33 Bear watching holidays. If you’re looking for a bear watching holiday, then take your pick from our selection of great bear holidays. Whether you want to see giant pandas in China, polar bears in the Arctic, grizzly bears in Canada or brown bears in Finland these are amazing wildlife encounters with not-so-gentle giants. Chose from watching bears from a hide in a forest, tracking them in their natural habitat or volunteering at a bear sanctuary. Our bear watching holidays bring you closer to the magnificent bears whilst considering a respectful distance when appropriate.


These full and frank independent Bear watching holidays reviews are from travellers who have booked directly through responsibletravel.com. They are not edited by us or any of the companies we work with. Find the real story, from real travellers below.

Amazing! It was everything I had hoped for, and I cant wait to get back and photograph them again, either in Autumn or spring in the snow!
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The two day one night walk in Mount Aspiring national park. It was a very enjoyable walk and the sun, mountains, river and scenery was just stunning!...Honestly the best holiday I have ever been on. There was a good level of 'comfort' as well, not a hardcore trip in that sense.
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Our vacation was a dream come true. Owner, Keith has built the whole place by hand with logs he found on the nearby beaches. What he has done is remarkable and his wife Randi adds the special touches that make the place really feel like being home.
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Simply breathtaking. The scenic beauty, the wonderful accommodations, the fantastic tours all added up to create a lifetime of memories.
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The most exciting part of our holiday was viewing the (many) grizzly bears in a natural environment without any interference with nature. Specifically, it was thrilling to see several mothers with cubs!
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Most memorable? Actually seeing a bear - it was just so fantastic! I would rate it as excellent - I had a fantastic time and was what I needed to recharge the batteries.
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Getting to watch grizzly bears in their natural environment was the most exciting part. Superb! Julius and Krisin were fabulous hosts, who helped to make a great end to my month in British Columbia.
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An incredible experience. The countryside is simply stunning. The horses were happy and healthy, and being able to ride for hours a day around the Chilcotin Mountains was such a wonderful freedom.
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It was a fabulous experience. Despite being in a "wild" environment I felt safe, because of the company of the other travellers, the care our guide and the hotel staff.
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Watching the polar bears playing and posing for us was the most memorable... Great experience.
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Meeting the bears and being able to really make a difference to their day-to-day lives with enrichment, feeding and cleaning; some of the things we were doing (such as enrichment to keep the bears active and happy) wouldn't get done unless we were there to help out!
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Romania is a beautiful spectacular country, so from the moment I was travelling from Bucharest to Brasov I knew that I had come to a really excellent destination. I was very impressed by the people who run the sanctuary on a daily basis particularly Laci & Emi and Mateusz our driver!
(more)We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
Polar bears are commonly used by the media to illustrate the effect of climate change in polar regions but we ask is the biggest threat to polar bears really climate change or the hunters? The iconic polar bear is rapidly becoming the furry face of the effects of climate change. This species has been listed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list since 2006 and was "believed to be threatened" since 1965, but recently made the news when it was announced that polar bears were under consideration to be added to the US endangered species list. However, a new debate has started to rage on the issue of climate change and its effects on polar bears. Bjorn Lomborg in his new book ‘cool it’ has questioned the legitimacy of the research on climate change and its effects on polar bears. Instead he calls for the money spent on climate change mitigation to be spent on human life saving projects such as fighting HIV/AIDS. He not only refutes the statistics that polar bear numbers are decreasing but insists that hunting is more of a threat to polar bears than climate change is.
Read more about bear watching holidays in this bear watching holidays article.