarod Trail. |
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Click here for a listing of all our Fly-In Tours» |
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