The 9 Best Things to Do in Katmai National Park (Free & Paid)

Wondering what’s actually worth doing in Katmai National Park? This guide breaks down the 9 best things to do in Katmai, covering both free and paid activities, from the best bear-viewing spots and kayaking at Brooks Camp to guided tours of the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

We’re sharing the experiences we genuinely think are most worthwhile, whether you’re visiting for a day or staying longer. At the end, we also include practical planning tips like where to stay, how to get here, and more!

ℹ️ About Katmai National Park

Located in remote southwestern Alaska, Katmai National Park is best known for its large population of massive brown bears. The park experiences its largest spike in visitors in July, when salmon surge upstream and these brown bears gather at Brooks Falls to feast on the fish as they leap the falls—an incredible sight to see!

Beyond the bears, Katmai is also home to the otherworldly Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a vast ash-filled landscape formed by one of the largest volcanic eruptions in modern history.

Most first-time visitors experience Katmai through Brooks Camp, where the park’s most accessible bear viewing, ranger programs, and visitor facilities are located. This area is ideal if you’re coming specifically to see bears at Brooks Falls or want to explore Katmai without committing to a full backcountry expedition. This is where we visited and is the area this article focuses on.

Mandatory: Katmai Bear School

All visitors arriving must attend the mandatory Bear School upon arriving at Brooks Camp. Rangers cover essential bear safety rules, food storage regulations, and how human behavior directly impacts the bears. Immediately when we got off the float plane, we were escorted to bear school – it’s literally the first thing all visitors visiting Brooks Camp do.

Attending Bear School really calmed our nerves about being in the center of bear country, so if you’re also a bit hesitant about that, know that you’ll be given all the information necessary to keep you and the bears safe!

9 Best Things to Do in Katmai National Park

Although it may be the highlight of your trip, bear watching isn’t the only thing there is to do in Katmai National Park! Below, we’ve listed a mix of 9 free and paid things to do in the Brooks Camp area to help you plan a varied, exciting trip. All of these things we did, our friends did, or have been recommended to us.

1. Go Bear Watching at Brooks Falls (Free)

Katmai National Park is widely considered one of the best places in the world to see brown bears, especially during the annual salmon run in July. Each summer, as salmon push upstream, bears gather along the rivers to feed, creating some of the most reliable wildlife viewing you’ll ever experience.

Brooks Falls, where lots of bears fish due to the high concentration of salmon, is connected to Brooks Camp by the Brooks Falls Trail. We went to the falls every evening of our visit to enjoy it as much as possible. It was such a magical place!

Along the way, you’ll cross gated walkways and platforms designed to keep both bears and visitors safe. At the end of the trail, two platforms sit just feet above the river, giving you front-row views of bears catching leaping salmon. These platforms are open daily from 7 am to 10 pm.

The Falls Platform is the main overlook and provides the classic view of bears standing at the top of the waterfall, while the Riffles Platform offers wider views when bears spread out along the river. Additional platforms, including the North and South Platforms, give you more options to watch bear behavior at different points along Brooks River.

During peak season, access to the Falls Platform is carefully managed by park rangers. There is a capacity limit, and visitors may be given a set viewing time during the busiest hours. In our experience, visits were capped at 20 minutes per group, which we felt was a fair amount of time. Early mornings and evenings are often quieter, since most day visitors have departed, allowing for longer, more relaxed viewing.

While Brooks Falls gets most of the attention, bears can be seen throughout Katmai. The Pacific coast holds one of the highest concentrations of brown bears on Earth. However, the sheer remoteness of this area makes traveling out here more challenging. For most visitors, July and September at Brooks Falls offer the best combination of accessibility, pleasant weather, and ample bear sightings.

2. Visit the Valley of 10,000 Smokes (Paid)

Just 22 miles from Brooks Lodge lies the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, shaped by the 1912 eruption of Novarupta Volcano. That eruption buried more than 40 square miles of a once-lush valley under hundreds of feet of ash, completely transforming the landscape.

This event is the primary reason Katmai was designated a national park in the first place. While the steam fumaroles that inspired the valley’s name didn’t last, the area remains scientifically significant and is still studied by researchers and NASA astronauts today!

We got the chance to explore this area ourselves on the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes Natural History Tour. This tour departs daily (June to mid-September) from Brooks Camp at 9:00 am and lasts about seven hours in total. Tickets cost $100 to $115 per person, depending on whether you get a sack lunch or not.

