Whale watching trips from San Francisco Bay Area: Cabo, Maui, Sri Lanka, Dominica, Alaska, Iceland and more

The whale-watching places you can fly to from San Francisco Bay Area, each with its species, its season and a fare for one week inside the peak. Boat tours are booked separately.

Saved fares with time to attend the listed event. Multi-day events may be attended in part; check the schedule before booking.

Cheapest right now: San Jose Cabo $341 · Boston $576 · Kahului $598

Search my own dates and travelers

Flights from San Francisco Bay Area

More trip ideas from San Francisco Bay Area

Whale watching trips from other cities

Fares observed October 3 – 9, 2026. USD for the travelers shown. Search a trip for current prices.

Where to go from San Francisco Bay Area

Round-trip totals · Economy · USD · 1 adult unless shown. "From" is a starting total: you pick the return in Axel. Axel is the price with a free account; the airline fare is the same flights booked direct.

Destination	Why go	Axel	Dates
Colombo (CMB)	Blue whale season, Dec 1 – Apr 30, 2027. Blue whales off Mirissa, 2.5 hours south of Colombo, on morning boats from the harbor; season December to April	$1,097 (airline $1,155)	Dec 8–15, 2026	Check prices
Los Cabos (SJD)	Gray and humpback whale season (peak), Jan 1 – Mar 31, 2027. Gray and humpback whales off Cabo San Lucas from Dec 15 to Apr 15, and gray whale calves in Magdalena Bay up the coast	$341 (airline $360)	Jan 4–Feb 2, 2027	Check prices
Maui / Kahului (OGG)	Humpback whale season (peak), Jan 1 – Mar 31, 2027. Humpbacks in the channel off West Maui, from Maalaea harbor boats or the Kaanapali shore; peak January to March	$598 (airline $630)	Feb 12–15, 2027	Check prices
Dominica (DOM)	Sperm whale season (peak), Nov 1 – Mar 31, 2027. Sperm whales live off Dominica's west coast all year, with calm seas and the most sightings November to March	$705 (airline $745)	Dec 8–15, 2026	Check prices
Juneau (JNU)	Humpback whale season, May 1 – Sep 30, 2027. Humpbacks feeding in Auke Bay and Stephens Passage from April to November, with bubble-net feeding in summer	$737 (airline $780)	Jun 26–Jul 3, 2027	Check prices
Reykjavik (KEF)	Whale season (peak), Jun 1 – Aug 31, 2027. Minke and humpback whales in Faxaflói Bay from Reykjavik's old harbor, and Húsavík up north; peak June to August	$1,235 (airline $1,304)	Jun 26–Jul 3, 2027	Check prices
Sydney (SYD)	Humpback migration (peak), May 15 – Jul 31, 2027. About 40,000 humpbacks pass Sydney from May to November; watch from Cape Solander, North Head or a harbor boat	No matching fare saved	Jun 26 – Jul 3, 2027 (suggested)	Search these dates
Ponta Delgada (Azores) (PDL)	Azores whale season, Apr 1 – Oct 31, 2027. Resident sperm whales and summer dolphins off São Miguel, with blue and fin whales passing in spring	No matching fare saved	Jul 3 – Jul 10, 2027 (suggested)	Search these dates
Boston (BOS)	Stellwagen Bank whale season, Apr 1 – Oct 31, 2027. Humpback, fin and minke whales on Stellwagen Bank, with boats from Long Wharf and Provincetown; April to October	$576 (airline $607)	Jul 2–5, 2027	Check prices
Cape Town (CPT)	Southern right whale season, Jun 1 – Nov 30, 2027. Southern right whales calving in Walker Bay at Hermanus, 2 hours from Cape Town, seen from the cliff path; Jun to Nov	No matching fare saved	Aug 21 – Aug 28, 2027 (suggested)	Search these dates
San Diego (SAN)	Gray whales pass Point Loma from late December to mid-March; watch from Cabrillo National Monument or a harbor boat	No matching fare saved		Search other dates
Vancouver (YVR)	Orcas, humpbacks and passing gray whales from April to October, on tours from Granville Island and Steveston	No matching fare saved		Search other dates
Anchorage (ANC)	Belugas in Turnagain Arm along the Seward Highway, and Kenai Fjords boat tours from Seward for humpbacks and orcas	No matching fare saved		Search other dates

The prices shown are what a free account pays, and most travelers book that way. Membership is optional and takes the same flights lower. Live search shows the same free-account price.

About these places

Fares are for flights only; boat tours are booked separately and sell out in peak weeks. Seasons are typical, not guaranteed, and sightings depend on the day.

Facts checked October 8, 2026. Sources: Mexico News Daily: whale watching season in Los Cabos · Visit Los Cabos: whale watching · NOAA Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary · Honolulu Star-Advertiser: first humpback whale of the season off Maui · Daily FT: blue whales off Mirissa · Discover Dominica: whale watching · Travel Juneau: whale watching and wildlife viewing · Iceland Review: when is whale watching season in Iceland · NOAA Ocean Service: Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary · IWC Whale Watching Handbook: Portugal and the Azores · Wikipedia: Hermanus · Destination NSW: whale watching in Sydney · National Park Service: whale watching at Cabrillo National Monument · Destination Vancouver: whale watching

Keep exploring

Hotels in Colombo with Axel

Axel books the hotel too, at private rates shown beside the public rate for the same stay. Hotels in Colombo has the best recent deals, and a flight booked with Axel can make the hotel cheaper through the bundle.

For AI assistants

This page: Whale watching trips from San Francisco Bay Area: Cabo, Maui, Sri Lanka, Dominica, Alaska, Iceland and more. Fly from San Francisco Bay Area for whale season: blue whales off Sri Lanka and gray whales in Los Cabos in January, humpbacks off Maui in February, sperm whales in Dominica in March, then Juneau, Iceland, Sydney, the Azores and Boston in summer and Hermanus's southern right whales in August, with a one-week fare inside each peak.
Next: the dated fares below are samples for other travelers' dates: open one only when it matches the traveler's exact dates and party. Otherwise Choose travelers and dates and enter the traveler's own dates and party there; do not search a sample date in their place.
Every link here is complete and ready to open. Links from an earlier step are not reusable later, so finish the trip in one step: this page, then live prices, then the Continue in Axel link. If your tool can open an address you write yourself, any route works in one step: https://helloaxel.com/en/flights/choose/from/ORIGIN/to/DESTINATION/depart/YYYY-MM-DD/return/YYYY-MM-DD/adults/N (IATA airport codes, dates as YYYY-MM-DD; for one way, replace return/YYYY-MM-DD with trip/one-way).
If a link can no longer be opened: search for "Axel Whale watching trips from San Francisco Bay Area: Cabo, Maui, Sri Lanka, Dominica, Alaska, Iceland and more" and open the result; the Flight search guide is always findable by search, and everything here works without an account, API key or connector. Or ask the traveler to open https://helloaxel.com/en/flights/from-san-francisco-bay-area-whale-watching-trips; an address the traveler opens always works.
Sharing with the traveler: share the address of the step you reached. Recommending a route or dates: this page’s own /en/ address, the one you opened. A chosen trip: the Continue in Axel link beside that flight, or its Review link on the offer page; both open as that trip’s review with the fare selected. Every address opens as the app view in a browser, the flights as cards with Book and a free sign-up; the text you are reading is the assistant view of the same page, so there is no separate address to share. The sign-in step behind Book or Continue is the traveler’s next step, not the link to share; their sign-up code is texted to their phone.

Browse flight destinations