Planning a Trip

Getting There

By Air -- Jet service is available only from Alaska Airlines (tel. 800/252-7522; www.alaskaair.com), with several daily nonstop flights from Seattle and Anchorage and from the smaller Southeast Alaska towns. Many of the region's commuter and air-taxi operators also maintain desks at the airport and have flights out of Juneau. Among the best is Wings of Alaska (tel. 907/789-0790; www.ichoosewings.com).

By Ferry -- All the main-line ferries of Southeast's Alaska Marine Highway System (tel. 800/642-0066; www.ferryalaska.com) stop at the terminal in Auke Bay (tel. 907/789-7453 or 907/465-3940 recording), 14 miles from downtown, and the fast ferry, Fairweather, is based here, too. It cuts off half the 5 hours to Haines or Skagway, with four and five sailings there a week, respectively. The passenger fare is $37 to Haines, $50 to Skagway.

Getting Into Town from the Airport & Ferry Terminal -- An airport shuttle may be operating when you visit. Ask at the visitor desk in the baggage claim area.

An express Capital Transit city bus (tel. 907/789-6901) comes to the airport at 11 minutes past the hour on weekdays from 7:11am to 5:11pm and costs $1.50; your luggage has to fit under your seat or at your feet. Ask the driver for the stop closest to your hotel. Generally, you can walk from there.

Shuttles sometimes operate from the ferry dock downtown in the summer, but the arrangements are changeable. Ask when you arrive, or call ahead to the visitor center. A cab downtown from the airport will cost you $22, from the ferry dock $33. One taxi company is Capital Cab (tel. 907/586-2772), which also offers tours for $55 an hour.

Flying to Juneau -- Juneau's mist-shrouded airport, wedged between ocean and mountain, has a special verb: to overhead. That means that when you try to fly to Juneau on a foggy day, you could end up somewhere else instead (although this now happens less frequently thanks to new navigational technology). Planes overhead other Southeast towns, too, but more frequently in Juneau, since it is the region's travel hub, with many flights a day. The airline will put you on the next flight back to Juneau when the weather clears, but they won't pay for hotel rooms or give you a refund. Your only protection is travel insurance and a loose itinerary. This situation is such an ingrained part of Juneau's way of life that a channel on the cable TV system broadcasts the view toward the airport 24 hours a day, showing the weather over the Gastineau Channel (it's called the Channel Channel, 23 on the dial). Residents know the view so well they can tell from the silent image if they'll get out that day.

Orientation

Juneau has three main parts: downtown, the Mendenhall Valley, and Douglas. Downtown Juneau is a numbered grid of streets overlying the uneven topography like a patched quilt over a pile of pillows. As you look at Juneau from the water, Mount Juneau is on the left and Mount Roberts on the right; Mount Roberts is a few hundred feet taller, at 3,819 feet. Franklin Street extends south of town 5 1/2 miles to good hiking trails and the hamlet of Thane. When the city outgrew its original site downtown, housing spread to the suburban Mendenhall Valley, about a dozen miles north out the Egan Expressway or the parallel, two-lane Glacier Highway. The glacial valley also contains the Juneau International Airport, University of Alaska Southeast, and the Auke Bay area, where the ferry terminal is located. The road continues 40 miles to a place known as "The End of the Road." Across a bridge over the Gastineau Channel from downtown Juneau is Douglas Island. Turn left for the town of Douglas, mostly a bedroom community for Juneau, and turn right for the North Douglas Highway, which leads to the ski area and some beautiful rocky beaches.

Getting Around

By Rental Car -- A car is a hindrance in compact downtown Juneau, but if you're going to the Mendenhall Glacier or to any of the attractions out of downtown or to Douglas Island, renting a car for a day or two is a good idea. Hertz, Avis, Budget, Alamo, and National are based at the airport.

By Bike -- If you can handle hills, bikes make good sense in Juneau, where separated paths parallel many of the main roads and downtown traffic is slow. The 24-mile round-trip to Mendenhall Glacier keeps you on a bike path almost all the way. Bikes are for rent at the Driftwood Lodge, 435 Willoughby Ave. (tel. 800/544-2239 or 907/586-2280; www.driftwoodalaska.com) for $25 a day, $15 for a half-day.

Visitor Information

The Visitor Information Center is in the Centennial Hall at 101 Egan Dr., near the Alaska State Museum (tel. 888/581-2201 or 907/586-2201; fax 907/586-6304; www.traveljuneau.com). Operated by the Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau, the center distributes a Juneau Guide & Travel Planner, online and on paper, that contains exhaustive listings of hotels and B&Bs, charter boats, tours, and other services. The center is open in summer Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 5pm; in winter Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm. The bureau also operates information desks at the airport, near the door in the baggage-claim area, and at the Auke Bay ferry terminal. During the summer, centers are staffed at the cruise-ship terminal and at Marine Park.

The office of the Tongass National Forest Juneau Ranger District is at 8510 Mendenhall Loop Rd., Juneau, AK 99801 (tel. 907/586-8800, 907/790-7444 TDD; fax 907/586-8808; www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass).

Special Events

An event calendar is posted on the visitors' bureau website at www.traveljuneau.com/discover.

The Alaska Folk Festival (tel. 907/463-3316; www.alaskafolkfestival.org) is the state's biggest annual coming together of musicians, at Centennial Hall. Musicians take over the town and can be found jamming in every bar and coffeehouse, or wherever a crowd gathers. The 34th annual festival is April 7 to April 13, 2008.

The Juneau Jazz & Classics Festival (tel. 907/463-3378; www.jazzandclassics.org), May 16 to May 24, 2008, presents concerts and workshops in many styles of music -- blues, jazz, classical, rock -- at various venues, even on a boat, and at many prices -- free to $60 a ticket. Most evening performances are around $22.

The simply named Celebration, sponsored by the Sealaska Heritage Institute (tel. 907/463-4844) is among Alaska's largest cultural gatherings. Alaska Natives gather from every corner of the state to share dance and art, sell crafts, meet and, well, celebrate. Book well ahead if you will be in Juneau at this time, as rooms will be in short supply. It happens only every other year with the next meeting due June 5 to June 7, 2008.

The Golden North Salmon Derby (tel. 907/783-2399; www.goldennorthsalmonderby.org), held annually since 1947, targets kings and silvers, normally the first weekend in August. Unlike some other such fishing contests around the state, this isn't just a tourist thing -- it brings out as many as 3,000 local fishermen and is even covered live on the radio.

The Cruise-Ship Dock: Where Do You Get Off?

Cruise-ship passengers disembark in Juneau's attractive Marine Park waterfront area, where a kiosk dispenses information and tour operators sell their services. Downtown shops and attractions are close by. Among the most popular sights is one right at the dock, the statue of a small dog facing the ships as they come in. This is Patsy Ann, a bull terrier that in the 1930s always seemed to know when a steamer was arriving and faithfully stationed herself on the dock to meet the disembarking passengers. There's also a spotting scope in the park for watching mountain goats on Mount Juneau. For a quiet break, visit the beautiful library at the top of the parking garage at the south end of the dock.