Verdict
The best Alaska helicopter tour, and the four runners-up
Fourteen trips, one decision, and a straight answer at the end rather than a list that avoids choosing. We rank on whether the skids touch the ice, how long you get on it, how much evidence stands behind the rating, and what is included once you land.
Quick answer
The best Alaska helicopter tour for most people is the one-hour Knik Glacier flight with a landing, from $492. It is the only way onto ice with no road, trail or boat route to it, it carries 87 reviews at a clean 5.0, and it fits inside a day you already had plans for. If you want more than twenty minutes up there, the two-hour Grand Knik at $718 lands in more than one place.
How we ranked them
- First criterion
- Does it land?a flight without one is a different product
- Second
- Time on the icefifteen minutes and three hours are not the same day
- Third
- Weight of evidence87 reviews and 1 review are different kinds of fact
- Fourth
- What is includedgear and guides on the programmes
- Fifth
- How far the base isTalkeetna is 2.5 hours north of Anchorage
- Not a criterion
- Pricethe dearest thing here is not the best flight
- Winner
- One-hour Knik landing$492, 87 reviews at 5.0
- More air time
- The Grand Knik$718, more than one landing
- Best programme
- Helicopter and dog sled$769, 64 reviews at 4.9
- Best without flying
- Matanuska full day$310, 120 reviews at 4.8
The winner
One hour on Knik, with a landing, and 87 people behind it
It lands, it has the cleanest evidence here, and it is the only way to reach that ice at all.
It wins on every criterion that matters, and it wins on the one that matters most by being the only way to do the thing at all.
It lands. The skids touch the ice and the engine goes off. Knik has no road and no walking route, so this is access rather than sightseeing, and everything else on this page is a variation on how much of it you buy.
The evidence is unusually clean. 87 ratings at a flat 5.0 is not a small sample with a lucky average; it is enough people to believe. Several listings here are new and carry one review or none. That does not make them bad, but it does mean you are betting rather than choosing.
It is an hour. Which sounds like a criticism and is not: an hour fits inside a day that already had a plan in it. The four-hour programmes are wonderful and they eat the afternoon as well.
It is the entry point to everything else here. Every flight above it in the price list buys more time, more landings or something to do on the ice — all of them built on the same hour.
Every trip, current fare
Every trip, ranked by price
The full field. Read the landing column first and the price column second, and it becomes obvious which of these reach a glacier you cannot get to any other way.
| Trip | Length | Price | Glacier landing | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matanuska Glacier Hike with TransfersA day on Matanuska with the coach included | 8 h | $310 | You walk on it | $38.75 | 4.8 · 38 |
| Matanuska Glacier Full-Day TourThe long Matanuska day, most reviewed of the walks | 10 h | $310 | You walk on it | $31.00 | 4.8 · 120 |
| Matanuska Glacier Winter TourThe same glacier under snow, with lunch | 8 h | $334 | You walk on it | $41.75 | 5.0 · 16 |
| Full-Day Matanuska Glacier HikeA proper guided hike further onto the ice | 8 h | $348 | You walk on it | $43.50 | 4.8 · 58 |
| Knik Glacier Helicopter Tour with LandingThe classic hour, with a landing on Knik | 1 h | $492 | Yes, one | $492.00 | 5.0 · 87 |
| Talkeetna Mountain Voyager FlightThe Talkeetna side and the Alaska Range | 75–105 min | $494 | Optional — check the listing | $329.33 | 4.9 · 81 |
| Grand Knik Helicopter Tour with LandingsTwo hours and more than one landing | 2 h | $718 | Yes, more than one | $359.00 | 5.0 · 25 |
| Helicopter Glacier Dogsledding TourA dog team on a summer snow camp | 1.5 h | $724 | Yes, at a dog camp | $482.67 | 5.0 · 7 |
| Knik Glacier Helicopter and Hiking TourFlown onto Knik and walked across it | 4 h | $727 | Yes, and a hike | $181.75 | 5.0 · 1 |
| Helicopter and Glacier Dogsled TourThe best-reviewed dog sledding here | 1.5–2 h | $769 | Yes, at a dog camp | $439.43 | 4.9 · 64 |
| 90-Minute Flight with Two LandingsNinety minutes, two landings | 1.5 h | $795 | Yes, two | $530.00 | 4.8 · 4 |
| Prince William Sound Flight with LandingThe only flight here that reaches saltwater | 1.5 h | $805 | Yes, one | $536.67 | 5.0 · 1 |
| Knik Glacier Helicopter and Ice ClimbingA rope on a blue wall inside a crevasse | 4 h | $1,334 | Yes, and you climb | $333.50 | New |
| Knik Glacier Helicopter and PaddleboardingA paddleboard on a lake full of icebergs | 4 h | $1,385 | Yes, and you paddle | $346.25 | 5.0 · 10 |
The runners-up
Four trips that beat the winner for specific people
None of these is better overall. Each is better if one particular thing matters most.
