Smart Meetings

It’s a quaint, old gold rush town that is also the state capital. It's kind of a hidden little jewel. It is meeting and convention friendly because everything is so close together in the downtown area. It is the largest capital in the nation in terms of sheer real estate (with 3,100 square miles), more than enough for its population of 30,000 people to roam.

The Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau (traveljuneau.com) has a nice guide for meeting planners, and staff members are happy to help with your event.

The Centennial Hall Convention Center has nearly 20,000 square feet of meeting space and is large enough to host banquets of up to 700 people, or 1,500 theater-style. The seven rooms range from 300 square feet to an 11,275 square foot, column-free ballroom. The hall has its own kitchen for catering.

Juneau has a few major hotels with built-in meeting space. The venerable Westmark Baronof (westmarkhotels.com) is regarded by many as the premier hotel in town. It has nearly 200 rooms, plus seven meeting rooms totaling 5,102 square feet.

The centrally located Prospector (prospectorhotel.com) has 63 spacious rooms and also houses the small Douglas Conference Center.

The Goldbelt Hotel Juneau (goldbelttours.com) is a slightly more upscale option, and has 105 rooms with views of the Gastineau Channel, plus three meeting rooms with 2,750 square feet.

As another alternative, consider renting a furnished condo for your meeting through Alaska Suites Juneau (alaska-juneau.com), which has a wide variety of options located close to downtown Juneau. Offsite meeting and event locations abound in Juneau.

The Alaska State Museum (museums.state.ak.us) has a huge ethnographic collection and features original art. The Juneau Douglas City Museum (juneau.org), on Douglas Island across the water from Juneau, also has a nice display about the local heritage.

Juneau has a variety of fun activities for groups, many of which make good incentive prizes. The Mendenhall Glacier, just 12 miles from downtown Juneau, can easily be accessed by car, bus or helicopter tour. Whale-watching tours are also popular. Other activities in Juneau include climbing on the glaciers, ice climbing, sea kayaking, or visiting the Brown Bear Refuge at Pack Creek (wildlife.alaska.gov), on Admiralty Island, which has the largest brown bear population in the world.

Getting There

 The primary airline serving the state is Alaska Airlines (alaskaair.com), though several other carriers also fly into Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Several cruise liners make voyages to Alaska; see alaskatravel.com if this is an alternative you’d like to consider..

The Alaska Marine Highway Ferry System also offers several options (dot.state.ak.us) for arrival by boat.

Airport - dot.state.ak.us

Transit Agencies - home.muni.org

Capital Transit - juneau.org

Not To Be Missed

The Last Chance Mining Museum (907-586-5338) is an unusual event site.

A.J. Gastineau Mill (907-463-3900) offers tours to groups in the summer and also can host events.

Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure (glaciergardens.com) is home to 50 acres of southeast Alaska's rainforest.

Mt. Roberts (goldbelttours.com) is another popular spot for groups to hold events or meetings.