There is no place in the United States quite like Alaska, and there are very few places on Earth that can match it. The largest state in the union by an enormous margin – it is over twice the size of Texas – Alaska occupies a category of its own in American geography, culture, and imagination. It is a place of superlatives: the tallest mountain in North America, the largest national park in the country, some of the most magnificent glaciers remaining on the planet, and wildlife encounters so extraordinary they feel borrowed from a nature documentary. Alaska is genuinely wild in ways that most of the developed world has forgotten.
With its towering glaciers, sweeping landscapes, unique wildlife, and rich history, there are so many great reasons to visit Alaska. Often feeling more like an exotic country than a state, Alaska tops many travelers’ wish lists.
More than 2.7 million out-of-state visitors traveled in Alaska between May and September in a recent peak year, according to the Alaska Travel Industry Association. They come by cruise ship, by plane, by train, by rental car, and in some cases by bush plane to remote airstrips that no road can reach. They come for the glaciers, the bears, the salmon, the northern lights, the midnight sun, the mountains, and the profound sensation of standing in a landscape so vast and undisturbed that human beings feel appropriately small within it.
Any thought of Alaska should start with the Native groups that were here long before America was even an idea. To truly understand Alaska, immerse yourself in Native culture at every turn.
This guide covers the full sweep of what Alaska has to offer, organized to help travelers of every kind – whether arriving by cruise ship, road trip, or floatplane – plan the experience of a lifetime.
UNDERSTANDING ALASKA: FIVE REGIONS
Alaska’s size means that different parts of the state feel like entirely different destinations. The state can be meaningfully divided into five regions, each with its own distinct character, landscape, and travel experience.
South-Central Alaska is the most accessible and densely traveled region. Iconic Alaskan highlights abound here: Anchorage, Denali, and the Kenai Fjords all lie within its boundaries. A well-maintained highway system makes it easy to connect by bus or car, and the railroad connects some of the major national parks.
Southeast Alaska – the Inside Passage – is the region most cruise passengers experience. Cruising will likely bring visitors to this region of temperate rainforests, glaciers, fjords, and coastal mountains. Independent travelers can get around just as well using ferries, water taxis, and island-hopping planes. Major towns include Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway, and Haines.
Interior Alaska is the heartland of the state, home to Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and the vast boreal forests and river systems of the Alaskan interior.
Southwest Alaska encompasses the remote wilderness of the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, the Aleutian chain, and some of the most extraordinary bear viewing in the world. This is one of the most varied and remote regions, with landscapes so vast and a population so low that it is only accessible by plane or boat. Here, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve and Katmai National Park and Preserve offer views of jumping salmon and famous fat bears. Kodiak Island boasts its own Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, home to the only habitat of Kodiak brown bears in the world.
The Arctic and Far North is Alaska’s most remote and dramatic frontier – tundra, permafrost, and Indigenous communities living much as they have for thousands of years, accessible primarily by small aircraft from Fairbanks.
DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE
Denali National Park is Alaska’s single most iconic destination and one of the great wilderness parks on the planet. At its center stands Denali – formerly known as Mount McKinley – the highest peak in North America, rising to 20,310 feet above sea level. When it is visible, it dominates the sky in a way that photographs simply cannot prepare you for.
Located in the heart of the Alaska Range, this national park’s claim to fame comes from its colossal Denali, North America’s highest peak. While the challenge of climbing Denali may lure daring alpinists, most visitors find other ways to explore the park. One of the most convenient is by taking a narrated bus tour, where you’ll learn about the history of the park from a trained naturalist and have the opportunity to spot the “big five” of Denali’s wildlife: moose, caribou, grizzly bears, Dall sheep, and wolves.
The park’s road system is deliberately restricted to protect the wilderness experience. Private vehicles may only drive the first fifteen miles of the ninety-two-mile park road; beyond that, visitors must travel by park-operated bus. This constraint is, in fact, one of the park’s greatest gifts to visitors, forcing a slow and attentive encounter with the landscape that few other American parks offer.
