Glacier Bay Lodge & Tours

Glacier Bay Lodge in Gustavus, Alaska, is a cozy, convenient, and well-run place to base your Glacier Bay National Park adventure. The cabins are rustic yet charming, with comfortable beds, large windows offering peaceful views of the surrounding woods, and a clean, well-kept interior. Each cabin is connected by raised boardwalks that wind through the forested property. The lodge is managed by the same company that runs the popular and spectacular Glacier Bay boat tours, which makes logistics smooth and easy. Check-in is located in the main lodge building, which also houses the national park visitor center with a small museum, a gift shop, and a full-service restaurant with beautiful views. There are also several picturesque trails just steps away. This is not luxury lodging, but it’s absolutely perfect for what it is: simple, serene, and immersed in nature. Highly recommended.

We stayed three days and two nights at the lodge located on the shores of Bartlett Cove. The rooms are clean and the beds comfortable. The lodge is set up with separate buildings each containing several rooms. We had a room overlooking the water and it’s worth the extra money. ||The main lodge is comfortable overlooking the water fitted with a fireplace and couches. ||The National Park visitor center is located upstairs in the main lodge. There is no television in the rooms. There is also no Wi-Fi or cell service in the rooms. The only Wi-Fi available is in the lodge lobby. This is a bonus. It allows visitors to enjoy the peace and quiet of this amazing place called Glacier Bay National Park.

Rooms are old-school, but clean and in good condition. Very comfortable beds, lighting inside is low and make sure to bring your chargers, only standard wall outlets in the room. The location of the lodge is where you want to be of you are there for the National Park. The food was good and the staff was great. The easiest way to enjoy Glacier Bay without being on a cruise ship.

We had a lovely 4 night stay during the first week of June 2025. The staff were helpful, very friendly and fun. Highlights were a National Park Ranger led walk through the forest, renting and self kyaking on the bay, and the trip on the small ship up to the glaciers. Our Captian "Namoie" and National Park Ranger (on board) were professional and Awesome! Our room had a view of the beautiful bay. Many thanks to all! We had a most enjoyable stay and would Return. J&J

We spent a night in Gustavus and stayed at the glacier Bay Lodge complex. When you are there, you stay in little cabin type dwellings. The one we stayed in slept four my way of a four size bed and a bunk bed. It was very cozy clean and comfortable. We would definitely stay there again. It is very close to the Lodge where you would dine.

Folks that work there are amazing and it's almost lucky how a fairly generic aramark-run place is able to get folks to work there, I'm guessing primarily due to it's exotic location. Zach - one of the waiters - is easily the most cheerful and pleasant person I got to know during my stay. Weird that prices are the same for rooms all the time, I guess they're set in advance communist-style by some bureaucrat, not by supply and demand, which is why rooms are often ranging between sold out and lots of vacancy. Wish there was wifi in the rooms, not just in the lobby, which closes at night.

Beware of Room 35. It doesn't get hot water. It us a known issue but they book it anyway. The bed and pillows are lumpy. The lighting is dim. Staff is nice. Evening meal was good. Day boat tour was great

This was our second stay in one of the National Park Lodges and it did not disappoint! We enjoyed the atmosphere in the lodge, and seeing sea otters from our room as well as tremendous sunsets really exceeded our expectations. The employees were so dedicated, and Andy at the front desk helped me recover some shirts I had left in the room. It was some of the best customer service I’ve ever experienced. Thank you Glacier Bay Lodge!

Yes! I love Glacier Bay Lodge! No, I didn't have the opportunity to actually *stay* at Glacier Bay Lodge but I did have the opportunity to dine at the lodge several times during my stay in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Before I go any further, Brian from Utah is the very best waiter and my Dad and I purposefully requested him to be our waiter every time we dined here. I can speak to the Alaskan Ambers, the chicken fingers, the seafood chowder, and the best plates - the smoked salmon platter and the steak dinner. Everything was really tasty and I have no complaints. The service was great and even if there was a wait, or you want to dine near the fireplace, you can get your food in a to go box. Win win. Other notables regarding the lodge - the Visitor Center is on the second floor in addition to several exhibits, a National Park Service bookstore, and a theater that shows scheduled films about the park. I always enjoyed stopped at the lodge on our way to/from the campground. While I'd love to stay at the lodge, it was great having the opportunity to use several of the amenities while staying for *free* in the developed/established NPS campground just a quarter mile down the road.

