Whittier is a scenic and picturesque town lying along Passage Canal which is a fjord entering into Prince William Sound. This self-proclaimed ‘Gateway to Prince William Sound’ is a terrific day trip from Anchorage. The primary visitor season is May through September with June-August being the peak months. Approximately 60 miles from downtown Anchorage, simply follow the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm then turn onto Portage Glacier Road. If you are scheduling a tour or charter, be sure to account for the time it may take to go through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel. Please use the link above to check the current status of the tunnel, but in general, traffic flows into Whittier on the half hour while traffic departs Whittier at the top of the hour. To avoid the frustration of missing your tour, get there early. Driving through the tunnel is quite an experience. If you want a see an interesting overview on YouTube, I’d recommend the following short video by “Home With the Hoopers”. A lot of YouTubers have posted previews so just do a search if you want to see more previews.
There are already some excellent writeups and descriptions of Whittier including Wikipedia, the City of Whittier, and Unusual Places. Rather than regurgitate the already good content, I’ll limit my thoughts to some specific points I’ve learned over the years traveling to Whittier.
My first knowledge nugget is simply to plan ahead for the tunnel. The drive along Seward Highway often takes longer than you think; the scenery can be stunning on clear, pretty days, and you’ll probably want to stop along the many pullouts to take pictures or just enjoy the view; plus, even if you are in a hurry and don’t plan to stop, lots of other people will likely be pulling into and out of the pullouts or even stopping on the shoulder to take pictures of dall sheep or beluga whales. Once you get to the tunnel, there are typically only two pay booths open so that can take some time. During the peak summer visitor season, there will be times during the day when you’ll likely have to wait through at least one rotation of the tunnel opening/closing. Leave early, you can always relax at one of Whittier’s coffee shops……given the lack of roads, they are pretty easy to find; my favorite coffee/snack stop is the Oceanfront Cafe because, well, it’s ocean front, has indoor and outdoor seating, and the coffee is good. Or, if you end up arriving into town really early, drive to the end of Shotgun Cove Road for some spectacular views of Passage Canal, glaciers, and mountains; the gravel road only goes a couple of miles so it doesn’t take long.
As the Gateway to Prince William Sound, the town has a lot of great water activities. Phillips Cruises and Tours offers excellent glacier and sea tours of varying durations. You can rent sea kayaks or take a kayak tour from the Lazy Otter as well as water taxi rides. Several fishing charters operate out of Whittier for salmon, halibut, and rockfish. Glacier Jet Ski Adventures offers guided jet ski tours to one of the nearby glaciers. Aside from pay activities, the area around Whittier has some excellent hiking, photography, and fishing opportunities. For hiking, I would go with either Portage Pass Trail or the Horsetail Falls Trail. For a superb rundown on fishing Whittier, you’ll want to read through the Alaska Outdoors Supersite Whittier page. Fishing from the shore is seasonal during the pink and silver salmon runs; although not mentioned in the site I recommended above, I think the best place for pinks is Cove Creek where the there is a nice picnic area with vault toilets. Cove Creek also provides a good opportunity for bear viewing in August (during the pink salmon run); checkout my YouTube video of a black bear fishing in August 2020. For more ideas on what to do, the Anchor Inn keeps an updated list of tour companies and activities, the City of Whittier site also promotes tourism, and there is always TripAdvisor or other services to check.
My tip for photographers is about lighting. The lighting can be drastically different throughout the day with some photo angles being best in either the morning, afternoon, or evening. Driving along the Seward Highway, the sun essentially follows the Turnagain Arm. During the morning drive to Whittier, the sun will be in your face; during the evening drive back to Anchorage, you will again be facing the sun. Dall sheep and bald eagles are commonly seen along the highway throughout the summer, and beluga whales are fairly common later in the summer as they follow pink and silver salmon to their spawning streams. In Whittier, you can expect an early sunrise over the mountains along Passage Canal, and you can also expect an earlier sunset due to the mountain (that the tunnel passes through) obstructing the sun as it gets low in the western sky.
Whittier versus Seward wildlife viewing cruise tip. Phillips Cruises and Tours and Major Marine are the two big day cruising companies. Phillips operates out of Whiiter, and Major Marine operates out of Seward. My wife and I have taken tours with both companies, generally when family or friends visit. We have enjoyed every trip from both companies so deciding which one to schedule basically is either a flip of the coin or a matter of your schedule. Strictly for ease, if you are doing daytrips from Anchorage, the Whittier Cruise is the better option simply due to driving distance and typical morning departure times. Plus, if you’re really into glaciers, Phillips’ 26 Glacier Cruise out of Whittier can be spectacular on clear, sunny days. Don’t have a car? Use the Alaska Railroad to daytrip Whittier and enjoy a wildlife cruise with Phillips Cruises.