Suggestion on what to do in Juneau for the day??

We are going to Juneau, Alaska, We have never been there before.

I was wondering what is their not to miss in Juneau?? and what would you recommend doing here for the day for a first time visitor?

Also this is also going to be a tender port for us. ( I guess there is going to be a few ships in port, so we cant dock)

What is Juneau like when there is quite a few ships in??

Any ideas / suggestions are very welcome :cool:

PS: Can you go up a cable car here??:confused:

Not sure if you are going this year or next year.

If this year this might be of help.

http://www.experienceketchikan.com/support-files/jnu_2017.pdf

There is lots to do and see but everyone has their own preferences.

Some of the popular activities include Whale Watching or Mendenhall Glacier.

Keith

Whale watching, Mendenhall Glacier and Mt. Roberts Tram

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I like taking the blue bus or the white bus to Mendenhall Glacier. There's no food there, so be sure to not go hungry. When you take those buses, you can stay there as long as you want. I think the buses come and go every 30 minutes. You can buy a ticket right next to where the buses park at port.

Also, take the Mount Roberts Tram up the mountain. You'll have a nice view of the harbor as you go up. There is hiking, a gift shop and a restaurant up top. I think it is $30/pp for unlimited trips up and down. You just pay for it when you get there.

I recommend the Taku Lodge float plane trip with a delicious Salmon dinner at the Lodge. A black bear often makes an appearance after the Salmon has been cooked on the grill outdoors to have a taste for him/herself. (The bear stole the show!)

A visit to the Alaska State Museum, which is in easy walking distance from where the ships' dock, provides an excellent opportunity to learn about the natural, social, cultural, and historic history of our 49th State.

We did the Taku Lodge excursion that rkacruiser mentions. It was amazing! I got that recommendation from this forum and it was a great one.

Before the excursion, we took the shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier and hiked to Nugget Falls. We then stopped and had a soda at the Red Dog Saloon. It was too cloudy for the Mt. Roberts tram and my MIL is afraid of heights so we skipped that. But it was a great day!

Other popular excursions are taking a helicopter or kayaking to the glacier and whale watching.

Yes.. You can definitely take the Tram up to the top of Mt Roberts, it's a beautiful view from the top, and if you're up to it, and the weather's good you can walk/hike down on the nature trail from behind the summit house

Enjoy Juneau !

Srpilo

We spent the morning doing a self-guided walking tour of Juneau that I found online. It's a compact city and we covered a lot of ground in a couple of hours. On this tour, you walk right by the Governor's Mansion (and I mean "RIGHT" by) and you go to the "Empty Chair Memorial" which has a fascinating history. Lots of other interesting sites too.

Then, in the afternoon, we did a guided kayaking tour on Lake Mendenhall, so we had an excellent view of the glacier and even kayaked right by some icebergs!

Always have a backup plan. When we were in Juneau last week, it was foggy, cloudy, and raining. The planes and helicopters were grounded and you could not see a lot on the tram.

We were lucky and booked a gold mine tour and other than some rain, tour was not effected by the weather.

Even though there were several other ships in port, town didn't seem crowded in the late afternoon when we went shopping.

Don

Not sure if you are going this year or next year.

We are going this year.

Thank You very much you guys for your information and help :)

4 of us shared a taxi (booked in advance through Evergreen) to Mendenhall - about $35 each way (plus about $7 each for the park fees). Much cheaper and more convenient than the tour bus option at about $40 per person.

We were there last week. Booked a whale watching/Mendenhall Glacier excursion and bought tickets for the Mt Roberts Tram on the ship. When we returned from the excursion, we were tired and it was foggy/rainy, so we had dinner at Tracy's Crab Shack and returned the tram tickets