Visiting Katmai National Park should be at the top of your Alaska bucketlist, allowing you to observe one of the world’s densest populations of brown bears—2,200, to be exact—from the safety of elevated catwalks and viewing platforms.
But planning a trip to see Katmai’s famous furry residents isn’t exactly the most straightforward. Traveling to this remote park on your own typically requires flying to the itty bitty town of King Salmon and then taking a seaplane or water taxi over to Katmai. Add in challenges, like the dynamic weather of Alaska’s coastline and mechanical issues with small bush planes, and actually stepping foot in the national park can be a bit of a logistical nightmare.
Thankfully, you can take the guess work out of trying to figure out how to get to the park by yourself and, instead, take a direct flight to Katmai with a tour operator from the small fishing village of Homer, along the southern coastline of the Kenai Peninsula. Here are 6 awesome Katmai National Park tours from Homer, Alaska to help you have one of the most epic adventures in Alaska.
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What is Katmai National Park?
Katmai National Park is located on a remote section of the Alaskan Peninsula, about 300 miles southwest of Anchorage, as the crow flies. There are no roads that lead to the park, so, in order to get to Katmai, you need to take a seaplane or boat.
Katmai was originally named a national park, given that it was the location of the largest volcanic eruption in the 20th century. The eruption of Novarupta in 1912 may have been a massive volcanic event, but the park is mostly known for something else these days—its eye-popping population of brown bears!
Even if you’ve never heard of Katmai before, you’ve almost surely seen its iconic waterfall, with massive bears crouched on its brink, waiting with open mouths for the salmon leaping upstream. Yup, that’s the park’s famous Brooks Falls, which sees hundreds of thousands of spawning sockeye salmon every summer—and the bears that try to eat them!
Today, about 34,000 visitors per year flock here to enjoy the bear viewing in Katmai, as well as to see the spawning salmon and explore the park’s raw and wild landscape. My husband, Justin, and I actually camped here for three days to experience all of the incredible things to do in Katmai, from photographing its bears and checking out its hiking trails to exploring the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes (i.e., the site of the Novarupta eruption).
Out of our three months exploring Alaska, our time in Katmai was easily the highlight of our entire summer!
Katmai National Park tours
Day tours to Katmai National Park typically depart via seaplane from the small fishing village of Homer, which is commonly referred to as the “End of the Road”, given it’s location at the southern end of the stunning Kenai Peninsula.
There are so many fun things to do in Homer—we loved everything about this quirky little town, from camping along the Grewingk Glacier Lake Trail in Kachemak Bay State Park to exploring the colorful wooden shops and restaurants along the Homer Spit (one of the longest spits in the world!). While Homer is totally worth visiting in and of itself, taking a day trip to Katmai definitely takes the cake for being the coolest thing to do here!
So, with that in mind, let’s chat tours!
1. Brooks Falls Bear Viewing
Duration: 6 hours
On this tour from Homer, you’ll take a floatplane over the Cook Inlet and the Aleutian Mountains to the turquoise waters of Naknek Lake in Katmai. With any luck, you’ll see wildlife, like caribou or moose, along the way—the guides for this company are AWESOME at pointing out animals along the way!
Once you’re in the park, you’ll have the option to visit Brooks Falls (or wherever the best viewing spots for bears are during that timeframe) or, if you so wish, to explore other aspects of Katmai, like its hiking trails.
I love that this group tour only includes four guests, which is significantly smaller than some other group tour options—it definitely feels like an intimate experience, where you can ask the pilot any questions you might have about the wildlife or the spectacular landscape that you see along the way.
2. Brooks Falls Bear Viewing in Katmai National Park with a Float Plane
Duration: 6 to 7 hours
On this tour, you’ll take a float plane from Homer. If you’re someone who is nervous about taking small bush planes (*anxiously raises hand*), you might feel a little calmer with this operator’s choice of aircraft, the Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, which is widely considered one of the most reliable bush planes ever built!
