Juneau, Alaska, is arguably the prettiest capital city in the United States—that is, if you like fresh air, thriving clean waters, and occasional glimpses of the northern lights through the clouds.
As with most of Southeast Alaska, those clouds are constant companions, but they’re also frequently on the move, dancing on wind currents to give you peeks of blue sky that tempt you to stay a while and see what the weather will do next.
Although Juneau isn’t on an island, in many ways it feels like it is, sitting on a toe of the mainland with a barrier of mountains and the 17-million acre Tongass National Forest at its back.
For all its beauty and culture, most visitors don’t see much of Juneau beyond the cruise terminal—but you should, because once you leave the immediate environs of the cruise docks behind, Juneau snaps into focus as a city full of creative tours, unbeatable seafood, and remarkably easy-to-access outdoor adventures.
Visiting Juneau as an independent traveler—or by tacking on a few extra days to your trip before or after a cruise—lets you dig deeper and get a true sense of the place that can be so much more rewarding than what most cruisers experience.
A Hub for Regional Transportation—and Huge Cruise Ships
With more than 30,000 year-round residents, Juneau is the largest city in Southeast Alaska, functioning as the nexus of travel and commerce in that part of the state.
And around here, travel means going by air or sea because, by and large, you simply can’t drive from one community to another. (There are exceptions: Haines and Skagway have roads linking them to Canada’s Yukon Territory, and the communities on Prince of Wales Island are linked to each other by road as well.)
Juneau is a crucial hub for many of those flights and sailings—a funnel connecting the region’s smaller communities with other parts of the state and beyond, whether by jet service from Alaska Airlines or by Alaska’s handy network of state ferries.
The city’s role as a transit center helps account for why Juneau has become a major stopping point for cruise ships, too. When a huge vessel pulls into town it creates an undeniable amount of congestion around the docks, which sit right at the edge of Juneau’s highly walkable (albeit hilly) downtown.
There are plans underway to ease that congestion. In April 2025 the Juneau Assembly approved a land lease for Huna Totem Corporation to build a new cruise dock in a location that’s still within easy reach of downtown but far enough north to help ease the crush of people disembarking in close quarters. Additionally, the project will encompass a cultural center and an underground parking facility to help ease another type of congestion in downtown Juneau.
Another cruise dock, owned by Goldbelt Incorporated and Royal Caribbean Group, is slated for construction on the far side of Douglas Island, just outside of Juneau proper. With all that in mind, it’s probably no surprise there are ongoing negotiations to put a cap on the number of cruise passengers allowed to embark in Juneau at a given time.
The truth, though, is that most passengers stick close to the ships. All it takes to get away from the crowds is to walk a block or two into downtown—which also happens to be the best way of finding locally owned shops and restaurants.
Get to Know Juneau: Tours, Strolls, and Culinary Experiences
A great way to become better acquainted with Juneau: take a tour.
The Juneau-Douglas City Museum offers walking tours led by local experts, focusing on everything from geology (with a retired geologist and naturalist as guide) to true crime (with reporters who have covered the local crime beat). You have to buy your tickets in person, but prices and schedules can be found on the museum’s website.
For a free DIY stroll, take the self-guided Juneau Voices walking tour. Scanning the QR codes scattered at 11 locations downtown will trigger recordings of local community members telling personal stories about their lives—where they grew up, how they came to be in Juneau, and all the forces that have shaped their lives in this place, from community and culture to family lore and favorite childhood haunts around town.
Other tour options include delving into Juneau’s supernatural plane with the Haunted Juneau ghost walk, sipping your way through the city’s craft breweries on the 4-hour Alaska on Tap tour, and combining food and drink offerings via Juneau Food Tours, which showcases regional specialties such as king crab, smoked salmon and salmon caviar, kelp salsa, mojitos made with local blueberries, and tea made from the thorny shrub known as devil’s club.
The company’s Wildly Elegant “culinary adventure” even includes a private, catered dinner set up in a wilderness location of your choice. This isn’t so much a case of choosing your location from a menu as telling owner Midgi Moore about your Alaska dreams, and then standing back as she makes them happen. That could mean everything from a picnic on a glacier to a surprise marriage proposal in the rainforest— with dinner and a violin serenade to boot.
Celebrate Indigenous Culture
You can’t really say you know a place until you know something about its First People—and one of the most remarkable places for doing that in Juneau is Sealaska Heritage Institute‘s Walter Soboleff Building (pictured at the top of this page).
The exterior wooden facades are carved with stylized formline art, while inside about half the building is given over to a clan house created by master Alaska Native artisans using materials both traditional and contemporary. Together, the artistic touches and superb craftsmanship encapsulate the story of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples: the way they used to live, how they live today, and how they are moving forward into the future. There is also a rotating display of smaller art pieces and a truly excellent gift shop—one of your best opportunities for purchasing authentic Alaska Native art.
If you happen to visit Juneau in early June during an even-numbered year, you might witness something else remarkable: the massive opening or closing dances for Celebration, a 4-day festival of Southeast Alaska Native culture. During the opening and closing events the streets fill with people dancing, drumming, and singing in their traditional regalia. Additionally, you can attend stand-alone events such as artist markets, performances, and an Indigenous fashion show (tickets required in some cases).
Go on an Outdoor Adventure
Juneau’s natural setting and regional connections mean it’s well-positioned for unforgettable outdoor adventures, too.
Consider, for example, True Alaskan Tours, a Native-owned company that offers day cruises to wilderness destinations such as Tracy Arm Fjord and Glacier Bay National Park. The former is an especially inviting trip for those who want to see one of Alaska’s wildest fjords but would rather observe the dramatic cliffs, waterfalls, and glaciers by boat rather than having to board a small sightseeing plane to fly over the landscape.
If you’ve come in search of bears, the locally owned Wild Coast Excursions partners with a local airline, Ward Air, to fly you to spectacular bear-viewing locations like Pack Creek on Admiralty Island—home of the highest concentration of brown bears in the world—and Waterfall Creek on Chichagof Island, which boasts a similar concentration of bruins.
You can also hop on a charter flight to access remote cabins and lodges or undertake a private custom tour. In addition to Ward Air, your options include Alaska Seaplanes, which has bear-viewing, fly-in packrafting, and other custom tours as well as regularly scheduled service to Southeast Alaska’s smaller communities.
Finally, Juneau makes a wonderful place for hopping on or off the Alaska state ferries that ply the surrounding waters. These vessels are so essential for connecting Southeast Alaska communities that the U.S. government has designated the ferries as part of the federal highway system.
Easy day-trip destinations from Juneau via ferry include the small towns of Haines or Tenakee Springs, with its famous hot springs bathhouse. Or you can use Juneau as a launching-off point for a multiday trip to Sitka, Petersburg, or Wrangell, taking the ferry one way and then hopping a short Alaska Airlines flight back when you’re ready to return.
And you’ll definitely want to return. Once you’ve taken the time to know Juneau beyond the cruise docks, there’s a certain something that will pull you back. Maybe it’s the vibrancy of a small city blending with the vibe of a small town. Or maybe it’s the way the water and ice glimmer whenever the curtain of clouds pulls back to let some sunshine through. Either way, Juneau sparkles—and you don’t want to miss it.
