This stop was part of our cruise excursion. Was very organized, and the employees were welcoming, enthusiastic, and informative. We were here in early June and sadly there weren't many flowers yet, but we enjoyed the mini tram ride that took us into and through the forest & gardens. The views were spectacular, and we were fortunate to have beautiful weather as the day was warm and sunny. read more

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First of all, this tour was incredibly weird and disorganized. I got this tour as part of a cruise excursion. The whole tour was weird. Steve, the owner, basically bought 50 acres of land and HEAVILY altered it. It seems like he just planted flowers and other plants where they didn't belong and started offering extremely dangerous and unsafe tram tours to brag about it. Also, the tour guide was obsessed with trees and dwarf mistletoe. It was incredibly hard to listen to. There are MUCH better things that you can spend your money on other than this. The only nice thing about this place was the visitor center. read more

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It was a great ! We enjoyed the ride up the mountain with beautiful scenery . Highly recommend this excursion .staff friendly and helpful

Fun day exploring Glacier Gardens in Alaska. Upside down trees cover the landscape with flowering bushes. We experienced a couple of black bears that were spotted very close by. read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Black bears just passing through - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

We took this tour after it was recommended by someone who had said it was beautiful. We were greatly disappointed. There were NO flowers or plants on the upside down trees and there were plants in PLASTIC CONTAINERS placed around the gardens for filler. If this was due to the time of year or weather, the tour should have been cancelled and people should have been given a refund. There was no ivy draped heart in the gift shop area to use for a lovely photo backdrop as others have had. There was one upside down tree at the very end of the tour with flowers in it (and a large aluminum ladder under it) that we were told was for us for Mothers Day. Why didn't they put flowers in all the trees for us mothers? The guide who drove us to the top was interesting, but unfortunately I cannot recommend this tour. read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Upside down tree with dead looking brown foilage - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

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Family owned and operated company that consists of a tram tour about 600 ft up the side of mountain. The ride was a little scary at times but the view is amazing.. the ride takes you through Tonga National Forest. Staff is friendly and very knowledgeable. Small gift shop at the base. read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

There were ZERO flowers hanging from upside down trees. It was a freezing cold ride sitting shoulder to shoulder with strangers in a tram up terrifying hairpin turns on a muddy path. At the top is a panoramic view of..... the airport. Hard pass on this one. Save your money. read more

Words don't describe how amazing these gardens are! A must see whilst in Juneau. Tram takes you up the mountain, the guides are incredible! Check out the info and back story on how it came to be, the incredible owners et al! My camera died so i got very few photos but there are thousands on line! We'll definitely return mid summer next trip north read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

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Such a beautiful place! All the staff were wonderful and friendly and well informed of the history, stats, and facts. Great job to Rylan for touring us around and sharing a bounty of information after only being in town a week! read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

Took this tour as a part of our cruise exursion in Juneau! WOWwwwww. I'm writing this as we just got done with the tour. Definitely don't miss the opportunity to go to the glacier gardens if it is part of a tour (they don't do full tours unless you're a part of a cruise I think). The tram ride to the top of the 600 ft elevation offered incredible views of Juneau. The gardens are beautiful, beautiful and it was an amazing experience. Highly recommend! The driver was very knowledgeable (we had the older gentleman who's been here for 17 years) and offered great explanation of the plants and wildlife going up. 'Wood Wide Web' was exceptionally informative. There were beautiful scenic views throughout the top on the boardwalk. It was also great learning about the foliage plants and trees on the approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour ride up and down the hill The upside down trees provided for great pictures. There were many beautiful plants as well that offered great Instagram photos. I don't even care for nature but this was an amaaaaazing tour. I want to come back. It's so great!! read more

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A trip to another dimension! The ingenuity and vision the owner of these grounds had to create such a garden is beyond description. Who knew such colors, and beautiful flowers trees and shrubs could thrive in Juneau. Forget the other trendy tours offered by cruise lines and travel agents go here instead. Take in nature's beauty with the sights and smells. The shuttle drivers are super knowledgeable and share all the good information and fun facts that made this so memorable. read more

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Beautiful Gardens! This owner makes tremendous effort to preserve the beauty of the Tongass Rainforest while adding in his gardens so that they grow naturally in the wild. Tour guide was nice, he made me hungry talking about bacon and potato chips. Be prepared to take in the splendor of the rainforest as there are many sections that are still being worked on. It's not just a garden. read more

