Raindrops are falling on my head but I don't mind
Written: Aug 21 '03 (Updated Aug 21 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful mountains. Glaciers up close. Wonderful hiking trails.
Cons: Remote. Wet & Rainy.
The Bottom Line: Juneau is a great starting point if you want a quick taste of what Alaska has to offer in 2-3 days.
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| Uncle_Tippet's Full Review: Juneau |
Juneau, the capital of Alaska, is a standard port of call for cruise ships. The majority of visitors spend a day in Juneau. But to fully enjoy Juneau, I recommend staying at least 2 nights. We spent 3 nights in Juneau and provide a chronicle of our adventure as a guide to help you decide if you do decide to venture into Juneau.
Getting There
There are no roads leading into Juneau. Most people get there by cruise ship or by ferry. We decided to fly into Juneau on Alaska Airlines from Seattle. The flight was one of the more scenic ones I've ever taken. During the 2 hour flight, I was able to see Mt Ranier, Mt Hood, 2 glaciers, the Coast Mountain Range and tiny cruise ships with huge wakes trailing. I was glad I had a window seat.
The airport is small but relatively well equipped with a restaurant, bar, gift shop and car rental stations. The only problem today is that the restaurant and bar are outside security so we couldn't go through security and then grab a bite to eat. However, the lines are never that long and we had a view of the security line from the bar so could gauge when we needed to finish up and wait in line.
The Airport is about 10 minutes drive west of downtown and so we decided to rent a car. Expect to pay about $45-$60 per day. The rental process was very informal. We checked in at baggage claim, got the key, walked across the street and picked up the car. Upon return, it was "self-serve" all the way. We parked the car in a numbered space, jotted down the odometer and fuel readings, walked across the street to the rental counter and handed in our slip. At Avis, they also required you to show them the gas receipt to prove that you filled up the gas tank. They charged $3 if you didn't show a gas receipt because the rental agent would have to trudge out to the car to check the fuel gauge.
Cabs were waiting right across from the airport. It's a $20 fare to downtown Juneau from the airport.
I was highly tempted to skip the car rental and to take the bus instead. Juneau has a bus that runs from the Mendenhall Glacier, through the Airport, to downtown Juneau. The buses run every half-hour for most of the day. That's a good alternative to folks who do not want to rent a car. But because it was raining when we visited, we decided we didn't want to have to deal with the rain while waiting for a bus so we rented the car instead.
Lodging
We stayed at the Alaska Capital Inn (http://www.alaskacapitalinn.com), a beautifully restored 100-year-old house across the street from the Alaska Capitol Building in downtown Juneau. The innkeepers spent 3 years restoring the house and it was beautiful. Highly recommended if you want some place historic but with modern conveniences. We could walk to all the local attractions in downtown Juneau. The inn is set on the side of a hill so we had views of Mt Roberts from our room. The only drawback to our room was that our windows looked out to an office building and we had to remember to draw the drapes closed for privacy and couldn't enjoy the view of the mountains much. Our B&B also didn't have laundry facilities but we could go to a laundry facility 2 blocks away where we could wash & dry our wet clothes.
There are 3 main places to stay in Juneau. Downtown Juneau, Mendenhall Valley and by the Airport.
There are mostly Bed & Breakfast Inns by the Valley. We had originally tried to book the Pearson's Pond in the Valley as we heard it was a very romantic place to stay with all sorts of amenities. It was sold out but the owner of the inn was very helpful and made arrangements for us to stay at the Alaska Capital Inn.
There are several hotels by the airport. One that looked attractive from the outside was the Aspen Hotel. It looked brand new and it had amenities like a fitness center, swimming pool, spa, and laundry facilities. Many of the airport hotels have free pick up from the airport and provide shuttle services to downtown Juneau. If we had stayed in a hotel by the airport, we probably would have been able to save some money and skip the car rental.
Dining
Our cheapest meal in Juneau was at the local Costco -- $1.50 for a polish sausage and drink. If you're a Costco member and have a car, you should check out one of the most scenic Costco stores.
Our most expensive meal in Juneau was at the "Di Sopra" which means "upstairs" in Italian -- it is upstairs from the more well-known Fiddlehead restaurant and located around the corner from the State Museum. The Antipasto for 2 was heavenly with the right touch of vinegar and garlic. My pasta dish ($17) did not skimp on the shrimp and we had good views of the mountains.
