Juneau
Going to Juneau and not seeing the Mendenhall is like visiting Rome and skipping the Colosseum. The most famous of Juneau’s ice floes, and the city’s most…
Must-see attractions in Alaska
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Alaska
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a 30,625-sq-mile wilderness in Alaska’s northeast corner, straddling the eastern Brooks Range from the treeless…
Southeast Alaska
Welcome to the largest national forest in the US, a tract of land almost the size of Ireland and significantly larger than adjacent Wrangell-St Elias…
Southeast Alaska
Just 30 miles north of Yakutat is Hubbard Glacier, the largest tidewater glacier in North America. The 8-mile-wide frozen behemoth is easily Alaska’s most…
Denali National Park & Preserve
The Interior
In our collective consciousness, Alaska represents the concept of the raw wilderness. But that untamed perception can be as much a deterrent as a draw…
Anchorage
This world-class facility is Anchorage’s cultural jewel. The West Wing, a four-story, shimmering, mirrored facade, adds 80,000 sq ft to what was already…
The Interior
Some 18,000 years ago this glacier covered the entire area where the city of Palmer sits today. It must have appeared a supernatural force back then,…
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Museum & Visitor Center
Skagway
The recently improved NPS center is in the original 1898 White Pass & Yukon Route depot. The center is spread over two interconnecting buildings. One…
Anchorage
If you can't travel to the Bush region to experience Native Alaska culture firsthand, visit this 26-acre center and see how humans survived – and thrived …
Seward
A fitting legacy of the Exxon Valdez oil-spill settlement, this $56-million marine research center is more than just one of Alaska’s finest attractions…
Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park
Kodiak Island
This military fort, 4.5 miles northeast of Kodiak, off Monashka Bay Rd, was built by the US Army during WWII to defend against a Japanese invasion that…
University of Alaska Museum of the North
Fairbanks
In an architecturally abstract, igloo- and aurora-inspired edifice sits one of Alaska’s finest museums, with artifact-rich exhibits on the geology,…
Concentration Mill & Leaching Plant
The Interior
Like a rickety fantasy hatched out of a lunatic's dream, this 14-story building once processed the copper mined out of the surrounding mountains. You can…
The Interior
It's hard to miss Mukluk Land. The entrance, after all, is marked by a giant red boot. But more importantly: you shouldn't miss Mukluk Land. Is it a theme…
Saxman Native Village & Totem Park
Ketchikan
On South Tongass Hwy, 2.5 miles south of Ketchikan, is this incorporated Tlingit village of 475 residents. It's best known for Saxman Totem Park, which…
Jilkaat Kwaan Cultural Heritage & Bald Eagle Preserve Visitor Center
Haines
Part of a welcome renaissance in Tlingit art and culture in Alaska, this heritage center is located in the ancient native village of Klukwan, 22 miles…
Southeast Alaska
This impressive museum is what the colorful history and characters of Wrangell deserve. As you stroll through the many rooms, an audio narration…
Alutiiq Museum & Archaeological Repository
Kodiak Island
The Alutiiqs (not to be confused with the Aleuts) are the subject of this brilliant Alaska Native museum. They were the original inhabitants of the Kodiak…
Ketchikan
For a crash course in Southeast Alaska's impressive totem art look no further than the Totem Heritage Center, where old poles brought from deserted…
Aleutian Islands
This small but impressive museum is one of the best native cultural centers in Alaska. It relives the Aleutian story from prehistory through the Russian…
Aleutian WWII National Historic Area
Aleutian Islands
In 1996 Congress created this 134-acre national historic area to commemorate the bloody events of WWII that took place on the Aleutian Islands. Most of…
Denali National Park & Preserve
What makes 20,310ft Denali (formerly Mt McKinley) one of the world’s great scenic mountains is the sheer independent rise of its bulk. Denali begins at a…
Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve
Alaska
Standing in the middle of this park's eight million acres of uninhabited mountains and tundra, you could be forgiven for assuming a woolly mammoth was…
Alaska
At 4739ft, the Atigun Pass is the only road pass through the Brooks Range. We'd call it 'dramatic,' but that's sort of like calling the Sahara sandy; the…
Treadwell Mine Historical Trail
Juneau
It's hard to envisage today, but the Treadwell mine on Douglas Island was once the largest gold mine in the world, set up like a minitown with its own…
Katmai National Park & Preserve
Southwest Alaska
Sure, Katmai National Park & Preserve encompasses four million acres of rippling coastline, volcanic landscapes and mountain-fringed lakes, but the brown…
Juneau
As far as cable cars go, this tramway is rather expensive for a five-minute ride. But from a marketing point of view its location couldn’t be better. It…
Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge
Fairbanks
Birds have been migrating through this idyllic little stretch of farmland for millennia, and when the local dairy finally shut its doors, the community…
The Interior
‘Oh no, they destroyed this valley!’ If you’re like 99% of visitors, that’s exactly what you’ll think as you reach Kennecott and look across the…
Southeast Alaska
Twenty miles north of Hyder and back inside Canada lies the fifth-largest glacier in Canada (and the largest in the world accessible by road). The old…
Anchorage
At the western ‘nose’ of the peninsula and southern terminus of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is this beloved 1400-acre park populated by…
Juneau
Get ready for some spiritual enlightenment. The Shrine of St Thérèse is a natural stone chapel on a beautifully wooded island connected to the shore by a…
Anchorage
The unique wildlife of the Arctic is on display at this zoo, the only one in North America that specializes in northern animals, including snow leopards,…
Juneau
A spectacular sight at Mendenhall Glacier is this waterfall, a mini-Niagara (in season) caused by Nugget Creek diving off a hanging valley into Mendenhall…
Southwest Alaska
Every year, hundreds of brown bears emerge from hibernation and make their way to Brooks Falls, a small but important waterfall in Katmai National Park…
Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center
Juneau
This mini-museum holds ranger talks, shows an 11-minute film and displays exhibits relating to the glacier and its formation. There are huge panoramic…
Anchorage
Housed in the city’s oldest wooden-framed home, this little museum overlooks the delightful Elderberry Park. Anderson was the 18th American settler to set…
Kenai Peninsula
Down below the bluffs is an oddity in Alaska: a sweeping, sandy beach, ideal for picnicking, Frisbee-chucking and other waterfront fun. There are stellar…
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters & Visitor Center
Kenai Peninsula
Opposite Kalifornsky Beach Rd near the Kenai River is the junction with Funny River Rd. Follow signs to Ski Hill Rd, following it for a mile to reach this…
Ketchikan
Ten miles north of downtown Ketchikan is this seaside park that contains 14 restored totem poles, a colorful community house and a viewing deck…