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the tour and the staff here are an absolute delight! this tour is a highlight of my juneau trip and i highly recommend it to those who love flowers and flora, and to sightsee! the garden was lush and colorful, not to mention the amazing tree towers with flowers on top! you get to see beautiful views at the top of the tour, and plenty of photo opportunities (i took over 100 photos!). bf and i walked in and we were placed in a tour in about 20 minutes on our own little personal golf cart tour because a larger tram tour with cruise ship visitors were late. esias and star were so funny and sweet, and esias, our tour guide, was super informative and even let us taste some local berries during the ride. again, i would give so many stars for this garden tour if i could! thank you steve and staff for a wonderful garden adventure read more

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Not worth your time or your money, not interesting, not fun. You ride a tram on a dirt road built by "Steve." You get to the top of the mountain, and you have one minute and thirty seconds (not an exaggeration on time) to take pictures before you have to reboard the tram and head back down the mountain. I guess if you have mobility issues and you like boring things this might make sense. But if you have any functionality in your legs, I'd recommend something else. Anything else. So much Steve.... read more

Took a tour that we nothing about. Was presently surprised. The tour guides were great and the views were spectacular. The upside down trees were a big hit. Glad we went. read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

We traveled here as a Cruise excursion and found out this was a family run area. It was very nice, and the upside down trees are an amazing sight. However, it was quite uneventful for the hour and a half we spent here. Could have spent about 20 minutes with the tour. read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Garden Art - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

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Crazy. They had us wait more than an hour and still no sign of a tour. Signed up through Discovery Princess.

This should have been named Steve's Garden & Backyard Projects. You could make a drinking game out of the number of times they mention Steve. For a state that is so projective over its habitats I'm surprised by the amount of non-native vegetation they have planted out on this property. This excursion didn't really match what the description made it out to be considering there were NO glaciers involved with this place. On the path up the hill side our guide started off pretty knowledgeable. At some point though I think he mixed up his mushrooms and went down the conspiracy theory, rabbit hole on YouTube because the second half of our trip with quite odd. He was spouting off all kinds of government conspiracies. Some were quite off the wall. All in all, I'd suggest to skip this one and find a different excursion. read more

Got kicked out by nasty manager. We had a mix up with schedule and sat down to make phone calls to push our other appointment back so we could take the tour. Our two kids decided to take some pictures of the lobby. The manger came up and asked if were taking the tour. We said we are trying to. She then said you cant take pictures unless you buy the tour. We didn't know. My 16-year old daughter said, Oh I'm sorry i didn't know. I can delete them" and offered her her phone. She grimaced and with attitude said It's fine (in a way the was clear it wasn't). Then she proceeded to watch us intently. We couldn't push our other appointment back far enough, so we got up to leave. As I passed by the counter I tried to make eye contact with her explain, but she glanced away each time with no intention of talking. Then we found we were followed out with her spying on us to ensure we left without taking pictures. I did take one however (from outside the sign) of her spying on us through the trees. She then went in front and pretended to pick up trash or fallen leaves idk, but was just a cover, to ensure our exit of the premises, until we got in our ride which came in 3 min. Not sure if the tour is nice, but the manager... not-so-much. The young lady at the register was very nice and helpful. Manager could take some cues from her younger employee on how to treat guests.. even potential guests who are in process of trying to buy tour tickets . ps: a townsperson that heard our story said, I've heard that they aren't very friendly if you walk anywhere on their property. read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Manager spying to ensure we leave to property. - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

Visited this absolutely beautiful place on an impromptu tour while in town on a cruise. Without reservation, I recommend this be a stop while in Juneau as the place is gorgeous and the views from the tour are spectacular. Jordan was a great local tour guide and knowledgeable of the area. 10 stars. read more

We lived this charming place! Gorgeous flowers/remarkable staff and leader. Steve & his wife have carved beauty from rugged timber. Tram ride worth every cent and the engineered trail let us view nature up close and then overlook the area from a lofty perch. read more

Very amazing place. When you think of a garden you don't expect a gray story and old fashion know how to create this place from a mountain land slide. Just a real cool spot. The folks working at this place super nice. read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

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I was fortunate enough to visit on a fairly sunny day. The foliage is absolutely stunning. I was lucky enough to see a baby bald eagle in its nest. Our tour guide cracked some jokes while he was telling us the history of the Gardens and did his best to make our journey fun. read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Upside down tree - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

Had a wonderful tour and the guide and all workers were extremely helpful with both my parents who are physically challenged. The employees truly made for a very enjoyable day traveling through the forest in our own private tram with our wonderful guide! Thank you! read more

another super neato place in juneau. we came on a land tour from our cruise and our tour guide walked us through and told us about the history of the garden. it was so fascinating to hear about all the work that has gone into it, and the continuous work that the owner still puts into it every year. i love the upside down trees with flowers planted on top - truly a sight to see. even though we came on a rainy day, we were able to find some safety underneath the trees and even see the bald eagles up top! the gift shop doesn't have much to offer so i'd def skip if youre short on time. read more