The park has a rich and ancient history, with archaeological findings drawing connection to an ancestral heritage that dates back 12,600 years. The land of Denali National Park and Preserve is located at the intersection of the traditional homeland of the Ahtna, Dena’ina, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, and Tanana Athabascan peoples.
The best strategy for seeing Denali itself is to arrive with patience and flexibility. The mountain creates its own weather, and it is shrouded in cloud more days than not. Those who linger for two or three days and check conditions each morning greatly improve their odds of seeing the summit fully clear.
GLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE
In 1925, Glacier Bay National Park was established to preserve this tidewater glacial environment for posterity, the public’s enjoyment, and scientific study. It has since become one of the most popular destinations in Alaska.
Glacier Bay is a place of staggering geological drama. Two hundred and fifty years ago, the bay was almost entirely filled with a massive glacier. Since then, the ice has retreated dramatically – one of the most rapid glacial retreats ever recorded – leaving behind a new landscape of bays, inlets, and islands that is being colonized by life in real time. Walking through the different vegetation zones of Glacier Bay is like watching ecological succession happen before your eyes.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site and a highlight on any Alaska sailing, Glacier Bay National Park is home to some of the most impressive tidewater glaciers in the world. Guests witness towering ice walls calving into the sea while Park Rangers come aboard to share expert insights into the park’s history, wildlife, and heritage. World of Cruising
One of the most incredible cultural learning opportunities in the state can be found at the Xunaa Shuká Hít – the Huna Tribal House at Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Here, tribal members and park visitors can share tradition, culture, history, and more on lands that have long been home to the Huna Tlingit peoples. The Huna Tlingit people dedicated the house to their ancestral history, creating a sanctuary for those who have called this land home for centuries.
KENAI FJORDS NATIONAL PARK
Just outside Seward, Kenai Fjords National Park has it all: jagged peaks, lush waterfalls, and glaciers spilling from the Harding Icefield. It is one of the best places in Alaska to see varied landscapes and marine wildlife. Puffins, murrelets, and marine mammals thrive in this park’s numerous coves and inlets.
The Harding Icefield, which feeds dozens of glaciers, dominates the park’s landscape. Guests can explore by boat spotting sea otters, whales, and puffins, or hike the trails that weave through the dramatic scenery. World of Cruising
The Exit Glacier, reachable by road from Seward, is one of the most accessible glaciers in Alaska and offers a visceral demonstration of climate change: markers along the trail document the glacier’s significant retreat over recent decades, giving visitors a striking visual record of a warming planet.
Day cruises from Seward into the park are among the most reliably spectacular wildlife experiences in Alaska. In a single eight-hour cruise, it is common to encounter humpback whales, orcas, Steller sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, mountain goats on coastal cliffs, bald eagles, horned puffins, and dozens of other seabird species, all set against a backdrop of calving glaciers and ice-carved fjords.
WRANGELL-ST. ELIAS NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE
The largest national park in the United States, Wrangell-St. Elias covers an area larger than Switzerland. It features nine of the country’s tallest peaks and a mix of glaciated valleys, volcanic landscapes, and remote wilderness. 35% of Wrangell-St. Elias is covered in glaciers. Visitors may spot beavers, lynx, foxes, wolves, and grizzlies roaming these wild lands. World of Cruising
Glennallen acts as the gateway to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the nation’s largest national park, which is home to 9 of the 16 highest peaks in the United States.
Within the park, the ghost town of Kennecott is one of Alaska’s most extraordinary historical sites. A former copper mining complex that operated from 1903 to 1938, the red-painted mill buildings cling to the edge of the Kennecott Glacier at the end of a long gravel road, creating one of the most dramatic industrial ruins in the American West. Touring the Gold Rush era Kennecott Mine in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is an unforgettable experience that combines wilderness adventure with a deeply human story of ambition, engineering, and the raw wealth buried in Alaska’s mountains.
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is located on the traditional homeland of four Alaska Native groups. The area was primarily inhabited by the Ahtna Athabascan people in the interior, with the Tlingit and Eyak people in the southern regions. The cultural heritage of Wrangell-St. Elias and the Copper River Valley spans thousands of years.