This is a 3.5 for me. Stayed one night on 7/31/2021. For a lodge in the middle of nowhere, it's fine. This is also the Glacier Bay National Park Visitor Center on the second floor, where you can get your National Park passport stamp. The hotel picks you up from Gustavus airport in an old school bus, and drops you off at the lodge. From the bus, hotel staff come on the bus to tell everyone the facts about the hotel and where to get your luggage. Afterwards they separate you by last name and you get your keys. Much faster than checking in individually at the front desk. You pick up your luggage and go to your room. It smells like the summer camp that I went to. They do have ramps and an elevator for people who are in a wheelchair. Our room (31) was fine. There's no TV and no internet reception in the rooms, so you better like who you're staying with, because the lodge closes at 9 PM. We had to go to the front desk because we didn't have any soap or shampoo, but they're really understaffed after the past year. Room comes with a bed, a table, two chairs and nightstands. There is no mini fridge or microwave so don't bother bringing stuff that would need those two appliances to be edible. There is one restaurant on site that requires reservations, and all diners must be hotel guests. It's a little old, and the walls are a bit thin, but the room was comfortable and I fell asleep immediately. When we got to the hotel, the National Park Visitor Center portion was closed for the day so we were worried about not getting our National Park passport stamp after coming all this way. We walked a trail around the lodge and ended up catching the tail end of a presentation of the park rangers in the traditional house just past the Snow the Whale skeleton. The presentation began about 7 PM. In the morning, we dropped off our luggage at the front desk and had it tagged with the airline that we were flying back with. This is because checkout is before we'd be back from the official 8 hour boat tour through Glacier Bay with the actual park ranger (and the National Park passport stamp and Junior Ranger program.) After dropping off the luggage, we walked from the lodge down a trail to Bartlett Cove dock to visit Glacier Bay National Park. After the boat tour, it was a mad dash to get to the bus on time, as it leaves for Gustavus at 3:45 PM. All of our luggage was waiting for us on the bus. I would strongly discourage bringing anyone under 21 here. There were so many teens and tweens on ipads in the communal sitting area in the lodge. You could tell they were bored and not interested in the beautiful nature, so save your money and let them come when they're adults who can appreciate the scenery.

We just arrived this afternoon at Glacier Bay Lodge and the cool weather is so welcome. This is our first trip to Glacier Bay? The lodge is looking out on the bay with a beautiful view. The town is very small with only about 450 people. The attraction here is Glacier Bay tour which we will be going on in the morning. The lodge is charming and rustic. The meals are served in the restaurant in the lodge. They have a breakfast buffet or order from the menu. The dinner and lunch are also ordered from a menu. The rooms are clean and comfortable and some have bay views and all the employees are warm and friendly and accommodating. If you want go go on a tour to see Glacier Bay this is the place to stay. The rooms are nice and quiet and it's a beautiful place to walk around. We brought our grandson here for a graduation trip as a present to see thdlove Alaska.

This is about the only place to stay that is reasonably priced. They did not have Wi-Fi or tv in the rooms. There is Wi-Fi in the Lou he which closes at 10am. The dining room was ok. The National Park office in the Lodge closed early and the Ranger refused to let people use the passport stamp and said "come back tomorrow." Overall, it was ok.