The Husband and I came to Glacier Gardens because it was one part of our two part excursion in Juneau for the day. We decided on Glacier Gardens based on the description on the cruise website and all the great 5 star reviews. We had such high hopes for the place, but quickly realized that maybe our hopes were a little too high. Glacier Gardens is what it is, someone's garden that they have built out in the middle of a rainforest (not your typical lush and green rainforest, just a bunch of trees) where you take a golf cart up from the visitors center and drive through the trees to almost the top of the hill and walk to a lookout point for some amazing views of Juneau before getting back on the cart for your journey back down to the visitors center. Admittedly the views when you get to the lookout point ARE amazing. You can see almost all of Juneau from the air and it's stunning! Definitely a great photo op. but everything else, is only OK. Sure there are a few upside down trees with store bought plants planted in the roots, a small made made lake and some potted plants (Yes, just sitting on the ground in pots because they have to move them inside during the winter) which makes it look like you're waking through a nicer Home Depot or garden store. Unless you come from a place back home that doesn't have forests or flowers, then I would skip this attraction and go somewhere else. But coming from California, it seemed like a big been here, done that kind of place. 1 hour max. read more

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This is a review of having our wedding ceremony at the Glacier Gardens. We didn't do a tour. My husband and I got married here on 6/27/15, and it was absolutely breath taking. All of it was organized through Princess cruises (we were on the Coral Princess doing the Northbound Voyage of the Glaciers). Our ceremony coordinator was Judith Hamanm, our officiant was Tom Stewart, and our photographer was Art Sutch. Everything went very smoothly even though it was very "on the fly" since this was our first time to see the gardens & we didn't get a rehearsal. The three of them greeted us right where the limos dropped us off. We decided that we wanted to be married in the more authentic, less manicured part of the gardens, so we did a little hike up the path to where they had a land bridge over a creek. It turns out that it was a service road connecting two tour roads, so carts went by on either side of the land bridge, but never drove through our ceremony. A few helicopters flew overhead too, but Tom would stop and wait for them to pass so everyone could hear. There was a little bit of a hill too so that everyone (17 people) could see. They didn't set up chairs, but it wouldn't be impossible if you asked for them to be set up. Our guests just stood on either side of our custom aisle runner. Judith said they had never held a ceremony there, but it was a great idea because it was gorgeous! After the ceremony, we took a few pictures and then walked down to the gift shop area (where they hold the indoor wedding ceremonies) to sign the license, and then they escorted us back to the limos to go back to the ship. Easy peasy & beautiful! read more

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure - Married in the rainforest area of the Glacier Gardens! 6/27/15 - Botanical Gardens Near Me - Juneau, Alaska

A lovely place, but the tour should really just be called a 'ride'. No explanation, no history given except the brief introduction we received from the friendly nephew while at the event space and gift shop. Tell us how the roads weere made, tell us some geographic or veological facts. Tell us a few names of the native trees and mushrooms-- tell us something-- even if you make it up. Otherwise it's just an overpriced ride in a golf cartm read more

What better way to experience nature than in a golf cart up 500 ft. above sea level? Fresh, cool, crisp air with refreshing greenery and sweet flowers all at your fingertips. A wonderful place to sit back relax and get a full guided history tour the the rainforest grounds. Our guide Kylie was very informative and there was never a dull moment. She made our short trip here to the Glacier Gardens a memorable one. We had so much fun that we even took pictures with her. At the Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure you are taken up hundreds of feet to the top of their grounds. With winding curves and steep hills be sure to hang on for dear life. Ok, just kidding but you should always have safety in mind at all times, right? During your trek up the mountain, your guide will provide a history of the grounds. The original discoverer of this place used any dead trees as planters and actually flipped them upside down and buried them into the ground and planted beautiful flowers right into the root of the tree. Once you reach the top, you will be hit with a buffet of Alaskan scenery. Absolutely beautiful! Gorgeous views, colorful scene, refreshing atmosphere and a good time was spent here while at the Glacier Garden Rainforest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5/5 Ambiance - The mood, character, quality, tone, atmosphere. 4/5 Service - Helpful, accommodating, efficient, delivery and speed? 4/5 Food / Merchandise - Quality, taste, presentation. 4/5 Price - Reasonable, inexpensive, high priced? (Based on Irma's review rating rubric - http://static.px.yelp.com/photo/evXt-5kyL-guqoCwxaAxtQ/l read more

