Half-Day Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Float Tour

Haines, USA

4 hours (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Visit the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve on a half-day wildlife tour that includes a 1.5-hour cruise on the Chilkat River. From Haines, hear informative commentary during a scenic drive that takes you past Fort Seward, along the National Scenic Byway, and into the Chilkat Valley. Stop in the heart of the preserve to board stable rafts for a float on the calm waters of the river, keeping an eye out for eagles, bear, moose, and wolves. End your cruise with a riverside lunch before your return to Haines.

Half-day Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve rafting float tour, from Haines
Board a sturdy raft for a calm water float on the Chilkat River
Look for eagles, bear, moose, and wolves in the Chilkat Preserve
Visit the preserve that has the world's largest gathering of resident and migratory bald eagles
Take in the tall mountains in this Alaska state park
Includes guide, lunch, raft trip, and round-trip transportation from Port Chilkoot Dock in Haines

What's Included

Beverages
Lunch
Driver/guide
Professional guide
Rain ponchos if necessary
Rubber boots
PFD (personal flotation device)

Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

142 Beach Rd, Haines, AK 99827, USA
Chilkoot Indian Association Dock - 1 Block south from Port Chilkoot Dock (Main Cruise Ship Dock)

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Itinerary

Haines (Pass By)

Fort William H. Seward National Historic Landmark (Pass By)

Haines Highway (Pass By)

Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve

2 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Chilkat River (Pass By)

Tsirku River (Pass By)

Klehini River (Pass By)

Klukwan (Pass By)

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received within 48 hours of booking, subject to availability
Not recommended for pregnant travelers
Not wheelchair accessible
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
Most travelers can participate
Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required

Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
100% Refund will be provided if cancelled before 14 days of tour departure date
50% Refund will be provided if cancelled 14 days to 4 days prior to departure time
No Refunds will be provided if cancelled within 96 hours of tour departure time
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 8 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

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Betsy G

Liam was our bus transfer guide and did a wonderful job giving us Alaska information during our ride to the Chilcat Bald Eagle Preserve. Once we left the bus, we were each given good rubber boots and had our life jackets individually fitted. Our Zodiak guide/oarsman was Livvie. She was super! She had a marvelous depth of knowledge, and was great at safely managing our Zodiak as we floated on the fast-moving Chilkat waters. We enjoyed our riverside lunch at the conclusion of our adventure. We saw 6 wild eagles during our trip. My sister and I could not be happier with our experience with this tour company!

Reviews

4.4

based on 47 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Chilkat float trip

Robert_N, Aug 2026

The tour was great. The guides especially Ben were excellent. Customer Service worked hard to get us on a tour because we missed our scheduled tour time. Great people, fun trip

Falsely advertised

Kimberly_L, Jul 2026

First the positive: The tour guides are AMAZING. They are knowledgeable and very hardworking. The Negative: I feel like this tour was COMPLETELY false advertised. We thought we were first going to a bald eagle preserve where we could walk around. NOPE, the float is the bald eagle preserve. Next it was advertised that we would go but Fort Seward, NOPE. When I asked the driver about it, he said “well I guess we could have done that” Lastly it was advertised that Bear and moose come around there during the float. All 6 of our guides told us this is a VERY rare occurrence! I would not book this tour again. Very disappointing

Awesome guides- Nice Float Tour!

Evangeline_N, Jul 2026

Ian was informative and gave vivid and hilarious stories about the tiny town of Haines. Jayke was our float tour guide and paddled our 7 person float down the Chilkoot River. He answered our questions and made us feel comfortable and safe. We may have seen a few eagles, but spent a good bit of the time trying to hold on to the sides of our raft. Lunch was tasty, and overall the tour was great!

Float trip but no raptor center tour. WTF.

Cam_C, Jun 2026

Float trip was good. Guides were great. No two hour raptor center tour as promised in the promo. No mention of it. Did not happen. Disappointed with that for sure.

Fantastic experience!

Nicholas_S, Sep 2025

Absolutely incredible experience we won’t forget, great and skilled guides, lost count of how many eagles we saw! I would absolutely love to do this again. My only criticism and the reason for not giving 5 stars is because the meeting point was moved and nobody told us. We were waiting at the listed meeting point and if we hadn’t tried our luck and asked around because no one had shown, we may have missed the trip altogether.

You cancelled this on us ...

Barbara_H, Aug 2025

You cancelled this on us so we never went don’t understand why you are sending this to us. You said our ship wouldn’t be there on time.

Unique rafting on an alluvial river

Barbara_F, Jul 2024

Great narrative by our guides on the way to launching our rafts which provided a great backdrop for our float. Very able guides worked together and enhanced our excursion. The alluvial river gave a unique experience for a rafting adventure. We saw 35 bald eagles along the way, with many of them in pairs.