alaska.gov tourism

Tourism in Haines AK

The Adventure Capital of Alaska

Haines boasts world class adventures on all scales for our visitors. Enjoy a hike viewing glaciers at Chilkat State Park, or maybe look for bears and eagles while stringing your line to fish Chilkoot River. Float down the expansive Chilkat River, or hop on a high speed catamaran for a chance to observe marine mammals and experience Lynn Canal, the deepest and longest Fjord in North America, where Haines is nestled into Portage Cove. Visit one of dozens of local artist studios, including world renowned Tlingit carvers. In November, experience the largest gathering of the American Bald Eagle along our rivers edge. In May, rent a bike and witness the "Spring Return"  where wildlife flows back into our estuaries, including eulachon , brown bears, eagles, sea lions, and orca whales while you cycle in the growing daylight of spring among budding berry bushes . Celebrate the "Midnight Sun" on summer solstice in June, arguably the best time of the year. Our late winter hosts heli-skiing in the Chilkat mountains, and backcountry skiing and snowmobiling in the backyard. After a day in the snow, views of northern lights above the fireplace aren't uncommon.

Check out the Visit Haines website !

HAINES IS SMALL, BUT HAS IT ALL:

- Award Winning Public Library

- Haines Borough School District K-12

- Swimming Pool and Gymnasium

- A local Brewery & Distillery

- Events: Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay, Alcan 200 Snow Machine Race, Southeast Alaska State Fair, Spring Fling, Winter Fest, Great Alaska Craft & Home Brew Festival

-  Coffee Shops, Cafes, Restaurants and Bars

- Fitness Center with Sauna

- Several Grocery Stores and a Local Saturday Farmers Market

- Outfitter and Sport Shops for fish & game, camp gear, bicycle rental & repair etc.

- Historic Fort Seward and Sculpture Garden

- Downtown District & First Fridays

- Haines Harbor to support our Commercial and Sport Fisherman

- Culture: Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center, American Bald Eagle Foundation,  Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center,  The Hammer Museaum, & Chilkat Center for the Arts

- Water: Chilkat River, Chilkoot River, Chilkoot Lake, Chilkat Lake, Portage Cove, Lynn Canal, Lutak Inlet, Letnikof, Mosquito Lake

- Roads: The Haines Highway is a National Scenic Byway that enters Yukon Canada 38 miles from Downtown. Drive the Golden Circle! Skagway, Whitehorse,  Haines!

- Boats: Haines is a port on the Alaska Marine Highway System

-Air: Alaska Seaplanes can get you here

-Safety: Fire, Police & Ambulance Service. SEARHC Haines Health Center

-Accommodation: Rv Parks, Campgrounds, Hotels, Bed & Breakfasts, Cabins, Air-Bnb, Couch-Surfing, Wedding & Event Venues

-Transportation: Haines Shuttle, Haines-Skagway Fast Ferry, Alaska Fjordlines, Alaska Seaplanes, Alaska Marine Highway, Rental Cars

-Recreation: Chilkat State Park, Chilkoot State Park, Alaska Bald Eagle Preserve, Tlingit Park, & Ripinski Mountain Trail System

The Visitor Center is staffed Mon-Fri 9am-4pm, .

907-766-6418 visit@haines.ak.us

Attached is the Final DRAFT and Appendix of the Noise Study

Apply through the Borough Clerk's Office

The Tourism Advisory Board is a seven-member advisory board, appointed by the mayor, that meets generally once per month. The board is also governed by HBC 2.60. The meetings are open to the public and are posted at least three days prior to the meeting. The posted meeting notices include the topics to be discussed.

Supporting Documents

• Commercial Permit Application Forms
• Official Visitor Website
• History of Haines
• Snapshot of Haines
• Weather Cams
• Convention Center Study
• Downtown Revitalization Plan
• Highway Corridor Management
• Tourism Management Plan
• Minutes Archive
• Volunteers Wanted!

Upcoming Events

• Tourism Advisory Board 04/18/2024 - 12:00pm

View the Calendar

Contact Information

Tel: 907-766-6418 email:  visit@haines.ak.us

Visitor Center open Mon-Fri 9am-4pm

• Staff Login

Does Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy's anti-protest bill violate the First Amendment?

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s bill to make street protests without a permit illegal is being called unconstitutional and unnecessary by opponents. The Last Frontier is one of eight states without protest-related laws that restrict free assembly and speech in any form.

The bill was proposed in February in response to extended protests ranging from climate change to the Israel-Hamas War that have blocked roads in the rest of the country.

“This legislation ensures that our public spaces remain safe and accessible for all Alaskans,” said Dunleavy in a statement when the legislation was first introduced. “It is important to distinguish between peaceful expression of rights and actions that pose risks to public safety and emergency response efforts.”

However, the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee had a list of questions for Attorney General Treg Taylor on Wednesday about whether the bill would be policy-neutral, if it violated free speech and the right to assemble, and whether the proposed penalties, including a class C felony, which can result in five years in prison or a $50,000 fine, were justifiable and fair.

In his opening statement to the committee, Taylor suggested that it is common sense that higher consequences lead to greater deterrence. State Sen. Matt Claman (D-Anchorage) argued that criminological data and statistical reality don’t support the AG’s premise and that states with the death penalty tend to have higher murder rates.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

“I grew up in the South in the 1960s, and the groups that were protesting the injustice to African Americans knew the consequences. They knew they were going to jail, and their plans were to fill up the jails; they needed to make that statement,” added the Democratic lawmaker.

