Whales, puffins, and rivers of ice: Alaska’s Kenai Fjords charges zero to enter

Alaska’s wildest park costs nothing to enter

Kenai Fjords National Park sits on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, about 130 miles south of Anchorage, and more than half of its 670,000 acres is buried under ice. Glaciers pour down from the mountains into the sea.

Whales surface beside tour boats. Puffins crowd the cliff faces.

The small port town of Seward is your way in, and the park charges no entrance fee. What waits past the trailhead and beyond the harbor is the kind of place that’s hard to explain until you’ve seen it.

The icefield that feeds nearly 40 glaciers

The Harding Icefield is the heart of this park, and the numbers alone tell you something.

It spans more than 700 square miles, reaches depths of about 4,000 feet, and feeds nearly 40 glaciers that carve their way down through valleys and into the sea.

It’s the largest icefield sitting entirely within the United States. The Sugpiaq people, also known as the Alutiiq, have lived along this coastline for generations.

The park became a national monument in 1978 and earned full national park status in 1980.

Walk right up to Exit Glacier from the road

Exit Glacier is the one glacier in the park you can reach by car, just a short drive from Seward on Exit Glacier Road. Along the trail, wooden markers show where the glacier’s edge stood in past decades.

The retreat is measurable, year by year. The glacier got its name from a 1968 expedition that crossed the Harding Icefield and used it as their exit point.

The Glacier View Loop runs about a mile and is wheelchair accessible. Add another half mile on the Glacier Overlook Trail and the views get closer and steeper.

Eight miles up to where the world goes white

The Harding Icefield Trail is the hardest hike in the park and one of the best.

The round trip covers 8.2 miles and climbs about 3,500 feet, pushing through forest, wildflower meadows, and bare alpine rock before the icefield opens up in front of you.

At the top, ice stretches to every horizon, broken only by the tips of mountains called nunataks poking through the surface. Give yourself six to eight hours and pack for weather that can shift without warning.

Marmot Meadows and Top of the Cliffs make solid turnaround points if you want a shorter day.

Boat tours take you where the road can’t go

Most of the park’s coastline has no road access. The only way to see it is by water, and tour boats leave Seward every morning through the summer.

Half-day trips cover Resurrection Bay. Full-day cruises push deeper into Aialik Bay or Northwestern Fjord.

Out there, tidewater glaciers drop walls of ice into the sea with a boom you feel as much as hear. Aialik Glacier sits at the head of Aialik Bay, fed directly by the icefield.

Holgate Glacier, nearby in Holgate Arm, is another landmark on most full-day routes.

Seals sleeping on icebergs in the remote fjord

Northwestern Fjord sits in the far western reaches of the park, and getting there takes a full-day cruise. The fjord holds Northwestern Glacier, which still reaches the sea, along with Anchor and Ogive glaciers nearby.

Harbor seals drift past on chunks of floating ice, resting between dives. Waterfalls drop straight down the fjord walls in thin white lines.

The whole scene is far enough from Seward that you’ll share it with far fewer people than the closer bays, and that distance makes it worth the longer boat ride.

Humpbacks, orcas, and the whales you don’t expect

Humpback whales feed in these waters from mid-spring through fall.

Sometimes you’ll see them work in groups, circling schools of fish with rising columns of bubbles before lunging through the surface together. Orca pods move through in summer, chasing salmon.

Gray whales pass through in spring, heading north to the Arctic. Fin whales, the second largest whale species on Earth, also show up in the park’s waters.

Keep an eye on the bow of the boat and you’ll likely spot Dall’s porpoises racing alongside at full speed.

Sea otters, sea lions, and goats on the cliffs

Sea otters float on their backs in small groups called rafts, sometimes holding paws to keep from drifting apart. They stay warm through the densest fur of any mammal, no blubber required.

Steller sea lions haul out on rocky shores and make their presence known with deep, rolling roars. Harbor seals park themselves on icebergs near the glacier faces and watch the boats go by.

Up on the steep coastal cliffs, mountain goats pick their way along ledges that look too narrow to hold them. You can spot them from the water.

Puffins pack the cliffs in summer

Two kinds of puffins nest on the park’s rocky islands and cliff faces through the summer. Tufted puffins are all black with long yellow plumes on their heads.

Horned puffins carry white chests and bright orange beaks. Both share the cliffs with common murres, kittiwakes, and cormorants.

Bald eagles are common too, and Alaska holds the largest bald eagle population of any state in the country.

The Chiswell Islands, part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, sit along many boat tour routes and hold some of the biggest seabird colonies in the park.

Paddle past icebergs without any prior experience

Guided kayak trips run into Aialik Bay and Northwestern Fjord, putting you at water level beside glaciers that tower above the surface. Icebergs drift past at arm’s length.

Harbor seals pop their heads up to look at you and then sink back down. Most guided trips don’t require any kayaking experience.

Black bears sometimes appear along the shoreline, which is easier to enjoy from the water than on foot.

The National Park Service recommends going with a guide because the fjords open to the Gulf of Alaska and conditions can turn fast.

The park is growing in popularity but still feels far away

Kenai Fjords set a visitation record in 2025, drawing more than 425,000 people.

Even so, the park still feels like the edge of the world compared to the crowded national parks in the lower 48. The Exit Glacier campground is the only developed campground inside the park and costs nothing to use.

Two public-use cabins in Aialik Bay put you within sight of tidewater glaciers for an overnight stay. The park stays open all year, but most boat tours and visitor services run from late May through September.

Two and a half hours south of Anchorage by road

Seward sits about 2.5 hours south of Anchorage along the Seward Highway, a scenic drive that cuts through the Chugach Mountains.

If you’d rather skip the drive, the Alaska Railroad runs a summer train between the two cities. Cruise ship passengers also arrive through Seward as a port of call.

Once you’re in town, Exit Glacier Road runs about 12 miles into the park, ending at the trailhead and nature center. For those without a car, a shuttle connects Seward to Exit Glacier through the summer season.

Visit Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska

You can start planning your trip through the official website for Kenai Fjords National Park, where you’ll find trail maps, boat tour operators, and cabin reservation info.

The park entrance is free, and the Exit Glacier area is at the end of Exit Glacier Road, about 12 miles from downtown Seward. Boat tours book up fast in summer, so reserve early.

The Exit Glacier campground is first-come, first-served. If you want a cabin in Aialik Bay, those reservations open months in advance and go quickly.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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