KATMAI NATIONAL PARK AND BROOKS FALLS
Katmai National Park is world-famous for Brooks Falls, where grizzlies line up to catch salmon mid-leap. Visitors can safely view this incredible spectacle from raised platforms.
Brooks Falls, accessible only by floatplane from Anchorage, Homer, or King Salmon, is one of the most extraordinary wildlife viewing experiences available anywhere on Earth. Each July, as sockeye salmon push upstream past a four-foot waterfall on Brooks River, dozens of brown bears assemble to intercept them. The bears wade into the foam below the falls, stand on the lip of the cascade, and snatch leaping salmon directly from the air. Viewing platforms are positioned close enough to deliver an experience that feels intimate and genuinely thrilling.
July through September are peak for bear viewing in Katmai National Park and Lake Clark National Park. Katmai’s Fat Bear Week — a social media phenomenon that has become a genuine cultural event — takes place in late September and early October, when visitors and viewers worldwide vote for the bear that has put on the most impressive weight before hibernation. Some of these bears grow to over 1,000 pounds on their summer salmon diet.
THE INSIDE PASSAGE: SOUTHEAST ALASKA
The Inside Passage is a scenic network of sheltered coastal waterways that stretches from the southeastern part of the state down to British Columbia, offering one of the most beautiful and culturally rich corridors in Alaska. Surrounded by towering cliffs, forested islands, and deep fjords, it is also a region steeped in Indigenous heritage, with strong ties to the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. This route is ideal for soft-adventure cruisers, ferry travelers, and wildlife lovers hoping to spot eagles, sea lions, and humpback whales right from the deck.
The Alaska Marine Highway ferry system is one of the great overlooked travel experiences in the United States. These state-operated ferries connect the coastal communities of Southeast Alaska — from Bellingham, Washington, all the way north to Skagway and Juneau — providing an affordable and genuinely immersive alternative to cruise ship travel. Passengers can bring their vehicles, camp on the outer decks under the stars, and stop off in small communities that most cruise ships never reach.
Juneau, Alaska’s capital city, is accessible only by air or sea – no road connects it to the rest of the state. Juneau is surrounded by mountains and fjords and offers a unique combination of natural beauty and cultural discovery. The city is a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts, with numerous hiking trails, glacier tours, and kayaking opportunities. The Mendenhall Glacier, just a short drive from downtown, is one of the most accessible glaciers in the state and provides dramatic evidence of glacial change, having retreated significantly in recent decades.
Ketchikan is situated on the banks of the Tongass Narrows and is nicknamed Alaska’s “First City” because it is often the first cruise stop in the Inside Passage. It is famous for its totem poles — the city has one of the largest collections in the world — and for its colorful historic Creek Street district, a former red-light row of brothels built on pilings over a salmon stream. Today the buildings house shops, restaurants, and galleries, and wild salmon can be seen running beneath the boardwalk during peak season.
Skagway is a remarkably well-preserved Gold Rush town and one of the most evocative historical sites in all of Alaska. Carved into the mountains above Skagway during the Klondike Gold Rush, the White Pass and Yukon Route is Alaska’s legendary narrow-gauge “Scenic Railway of the World,” linking tidewater to the 2,885-foot White Pass summit through a corridor of glaciers, gorges, and waterfalls. Vintage railcars and cliff-side trestles reveal storied viewpoints while narration brings frontier lore and remarkable engineering feats to life.
Sitka, on the outer coast of Baranof Island, was the capital of Russian Alaska and is one of the most historically layered communities in the state. The Russian Bishop’s House, Sitka National Historical Park with its stunning totem pole collection, and the onion-domed St. Michael’s Cathedral tell the story of Russian colonization that shaped Alaska before its purchase by the United States in 1867.
ANCHORAGE: THE GREAT URBAN BASE CAMP
Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska and the practical hub for most visitors’ experiences in the state. It is home to roughly 40 percent of the state’s entire population and serves as the primary gateway for flights, the Alaska Railroad, and road trips into the Interior and south onto the Kenai Peninsula.