I love Glacier Bay Lodge. I may need to add multiple strings to this review in the future to cover all there is to the experience. 1. The lodge - An Iconic large wood beam lodge built over 50 years ago and preserved to historic standards. A building masterpiece in its own regaurd. Sit in the main room by the fire and read a book with a glass of wine or relax with friends and enjoy the view of Bartlett Cove. Decked out with leather couchs and wood everywhere. You can venture out to the wood deck that is covered with vaulted wooden overhangs. Since it rains 350 days out of the year having a place to sit out of the rain is important. You can also enjoy a meal in the dining room or deck. Walk up the stairs to the NPS information center and learn a lot with the visually stunning stuffed animals and sea life. There is also a sitting area with local books you can read and purchase in the store. On the main level is the gift shop, information desk and restrooms. 2. Food Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day and they do it right. A great breakfast buffet with corned beef, biscuts and gravy, pancakes, eggs, sasuage and bacon, fresh fruit, baked muffins, potatoes, and anything else you might want!!!!! For lunch they have a great variety of soups, salads and sandwich options as well as bigger items. The deck rocks for evening food, try the nachos and the fairweather salad for a nice snack and light dinner. If you are feeling really hungry try the fish and chips or one of the burgers. They make a huge burger. I got one with cheese and egg, they use Waygu beef and it must be a 3/4 pound burger. The formal dining area is great with lots of traditional options and a full drink service. I really loved the deck.... because your in Alaska don't sit inside =) 3. Rooms They guest rooms are very nice. I have been in similar ones in other NPS sites. They are very comfortable, have showers and restrooms, great views and are the perfect place to rest and jump into the next adventure. Lets be honest most people only use the room a little. Why whould you go to Glacier Bay to sit in a room? 4. Gift shop They have a fun gift shop. BEAR SPRAY and GAS can be purchased here!!!! They also have some lite food items and lots of gifts! They have fun native themed gifts and lots of stuff with Sea Otters and whales. Otter you check it out yourself??? Seriouosly I didn't get the otter thing until I went sea Kayak caming and say hundreds of sea otters. Including a couple of rafts with 80-100 otters each conncted to eachother on the open ocean! 5. Bears!! There are bears everywhere. Get bear spray and wear it all the time. You do not want to come around a train and frighten a bear. Stay safe and its not a problem. Get a telephoto lens and you will be rewarded with once in a lifetime views of black and brown bears (most people call them grizzlys) 6. Transportation The lodge has buses and vans. They will shuttle you to and from the Ferry and planes. They do a very good job and keep everything on time. Make sure you call ahead and tip your driver! Most of all I give huge credit to the staff. Everywhere in and around the lodge they bend over backwards to make sure you have a great experince. They are a cohesive team and you can tell they really care about the guests. I have worked in hotels myself and know how bad it can be where people chase money and tips. Here it is a great experience and I am sure the staff also love being there. How can you not love it??? What can I say to wrap it up. You need to go!! If I ever get the change again I will be back. It was a life changing experience. It will never be the same again as the glaciers are melting and the land it raising because of glaciial rebound at almost 2in a year. I will forever have found memories of Glacier Bay and the lodge!

Lodging was amazing! It was so nice to get away from phone service and wifi. Wish I knew about that so can bring some reading books. the only one I was not enjoyed was their food. All of them were so dry and not quality food. We ordered salmon, salad and fish/chips. They were so bad. I would recommend you to bring your own foos even ramen!

