Can’t Attend Fat Bear Week? 6 Other Places to See Chunky Bears at Their Best.
Every October, Katmai National Park in Alaska turns into the internet’s most adorable battleground: Fat Bear Week. The seven-day competition sees the park’s beloved coastal brown bears (grizzlies) competing for fan votes in a bracket-style tournament. While the winner is usually the chunkiest of the chunky, it’s up to fans around the world to decide. It was started by park rangers in 2014 to educate people about bear biology, but quickly grew into an international phenomenon adored by millions. In 2024, more than one million votes were cast, with a bear named Grazer winning for the second time in a row.
Bear viewing at Brooks Falls. Photo: NPS/M. Whalen/Public domain
Anyone can vote, even if you can’t see the bears in person. But if you do want to see bears in person, getting to Katmai isn’t the easiest. You’ll need to first get to Anchorage, Alaska, then book a bear-viewing day trip. They typically cost $900 to $1,400 per person and usually include an early morning flight from Anchorage to King Salmon, a floatplane into Brooks Camp, about four to six hours of bear viewing, then flights back in the evening. However, they can book months in advance, especially during Fat Bear Week. And if the bear-viewing platforms at Brooks Camp are busy, you’ll need to be patient, as rangers limit how many people can be on the platform and how long they can stay.
Fortunately, if you can’t make it to Katmai for Fat Bear Week, there are plenty of other places to see brown bears living their best (i.e., chunkiest) lives in the fall.
Grizzly bear in the Bute Inlet. Photo: David Maki Photography/Shutterstock
Bute Inlet, in the southern part of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, is one of the most reliable places to see grizzlies in the wild. Every fall, the salmon run draws bears to the rivers for fishing, fighting, and otherwise fattening up. There are elevated viewing platforms for visitors, and bears have been known to get extremely close. It’s remote, but its proximity to Vancouver Island makes it easy to visit in a day.
Most travelers reach Bute Inlet via boat tours from Campbell River on Vancouver Island. The boat trip is roughly two hours each way (with whale sightings very common), with about three hours of bear viewing on land. Bute Inlet is Klahoose First Nations territory, and guides will usually share information about the cultural and traditional significance of bears and their habitat. Tours typically run through mid-October. Tours start at under $500 per person, or you can do weekend packages starting around $1,400 for two guests.
Photo: Suzie Dundas
The Bella Coola Valley has rightfully earned its reputation as “the Grizzly Bear Capital of Canada.” The Atnarko and Bella Coola Rivers are overflowing with everything from chinook to sockeye to coho salmon between July and October, and the bears have noticed. Unlike the Bute Inlet, the region is accessible by road, though it’s about a 12-hour drive from Vancouver, BC. Alternatively, you can fly to Bella Coola on commercial flights from Vancouver in under 90 minutes, usually for less than $200. That makes it one of the more accessible bear-viewing destinations in Canada.
Once in Bella Coola, you can book single day float tours to view bears for about C$275 (about $200) per person, and the town’s hotels and motels are fairly affordable. Alternatively, you can book multi-day bear-viewing packages from resorts like Tweedsmuir Park Lodge, which include multiple options for bear-viewing activities, ranging from float tours to guided hikes and naturalist walks. All-inclusive three-night packages for adults start at C$5,100 (about $3,683).
Yellowstone’s grizzlies are most active at dawn and dusk. Photo: Suzie Dundas
Grizzlies were nearly wiped out in Yellowstone National Park in the 20th century (along with nearly every other species, from wolves to coyotes), but conservation efforts have helped the population rebound. Today, the park is one of the best places in the mainland US to see them, often considered the next-best place in the US outside of Alaska. In the fall, the park’s bears work overtime to pack on calories, and visitors will often see them digging for pine nuts, gorging on berries, and occasionally interacting with wolves to share a fresh kill.
Hayden Valley and Lamar Valley are two of the best spots for sightings, where wide-open landscapes make it easier to watch from a distance. It’s best to arrive early in the morning, both to beat the crowds at the entrance gates and maximize your chances of seeing bears before the roads are jammed with cars and tourists. The park’s concessionaire, Xanterra, also runs daily morning wildlife and photography tours through the park.
Photo: DreamArt123/Shutterstock
Admiralty Island has one of the highest concentrations of brown bears anywhere in the world, with official national park estimates suggesting up to one bear per square mile. The island’s Pack Creek Bear Viewing Area is the place to see fat bears in the wild up close, especially in the fall, when salmon are also thriving. The viewing platform is limited to a small number of visitors each day, but as it’s a little less famous than Katmai’s Brooks Falls, it’s not quite as crowded.
Rather than flying to Anchorage, travelers who want to visit Admiralty Island should head to Juneau, about a 2.5-hour flight from Seattle, Washington. You’ll need a permit, and while independent permits are possible, most visitors do guided trips through local operators.
How to Visit: Admiralty Island is accessible by floatplane or boat from Juneau. Access to Pack Creek requires a permit, which is strictly limited in summer and fall to protect the habitat. Independent permits are available, but most visitors book guided trips through local operators. Admiralty Island is only about a 25-minute flight from the Juneau Airport, though trips can be just as pricey as visiting Katmai (about $900 each).
Photo: Danita Delimont/Shutterstock
Grand Teton National Park’s bear-watching scene exploded in popularity in recent years, thanks in part to the park’s most famous resident: Grizzly 399. In fact, some said she was Jackson’s most famous resident, too. The matriarch bear raised at least 18 cubs, and when she was tragically hit by a car in October 2024, the global bear-watching community mourned.
But she left quite the impactful legacy behind, and drew attention to just how good the Tetons are for seeing bears (and how much bears need to be protected). In fall, grizzlies roam through the park, fattening up on berries and roots. Toss in some brightly colored fall foliage and the gorgeous backdrop of the sharp Teton peaks, and it becomes one of the best places in the US for taking jaw-dropping autumn bear photos.
Grand Teton National Park is easily accessed from Jackson Hole Airport, as it’s the only commercial airport inside a US national park. Anyone can cruise through the park or surrounding areas around Jackson to look for bears, but it may be more beneficial to book a tour. Companies like Jackson Hole EcoTour Adventures and BrushBuck Tours offer tours led by knowledgeable guides with high-end binoculars and viewing scopes, making it easier to see bears from afar (and ensure you’re not bothering them in the process).
Fortunately, it’s easy to combine Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks into one amazing fall trip, if you want to go all-in on spotting fat bears in the wild.
Photo: Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock
With all the attention on Alaska, it can feel like grizzly enthusiasts from outside North America are missing out on the magic of Fat Bear Week. But the taiga forests of eastern Finland are home to some of Europe’s wildest landscapes — and biggest brown bears. It’s becoming a known destination for European wildlife enthusiasts, thanks to specially designed hides built by wildlife tourism companies when Finland started promoting travel to its wilder areas. In the hides, guests can safely watch bears from sometimes just a few yards away.
According to most area tour operators, in summer and early fall, sightings are extremely reliable. You can expect at least a 90 percent chance of seeing bears, and some operators offer guarantees if you stay more than two or three nights. Overnight bear watching runs from about 740 euro (about $875) per person for multi-day trips, to luxury wildlife-watching cabins starting around 990 euro (about $1,150). Bears in this part of the world don’t start hibernating until about mid-October, so it’s a great pick for a late-season, fat-bear-viewing trip. 
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