Start in Anchorage and explore the Anchorage Museum, then head to the secluded Kenai Fjords or magnificent Chugach National Forest, or down to Homer for one of the state’s best local food scenes.
In Anchorage, the Alaska Native Heritage Center is perhaps the best place to learn about the diverse Indigenous cultures from throughout the state, representing over 20 language groups and over 200 federally recognized tribes. Volunteers and staff tell oral histories about their culture and land, often debunking widely-held myths about Alaska Native lifestyles and histories.
The Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center is one of the finest museums in the American West, with world-class exhibitions on Alaskan art, history, science, and Indigenous cultures. Its Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center brings world-class scholarship on Arctic peoples directly to visitors.
Chugach State Park, beginning almost at the edge of downtown Anchorage, offers over 500,000 acres of mountain wilderness — more parkland than many entire states can claim — with hiking, skiing, wildlife watching, and glacier access all within a short drive of the city center.
The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail runs eleven miles along the Anchorage waterfront and offers views across Cook Inlet to the snow-capped volcanic peaks of the Alaska Range, including glimpses of Denali on clear days. Beluga whales are sometimes visible from the trail’s shore sections.
FAIRBANKS: THE GOLDEN HEART OF ALASKA
Located in the heart of Alaska, Fairbanks is full of adventure and history. It offers several activities ranging from dog sledding and ice fishing to exploring old gold mines and visiting museums about Alaska’s rich history.
Fairbanks sits near the geographic center of Alaska and serves as the gateway to the Arctic, the primary hub for northern lights viewing, and the cultural heart of Alaska’s Interior. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum of the North is one of the most impressive natural history and art museums in the state, housing extraordinary collections of Alaska Native art and artifacts alongside scientific exhibits on the natural history of the Arctic.
In the depths of winter, head to Fairbanks for the World Ice Art Championships — one of the most remarkable artistic events in the world, in which international teams carve extraordinary sculptures from enormous blocks of crystal-clear ice harvested from a local pond. The finished pieces are illuminated from within at night, creating an otherworldly gallery of frozen light.
The Chena Hot Springs, located about sixty miles from Fairbanks, offer a perfect combination of Alaska wilderness and thermal relaxation. The natural hot springs pool is open year-round, and in winter, soaking in steaming mineral water beneath a sky blazing with northern lights is one of the most memorable experiences Alaska has to offer.
The nearby Yukon Quest sled dog race, one of the most grueling in the world, passes through Fairbanks each February, and the Midnight Sun Festival in June celebrates the summer solstice with outdoor concerts, dancing, and the surreal experience of midnight sunlight.
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS: ALASKA’S CELESTIAL SPECTACULAR
The aurora borealis — the northern lights — is for many visitors the single most compelling reason to visit Alaska, and with good reason. Visitors to Alaska who spend three nights looking for the lights from Fairbanks have a 90 percent chance of spotting them.
From mid-November through March, visitors can check into a lodge and look for the lights each night while trying a different activity, like ice fishing or dog sledding. And if you are on an aurora quest from mid-August to mid-September, there is still time to enjoy summer activities like visiting Denali National Park or taking a glacier cruise.
The lights themselves vary enormously in intensity and form. On a quiet night they may appear as pale green curtains drifting slowly across the sky. On an active night they erupt into rivers and pillars of green, violet, red, and white that move and dance with astonishing speed, covering the entire sky from horizon to horizon. People who see the aurora for the first time often fall completely silent, then burst into laughter or tears. It is that kind of experience.
Chena Hot Springs, combined with a northern lights search outside Fairbanks, is a particularly popular pairing for aurora seekers. For something truly unique, visitors can arrange a night of ice fishing from a cabin over a lake, with a wide-open view perfect if the aurora makes an appearance.
THE MIDNIGHT SUN: ALASKA IN SUMMER
Alaska in summer offers a phenomenon as remarkable in its own way as the northern lights: the midnight sun. In Fairbanks near the summer solstice, the sun does not set at all for a period of days. In Anchorage, there is light well past midnight and predawn light beginning before 4 a.m. This extraordinary daylight affects everything about the Alaskan summer experience.
