- Anan Wildlife Observatory: When the fish are running, you can see many dozens of black bears feeding in a salmon stream from close at hand. Access is easiest from Wrangell.
- Pack Creek (Admiralty Island): The brown bears of the island, which is more thickly populated with them than anywhere else on Earth, have learned to ignore the daily visitors who stand on the platforms at Pack Creek. Access is by air from Juneau.
- Katmai National Park: During the July and September salmon runs, dozens of giant brown bears congregate around Brooks Camp, where, from wooden platforms a few yards away, you can watch the full range of their behaviors. Flight services from Kodiak also bring guests at any time of the summer to see bears dig clams on the park's eastern seashore.
- Kodiak Island: The island's incredible salmon runs nourish the world's largest bears, Kodiak brown bears; pilots know where to find them week to week, landing floatplanes as near as possible.
- Denali National Park: The park offers the best and least expensive wildlife-viewing safari in the state. Passengers on the buses that drive the park road as far as mile 63 usually see at least some grizzlies.
- Frederick Sound (Petersburg): A humpback jumped right into the boat with whale-watchers here in 1995. The whales show up reliably for feeding each summer. Small boats from Petersburg have no trouble finding them and watching in intimate circumstances.
- Icy Strait (Gustavus) and Bartlett Cove (Glacier Bay National Park): Humpback whales show up and often orcas are present off Point Adolphus, in Icy Strait, just a few miles from little Gustavus, a town of luxurious country inns, and in Bartlett Cove within Glacier Bay National Park.
- Sitka Sound: Lots of otters and humpback whales show up in the waters near Sitka. In fall, when the town holds its Whale Fest, you can spot them from a city park built for the purpose.
- Kenai Fjords National Park (near Seward): You don't have to go all the way into the park -- you're pretty well assured of sea otters and sea lions in Resurrection Bay, near Seward, and humpbacks and killer whales are often seen in the summer, too.
- Prince William Sound: Otters, seals, and sea lions are easy -- you'll see them on most trips out of Valdez, Whittier, or Cordova -- but you also have a chance of spotting both humpback and killer whales in the Sound.
The Best Bear-Viewing
There are many places to see bears in Alaska, but if your goal is to make sure you see a bear -- and potentially lots of bears -- these are the best places:
The Best Marine Mammal Viewing
You've got a good chance of seeing marine mammals almost anywhere you go boating in Alaska, but in some places it's almost guaranteed.
