GVA-Pixel

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

Welcome to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve!

The marine wilderness of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve includes tidewater glaciers, snow-capped mountain ranges, ocean coastlines, deep fjords and freshwater rivers and lakes. This unique and powerful place is home to a variety of marine mammals and terrestrial wildlife and a mosaic of plant communities that provide many opportunities for adventure.

Glacier Bay National Park is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Kluane/Wrangell-St.Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek region, located on the border of Alaska and Canada. Here, gargantuan ice sheets continue to move, shaping and transforming the landscape. It is a phenomenon that has been occurring since the Ice Age 11,000 years ago.

When you spend your vacation in Gustavus, you see firsthand the forces that shaped the glaciers. You stand on the glacial outwash plain where Gustavus is located, you walk through the verdant rainforest of Bartlett Cove and by tour boat, you explore the mid-bay transition to bare rocks and ice.

An eight-hour catamaran tour through the fjords of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve departs from Bartlett Cove. This narrated tour makes the 55-mile trip to the face of the glaciers every day, all summer long. The National Park concession operated catamaran trip is the only day boat tour of Glacier Bay unless you arrange for a private overnight boat charter in Gustavus.

Staff at most accommodations in Gustavus will help you plan your visit to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. For in-depth information about the park, see https://www.nps.gov/glba/index.htm