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Anchorage City Tour: Chocolate Factory & Lake Hood Floatplanes

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/13

Duration3h 30m

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

In 3.5 hours, see where the earth dropped 20 feet and a thousand floatplanes live

You'll watch floatplanes at Lake Hood, stand in Earthquake Park where the 1964 quake dropped the land twenty feet, sample smoked salmon and reindeer sausage at a sixty-year-old shop, and taste free chocolate from the world's largest chocolate waterfall. A local guide handles all the stops and timing across 3.5 hours, with bottled water included.

3h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Anchorage city tour and tastings

See downtown Salmon creek
View Eisenhower statehood monument
Visit Earthquake Park and see land drop
Watch float planes at Lake Hood
Sample smoked salmon and reindeer sausage
Watch Ulu knife craftsmen at work
Enjoy chocolate samples at factory
Shop Alaskan gifts and treasures

The Experience

Most city tours feel the same after the first twenty minutes—a guide pointing at buildings, a few stops, done by lunch. This one isn't like that. You start downtown watching craftspeople hand-carve Ulu knives the way Alaskan indigenous people have for thousands of years, then drive straight to Lake Hood, which is the busiest floatplane harbor on earth. Over a thousand planes are based there. If you time it right, you'll watch one take off or land while your guide explains why Anchorage became the unexpected hub for bush flying in Alaska.

The Earthquake Park stop hits different once you understand what happened. In 1964, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake dropped the land twenty feet in some places and turned the rolling hills into waves of soil that moved across the whole area. Standing there now, you can still see the scars. After that, the tour swings through a salmon creek right in downtown Anchorage where you might catch anglers trying their luck during the summer run, then stops at the Eisenhower statehood monument—a quick reminder that Alaska only became the 49th state in 1959. The whole thing moves at a pace that doesn't feel rushed, and your guide actually knows the place, not just the script.

The food and chocolate stops are where people relax. Alaska Sausage and Seafood has been running for over sixty years, and you get to sample smoked salmon and reindeer sausage while you're there. Then comes the chocolate factory—and yes, there's a life-sized taxidermied polar bear at the front door that loves taking pictures with visitors. The real draw is the world's largest chocolate waterfall inside the shop, and you get free samples of handcrafted chocolates while you browse. There's also a one-of-a-kind store packed with Alaskan gifts: woolly mammoth tusks, walrus ivory carvings, fossils, and work from local native craftspeople. It's the kind of place where you actually find something worth bringing home.

The whole tour runs 3.5 hours, with about 1.5 hours built in for driving. Your guide brings bottled water, and the pace works for all fitness levels. If you're traveling with small children, they can ride in a stroller, and service animals are welcome. Book this if you want to see the actual Anchorage—not the postcard version, but the place where the earth moved, planes take off from a lake, and you taste real local food without spending the whole day arranging it yourself.

What’s included

Your tour includes a local experienced guide, bottled water, and snacks.
You'll visit Lake Hood to watch floatplanes, Earthquake Park, a downtown salmon creek, the Eisenhower statehood monument, Alaska Sausage and Seafood for smoked salmon and reindeer sausage sampling, a chocolate factory with free samples and the world's largest chocolate waterfall, and a specialty shop featuring Alaskan native crafts and gifts.
Driving time between stops is built into the 3.5-hour duration.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyPets welcomePublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by White Raven Tours

Is this one for you?Book this if you want to see what makes Anchorage different—floatplanes, earthquake geology, and real local food—without arranging transport or timing between stops yourself. The fixed 3.5-hour schedule fits the whole experience into one morning or afternoon.