Upon arrival, our room was disgusting. Several hairs were found on the toilet seat, in the shower, and both on the bed and under the covers. The shower curtain was filthy with hairs and sand. The bedside lamp was covered in dust. The heat in the room didn't work. We requested our room be cleaned, and it was. However, a few hairs still remained, the shower curtain still covered with hair and sand, AND our new sheets had large yellow stains. Needless to say, we slept in our sleeping bags because we were freezing and the "clean" sheets were visibly soiled. Somehow flies kept getting in our room despite our window being closed. Not sure how this continued. The bathroom had no hand soap, just the small bar in the shower. This barely lasted us our 3 days, but we were too frustrated with our room to even waste our time asking for more. The food at the Lodge restaurant was overpriced and barely edible. We only ate there because we had no other convenient option. Several dishes we tried to order were already sold out on Monday while food delivery occurs on Thursday. Our salmon overcooked, the pasta overcooked and flavorless, brownie so burnt we couldn't cut through it, and the cobbler was just a bowl of cooked berries. Thank god for our waiter Cade who made the rest of our dining experience enjoyable!!! We generally had pleasant interactions with the staff. In addition to Cade at the restaurant, Deena our bus driver was fabulous. She welcomed us at the airport, gave us a tour of the town on our way to the Lodge, and suggested a whale watching tour for us to do. We likely would not have enjoyed Gustavus without her. The gift shop staff were also very friendly and gave us other great suggestions for our trip, such as visiting the airplane wreck. On the other hand, the desk staff did not seem to know any answers to our questions, namely those related to the laundry machines, and they referred us to the gift shop staff for all of our questions. The desk staff was really only useful for filling our water bottles. Maybe this is why they don't have water filling stations anywhere besides the dock. Felt very strange having to ask staff to fill our bottles for us. One final experience of note was an evening in the lodge where we were reading and using the wifi on the second floor of the lodge, and it appeared that restaurant staff assumed the lodge was free of guests and started blasting inappropriate music throughout. We merely laughed at this, but imagine other guests would have been upset. The state of the room for the price we paid had us in disbelief. We were so excited to visit Glacier Bay and were SO disappointed in our stay at the Lodge. Nearly ruined our final 3 days in AK. We will never stay here EVER AGAIN and will make sure no one we know ever does either. Horrible and extremely unacceptable experience!!!! We would have been better off sleeping outside in our tent.

OMG - I love this place; absolutely love the Glacier Bay Lodge. They offer free airport pick up and drop off and the driver was very friendly and helped with loading and unloading all of our bags. Just be sure to call them in advance and put your name down for the shuttle As soon as our shuttle reached the lodge, they were ready with our keys, and we went straight to our rooms without any hassle or wait The rooms were really nice - wooden, rustic, typical of what you'd expect in a place like Gustavus. But oh, so neat! They even had the crib ready and set up in our room. How sweet! The lodge also has a restaurant - we had dinner and breakfast. Service was amazing and I was really surprised by the food options available in such a remote place. Delicious as well. They have a full bar and if you care for dessert cocktails, I highly recommend the raspberry chocolate vodka. The restaurant opens at 6am, just in time to eat breakfast before heading out for the Glacier Bay Tour The dock (to board for Glacier Bay Tour) is right behind the hotel, about 5 min walk We had checked out early in the morning, went on the Glacier Bay Tour and when we returned after the tour, they said they had already loaded all our bags into the shuttle. Just amazing and extraordinary customer service. Very highly recommend this lodge when visiting Gustavus.

June 17-19, 21 Love staying at NP lodges. Views incredible. Food & drinks were enjoyable-no complaints. Wifi could have been better-but that's not why you are there. Beautiful hiking. Saw a porcupine. Very helpful & attentive staff & waitstaff.

It's the only food option if you're in the park. It of convenience and without a car, I ended up eating here three times, twice for dinner, once for lunch. Each was a disappointment though I found the service consistently friendly. I'd also recommend the crisp, solid Alaskan brews over the lackluster wine selection (my old vine red from Marietta in particular was awful). The meatloaf was overly salty, the gravy on top almost solid and also salty. The caprese sandwich wasn't very good: it needed more salt or pesto or both, and more filling given the size of the bread. As for the polenta entree with a tomato sauce and vegetable stew, the polenta had no flavor whatsoever. The tomato sauce was fine, but the carrots in the stew were only barely cooked.