The tour begins with a roughly 45-minute, 12-mile bus ride narrated by a park ranger, with frequent stops where you get to learn about the geology, plant life, and wildlife you’re seeing along the route.

At the Valley’s visitor center (opened specifically for tour groups), a light lunch with coffee is provided for those who paid for a sack lunch. This is a great place to grab a national park stamp, so don’t forget your park passport if you have one!

From here, the group we rode out with split up: some went to read exhibits, others headed off into the wilderness, and many joined a short guided hike. We followed a group that was going to check out a nearby waterfall and a scenic overlook with sweeping views of the valley before riding the bus back.

3. Go on a Ranger Tour (Free)

Katmai National Park offers two recurring ranger-led tours daily during peak season (June to mid-September): an Evening Ranger Talk and a Katmai Cultural Walk. Both are free to attend, and no sign-up is necessary!

The Evening Ranger Talk is a free 45-minute to 1-hour educational program on a unique topic, hosted every night at Brooks Camp. The talk we attended focused on Katmai’s geology and how the park fits into the Pacific Ring of Fire. We loved it!

We also went on the Katmai Cultural Walk, a short, free ranger-led walk (about ¼ mile) that teaches you about the human history of the area. Our guide was a Native Alaskan from the area who shared how people have lived, fished, and peacefully coexisted with bears. This ended up being one of the most unexpected, yet memorable experiences of our Katmai trip!

You can check for any other special events going on during your visit at Katmai’s Events Calendar. Another option is to inquire at the King Salmon or Brooks Camp Visitor Centers for special events once you arrive.

4. Go Canoeing on Naknek Lake (Paid)

Canoeing offers a quieter, more immersive way to experience Katmai National Park, and it’s an option many visitors overlook. You can rent canoes or kayaks directly from the Katmai Trading Post at Brooks Lodge, even if you aren’t staying here. They offer flexible hourly, daily, or weekly rates that make it easy to paddle on your own schedule:

• Canoe / Single Kayak: $15 per hour, $50 per day, $240 per week
• Double Kayak: $20 per hour, $65 per day, $380 per week

Naknek Lake and Lake Brooks are both great places to take them, as both of these bodies of water are peaceful and located nearby. This is what we saw most people doing. For more experienced paddlers, consider taking on the Savonoski Loop, a popular 5 to 10-day journey through Katmai’s backcountry. This canoe trip is something we want to come back and explore!

5. Go Hiking around Brooks Camp (Free)

While Katmai National Park isn’t known for its extensive trail systems, you’ll still find a few great hikes around Brooks Camp. Below, we’ve listed the three most popular hikes to explore in the area. All distances are the total trail distance out-and-back.

• Dumpling Mountain Trail (3 miles, 4.8 km, Moderate): A steady climb of about 800 feet leads to one of the park’s best overlooks, with sweeping views of Naknek Lake, Brooks River, and Lake Brooks. You can extend the hike by continuing past the overlook to the summit of Dumpling Mountain, extending the hike to a total of 9 miles (14.5 km).
• Lake Brooks Road (2 miles, 3.2 km, Easy): This mostly flat walk follows a road to the head of the Brooks River and the shores of Lake Brooks. It’s a great destination for a relaxed outing, with picnic facilities, salmon viewing in late summer, and occasional bears fishing near the outlet.
• Valley of 10,000 Smokes Road (46 miles, 74 km, Moderate): This long gravel road is the main overland route into the famous Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Forested stretches open up to dramatic volcanic views, especially after the first stream crossing. You don’t need to hike the entire length—many visitors enjoy shorter walks along the road, turning back when they like.

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6. Go on a Flightseeing Tour (Paid)

A flightseeing tour offers a completely different perspective on Katmai National Park, revealing just how vast and wild this landscape really is. If you’re based at Brooks Camp, Katmai Air offers this scenic one-hour flightseeing loop that will take you over the most impressive areas of the park, such as the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, active volcanoes, Katmai Crater Lake, and more!

These flights are ultimately weather-dependent, so if you’re set on getting a flightseeing tour of Katmai, we advise leaving a few days of wiggle room in your schedule. That way, if it needs to be rescheduled due to weather, you’ll have an extra day where you can fit it in.

7. Hang Out at Brooks Lodge (Free)

You don’t need to be an overnight guest to enjoy time at Brooks Lodge. During slower parts of the day, especially early afternoon, we found it to be a perfect place to hang out with friends after bear viewing all morning. The lodge has a cozy, welcoming vibe and plenty of games, making it one of the best low-key hangout spots in the park.