As you land in the park, you might get lucky and be greeted by a bear as your plane pulls up to Nakenk Leak’s beach. We weren’t lucky enough to be greeted by a bear upon arrival, but our plane departing Katmai was delayed for a bit—it had to be repositioned, because a bear decided to take a nap nearby!
Once you’re on land, you’ll have about three hours on the ground to walk, at your own pace, to Brooks Falls and take photos of the bears to your heart’s content. A guide usually does not come with you to Brooks Falls, so this is a great option if you prefer to have a bit more autonomy and explore on your own (*raises hand again*).
The group size is a smidge bigger with this operator, at seven guests, but the plane has MASSIVE windows, so everyone gets a view! Plus, while it’s still quite pricy, it’s one of the most affordable Katmai tour options.
3. Bear Viewing Adventure to Katmai and Lake Clark National Parks
Duration: 8 to 9 hours
If you’re someone, like us, who wants to go to all of the U.S. National Parks or just really wants to see a LOT of bears, this option takes you not only to Katmai, but also to Lake Clark, another extremely remote national park that’s known for its (slightly smaller but still impressive) population of brown bears.
On this trip, you’ll start from Homer’s Beluga Lake and then, usually (although weather dependent) first fly to Lake Clark, where you’ll soar over volcanoes, turquoise lakes, and ancient glaciers. While you’re in Lake Clark, you’ll usually spend your time hiking around the park and, with any luck, even spotting bears!
Afterwards, you’ll get back on the plane and fly over to Katmai, where you’ll have a couple of hours to walk over to Brooks Falls and see its iconic bears, before flying back to Homer.
If you want to pack as much adventure (or national parks) as possible into your day trip from Homer, this tour, which has a maximum of six guests, should be at the top of your list! Just be aware that, between the two parks, you may have to hike as far as five miles throughout the day, so I’d suggest only joining this tour if you’re in pretty good shape and up for the challenge!
4. Brooks Falls: Katmai National Park Bear View by Floatplane
Duration: 6.5 hours
On this tour, you’ll meet up with your tour in Homer and fly the approximately hour and 20 minutes over to Homer.
The flight aspect of this tour operator is pretty unique—they use turbo planes, which go faster than most other bush planes used to get to Katmai, meaning you’ll typically be one of the first groups to get to the park (if you select the early morning tour). PLUS, their planes have a cool intercom system and noise-canceling headsets, which allow the pilot to talk to you (and vice versa) throughout the flight.
Once you land at Katmai, you’ll have a little under four hours to explore the park, at your own pace, to see the bears around Brooks Falls. We had so much fun here, observing all of the bears’ different behaviors and hunting methods, from pouncing on the salmon to just waiting with an open mouth!
If you have any extra time before your flight back to Katmai, I’d suggest stopping in the Brooks Lodge for some food or a beer around the huge fireplace—we spent HOURS here each night that we stayed in Katmai!
If the weather cooperates, this company always tries to fly over the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes on your way back to Homer—it’s definitely epic to see this otherworldly landscape from ten thousand feet in the air!
5. Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park: Bear Viewing by Floatplane
Duration: 6 hours
Unlike some of the other tour operators listed in this article, Alaska Bear Safaris exclusively offers bear viewing tours to Katmai and Lake Clark—so you can be rest-assured knowing that you’re going with bear experts!
You’ll fly from Beluga Lake in Homer, on a Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, which, as mentioned above, is recognized as being one of the safest and most reliable options of bush planes on the market.
Once you land in Katmai, you’ll have three hours to explore the park on your own, whether you want to try to spot bears on the beach at Naknek Lake (there were a TON here during our visit!) or just make a beeline straight for Brooks Falls.
Afterwards, you’ll take the scenic flight back over the Aleutian Mountains and Cook Inlet to Homer.
