Glacier Gardens or Rainforest & Sea Coast Nature Walk?

[In-the-Glade]

Has anyone done either or both of these? My group is going ziplining which I can't do but I would like to do one of these while they are zipping. Any advice about them?

 

Angie

[Budget Queen]

Glacier Gardens, would be my choice, IF you are only considering a ship tour??

 

IF independent minded, I would just get the Mendenhall shuttle bus from the dock and do some "rainforrest" hiking there, for $14. Ranger activies are also offered, depending on the day. (you could call and see what may be scheduled?)

 

 

Overall, I find these ship tours- "Nature walk" essentially very tame, going as fast as the slowest person and more talking about plants, very very high cost overall in my opinion.

 

 

There are also other bus tours to consider.

[isles1]

We did Glacier Gardens paired with Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. Everyone we spoke with agreed it was nothing special and would have skipped it if they had known. The bus drops you off at a glorified Greenhouse with a snack bar. Then you load onto golf carts for a guided "Drive" into the Tongrass National Forest that the nursery backs up to. The highlight of the tour was a bald eagle that flew within 10 feet of us when we were up on their observation deck. Without that, it would have been wholly disappointing.

 

I agree that just taking the Mendenhall shuttle to the Visitor Center in Juneau is the best use of your time and value for your dollar.

 

If you want a rainforest walk, schedule something in Ketchikan (if you are not planning on doing a Misty Fjord tour). We did the Wilderness and Rainforest Adventure (thru NCL) that we enjoyed very much. That includes a powerboat tour and a guided rainforest walk. Outside of ziplines and Misty Fjords, there really is not much else besides a rainforest walk that caught my eye in Ketchikan.

[birder22]

I think this depends on your mobility level. My family took the shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier and had a wonderful day hiking the trails. Elderly relatives traveling with us went to Glacier Gardens and raved about the beautiful flowers and their nice guide on the golf cart tour. We each chose an activity that suited our stamina and mobilty.

[LoveThisCruisingThing]

I went to Glacier Gardens last year and thought it was gogeous. There are great views at the top. Mendehall is also great. Can't wait to go back next year. I think either tours are good.

[Bucky3]

We really enjoyed Glacier Gardens. Very unique and interesting tour, and the greenhouse had the most enormous beautiful hanging baskets we'd ever seen. We also like Mendenhall Glacier - both the visiting center and the short or longer trails in the area. A good combination in our opinion. We visited both places at the end of July last summer.

[mii]

We also enjoy Glacier Gardens. Now I will admit that it is something to do just once but we enjoyed the tour. We also saw on the observation deck an eagle flying an swooping really close tgo us. got great pics of that. That was a highlight. the views on the observation deck are really beautiful.

 

Marilyn