Historic Gold Mining and Panning Adventure
Juneau, USA
- 1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Explore our promoted experiences
Overview
Make the most of your time in Juneau with a gold panning shore excursion. After a brief city tour of Juneau, travel to a remote section along Gold Creek. A guide dressed in 19th-century attire provides insight into the Alaskan Gold Rush. See where thousands journeyed to during the Gold Rush in search of the precious metal and try your hand at panning for gold yourself.
- Learn about the history of the Gold Rush from your guide
- Take home a souvenir Orelove Brothers Gold Claim Certificate
- Port pickup and drop-off adds convenience
- Choose between morning and afternoon departures
What's Included
- All necessary equipment
- Guide
- Transportation
- Worry-free Shore Excursion Guarantee
- Gratuities
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Mount Roberts Tramway490 S Franklin St, Juneau, AK 99801, USA
JUNEAU MEETING PLACE: On the sidewalk, under the cables of the Mt. Roberts Tram. When you arrive at the meeting area, look for the Alaska Travel Adventures tour representative. They will be wearing a red jacket/shirt and a red hat. Look for our distinctive Caribou logo.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
On this shore excursion from Juneau port, you get to relive some of the histories you’ll be learning about, when thousands rushed to Gold Creek and the adjacent Last Chance Basin Mine during the Gold Rush in the late 1800s.
After port pickup, enjoy a sightseeing tour of Juneau before continuing to Gold Creek and Last Chance Basin, where Joe Juneau and Richard Harris found the jackpot of a lifetime in 1880. Hear entertaining history about the Gold Rush from your informative guide, dressed in traditional 19th-century garb.
Head to a secluded section along Gold Creek, which requires a special visiting permit. Learn how to pan for gold, and then explore the creek or enter waist-high water in the demonstration trough to look for gold on your own. Take a few moments to note the surrounding building remnants of the Alaska-Juneau Mining Company, which closed in 1944 due to the WWII labor shortage.
Receive an Orelove Brothers Gold Claim Certificate as proof of the gold you found — which you get to take home! Your shore excursion ends with drop-off at Juneau port.
Worry-free Shore Excursion:
We will ensure your timely return to the Juneau port for this activity. In the rare event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.
After port pickup, enjoy a sightseeing tour of Juneau before continuing to Gold Creek and Last Chance Basin, where Joe Juneau and Richard Harris found the jackpot of a lifetime in 1880. Hear entertaining history about the Gold Rush from your informative guide, dressed in traditional 19th-century garb.
Head to a secluded section along Gold Creek, which requires a special visiting permit. Learn how to pan for gold, and then explore the creek or enter waist-high water in the demonstration trough to look for gold on your own. Take a few moments to note the surrounding building remnants of the Alaska-Juneau Mining Company, which closed in 1944 due to the WWII labor shortage.
Receive an Orelove Brothers Gold Claim Certificate as proof of the gold you found — which you get to take home! Your shore excursion ends with drop-off at Juneau port.
Worry-free Shore Excursion:
We will ensure your timely return to the Juneau port for this activity. In the rare event your ship has departed, we will arrange for transportation to the next port-of-call. If your ship is delayed and you are unable to attend this activity, your money will be refunded. See our terms and conditions for full details.
1
Last Chance Mining Museum
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
- At time of booking, Cruise ship passengers must provide the following information at time of booking: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
- Children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Children 13-17 must have a signed parental consent form to participate in the absence of a parent or guardian
- Service animals allowed
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 50 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
This experience is non-refundable and cannot be changed for any reason. If you cancel or ask for an amendment, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.1
based on 51 reviews
Allie_M, Oct 2025
One of the highlights of my entire trip. Our guide was friendly and explained the whole process well. He was very helpful and went above and beyond to make sure we found gold. He shared information about the town along the way and gave suggestions on what to do after the tour. 10/10 recommend
Response from Host, Jan 2026
Thank you for the review, we really appreciate it! We're so happy you enjoyed your tour and we hope to see you again!
Meghan_M, Sept 2025
Felt more authentic than many Gold panning experiences. Our Guide was patient and entertaining and knowledgeable. My son loved it and we left with some gold! We did not book the Salmon Bake portion and wish we had. We dropped some other families off there and it looked charming and people say it’s excellent.
Response from Host, Jan 2026
Thank you for the review! We're so glad you had a good time on your tour and we hope to see you again!
Jason_H, May 2025
Neat experience but very small amount of time getting to pan for gold! The driver was knowledgeable about the area and how to pan.
James_D, Jun 2024
Fun time! Learned about local mining history, received great instructions on how to pan for gold and had a great time doing it.
David_H, Jun 2024
Our guide was incredible and we had so much fun on this little adventure. Each of us did find gold in our first pan and got to learn the process.
Michele_G, Jun 2024
This was a nice short excursion. A few stories about the history of the town and the gold rush. A tour of town, panning near a beautiful bubbling (white water in some areas) stream. Given pans prefilled with dirt and small specks of gold. You pan to uncover the gold. You put the gold in vials and get to keep it and are given a short amount of time to pan for gold with dirt you collect from the stream area. Fun, especially for kids.