Summer ushers in long days — sometimes nearly 24 hours in the far north — mild to warm temperatures, and full-on adventure time. In the Interior around Fairbanks, highs can reach the 70s Fahrenheit. Alpine wildflowers bloom, rivers roar, and the midnight sun bathes everything in golden glow. Visitors benefit from the most varied activity options, great weather windows, and vibrant energy throughout the state.
Wildlife is most active and most visible in summer. Salmon runs fill rivers with fish and line the banks with bears and eagles. Humpback whales feed in the Inside Passage. Caribou herds migrate across the Arctic tundra. Moose browse in wetlands. The combination of long light and abundant wildlife makes Alaska in summer an almost inexhaustible photographic and experiential paradise.
THE KENAI PENINSULA
The Kenai Peninsula, stretching south of Anchorage into Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Alaska, is one of the most diverse and accessible regions in the state. It can be driven from Anchorage in a few hours, yet it offers world-class wilderness, fishing, hiking, and coastal scenery that rivals anything Alaska has to offer.
The Kenai Peninsula — encompassing Homer, Seward, Kenai, and more — and Prince William Sound offer views of glaciers, waterfalls, rivers, and lakes, with world-renowned fishing, wildlife sightings, and day cruises.
Seward is the southern terminus of the Alaska Railroad and the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park. The town sits in one of the most dramatically beautiful settings in the state, surrounded by mountains that plunge directly into Resurrection Bay. The Alaska SeaLife Center, a world-class marine research aquarium located on the Seward waterfront, provides excellent close encounters with harbor seals, Steller sea lions, puffins, and other marine species native to Alaskan waters.
Homer is known as the “Halibut Fishing Capital of the World” and offers both incredible angling opportunities and a vibrant arts community. Its famous spit stretches into Kachemak Bay, where you’ll find shops, restaurants, and stunning views of mountains and glaciers. Homer has developed a food and arts scene that feels surprisingly sophisticated for a small Alaskan community, with excellent restaurants, galleries, and a strong community of artists and writers who have been drawn by the beauty of the landscape and the quality of the light.
ALASKA NATIVE HERITAGE AND CULTURE
Alaska Native culture can be experienced in communities across the state. Starting at the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage and continuing to cultural centers and museums in Barrow, Nome, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka gives visitors a progressively deeper understanding of the state’s Indigenous history.
Thousands of archaeological sites, some dating back over 10,000 years, provide insights into the earliest humans and animals that roamed in Alaska.
Alaska’s Indigenous peoples are enormously diverse. The state is home to over twenty distinct language groups representing cultures as different from one another as the landscapes they inhabit. The Inupiaq and Yupik peoples of the Arctic and western coast, the Athabascan peoples of the Interior, the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and Eyak peoples of the Southeast, and the Aleut and Alutiiq peoples of the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands each carry millennia of accumulated knowledge, art, storytelling, and spiritual tradition.
In the Arctic communities of Nome and Barrow, visitors can experience Alaska Native culture and meet Alaskans who still practice ancient whaling customs. These encounters, conducted with respect and an open spirit of learning, offer some of the most profound travel experiences available anywhere in Alaska. Alaska
THE IDITAROD: THE LAST GREAT RACE
No aspect of Alaska’s culture captures the imagination quite like the Iditarod sled dog race. The Iditarod National Historic Trail is Alaska’s sole National Historic Trail. This network of 2,300-mile winter trails evolved to connect Alaskan Native villages, established the dog-team mail and supply route during Alaska’s Gold Rush, and now serves as a vital recreation and travel link.
Every year, about 100 mushers and their dog teams race across 1,000 miles of difficult terrain for a chance to win the Iditarod, “The Last Great Race on Earth.” Visitors to sled dog kennels can hear about the history of the race and meet husky puppies who will soon begin their training to become sled dogs. Smithsonian Journeys
The Iditarod begins in Anchorage each March with a ceremonial start, moves to Willow for the official restart, and ends approximately 10 to 17 days later in Nome on the Bering Sea coast. Following the race through social media tracking tools and, for the adventurous, traveling to Nome to witness the finishers arriving on Front Street, is one of the great winter experiences Alaska offers.