The meal with the best view was at the "Hanger" located by the waterfront. From our table, we saw a cruise ship parallel parking between two other cruise ships on the ferry dock and numerous float planes taking off one by one. The food was standard "Bar & Grill" type fare except that they offered "wraps" for lunch. My wife had a wonderful "halibut wrap" in a tomato tortilla for $6 and there was plenty of local Alaskan brews for lunch. The flight attendents on our flight all recommended it.
We had originally wanted to go to the Hanger on our first night in Juneau but the kitchen closed at 10:00pm. We ended up at Bullwinkle's Pizza and got a good pie with salad delivered to our B&B. They forgot to bring the salad but the delivery person quickly went back and brought it to us 6 minutes later.
The Twisted Fish is a popular restaurant that was started by the owners of the Hanger. It's right next to the Mt Roberts Tramway and many folks prefer it to the restaurant on top of Mt Roberts Tramway. Reservations are definitely a must. The food was very tasty but the restaurant was a little loud for us.
Finally, there's a Safeway in the Mendenhall Mall near the airport where we picked up sandwiches. We were able to sit in our car in the Safeway parking lot, munching our food and enjoying a beautiful orange-red sunset.
Attractions
I won't spend too much time recounting the various attractions in Juneau. We visited the Macauley Salmon Hatchery, the Mendenhall Glacier, the State Museum, Mt Roberts, Shopping by the Ferry Terminal, State Capitol tour, Red Dog Saloon, Six sided church, etc. Most of the current guidebooks go into good detail about the attractions. However, I'll highlight some of the attractions where we went a little off the beaten path.
Mt Roberts
The main attraction of Juneau for us was the opportunities for hikes. Rather than pay $22 per person to go up, we decided to hike up the 2 miles (1500 feet elevation gain) to the tram station and then purchase tram tickets for $5. We could then ride the tram up and down again for as many times we liked as the tickets were good for unlimited rides the whole day.
The start of the trail was 7 blocks from our B&B -- at the end of 6th street. Street parking was easily available and we walked up the stairs from the end of the street and looked a a foreboding sign that warned us to be careful on the trail.
With the warning in mind, we started up the trail which is a series of switchbacks straight up the mountain. Within 2 minutes, we were in the middle of the rainforest and had left civilization behind. The path was narrow. It was muddy. It was slippery. It was raining. There were no views yet as we were still under the tree line. We were thankful for our waterproof boots and rain parkas. But we didn't want to fall down the side of the mountain and so decided to stop and go back down. If we had kept on going, we would have probably reached the tram station in about 2 hours but we decided not to risk it. If you do decide to do this, be sure to be well prepared with drinks, rain-gear, repellent.
Mendenhall Glacier
Most people take the short Photo Loop tour at the glacier. If you do take that trail -- don't do it in the evening. We were almost eaten alive with mosquitoes.
We did take the less busy "East Glacier Loop". We saw fewer than 20 people during the 3 hours we were on the trail -- enough for someone to help if you fell and hurt yourself. The trail started from the back of the visitor center and has a 300-400 foot elevation gain the beginning so we were huffing for a while. Just when it started getting tiring, we turned the corner and was rewarded with great views of the Glacier. Unfortunately, the glacier was receded a lot in the last 5 years but the view was still magnificent. We were fortunate enough to be rewarded for braving the drizzle during our hike with a rainbow that appeared in front of the glacier. Magnificent!! We then had to decide whether to make our way down, or continue upwards to complete the loop. It was shorter to turn back but we decided to continue on. We were not disappointed. There was another scenic overlook further up the trail with a place to sit down and enjoy the view. The trail was very well maintained (much wider than the Mt Roberts trail) and new wooden stairs and footbridges were build in many places on the back end of the loop to make it easier. We also got to see evidence of the old mine and a stream where we saw salmon spawning. All in all, the entire loop took us a leisurely 3 hours. The trail is better suited for children than the narrow Mt Roberts trail but there are still places where you needed to be careful and watch your footing.
Bottom Line
We enjoyed our short stay in Juneau. Despite the rain, we did almost everything we wanted to do. We would have like dto drive to the end of the road in Juneau but didn't have the time. We heard that the St Therese church by the end of the road travelling west was a very peaceful place. We also saw many trips from Juneau like kayaking, float plane and helicopter expeditions that sounded like fun.
All in all, Juneau was a beautiful place to visit, relax and view wildlife. It's not Hawaii or Florida but reminded me of the Monterey Bay during winter where the landscape is shrouded with clouds all the time.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Jun - Aug
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Epinions.com ID:
Uncle_Tippet
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Member: Avon Leong
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Reviews written: 79
Trusted by: 10 members
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