Bear watching in Alaska
Our Alaska wildlife Holidays
Denali National Park holiday in Alaska
Experience untouched wilderness off the beaten path
Alaska Glacier Bay small ship cruise
Get close up to Alaska where the big ships can't go
Alaska adventure holiday, salmon run
Active small group adventures in a retrofitted school bus
Alaska adventure holiday
Go deep into the wild on this active Alaskan adventure.
Brown bear photography holiday in Alaska
Photograph Alaskan brown bears in exclusive photo tour
Kenai Peninsula adventure holiday in Alaska
Orcas, Humpbacks and Glaciers: Experience Alaska's coastline
Inner Reaches Western Coves cruise in Alaska
Some of southern Alaska's iconic destinations by small ship
Alaska wildlife holidays
An ultimate Alaskan adventure with wildlife and wilderness
Inside Passage, Seattle to Juneau cruise, Alaska
The classic Inside Passage cruise from Seattle to Juneau
South east Alaska cruise
Spectacular scenery and amazing wildlife in remote Alaska
Inner Reaches Eastern Coves cruise in Alaska
Awe-inspiring glaciers, wildlife, and rainforests in Alaska
Alaska's Islands cruise, whales & glaciers
Wild Alaska on one of the world's smallest cruise ships
Alaska classic tour, glaciers and grizzly bears
See huge bears & drive/kayak/cruise/fly thru South Alaska.
Kodiak bear tracking tour in Alaska
Alaskan adventure looking for the large grizzlies
Alaska Glacier Bay and wildlife cruise
Glaciers, Humpbacks, grizzlies and mountains - Get up close
Outdoor Alaska holiday
A wildlife trip to awaken the senses
The bear necessities
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve lies just southwest of Anchorage and is one of the best places in Alaska to see bears. Cornelia Kinley joined a brown bear photography holiday there in 2019. “We spent almost every available hour looking for, finding and photographing bears. Being able to be so close to them, to watch their behaviour and get such good pictures in the process was amazing. It felt safe, yet the bears were in their normal habitat, and we were not confined to a hide or platform which made the experience incredibly special.”But a typical Alaska wildlife holiday is going to take you to several locations across a week or more. You’ll find them grazing in meadows (bears are omnivores, they’re just as content with berries and roots as they are with fish and caribou), wandering roadsides in search of carrion, nosing around rocky beaches and snapping at salmon in rivers. If you’re incredibly lucky, you might see a mama bear plodding along with her cubs. In comparison to more accessible USA national parks further south, such as Yosemite, those in Alaska see relatively few visitors. Bears don’t see people as a threat, or a potential source of food. So as long as you don’t get in their faces, they don’t tend to be too bothered by your presence.
Our top Alaska wildlife Holiday
Denali National Park holiday in Alaska
Experience untouched wilderness off the beaten path
2021: 13 Jun, 4 Jul, 25 Jul, 15 Aug
2022: 12 Jun, 3 Jul, 24 Jul, 14 Aug, 27 Aug
Specialist wildlife tours
If you really want to super charge your opportunities of a sighting rather than just taking your chances as you go along, then you can opt for a specialist wildlife tour, such as a brown bear photography holiday that focuses on Lake Clark. Holidays of this kind will likely be led by an expert in bear behaviours, which could potentially be very useful – “This group appears to be encircling us, and do you see how some of them are licking their lips? I wonder what that means?”You may also be accompanied by a professional photographer, able to offer pointers on technique and composition. You’ll stay in accommodations such as wilderness lodges, located right in the bears’ habitat. In this kind of situation, you’ll not only be encountering bears close-up regularly, but there will be someone next to you able to anticipate and interpret what they’re going to do next, helping you get great shots. Cornelia Kinley found the experience immensely rewarding: “Lake Clark is an incredibly special place, and there are restrictions on the number of people who can stay in lodges within it. The lodge guides were careful to restrict the numbers photographing individual bears and made sure people kept a respectful distance from the bears. The bears therefore seemed at ease with us and continued their usual behaviour.”