Glacier Gardens Rainforest In Juneau?

[BIG4YA]

I went to the website site for this garden in juneau and they referred me to the cruiseline if I wanted to book a tour. Is it possbile to just take a bus to the enter of the garden and get in without booking through the cruise?

[tee_harbor]

Yes. I believe entry is @ $25?

 

You can pick up the bus downtown. The schedules can be found at http://www.juneau.org/capitaltransit/ You want #3, Lemon Creek/Valley bus. Tell the driver where you're going, but keep an eye out for landmarks in case he/she forgets. You want to get off after Wal-mart and before Fred Meyer. (Oops, notice that the Wal-mart is still shown as K-mart on the map.)

[Italy52]

I went to the website site for this garden in juneau and they referred me to the cruiseline if I wanted to book a tour. Is it possbile to just take a bus to the enter of the garden and get in without booking through the cruise?

 

 

We did the gardens on our own a couple of years ago. We arrived before the tour busses and had a guide all to ourselves, it was really nice. One drawback for us was taking the bus. It took a bit for it to arrive at the downtown stop - once it did, it was a local and made many stops. We decided to take a cab rather than the bus back to town.

[caneable]

We did this trip in August this year, prices as set above! Driver was very good making sure he knew where all the tourists wanted to go - there were about 6 couples aboard mostly going to different places. As soon as we got near he called out the stop. You can maximise your time if you check the local buses web site. We used Mendenhall Express bus too and did both plus Mt Roberts Tramway and still had time to walk in town. Mind you we were knackered and didn't walk too far.:)

[BIG4YA]

We used Mendenhall Express bus too and did both plus Mt Roberts Tramway and still had time to walk in town. Mind you we were knackered and didn't walk too far.:)

 

 

We will be in port from like 8A-8P in 9/08 and I have a whale watching excursion booked unitl about 1 PM and I want to do Mendenhall and would like to do the gardens also if not to far away.

[YemenBear]

We visited Glacier Gardens in early September 2007. We took the bus instead of taxi or booking through Princess. We found Princess added $20 per person above entrance price to the gardens. Bus fare was $1.50 per person. Have correct change because driver won't provide any.

 

You want to take the bus from the main bus station. Don't wait at bus stop near library. Routes are not continual routes. Bus goes from main station back to main station, then drivers take break. Bus ran twice per hour on a fixed schedule.

 

As mentioned above, you want the stop just past Wal-Mart. Driver is helpful in identifying stop. Glacier Gardens are a short walk (maybe 3 minutes) from the bus stop. It took about 20 minutes to drive from main station to Glacier Garden stop. Nothing scenic about the drive, but we weren't in a great hurry.

[caneable]

Hey Yemen Bear, what about the trip up by the correctional centre? Not many cruisers get to add that one:D

[Budget Queen]

We will be in port from like 8A-8P in 9/08 and I have a whale watching excursion booked unitl about 1 PM and I want to do Mendenhall and would like to do the gardens also if not to far away.

 

Actually, I strongly suggest you consider an independent whale watch and get a direct pick up/drop off at Mendenhall Glacier, Then from there, take a cab direct to Glacier Gardens, and the city bus back/to downtown.

 

Otherwise, you are going to be going back and forth downtown, 3 times. The Mendenhall Shuttle does NOT stop anywhere else and ship whale watch doesn't either. Take a look at a Juneau Map, all three of these attractions are outside of downtown. Doing as I suggest will save at least 1 1/2 hours backtracking.

 

An alternative, if you don't mind walking a mile is to continue on the city bus to/from Mendenhall Glacier in one direction (whale watch shuttle the other). It's level 1 mile walk from the bus stop to the visitor center.

 

The bus pick up is not clear above. You pick up the bus at the bus shelter, on Franklin which is down and across the street from the Red Dog. (at the library- you are going in the WRONG direction).