Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier Express Bus with 2hr Stop

4.59

(493 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I noticed was the way the bus doors whooshed open right at the Juneau cruise terminal—just this little gust of cold air carrying a hint of pine. Our driver, Mike, had that dry Alaskan humor (“Don’t feed the bears. They don’t tip.”), and as we pulled away, he pointed out a bald eagle perched on a streetlamp like it owned the place. The road to Mendenhall Glacier is all winding greens and sudden flashes of water—you kind of lose track of time watching it go by.

When we arrived, I could see that blue-white stretch of ice across Mendenhall Lake before I even stepped off the bus. There’s something about seeing a glacier in person—honestly, photos never get the color right. I wandered down one of the shorter trails first, crunching gravel under my boots while a group of kids tried to skip stones into the lake (not much luck). If you’re thinking about hiking to Nugget Falls, do it first—the roundtrip took me just under an hour, but I kept stopping to watch water drip off mossy branches. My gloves got soaked; didn’t care.

Inside the Visitor Center (entry’s included), it was warm and smelled faintly like wet wool coats and coffee from someone’s thermos. There are these big windows where you can just stand and stare at Mendenhall Glacier—nobody rushed me. One ranger explained how fast the glacier’s been shrinking; her voice got quiet for a second when she talked about changes she’d seen over twenty years. I still think about that.