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I feel bad rating so low but 3 stars is even a push. I think maybe my expectations are too high. We booked an excursion Mendenhall glacier and gardens but spent more time at the gardens. We waited around a lot for our tram and needed a 3rd one because our tour group was large. Our guides were really great and informative but it was just not personally "my thing." If you really like plants and are going outside of the May timeframe I would possibly recommend it. It was too early for flowers to be put out so we saw a lot of trees and beautiful view. You can tell the owner are the workers truly care about what they do and how passionate they are. Just wished we would have taken a taxi to the glaciers instead and toured the town. read more

The guy giving us the tour was very good and knowledgeable. The gardens are very pretty. I am only giving 3 stars because I feel they are overpriced, and our tickets were discounted, but I still feel the discounted tickets were overpriced. read more

Off the beaten path. Not something typically on most tourist's list. You first walk up to the garden with the upside down trees and into the first greenhouse, where the tours begin. (Hint: If you are a local, make sure ot mention this as you'll get a surprise). There is a nice "reception" area you can wait inside, where weddings are held and also a little cafe with local honeys and jams for sale and also coffee. Then, one of the tour guides (Carol and Deb) will walk you around part of the garden explaining some of the history and names of flowers. Next, you get on a tram (sort of like a long golf cart) that takes you 600' up Thunder Mountain to take in the views. (If you're afraid of heights, don't look back). Lots of black dahlia, Sitka spruce, skunk cabbage, and blueberry bushes. I would recommend setting aside about 1.5 hours for this excursion. Beautiful area, and if you come while it's raining it can get muddy read more

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A must see attraction if you're in Juneau, Alaska!!! I came here for a cruise ship excursion and didn't expect such a gorgeous garden! They have trees planted upside down throughout the garden with flowers planted on the top. The entire garden is well maintained and a tram will take you around the track. My favorite part of the garden would be the view when you get to the outlook area! Overall I recommend this attraction during the summertime! Bring your cameras! read more

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I feel guilty giving few stars because everyone was so kind, but there are so many other things to do than this to see the native plants and trees. do the amazing free hikes around the city if you are able. This felt extremely overpriced at $26 a person. You ride a glorified golf cart up some trails (climb nearby Mount Roberts on basin street for free instead) and are told some facts about the history of the trees and native plants. Approx 30 minutes. The "garden" in the name is a bit misleading as you don't see many flowers or any gardens. read more

I highly recommend this tour. Walking in to the greenhouse, I was blown away by the gorgeous hanging baskets and the pleasant scent of flowers. We took the golf cart tour and our guide, Russell was incredibly knowledgable about all the plants we passed. He gave us a history of how these upside down tree gardens came to be and made the drive up the steep mountain enjoyable. The view at the top of the tour was incredible too. It's a bit out of the way, but I'm so glad we went. If you're on the fence about visiting Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure, definitely go! read more

Alittle pricey, but ride around property was beautiful and both guides were so helpful and knowledgeable! We enjoyed our time there very much. read more

A stunning tribute to the natural beauty of Alaska. Steve's work is astonishing to take in. The flora, Fauna, waterfalls, etc. is like a paradise or Eden. (the upside down trees - Flower beds are the best!) read more

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This location was second (and last) on our cruise excursion. It is pretty, but not at all what we expected after reading the cruise excursion description. I think if there had been more walking and wandering...but you arrive, get an introduction, get on a tram, ride the tram, arrive at the top (580 feet up!), see the view, learn some more from the staff, ride the tram down, and walk into the gift shop/cafe/restroom area. It just wasn't what we expected.... read more

This was a great cruise exurison. I was here in 2009, and I still look back on it fondly. The story is that the family that owns this has owned the land for a long time, but one day there was a huge storm and landslide. Trees were down everywhere. So the owner went out there one day with some heavy equipment to clean up the fallen trees, and he noticed what the roots of the tree looked like when it was upside down... a basket! Basically you get to ride in a tram car up and down a huge hill while your guide shares facts about Alaska with you, and the whole way you are treated to amazing scenery. The flowers are fantastic because Alaska gets so much sun in the summertime (almost 24 hours in some parts). And it was in the gift shop that I learned what a Frito Pie is... apparently an Alaskan delicacy! I skipped it, but perhaps next time I find myself in Juneau I'll be brave enough to try that! read more

Loved the gardens and the tour however the Carol at the beginning made it hard for us all to enjoy the remaining part of the tour. Carol was extremely rude and treated us very poorly. I almost took my family and left but I was determined not to allow her to have that power. I'm sorry to leave a poor rating but I feel it's better to let you know so you can do what you feel is best. Thanks again. read more