Lisa_B, Oct 2023
We never got to experience this excursion due to miscommunication during the booking. We were given very misleading details. We were told that there would be no problem making the excursion time when our boat docked at 1:30 and excursion began at 2 pm. We were told that someone would meet us at the pier to take us to the excursion. When no one was there, I tried calling the numbers given and no one answered. When I finally got some one to answer the phone which was past the meeting time, II was told that they had left and that we were suppose to take a shuttle to the meeting location. I was informed that there was no refund even though missing our connection with the group was not our fault. I was given multiple numbers to call and given the run around. The last person I spoke to simply hung up on me when I explained the situation and requested a refund. The other two Alaskan excursions from other companies provided very explicit details and were wonderful! Avoid Viator at all cost!
Michael_S, Aug 2023
I was really looking forward to authentic gold panning in Alaska. The creeks here are allegedly filled with gold, and this gold panning adventure intrigued me because 1) it was in a creek, 2) the prospector was going to show you how to pan for gold, 3) it allotted more time in the creek than the tour with the salmon bake. I wanted the experience of panning for gold in an Alaskan creek, with a knowledgable prospector and to take some stories home, along with maybe a gold flake or two.
However, such was not the case.
We were brought to the creek. There was no 'prospector' to put on the 'prospecting show.' We had two guides who briefly showed us how to swirl the water in the pre-packed pans. The guides were very nice, but they were not at all the 'prospectors' we were promised in the ad. The guides then instructed us on how to swirl the pans in the trough, or, if we wanted to, in the creekbed. At no time did the guides check on us to see if we were doing it correctly, provide further instruction or assistance, or encouragement. They did not provide any prospector stories, instruction on where to look in the creek for gold. There were no stories of the gold rush, and nobody instructed us how to pan for gold in the creek.
AND, the Gold Panning/Salmon Bake van full of people were in our group. I was under the impression we would have two hours in the tour, and if we chose the salmon bake/gold panning tour that was also two hours. I chose this tour because it allegedly offered more timein the creek. It didn't. We panned for the pre-made panned gold in the trough the same amount of time the Salmon Bank individuals did.
On the positive - The guides were nice. There was a creek and it was next to the old gold mine. We swirled our pans outdoors next to the creek.
Overall - Needless to say, very disappointing and I would not recommend. I expected an Alaskan experience gold panning in a creek, with stories from a Prospector. There was no prospector and we panned for gold in pre-made dirt pans which we sifted through in a trough, not a creek (although if we wanted to do so with no guidance we were welcome to jump in the creek.)
mnh75, Jun 2023
Garrett, our guide was great! Learned a lot about Juneau during the excursion. Panning for gold was fun too!
john_h, May 2023
Booked this tour as we wanted to experience real gold panning in gold creek.
Unfortunately when we arrived was told the bridge which led to the creek was under repair due to a large boulder coming down onto it.
Can't help nature but was very disappointed.
Was taken then onto where the mine was and then preceeded to pan in troughs i with dirt already in them.
Yes did find a few flecks but overall missed out on the authenticity of real panning as this all just seemed staged.
John the guide was excellent with his knowledge and tales so that relates into my three star review otherwise would have been one.
Peter_H, Aug 2022
Enjoyed the gold panning itself, would be higher mark if they weren’t 15 mins late picking us up effecting the amount of time we had panning.
Your guide Garrett was excellent and knowledgeable.
Kristal_C, Jul 2022
An amazing experience! Jimmy was a great prospector and super helpful and knowledgeable! Would definitely do again
JFL37, May 2022
We did not get to experience this. It was cancelled the day of, and now it is up to us to worry about a refund.
ljw8306, Aug 2019
This is the second trip I booked with Viator, the first one was great the second one which was this excursion was terrible because there was no time on ticket, I thought it was for 730am and it was for 930am, my wife has medical problems and we could not wait 2 hours for next excursion. When I got home I contacted Viator they could not help because of cancelation policy. I would strongly recommend when you get your ticket check if there's a time on ticket if not contact them in advance to find out when it starts. That was my mistake. It's sad they couldn't help but was a learning experience. Not sure if I will do business again with Viator based on their cancelation policy.
Carol G, Sept 2016
We had a great time learning about the gold history and learning how to pan in Juneau. Our tour guide gave us a lot of information about the gold rush in Juneau and a lot about the city. Our guide did such a great job teaching us how to pan that everyone came home with some. Loved it!
Margaret M, Oct 2015
Grandkids had a ball . It was an interesting and fun trip for all of us.
Lynn T, Aug 2013
We really enjoyed this short tour. The tour by mini bus in Juneau, the gold panning demonstration then the chance to find our own gold was fun! Tom (our guide) was friendly, helpful and fitted the "prospector" part really well. If you are looking for something different to do while visiting Juneau, this is a great way to spend a couple of hours.
Lesha B, Jul 2013
This excursion started out bad but ended up turning out good. The representative at the port was not holding the correct sign making it difficult to locate our bus and we missed our excursion. But the company worked us in on the next. The tour guide was fantastic. He taught us so much about panning.
Likely to Sell Out
From $99.00
per person-You will not receive a refund if you cancel.
Compare Similar Experiences
Current
Likely to Sell Out
Historic Gold Mining and Panning Adventure
51
1 hour 30 minutes
Free Cancellation
From
$99.00
Customers Who Bought This Tour Also Bought
More attractions near Juneau, USA