ALASKA’S WILDLIFE
Alaska offers some of the greatest wildlife viewing opportunities on the planet, and for many travelers the animals are the primary draw. Alaska’s diverse wildlife includes bear viewing, birding, marine mammal watching, and encounters with caribou herds migrating across vast tundra landscapes.
Brown bears — the same species as the grizzly bear — are found throughout coastal and Interior Alaska. They are most commonly seen fishing for salmon in late summer along rivers and streams. Brown bear viewing at Katmai, Lake Clark, and McNeil River State Game Sanctuary are among the finest wildlife encounters available anywhere in the world.
Alaska’s wildlife includes iconic grizzly bears catching salmon in the rivers, orcas breaching in the pristine waters, and caribou herds migrating across vast Arctic landscapes. Moose are abundant throughout the state and are frequently seen from roads, trails, and even from Anchorage neighborhoods. Humpback whales, orcas, beluga whales, Dall porpoises, and harbor porpoises are regularly spotted from cruise ships and day tour boats in Southeast Alaska and the Gulf of Alaska.
Bald eagles, rare and celebrated in the lower 48 states, are so common in Alaska that seeing dozens in a single day is entirely normal. The Chilkat Valley near Haines hosts the largest seasonal congregation of bald eagles in the world each November and December.
THE ALASKA RAILROAD
The Alaska Railroad has been connecting the Last Frontier since 1923. Daily summer departures connect Anchorage with Seward, Talkeetna, Denali, and Fairbanks aboard scenic dome railcars.
Traveling Alaska by train is one of the finest ways to experience the state’s interior landscape. The line from Anchorage to Fairbanks passes through the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, skirts the base of Denali, crosses the Nenana River gorge, and rolls through boreal forest and tundra in a journey that covers terrain accessible by no other means. The glass-domed rail cars provide panoramic views that photographers and nature lovers find endlessly rewarding.
The White Pass and Yukon Route Railway, a legendary narrow-gauge historic railway departing from Skagway, climbs nearly 3,000 feet over 20 miles, retracing the original Klondike Trail of ’98 past Bridal Veil Falls, Inspiration Point, and cliff-side trestles of remarkable engineering.
FOOD AND DRINK IN ALASKA
Alaska is particularly known for its fresh, wild-sourced seafood, especially salmon, halibut, and Alaskan king crab. Traditional Indigenous foods also feature widely, including reindeer sausage and dishes like muktuk (whale skin and blubber) and akutaq (sometimes called Eskimo ice cream, a traditional mixture of whipped fats, berries, and fish).
Wild Alaska salmon — king, sockeye, coho, pink, and chum — is the central ingredient of Alaskan cuisine and appears in every possible preparation, from simple grilled fillets to house-cured gravlax to smoked salmon spread served on crackers. The difference between wild Alaska salmon and farmed salmon is immediately apparent in flavor, and eating salmon in Alaska, as close as possible to the source, is an experience that spoils you permanently.
Halibut, often called “the chicken of the sea” for its firm white flesh and mild flavor, is the other defining seafood of Alaskan cuisine. Battered and fried halibut and chips is the definitive comfort food of Alaska’s coastal communities, served everywhere from waterfront fish shacks to fine dining restaurants. Homer’s halibut, caught in the cold deep waters of
Kachemak Bay, is considered among the finest in the state.
Visitors can land a trophy salmon or halibut on a fishing charter and then sample Alaska’s local seafood, produce, and brews on a culinary tour.
Alaskan king crab — massive, sweet, and rich — is one of the great luxury foods of North American seafood culture, and eating it fresh in Alaska, rather than shipped across thousands of miles, is a genuine revelation. Dungeness crab, Tanner crab, and spot prawns round out the extraordinary local shellfish available to visitors.
The craft brewing scene has grown considerably in recent years, and Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, and Homer all have excellent local breweries. Several Alaskan breweries have developed national reputations, and the quality of local craft beer has never been higher. Alaskan Brewing Company, based in Juneau, was one of the early pioneers of the American craft beer movement and remains one of the most celebrated regional breweries in the country.
