Tundra Tours Inc, Alaska, United States

5Coral R 5:00 PM Sep 16, 2016

A day trip to Barrow. In The Artic Circle
My husband and I flew from Anchorage USA to a town called Barrow which is 330 miles Innside the Artic Circle, and we did this trip about twelve years ago, after we had finished an Alaskan Cruise through the inside passage, which I would recommend, as it was my favourite holiday. We only spent the day in Barrow as there isn't much there, but I did walk on the Frozen Artic Ocean, and then we were taken on a tour about five miles, and we saw a polar bear, which we really did enjoy that experience. The people in Barrow were very friendly, and I have very fond memories of that holiday, as the experience of going to Barrow was very different, and something I will remember. Coral Ryan Melbourne Victoria Australia

4aBadgerandaGopher 5:00 PM Oct 12, 2014

Good but pricey
We were in Barrow two days and did the likely unusual thing of taking two different tours. We took the Tundra Tour, offered by the Top of the World Hotel and a private tour with Mike Schults, a local. We found that there really isn’t enough to Barrow to justify taking both tours, but we did get different perspectives by taking both. The Tundra Tour is a 5 hour group tour, led by one of the local natives hired for this. It includes a guided tour of the Iñupiat Heritage Center, and a private native dancing show at the Heritage Center by the “Tundra Tour Dancers”. We thought this was the better of the two tours, but at $150 a person for a group tour it was definitely pricier. We covered more territory than the private tour and got more in-depth information. There were 11 people on our tour bus. Our Tundra Tour guide was Sam, who appeared to be a last minute substitution for the much younger Walter, who was taking the day off. Sam was very knowledgeable and entertaining, although he seemed to ad lib his way thru the tour. For example he kind of flew by the northern most point of the tour but stopped so we could stand on one of the ice floes that had been blown in recently. He showed us the dig site, and told us the story of, the frozen family, and later pointed out their final resting place in the cemetery. A couple of hours into the tour, he started to check his watch now and then, concerned about the 3 PM time for the dancers, and if there was time he’d show us someplace else. We had a quick tour followed by the dancers at the Heritage Center. All said and done, we covered a lot of territory, but did skip the Wiley Post memorial, which I suspect didn’t mean much to Sam. (We got the story of the crash from our shuttle driver the next day.) We had a second guide, Billy, a trainee who also helped explain things. Sam showed a very deep understanding of the Iñupiat life, and contrasted the old and new way of doing things at the Heritage Center. We did have to prompt him with questions at times to keep the information flowing. He went on his first whaling trip when he was 9 years old, and loves to eat raw meat. We ran into Walter the next day at the Heritage Center, back doing his tour. He seemed to be giving a more crisp tour, but may not have been as entertaining as Sam. Mike Schults gives a 2 ½ hour private tour in his van for $75 a person. It is easier to customize if you have an idea of, or come across, something you want to spend time at. While Mike has lived in Barrow some 40 years, we definitely got a non native perspective from him. He didn’t pull any punches regarding his opinions of the Iñupiat. We had taken the hotel tour the previous day, so we skipped over a lot of things with Mike, like the football field. We could have done without the digs he kept taking at the Tundra Tour, perhaps because he knew we had taken that tour. Mike did spend more time at the north-most point of the tour at the end of the road, and we had a couple of interesting birdlife stops. We also stopped to view a walrus from the previous day’s hunt being butchered by the hunter. Not a pretty sight, but part of life in Barrow. You can easily arrange a Tundra Tour through the hotel, while Mike is more difficult to find. We got his phone number (907-367-4972) and that of another local, John Tidwell (907-852-2152). We didn’t contact John Tidwell, but what we know is that he had some wonderful polar bear pictures and a book on polar bears (The Polar Bears of Barrow, Alaska) on sale at the AC Value Center. According to Mike, John gives polar bear tours in the winter. Mike also mentioned that there is a native who will take you to all the way to Point Barrow for $150 a person, if the end of the road isn’t far enough north for you.