You can also eat at the Brooks Lodge dining hall even if you’re not staying there, which is a nice option if you want an easy meal without extra logistics. We chose to eat there for one meal to save money, but you could easily do all your meals at the lodge if you wanted. The buffet is high-quality, filling, and a convenient way to recharge before heading back out into the park.

8. Go Fishing in Brooks River (Paid)

On our trip, part of our group joined a guided fly-fishing day in the downstream of Brooks Falls, and it ended up being a highlight for them—everyone managed to catch fish! The guide provided everything: waders, gear, and hands-on instruction, making it approachable even for friends who were first-timers.

While bears were nearby, they were so focused on salmon that they barely paid attention to them. Weather permitting, guides sometimes take guests by boat to nearby lakes and creeks to target trophy rainbow trout, northern pike, and lake trout, or simply to explore more of Katmai’s backcountry.

There are also guided fly-outs to remote fisheries in the region, offering even more variety. If you’re interested in fishing a bit further out in Katmai, you can request more info when filling out the booking link. Tickets cost $85 to $525 per person, depending on how long you want your tour to be.

9. Become a Junior Ranger (Free)

Katmai National Park runs the Junior Ranger Program for kids (and adults) to earn a badge upon completing a Junior Ranger book. Pick one up at the King Salmon or Brooks Camp visitor centers, or download it in advance at the link above! Jen always makes it a point to get sworn in as a Junior Ranger at every park we go to, and it’s become one of her favorite traditions.

☀️ Best Time of Year to Visit Katmai

Peak salmon season, and thus bear season, can fall anywhere from late June to early August, although the exact weeks can vary from year to year, depending on when the salmon arrive. In general, the best time to go to Katmai to see the bears is the middle of July if you want to see the bears eating and September if you want to see them all fat.

That being said, Katmai National Park is open year-round, so you don’t have to limit your plans to just two months. If you’re not set on seeing bears eating the salmon, you can also experience pleasant weather from late May to early September.

📆 How Many Days in Katmai National Park?

We spent four days and three nights in Katmai National Park, and it felt like the sweet spot—but you can absolutely see the highlights in less time. If you’re short on days, a 2-day itinerary works well: one full day focused on bear viewing at Brooks Falls and another dedicated to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

That said, adding a third night gives you a valuable buffer for unpredictable weather and more time to linger at the falls and potentially fit in kayaking or a photography tour without feeling rushed.

✈️ How to Get to Katmai National Park

Katmai National Park and Preserve is located in southern Alaska, just southwest of Homer. There are no roads leading into the park, which is a big part of what keeps it so wild and uncrowded. Most visitors access Katmai by flying into King Salmon (the park’s headquarters) from Anchorage or Homer, and then continuing to Brooks Camp by boat or floatplane.

🏕️ Where to Stay in Katmai National Park

Accommodations in Katmai are limited and book up far in advance. Most visitors stay near Brooks Camp, putting them right in the heart of bear country and close to Brooks Falls. Below you’ll find info about the two main lodging options.

Brooks Lodge is the most comfortable option, offering private rooms, a buffet-style dining hall, and included activities. That being said, it’s expensive ($1,260+ per person) and often books out 18 months in advance via a lottery system. There are cancellations on occasion as well, so if you don’t get a spot in the lottery, we’ve heard you can call the lodge and inquire about any openings.

Brooks Campground is the more affordable ($18 per person), no-frills option near the lodge with designated tent sites, food caches, and electric fences. Reservations open seasonally and also fill quickly. This is how we stayed during our visit, having booked 6 months in advance. Book your spot here.

Backcountry Camping is also permitted in Katmai, at least one mile outside of Brooks Camp, but is best left to experienced wilderness travelers. You’ll need strong navigation and bear safety skills, as you’re fully on your own. It’s recommended to discuss your backcountry camping plans with a park ranger prior to your trip.

💰 How Much Does a Trip to Katmai National Park Cost?

We’re not going to sugar-coat it: Katmai is one of the priciest US National Parks you can visit. Most of the money goes to just getting there and back, as a flight and a boat (or another flight) are necessary to get there.

Below, we outline the main costs for someone coming to Katmai from Anchorage and camping to give you an idea of how much you’ll probably spend.

🎫 Consider investing in the America the Beautiful pass for $80 like we did if you’re planning on travelling to several parks within the year.

Read Next:

The 7 Best Katmai National Park Tours

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