OUTDOOR RECREATION
Alaska’s vast landscapes offer guided and self-guided hiking, backcountry camping, glacier trekking, skiing, and biking trips. Visitors can explore coastlines, rivers, and lakes in vessels of all shapes and sizes, from stand-up paddleboards to jet boats to private cruises.
Glacier hiking and trekking is one of the uniquely Alaskan outdoor experiences. Ice climbing on Matanuska Glacier, hiking across the Mendenhall Glacier above Juneau by helicopter, and backcountry skiing in the Chugach Mountains are all accessible to visitors with appropriate levels of fitness and experience.
Flightseeing — aerial tours by small plane or helicopter — is one of the essential Alaska travel experiences and is the only practical way to grasp the true scale of the landscape. Helicopter and glacier tours are available from multiple locations, including options out of Seward that allow visitors to drive sled dogs themselves on a glacier alongside Iditarod mushers. TravelAge West
River rafting is spectacular throughout Interior Alaska. The Nenana River near Denali offers exciting whitewater, while countless remote rivers offer multi-day wilderness float trips through landscapes that have never known a road.
PRACTICAL TRAVEL INFORMATION
Getting There: Nonstop flights to Anchorage are available year-round from major U.S. hubs including Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Portland, so visitors can arrive in just a few hours with no passport required. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is the main gateway, with connecting flights available from Anchorage to Juneau, Fairbanks, Kodiak, Sitka, Ketchikan, and dozens of smaller communities. Juneau International Airport also has direct service from Seattle and other West Coast cities.
Getting Around: Alaska has few roads, and although cosmopolitan in many places, it is still remote and wild in many others. The major road-accessible destinations — Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali, Seward, Homer, and the Kenai Peninsula — can be explored by rental car. The Alaska Railroad connects the major Interior destinations. Southeast Alaska and the remote park regions require ferries, floatplanes, and bush aircraft. Three national parks are accessible by road: Denali National Park at 4.5 hours from Anchorage, Kenai Fjords National Park at 2.5 hours from Anchorage, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park at 6.5 hours from Anchorage.
Best Time to Visit: Mid-May to mid-September is the best time to visit Alaska. June and July are Alaska’s summer months with the warmest temperatures, longest hours of daylight, and best wildlife viewing. The months of May and August through September are considered shoulder season with fewer crowds while still offering good weather and daylight. For northern lights viewing, the prime season runs from late August through March, with Fairbanks offering the best and most reliable opportunities.
Costs: Alaska is a relatively expensive destination, and the average cost for a 7-day trip ranges from roughly $1,500 to $3,500 per person. Remote park access by floatplane adds considerable cost, but the experiences are commensurately extraordinary. Booking well in advance, particularly for summer travel, is essential for the best rates and availability.
Where to Stay: Accommodation options range from world-class wilderness lodges accessible only by floatplane to downtown Anchorage hotels, campgrounds inside the national parks, and everything in between. Kenai Fjords National Park has the only lodge located within the park boundary, at Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge. Denali has multiple lodging options at the park entrance area. Budget travelers will find excellent campgrounds throughout the state, and backcountry camping in Alaska’s national parks, with appropriate bear-safety protocols, offers some of the most extraordinary camping experiences in the world.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Alaska defies easy description because it contains multitudes. It is the most dramatic natural landscape in the United States, an extraordinary repository of Indigenous cultural heritage, a place of profound historical drama involving gold rushes and Russian colonization and American frontier mythology, and a living ecological system of a richness and complexity that most of the developed world has lost forever.
No one can truly appreciate the beauty of the north until they visit. It is hard to imagine what it is like to cruise into Seward by boat, to hike through Denali National Park, to stay up long past midnight watching the sun set, or to never see the sun rise. AFAR
Alaska asks something of its visitors: patience, flexibility, a willingness to be uncomfortable at times, and a genuine openness to being changed by what you encounter. In return, it offers experiences so powerful and so far outside the boundaries of ordinary life that travelers who visit once almost always start planning to return before they have even left. The Last Frontier lives up to its name, and then some.
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