Kenai Fjords National Park Exit Glacier: the one you reach by road

Almost everyone who types “kenai fjords national park exit glacier” is holding two different days in their head at once and does not know it yet. The park has a piece you drive to and a piece you sail to, and the ice in each is not the same ice.

The piece you drive to is Exit Glacier. It is the only glacier in the park a road reaches, which is exactly why it is famous and why every list of things to do near Seward puts it near the top. You get there on land, you walk, and the ice is in front of you at the end of a path rather than beyond a railing on a boat. That is a land day, and it is not something we sell. The road, the trails, the hours and any charge at the entrance belong to the National Park Service, and we are not going to quote you numbers that are theirs to publish.

The piece you sail to is the coast. Kenai Fjords National Park is mostly fjords, and the glaciers that made them still come down to the water and end in it. Those are tidewater glaciers, and they are what a glacier cruise is for: the boat gets in front of a wall of ice standing in the sea, shuts the engines off, and you wait to hear it move. $271 names Aialik and Holgate as the places it does this. $297 names two active tidewater glacier stops with the chance of a calving event.

You cannot see one from the other. The boats leave the small boat harbour in Seward, run out through Resurrection Bay past the seabird cliffs, and turn along the coast. Exit Glacier sits inland, in its own valley, facing the other way. Nobody on any sailing on this site is going to point it out to you, because it is not there to point at.

So this page does the honest thing. It explains the difference properly, it tells you where to go for the land side, and then it gives you the whole boat side in detail: what the six hours sailings do, what the seven and a half hours one adds, what is on the table at lunch, and what all of it costs. If you have time for both halves of the park, take both. If you have one day, the rest of this page is about the half we can actually book for you.

Where it starts. Every Kenai Fjords National Park sailing we carry leaves from the small boat harbour in Seward. There is no trailhead in it and no road section: the day is the boat. The catamarans are described in the listings as large, stable and high-speed, which is the operator telling you that the coast outside the bay is open water and the boat is built for it.

The first stretch: Resurrection Bay. The run out of the bay is not filler. $267 names the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and its seabird rookeries along the way, and every Seward listing puts whales, sea otters, sea lions, puffins and seals on the list of what the crew look for. $265 describes the cruise through Resurrection Bay in those words exactly.

The part the extra hours buy. This is the only real choice on the Seward side, and it is a simple one: how far along the coast the boat gets before it has to turn round. $265 and $267 are six hours days. $271 is seven. $297 is seven and a half hours, and the extra time is spent further into the fjords rather than sitting somewhere longer. Its listing is the one that names two active tidewater glacier stops.

What happens at the ice. A tidewater glacier is a wall standing in the water, and the boat holds off it while everybody waits for a piece to let go. $271 names Aialik and Holgate as the calving stops. $297 promises the opportunity rather than the event, which is the right way to write it: nobody schedules ice. Binoculars are named in the inclusions on both catamaran sailings, and a captain or a wildlife guide is on board to say what you are looking at — $267 even names the geology of the Harding Icefield and the fjords as part of what the guide covers, which is the closest any boat listing comes to the ice that feeds Exit Glacier.

Lunch, and what else is in the fare. Every Seward sailing here includes a meal. $265 and $297 name a deli lunch with a turkey, roast beef or vegetarian sandwich, plus coffee, tea and water. $267 names a hot lunch — a southwest chicken burrito with tortilla chips — an on-board wildlife guide, the Alaska SeaLife Center donation and the Seward port fees. $271 names a hot lunch, the wildlife guide, the SeaLife Center donation and all fees and taxes. $297 also names a shuttle from the railroad depot, which is worth knowing if you are arriving by train.

What is not in any of them. Exit Glacier. No sailing on this site goes past it, stops near it or includes admission to the land side of the park. If you want both halves, they are two separate outings on two separate clocks, and the boat one is the one with a booking page.

If you want the longest run into the park: $297. seven and a half hours from Seward on a high-speed catamaran, two active tidewater glacier stops with the chance of a calving event, a knowledgeable captain, binoculars, a deli lunch, drinks and a shuttle from the railroad depot. It carries 391 reviews at 4.9 and it is our pick of the ten listings on this site.

If you want the same park in a shorter day: $265. six hours through Resurrection Bay and out to the tidewater glaciers, with a captain guide, binoculars, coffee, tea, water and the same deli lunch. It is the lowest fare from Seward on this site and the most reviewed of the ten: 851 reviews at 4.9.

If the wildlife is the point: $267. Also six hours, but the listing is built around the refuge and its seabird rookeries, a dedicated on-board wildlife guide and the geology of the Harding Icefield. A hot lunch rather than a sandwich, and the SeaLife Center donation and Seward port fees are inside the fare. 149 reviews at 4.9.

If you want the captain to choose the day: $271. Seven hours, with the route picked on the morning for the conditions, Aialik and Holgate named as the calving stops, a hot lunch, a wildlife guide and all fees and taxes included. It holds the highest rating on the site at 5.0, though from 25 reviews, so read that as a small sample rather than a verdict.

The verdict. Book $297. On a coast where the whole question is how far in you get before the boat turns round, seven and a half hours with two named tidewater glacier stops is the version of this day that answers it, and 391 reviews at 4.9 say it holds up. Take $265 instead when your day in Seward is short or when you are travelling with someone who would rather not be on the water for a full working day. And if you came here for Exit Glacier itself, keep it as a separate outing on land — it is the one part of this park that no boat can take you to.

1. Booking a cruise to see Exit Glacier. It is not on any sailing’s route. The boats leave the small boat harbour in Seward and go seaward; the glacier sits inland up its own valley. Two halves of one park, two separate outings.
2. Thinking the park has one glacier. It has the one with a road to it and a coastline of ice that ends in the sea. $271 names Aialik and Holgate; $297 names two active tidewater glacier stops.
3. Expecting us to quote the land side. We sell boats. The road, the trails, the opening times and anything payable at the park itself come from the National Park Service, and we are not going to invent a number in their place.
4. Assuming a shorter sailing is a shorter version of the same route. It is not a trimmed tour, it is a nearer turning point. $297 spends its extra time further along the coast, not standing still for longer.
5. Treating the run down Resurrection Bay as dead time. That is where the seabird rookeries of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge are, and where a lot of the wildlife is actually seen. $267 builds its whole listing around it.
6. Planning a sailing outside the season. These cruises run May to September. A winter date has nothing behind it on this site.