- If one landing is not enough: the Grand Knik, $718
Two hours instead of one, and the skids come down in more than one place. It works across far more of the icefield, and the second landing is usually what people describe afterwards. 25 reviews at 5.0.
- If you want something to do up there: the dog sled tour, $769
A working kennel on a snow camp reached by helicopter, a run behind the team, and time with the dogs. 64 reviews at 4.9 — the best-evidenced programme on this page, and the only way to go sledding in July.
- If nobody in the party will fly: the Matanuska day, $310
A coach from Anchorage and a guided walk on the glacier that reaches the highway. It is a good long day out and it is a roadside glacier — not Knik, not a landing, and not the same trip. 120 reviews at 4.8.
- If you want Denali rather than Knik: the Talkeetna flight, $494
The Alaska Range and the flanks of Denali itself, which is a completely different landscape from a valley glacier. 81 reviews at 4.9. The catch is the drive — Talkeetna is about two and a half hours north of Anchorage — and that the glacier landing is listed as an option rather than included.
Three trips here cost more than three times the winner. They are remarkable and none of them is the first flight you should book.
Is any of it worth it→Which ones we would not book first
Not bad trips — just not the first booking
Each of these answers a narrower question than "which helicopter tour should I book".
The four-hour programmes at $727, $1,334 and $1,385 are the most memorable things on this page and they are not where to start. Two of them are new listings with almost no review history. Book one as a second trip, or if the specific activity is the reason you came.
The Prince William Sound flight at $805 is the only trip here that reaches saltwater, which is a genuinely different view. It is also new and carries a single review, and it costs more than the two-hour Grand Knik.
The ninety-minute flight with two landings at $795 does the same thing as the Grand Knik for more money and with four reviews rather than twenty-five. If both are available on your dates, the Grand Knik is the better-evidenced booking.
The winter Matanuska tour at $334 is excellent and seasonal. If you are here in the cold months it moves up the list considerably, because the ice caves are at their best and the glacier under snow is a different place entirely.
Common questions
The best Alaska helicopter tour, answered
What is the best helicopter tour in Alaska?
For a first flight, the one-hour Knik Glacier tour with a landing at $492 — 87 reviews at a clean 5.0 and the only way onto ice with no road, trail or boat route to it. For more air time, the two-hour Grand Knik.
What is the best helicopter glacier tour in Alaska?
The same one, for the same reason: it lands. Among the trips here that do something once you are up there, the helicopter and dog sled tour at $769 has the strongest review history.
What is the best glacier tour around Anchorage?
The one-hour Knik landing at $492. It is the only trip here that reaches a glacier with no road to it, and it carries the cleanest rating on the page.
Is the most expensive tour the best?
No. The dearest thing on this page is a helicopter and paddleboard trip at $1,385. It is extraordinary and it is a programme rather than a better flight. The best-evidenced trip here is the cheapest flight with a landing.
Which glacier tour is best in Alaska for a first visit?
The one-hour Knik flight with a landing. It is short enough to fit into an existing day, it includes the thing that makes helicopter tours worth the money, and it has the cleanest rating on this page.
Should I book a flight without a landing?
Only if the view from the air is genuinely what you want. It costs turbine rates for something a fixed-wing aircraft does more cheaply, and it misses the part that people describe afterwards.
Go deeper
More on Alaska helicopter tours and glacier landings
What an Alaska helicopter tour costs
Fourteen trips priced per person and per hour, from $310 to $1,385.
Knik GlacierThe Knik Glacier flight
The one-hour flight with a landing: what the hour contains and why it costs what it does.
The landingWhat a glacier landing is like
Fifteen to twenty-five minutes on the ice, and why that is the whole purchase.
AnchorageHelicopter tours from Anchorage
Everything that flies within an hour of the city, and where each one departs.
Grand KnikThe Grand Knik tour
Two hours and more than one landing - what the extra hour actually buys.
Dog sleddingHelicopter and dog sledding
A working kennel on the snow in July, and the only way to reach it.