I know this is kind of a goofy thing to flag, but one of my favorite things about this tour is that it’s fully refundable up to 24 hours before it starts. Many of the tours listed in this article are non-refundable (i.e., be sure to get travel insurance!!) and, while many operators are happy to work with you in instances of bad weather or needing to reschedule, it’s always nice to have that extra assurance.
6. Alaska Bear-Viewing Day Trip from Homer
Duration: 5-6 hours
If you care less about going to Katmai and more about seeing bears, this may be the best tour for you. You’ll either go to Katmai OR Lake Clark, depending on the weather and bear viewing opportunities.
One of the significant drawbacks to most Katmai National Park tours is that they generally concentrate on the Brooks Falls area. While Brooks Falls is absolutely ICONIC, the amount of bears here fluctuates pretty dramatically depending on what time of the summer you’re visiting.
While you have a great chance of seeing some bears in the Brooks Falls area during the entire summer, you’ll definitely see the highest density of them here in July through early August and September. Outside of this timeframe, most bears will move to other areas of the park to chase food resources, such as along the coastline to dig for clams or other salmon in other creeks. So, with this tour option, your guide will evaluate which location has the best bear viewing opportunities possible.
On your way back to Homer, you’ll fly over massive glaciers, volcanoes, and, with any luck, even more wildlife, including more bears, moose, or caribou.
This would be my top tour choice if I was planning a visit outside of July or September—plus, this is one of the only tours where they actually guarantee bear sightings and it’s one of the most affordable tour options! !
Things to know about Katmai National Park tours
Cancellations are common
Cancellations are pretty common with these kinds of tours, ranging from mechanical issues with these small bush planes to the volatile weather around the Cook Inlet.
Accordingly, be sure to book this tour at your beginning time in Homer, so you have a chance to reschedule for later in your trip if necessary.
Additionally, I’d strongly recommend getting travel insurance that will cover you in the event that something interferes with you heading to Katmai, like, for example, you’re delayed in reaching Homer. Alaska is pretty remote and it’s not unusual for issues to pop up when getting around, from road closures to ferry cancellations—so just be careful, especially given the price point of these tours!
Be strategic about when you book a tour
As mentioned above, Brooks Falls is probably THE best place to see brown bears on the planet. However, you’ll see a MUCH higher density of bears during the salmon runs, in July and September.
Outside of these months, you still have an extremely good chance of seeing bears around the Brook Falls area, but there’s not going to be the dozens and dozens of them that are there during the peak salmon runs.
That being said, there also will be the highest crowds during that timeframe. During peak bear viewing season, the park limits the amount of people on the Brooks Falls observation platform and how long you can stay on it (i.e., half an hour), meaning you may have to wait in line to watch the bears here. Plus, to maximize the amount of people that can comfortably stand on the platform, the park restricts the use of tripods during this time.
With such a short time in the park (most tours will have you on the ground in Katmai for three to four hours), it stinks that you may theoretically be waiting around to enjoy the Brooks Falls observation platform while you’re there.
To be clear, there’s still plenty of places near the main observation platform where you can watch bears while you’re waiting, but you still won’t be able to get that iconic photograph, directly overlooking its cascade (and definitely without the help of a tripod!).
So I personally would recommend visiting the park slightly outside of the peak season—such as early August or late August. During this timeframe, there’s usually plenty of bears around Brooks Falls, but WAY less people–meaning you don’t have to wait to stand on Brooks Falls main observation platform. Plus, there are no tripod restrictions at this time!
We visited the park in early August (August 8-11, to be exact!) and had an AWESOME time. We saw more bears than I could count and the crowds were minimal, meaning we didn’t have to wait to enjoy the observation platform and we could always get a spot around the fireplace at night (very important!).
I hope you have a better idea of which of these Katmai National Park tours may be the best fit for your trip to Alaska—a trip to this national park is a MUST during any trip to Alaska! Do you have any questions about going on a day tour to this magical corner of our planet? Let us know in the comments below!
