Kenai Fjords National Park
On the southern coast of Alaska, just outside of the fishing town of Seward, lies one of the best national parks for wildlife and up close glacier viewing. There are just under 40 glaciers connected to the Harding Icefield and the icy water in the surrounding fjords provides incredible whale watching and other wildlife viewing. For being an extremely remote park, it is actually quite simple to explore (unlike the majority of Alaska’s National Parks) with a couple of hiking trails on land and various boat tour options on the water.
Most Recent Visit
May 2015
When to Go
Given the majority of this park can only be visited by boat tour, we’d recommend visiting between mid-May and mid-September as that is when the majority of the boat tours are running. There are a few tours that run outside of these dates, but they will be less focused on the actual park and more focused on certain wildlife that is in the area at that particular time of year.
How to Get Here
It is surprisingly easy to get this park, which is definitely not the case for most other Alaska National Parks. You’ll fly into Anchorage and then drive about 2.5 hours south to the town of Seward which is where all of the boat tours will take off from and is also very close to the Exit Glacier area where the few hikes start from.
Trip Length
We’d recommend at least 2 days to visit the park. You will spend one day touring the park on a boat tour and then one day hiking in the Exit Glacier area of the park. Seward is also a very cool town, so you could easily spend a third day exploring and relaxing in the town or visiting some of the nearby attractions between Seward and Anchorage.
Where to Stay
There are many hotels and Airbnb/Vrbo options in and around the Seward area, but there is normally a very large demand during the May to September period. We’d highly recommend reserving your lodging far in advance to give yourself the most options to choose from. You can expect to pay over $200 per night, but there are a few budget options available if you book early enough. You can also camp in the Exit Glacier area if you are on an extreme budget or prefer getting a little closer to the great outdoors.
What to Do
As mentioned above, the primary things to do in this park are to take a half or full day boat tour and to hike one or more of the trails in the Exit Glacier area. Before doing this though, you can visit the park’s Visitor Center in the town of Seward to watch the park film, see exhibits, and ask about current trail conditions in the park.
Boat Tours
There are a few boat tour companies in the Seward area, but there is one that we would specifically recommend based on the experience of ourselves and our clients – Major Marine Tours. There are a number of tour options with Major Marine depending on the time you have available and your budget. The tour we have taken is the 7.5-hour Kenai Fjord National Park Cruise which costs $245 plus tax per person in 2025. On this fully narrated tour, you’ll visit two tidewater glaciers and get to listen to them calve off into the ocean which is an amazing experience. You’ll also likely see plenty of whales (both humpback and orcas, though orcas are primarily around earlier in the tour season) and other types of wildlife while out on the water. We’ve also had a lot of luck on this tour of seeing whales “breach” (aka jumping out of the water) – more so than any other whale tour we have taken.
There are longer (8.5 hours – $295 in 2025) and shorter (6 hours – $225 in 2025) National Park Cruises offered by Major Marine. The primary difference is the number of glaciers you see (three on the 8.5 hour tour and one on the 6 hour tour). All of their tours offer a complimentary deli lunch as well. There are also some shorter 4 hour cruises ($145 in 2025) which are solely focused on the wildlife in the area if you are not interested in the glaciers or the park itself.
Hiking
The only place to hike inside of the park is the Exit Glacier area. There are two trails we’d recommend in this area, though we have only hiked one of them so far.
Exit Glacier View and Overlook Loop (2.2 miles RT with 314 feet of elevation)
This is the trail we have hiked and is the most popular with others. Considered an easy trail, you’ll walk from the parking lot to a panoramic view of Exit Glacier spilling into the valley from the Harding Icefield. If you dare, you can also head down into the valley and walk right up to the glacier, but keep in mind this is dangerous as the valley is subject to flash flooding and ice could break off the glacier at any moment and you certainly would not want to be standing on it or under it when that happens.
Harding Icefield Trail (8.6 miles RT with 3,198 feet of elevation)
This is a hike we have not yet attempted, but is supposed to be a spectacular hike up to the Harding Icefield. At over 3,000 feet of elevation, this is a very challenging hike. In addition, snow typically remains on the trail until early July which makes this more of a mountaineering trail until that time. Therefore, unless you have that experience, we’d recommend hiking this in July or August once the snow on the trail has melted off. Make sure you understand the trail conditions before taking off.
While this park may not be the largest or most well-known in Alaska, it’s definitely worth a visit!