Juneau Underground Gold Mine and Panning Experience
Recommended by 92% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Juneau, USA
- 2 hours 15 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
If you’re looking for a unique experience that combines history with the great outdoors, book this Juneau Underground Peterson Gold Mine and Panning Experience. Go with a guide to the old mine and go on one of the only underground tours in all of Alaska—wearing a hardhat for safety. After learning about the mining done there, test your skills at gold panning.
- Go gold panning at an underground gold mine experience in Juneau
- Perfect for families and history lovers
- A guide teaches you about the Peterson Gold Mine and its past
- Choose from multiple tour times when booking for convenience
What's Included
- Private transportation
- Alcoholic Beverages
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Mount Roberts Tramway490 S Franklin St, Juneau, AK 99801, USA
Please meet your tour rep BEHIND Goldbelt Tramway building, (waterfront side) under the GREEN canopy, 15 minutes prior to tour time. TOUR DURATION 2.25 Hours / PLEASE, NO PRIVATE VEHICLES ALLOWED!
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.What To Expect
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Most travelers can participate
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 18 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 301 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Amazing experience! Family ran tour company and we had the best time! Saw the mines, found gold and will definitely book again next time we are in Juneau!
Very interesting tour of the mine with history and demonstrations of equipment.
Panning experience was fun and profitable!
The tour guide never picked us up for the excursion we paid for and when we requested a refund they denied it. They essentially stole $200 from me.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
Hi Kenin,
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We take all reviews seriously, though I am sorry that you feel scammed.
Our tours operate on a strict schedule, and our booking confirmations explicitly state that all guests must check in 15 minutes prior to departure.
For our 4:00 PM tour, all other guests checked in on time. Our team actively tried calling you at 3:55 PM, out of courtesy. It is still in our call logs. We still held until shortly after 4:00 PM. Our records show your first call came to us 5 minutes after departure time.
We appreciate your understanding our policy, which allows us to provide a reliable, on-time experience for everyone.
It has several parts, including the cave tour, an explanation of some equipment, the various aspects of mining and life of a minor as well as the opportunity to pan for gold.
I recommend this tour anyday. Very nice communication, good people and hospitable. Learned a lot about mining. Thank you
The only gold mine experience you can have in Alaska! Educational and fun! Panning is more difficult than you think, but we struck gold! Staff rocks!
Easy and fun! Our excursion from port to the mine was easy! The guide was detailed and so informative with his mine experience. It was neat seeing the equipment and tools in action. We enjoyed the quick pan session. It was nice to see a family still carrying on the mine for educational purposes.
Great views driving up to the mine, good demonstration of old mining techniques and equipment and a good demo of gold panning
our mining trip was super fun except for the one major hitch, which lowered our experience from a five star to a three star. When we got to the mine, it was decided that all of us, the entire tour group, would wait 15 to 20 minutes at the mine entrance for one person who missed the bus. Our tour guide was very gracious and apologized several times for not being able to explain the different aspects of the mine since our time was so short. The panning for gold was the highlight of our tour for the children. The tour guide assisted them to have a very positive experience.
Great experience and well worth the price. Bus pick up, lovely driver, great historical information by our guide inside the mine and at other sections of the tour. Learned a lot about mining in this area back in the old days and up to the mine closure. Lots of historical machines and things to look at. Would def recommend and our entire family enjoyed the few hours there. We even left with a few shavings of gold each 😁. Breslin/Gallagher family. Ireland.
Excellent tour. Our guide, Gary, knows the gold- mining business inside and out. He was very informative and interesting. Likewise, Rowan knew all about the mill and stamping. We also enjoyed the General Store and MaryAnne. It was a very well-run tour.
Arrived on time transport was good, trip was extremely scenic with guide, very knowledgeable, highly recommend
The people are very knowledgeable about mining and panning for gold . Gary was a minor and was able to explain the process
Such a great experience. Enjoyed every second. Every person there is so kind, the amount of history was great to learn.
Will definitely come back
Great experience at a reasonable price!. This was a lot of fun. Gift shop had very reasonable prices. Very informative guides and a beautiful experience. Juno is absolutely gorgeous. This was a great experience!
This was a great tour. The visit to the mine was fascinating and the guides were interesting and informative. We even saw a marmot. The tour ended with an opportunity to pan for gold (we got 6 flakes!). Fun!
Excellent tour! Our tour guides were very informative and fun. Panning for gold was fun and everyone was able to find a little bit of gold.