Serene Rose O’Hara-Jolly, Alaska state director of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates told the committee that the bill “appears to criminalize homelessness” and could be “weaponized by law enforcement.”

As for supporters of the bill, only one constituent sent a letter of support: “I am an Alaska resident ... and would like to see individuals exercise their constitutional rights in a manner safe to themselves and others, as well as hold individuals accountable for wrongdoing,’ wrote Tim Karl of Fairbanks.

“If city workers wanted a picket because their contract negotiations were going badly on the sidewalk in front of the city hall—there being no permit available—their picket automatically makes them guilty of a crime; that concerns me,” said Democratic state Sen. Jesse Keihl.

The bill will be held in the Senate Judiciary Committee until April 17, when additional public testimony will be heard.

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Alaska House passes operating budget with roughly $2,300 PFD

The Alaska House of Representatives passed its $6 billion operating budget Thursday. That’s the spending plan for day-to-day government operations beginning next June. 

Alaska News Nightly host Casey Grove spoke with Alaska Public Media’s Capitol reporter, Eric Stone, to learn more.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Casey Grove: So, what’s in the budget?

Eric Stone: For that, let’s hear from Rep. DeLena Johnson. She’s a Palmer Republican and the House’s operating budget chair.

“This budget prioritizes public safety, education, a strong Permanent Fund dividend, essential services to Alaskans and provides support to Alaska’s most vulnerable populations,” Johnson said.

Some of the highlights are $175 million in one-time funding for public schools, which is equivalent to a $680-per-student increase. And another $44 million for school bond debt reimbursement. There are 10 new Village Public Safety Officers, more attorneys in the Department of Law, and $90 million in community assistance. 

And lots of priorities from the mostly Democratic and independent minority are in there too. Couple of note — an amendment from Ketchikan independent Dan Ortiz that, after some modifications, wound up adding $5 million each to statewide seafood and tourism marketing programs. And another from Juneau Democrat Andi Story adds about $9 million to help with reading programs for young students.

Johnson says nobody’s totally satisfied — and that makes it a good compromise.

“Each person here gave a little and each person got a little. That’s what this budget represents,” Johnson said.

And one of those compromises is the Permanent Fund dividend.

CG: Yeah — always a topic of interest. What is the PFD looking like?

ES: At this point, the House is sticking with about $2,300. That’s the amount set by the Finance Committee. There were a few attempts to change it on the floor, but none wound up sticking. Johnson says the budget as written has a surplus of nearly $80 million. And Rep. Jaime Allard, an Eagle River Republican, says it’s an attempt to pay the biggest dividend possible without jeopardizing future payouts.

“No, it’s not a full PFD, but I want the community and the state constituents to recognize that it is the third largest. We’re doing the best that we can, and in order to make that PFD and the dividend for the long duration of the time, we have to be very careful and wise to what we’re doing,” Allard said.

But not everybody agrees that the state can afford it. Members of the House minority, mostly Democrats and independents, say the budget is artificially low and doesn’t account for lots of stuff that will eventually need to be rolled into the budget — like more than half a billion dollars in capital projects that the House and Senate have agreed to spend. Rep. Cliff Groh, an Anchorage Democrat, put it this way.

“This budget is based on fantasy and it’s, it’s not set us up for success either in the next few years or across generations,” Groh said.

He said new revenues could help with that. And minority members also pointed to some other missing pieces.

CG: What sorts of things?

ES: One missing piece we heard a lot about is the rising cost of energy. Here’s Rep. Maxine Dibert, a Democrat from Fairbanks.

“I can’t in good conscience send a budget over to the other body without addressing energy,” Dibert said.

One specific item is funding for electrical transmission line upgrades that could make energy more affordable, especially in the Interior. The state got a giant federal grant for that, and it requires more than $200 million in matching state funds over several years.

But members of the Republican-led majority said there’s another place for that. Here’s Rep. Will Stapp, a Republican from Fairbanks.

“Energy is certainly the number one problem facing the Interior. It is however, a problem that can best be solved through the budget in the capital budget, Madam Speaker, not the operating budget,” Stapp said.

And the Senate rolled out its draft of the capital budget today — they’ll work through amendments in the coming days and pass it over to the House.

CG: So where do things go from here?

ES: Well, pretty soon, the Senate will take its crack at the operating budget. And they are pretty skeptical that the budget is in fact balanced. The Senate’s operating budget chair, Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, sounds a lot like what we heard from the Democrats and independents in the House. He’s been beating this drum all session — asking folks to look at what’s not in the budget, and he says with capital projects, bills and everything else, it’s not balanced.

“So (by the) time you add that all in, you’re underwater, somewhere around $276 million. So that’s a lot of gap-osas to deal with in the conference committee. And we have to get the ends to meet,” Stedman said at a press availability on Wednesday.

And that was before amendments added a little under $20 million to the budget. Stedman has been pretty consistent that the dividend should be a quarter of the state’s annual draw from the Permanent Fund, which this year would come out to about $1,600 per person.

For now, though, we’re on track to avoid a government shutdown. This week was the agreed-upon deadline for the operating budget to pass, and it did. But it remains to be seen whether it’ll stay on track.

Eric Stone, Alaska Public Media - Juneau

Eric Stone covers state government, tracking the Alaska Legislature, state policy and its impact on all Alaskans. Reach him at [email protected] .

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