The Guide to Some of the Best Helicopter Tours in Alaska and Directions to Get There by Car

See Alaska from the sky

Alaska is the largest state in the entire country, by a long shot. It is over six hundred and fifty thousand square miles wide. It is more than twice the size of Texas. So, you really need to choose which sights you want to see and plan properly before you venture out to see them.

However, you can always get the best view of the incredible state of Alaska while seeing more of it than you ever could in a car by taking a helicopter tour. That’s right, helicopter tours of Alaska are a regular tourist attraction and they are incredible to say the least.
 

Helicopter tours in Alaska

There are dozens of helicopter tours in Alaska to choose from and they are all worthwhile experiences during your time in Alaska. Which ones you choose to embark on depend on your specific travel and sight-seeing agenda.

The best helicopter tours in Alaska are:

• Alpine Air Alaska – Alpine Air Alaska has been in business for almost thirty years now. They offer a ton of awesome tours that you can choose from. They also offer things like transportation to the best hiking and fishing spots via helicopter as well as pilot lessons. Some of the best tours they offer are:
  
  • 30 Minute Heli Tour – As you can tell from the title, this is a half-hour long tour where you will travel into the TwentyMile river valley for some incredible glacier viewing. The cost is $299 per person and tours depart several times per day throughout the year.
  • Helicopter Glacier Landing – This is a tour where you’ll get incredible aerial views of several famous glaciers and even land on one of them over the course of an hour. The cost is $399 per person and tours leave multiple times per day throughout the year.
  • Prince William Sound Tour – This has everything the glacier landing tour has plus it also includes a return trip over the Prince William Sound. Although all the tours are great opportunities to see wildlife, this one is especially good. The tour takes about an hour and a half. The cost is $499 per person and tours depart several times per day throughout the year.
  • Ultimate Summer Tour – This is the longest and probably the best tour that Alpine Air Alaska offers. This tour can be customized to combine the glacier landing tour or the Prince William Sound tour with their glacier dog sledding summer tour. The tour costs between $850 and $950 per person and only runs from May through August.
  • Directions: Alpine air Alaska is located at 599 Mt. Hood Dr Girdwood, AK 99587. You can enter your address here for directions.
• Ascending Path – Ascending Path is an Alaska Tour company that has been in business for almost twenty-five years now. They offer hiking tours, train tours, climbing tours, helicopter tours and even Kayaking tours. They offer some of the most interactive helicopter tours of Alaska around. Their Alaskan helicopter tours include:
  
  • Helicopter Glacier Hiking – This is a great tour that takes you from Portage Valley to Spencer or Lake George Glacier. Normally you would land and actually hike and explore the glacier for a little bit. However, as of right now, due to a recent ice melt that is not part of the tour. The tour costs $529 per person and requires a minimum of three people to take flight.
  • Helicopter Ice Climbing and Caves – This is another wonderful glacier and wilderness tour with some breathtaking aerial views. Most of the time, this tour includes guided ice climbs but due to the recent ice melt, this is unfortunately not part of the tour at the moment that this is being written. The tour costs $639 per person.
  • Ultimate Overnight Camping – One of the most adventurous helicopter tours you can embark on, the Ultimate Overnight Camping tour is an overnight excursion that you won’t soon forget. It starts with a train glacier tour. Then you will take a kayak tour with a guide and eventually you will experience the awe of two incredible helicopter tours. You will also physically spend time on the glacier. The tour costs $1999 per person and operates from June through September.
  • Directions: Ascending Path is located at 1000 Arlberg Ave, Girdwood, AK 99587. You can enter your address here for directions.

    Understand that some tours are booked as a combo rail-hike. If this is the case, you can take the Alaska Railroad from downtown Anchorage and meet your tour guide along the way.

• Snowhook Adventure Guides of Alaska – An Alaskan tour company that has been operating since 2004, Snowhook Adventure Guides of Alaska offers guided tours including snow machine tours, dog sled tours and helicopter tours. They are a family run company as well. The helicopter tours they offer are:
  
  • Fly & Ride – This tour is only offered in the winter, but it is well worth the wait. You will get a helicopter tour of Denali and the Iditarod trail with some amazing picturesque views and then you will land and get either a dogsled tour or snowmobile tour. The tour starts at the Anchorage airport and lasts about four hours. It costs $799 per person.
  • Glacier Dog Sledding – This tour is the perfect combination of aerial sightseeing and true Alaska travel via dogsled. It includes a thirty-five-minute helicopter tour of the glaciers followed by an hour-long dogsled tour. It costs $569 per person.
  • Directions: – Snowhook Adventure Guides of Alaska is located at 23880 Long Lake Rd, Willow, AK 99688. You can enter your address here for directions.

Conclusion

Taking a helicopter tour of Alaska is likely the best way you can see the incredible expanse of the biggest state in the Union. These tours can lead into other wonderful adventures such as dogsledding, hiking and much more.

If you are going to be relocating to Alaska, visiting Alaska, or even already live in Alaska, you owe it to yourself to take one of these incredible tours. You won’t soon forget it.