First let me start by saying that the staff at the Lodge are wonderful. My friend left her camera on the ferry and realized it just prior to pulling into the lodge parking lot. The staff sprang into action to communicate with the ferry and we were instantly back on our way to retrieve the camera! Success. Day 2 out of 14 in Alaska without a camera would not have been good. We ate three meals (two dinners and a lunch) in the lodge dining room. All meals were excellent! And don't forget to order the warm cookie with ice cream for dessert, it's ok, you'll burn the calories on the Bartlett Cove Trail! We did the eight hour Glacier Bay Boat Tour and were able to see a brown bear, plenty of harbor seals and sea otters. Unfortunately, no whales, but that doesn't mean they're not out there! Lunch was served on the boat, and the crew were very friendly and helpful. Hiking around the park is truly magical. The temperate rain forest makes for a surreal environment, we felt like we were walking through a fairyland. Our search for moose was unsuccessful, but did manage to see a black bear two times, once from our room! What a privilege it was to be able to visit this remote area of the Last Frontier.

The lodge or room itself was pretty clean and comfortable. I say pretty clean because our shower curtain was moldy and during our two night stay was never changed. If was a bit gross taking a shower with mold on the curtain. It is a very rustic place. No tv's and no air conditioners in the room. But the rooms were comfortable. The restaurant had good food. Since we had no car it was the only place we could eat at so I'm glad the food was good. Service was also excellent!!! We ate here I believe six times and always had great service. Servers are very professional and ever so polite. The Draper Valley Chicken was excellent so excellent I ordered it two nights in a row.

Nice enough but seriously non-luxury rooms, but the location is *fantastic*. You can see bears and porcupines on a stroll within 100 yards of the lodge, on the numerous trails. They are very good about helping you arrange kayak tours, boat tours into glacier bay, whale watching trips, etc. This far away from civilization, this is about the best you reasonably can expect. Definitely on my list of places to return to.

What an experience! If you want to have nature right out you backdoor, an Alaskan Bay for a front porch and NPS Rangers at your disposal, Glacier Bay Lodge is your chance. The massive lodge provides you with everything you need to enjoy you stay. There is tons of information and resources, a large nature display, Rangers to answer questions, huge stone fireplace, restaurant, outdoor seating and gift shop. We took advantage of one of the nightly events, the Huna Tribal House is just a walk up a small path where a native talks about the first settlers of Barlett Cove. The Park has a huge dock in front of the Lodge for boat tours, kayaking, seaplanes.

Look, the location is great, but the lodge sucks. The prices are high, everything is old, and the hot water was out throughout my visit. I highly recommend visiting Glacier Bay and unfortunately the Glacier Bay Lodge has a monopoly in the area, so it is one of those suck-it-up situations. Fortunately, there is every reason to go out and see the area around the lodge, so it is not like you can expect to spend much time there. There are a couple of hiking trails that leave right from the lodge. While not terrific trails, the 1-mile loop that goes along the shore and into the woods is nice and there are sometimes great views of wildlife, such as the bald eagle I saw on the beach, the otter I saw in the water, and the bold porcupines. The dock where the cruise through Glacier Bay leaves from is a 5 minute walk from the lodge. The lodge does send a bus to pick its guests up at the airport, but it seems like it might be a school bus from the 70s that has been put to a new use and sounds on the verge of dying throughout the 40 minute trip from/to the airport. If you are staying here, your only option is to eat at the lodge's restaurant. Breakfast is a joke, so skip it if at all possible. The prices are high, the food is bad, and the service is slow. Dinner is much better. The prices are still high (higher, actually), but are not shockingly high and the food is much better. Sitting out on the deck on a warm summer evening is a delight. Service at dinner was friendly and the food ranged from mediocre to quite good, as did the drinks. The gnocchi was a standout dish, while the rest were essentially adequate. The raspberry chocolate dessert martini was fun. All told, the lodge is bad, but that probably will not be the key factor when deciding whether to visit Glacier Bay.

An aged National Park Service lodge but is a great place for exploring Glacier Bay and local trails. The rooms are small and cozy- set in the towering trees near the beach. I have enjoyed the restaurant and the upstairs visitor center. The visitor center's exhibits are a little stale and need updating, but the information is good. The quality of the food greatly depends on the concessionaire running the restaurant, but lately it has been good. The pub/lunch fare is solid, and best enjoyed on the back deck when a view of the Fairweather Range can be seen. Park Rangers are numerous and lead nature and history walks. I highly recommend taking one of them.