It was fun and very educational learned a lot of new things and the panning was good and the history of the mines was cool!
It was a great day...if you are into gold panning and underground mining, the staff was very informative!
Great experience! The tour was run by retired miners and mine workers— they had so info much to share!
Time inside mine is limited. The kids enjoyed panning for gold, but the tour was on a strict time schedule. The people working were knowledgeable, but the guy in the mine was not friendly.
This was an awesome tour and our kids loved it. It sent my husband and I down a Google rabbit hole learning about gold mining. We loved Doug (the salty retired miner who led the underground portion.) I wish we had time to buy him a drink and listen to his stories about his time as a miner. He did a great job of making sure all the kids could see in the front and took great pains to make sure their ear protection was in correctly before turning on the machinery. It was impressive to see the equipment they use and how much engineering, geology, and chemistry come together to make gold mining possible.
Rick, who led the gold panning portion, was great with the kids. Everyone found little gold flakes thanks to him and his teaching abilities. I enjoyed talking with him about the local area, the gold mine’s relationship to the local indigenous population, and his background. We got to spend a solid 20-25 minutes learning to pan for gold at the end.
The gal who taught the mining overview portion really knew her stuff and answered all of our random questions. She was really pleasant and patient with some wild questions from a few of the visitors. The length of this portion was perfect and they even have overhead heaters they turned on in the outdoor classroom area where we sat.
I definitely recommend this!
It was a very informative tour and interesting to see the actual mine and the equipment that still in working condition
This was delightful and informative beyond our expectations! Each person we came into contact with was knowledgeable and pleasant. My 12 year old nephew and 16 year old niece were engaged and learned alot. A great memory to last their while lives!
It was a very interesting tour for my family with people of all ages. We learned alot about mining and mills and panning for gold.
This was a fantastic experience. My teens really enjoyed the very informative tours from the ride to the mine, the underground mine, the background history of the mine, the gold panning and even the gift shop was entertaining. This was an unforgettable experience.
This was a very interesting activity. It is not too long, but it still provides a lot of nice and useful information. The organization was perfect, and everything worked very smoothly from start to finish. It was enjoyable, informative, and very well arranged. Highly recommended!
Great experience for family of all ages! A history lesson, fun demonstrations, and some hands on learning/fun.
I went on this excursion with my wife and kids. The underground mine tour, led by a retired miner, was authentic, insightful, and filled with humor. Most likely the highlight for my kids was panning for gold, during which each of us did in fact find a few small flakes (which we were allowed to keep). This was a great use of our time in port and I definitely recommend it to others, young and old.
This tour was fun and informational. You can tell the employees really care about preserving the mine and sharing their knowledge about the history of the mine.
Only downfall: the directions told us to arrive 15 minutes before the departure time of 4:30, so we arrived at 4:15. The bus was not there to transport us until almost 4pm. The guide who took us underground talked fast and didn’t accept questions. The lady who shared about the mill process was VERY scripted. The gold we got was only 1-2 flakes and they really rushed us to get them and be ready to leave.
Overall it was still a great educational experience and was something different to do and experience.
Response from Host, Jun 2026
Thank you for joining our tour and seeing that our team really cares about preserving the history. That's our goal. I apologize for not earning the 5-star review that we strive for. The young lady that did the mill presentation does exactly what we teach, to talk as though you are talking to your friends or family...yep that's how she talks. :) The bus departed right on time. It was scheduled for a 4PM departure. If everyone showed up at 4pm we would need 10 minutes to check everyone in. Now for the gold, we look at a lot of guests viles of panned gold when they come in the store, Some come in with 1 or 2 tiny nuggets or flakes an some come in with 10. it is a learned technique. We make sure everyone goes home with at least one or 2 even if we have to pan it for them. This is a historic mine tour, as you know, with many parts. Every tour gets 5 minutes with the instruction pan that already has 3-4 nuggets, flakes in the pan. Then each tour gets 15 minutes to pan independently to find more. Again it is an practiced technique. Please join us again on your next cruise to Alaska. WE will be here!
Sincere Regards,
M
P.S. The miner in the tunnel usually lets everyone know he must take out his hearing aids in the tunnel and you have to get his attention for questions. Trust me...that man can talk and loves to talk about mining! :)
Member Pricing
From
$89.30
per personWas $94.00(-5%)
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Juneau Underground Gold Mine and Panning Experience
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