Photo Credit: Alpine Air Alaska Dogsledding

Glacier Dog Sledding

If you think winter is the only time you can go dog sledding on snow in Alaska, think again. One of the 49th state’s most memorable activities is dog sledding, and it’s something anyone can do all summer long on Alaska’s glaciers.

You can also go dogsledding at lower elevations in summer. Of course, down there, there’s no snow, so dogs pull passengers in wheeled carts through the forest. It’s still an exciting experience, but let’s face it—mushing through snow, Iditarod-style, is what most people think of when they think of dogsledding.

Fortunately, several companies can take you up in a helicopter (so you’ll also get a mini-flightseeing tour) and land on a glacier, where you’ll find a camp set up, complete with dogs, ready for your adventure. The dogs know what the helicopter’s arrival means—it’s time to run!—and they’ll start jumping and barking, excited to get going. You’ll then take off on an expedition across the glacier, going at a healthy clip. Anyone who wants will have the opportunity to drive the sled, or you can just sit back and take in the gorgeous surrounding scenery, including dramatic hanging glaciers.

It’s a trip suitable for all ages and fitness levels—some tours are even handicap-accessible. Temperatures may be chilly (always dress in layers) but are usually comfortable, and most companies will have clothes you can borrow to stay warm. Just don’t forget your camera—you won’t want to miss documenting this adventure!

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Glacier Dog Sledding

Skagway View All

Season: May - September $629+ 2 hrs

Dog sled­ding on a glac­i­er is the ulti­mate blend of Alaskan adven­ture, as you also get there by heli­copter! Board a TEM­SCO flight that whisks you thou­sands of feet above sea lev­el to the Den­ver glac­i­er and a dog mush­ing camp hid­den away on a snow field, where Alaskan sled dogs will greet you ener­get­i­cal­ly, ready to take you on the ride of your life.

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Girdwood View All

Sled on a glacier in summer • Via helicopter
Season: May 15 - Aug 31 $579 2 hrs

Ratch­et up the adven­ture fac­tor and try your hand at dogsled­ding. Alpine Air Alas­ka flies to a dog camp run by the old­est estab­lished dog-sled tour busi­ness in Alas­ka. With a shut­tle option avail­able from Anchor­age, you’ll trav­el by heli­copter from Girdwood’s green forests up over a small sad­dle to land on a glac­i­er and be intro­duced to the dog team. Dri­ve” the dogs your­self, or sit in the sled and enjoy hang­ing glac­i­ers that sur­round you.  ...more

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Seward View All

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Juneau View All

Season: May 06 to Aug 31 Call for rates

Get great views with some hands-on fun — com­bine a scenic flight­see­ing heli­copter tour with the exhil­a­ra­tion of dog mush­ing on a glac­i­er with a team of Alaskan Sled dogs! 

Season: May - September $659+ 1.5 hrs

Hop on a TEM­SCO heli­copter for an Alaskan adven­ture com­bin­ing avi­a­tion, sled dogs and mas­sive glac­i­ers. Get an amaz­ing view of the gor­geous land­scape sur­round­ing Juneau, and then ride along as an ener­getic team of huskies tours you around the ancient, snow-packed Menden­hall glacier.

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Anchorage View All

Season: Year Round $14.99+

Dri­ve through Alas­ka with an audio tour guid­ing you along icon­ic routes. Audio Tour Alas­ka gives you an insider’s take on every­thing from points of inter­est to his­to­ry, wildlife, and cul­ture, along with cap­ti­vat­ing sto­ries. Guides to pop­u­lar routes include Anchor­age to Tal­keet­na; Tal­keet­na to Denali Nation­al Park; Denali to Fair­banks; Anchor­age to Seward; and Tern Lake to Homer.

Season: May 15 – Sep 30 $50+ 2+ hrs

Grab a pad­dle and set off in a kayak across the glac­i­er-fed turquoise waters of Eklut­na Lake with expe­ri­enced tour com­pa­ny Life­time Adven­tures. You’ll have the option of rent­ing a kayak or enjoy­ing a guid­ed tour around the lake in a sin­gle or dou­ble kayak — no expe­ri­ence nec­es­sary! Com­bi­na­tion tours that include bik­ing or hik­ing are also available.

Season: May 15 – Sep 30 $25+ 2+ hrs

Hop on a full-sus­pen­sion moun­tain bike and ped­al your way around the gor­geous Eklut­na Lake with expe­ri­enced tour com­pa­ny Life­time Adven­tures. Rent a bike and set off your own, or take the guid­ed bike tour and gain insights along the way! Com­bi­na­tion tours that include kayak­ing or hik­ing are also available.

Set in down­town Anchor­age, Wild Starr is not only a place to dis­cov­er gor­geous cre­ations from Alaskan artists — it’s also a com­mu­ni­ty gath­er­ing space that hosts fun events focused on cre­at­ing your own works of art.

Season: Year Round $79+ per night 1+ nights

Lodge in a spa­cious heat­ed yurt with kitch­enettes and wood stoves year round in the icon­ic Matanus­ka-Susit­na Val­ley with end­less activ­i­ties from hik­ing to dog sled­ding and gaz­ing at the north­ern lights.

Season: Jul 09 to Jul 15
$6,375
7 days / 7 nights
Visits: Anchorage
Land Package Type: Photography Tours

Lake Clark Nation­al Park in Alas­ka is a remote, rugged, and stun­ning des­ti­na­tion known for its abun­dant coastal brown bears. Led by Alas­ka pho­tog­ra­phy expert Michael DeY­oung, this small group adven­ture offers the oppor­tu­ni­ty to cap­ture these incred­i­ble crea­tures in var­i­ous back­grounds. The Alas­ka Home­stead Lodge, a con­vert­ed rus­tic home­stead, pro­vides an exclu­sive expe­ri­ence with a ded­i­cat­ed bear guide and lodge staff. Tim­ing the vis­it dur­ing the  ...more

Season: May–September $119+

Dis­cov­er Alaska’s scenic gem, Portage Val­ley — just an hour from Anchor­age with Glac­i­er City Raft­ing & Hik­ing. Offer­ing small-group tours guid­ed by knowl­edge­able locals, and explore glacial lakes, snow-capped peaks, and wildlife.

Season: Year Round $60+ per person 2.5 hrs

Pilot a util­i­ty task vehi­cle (UTV) — an ATV that’s ful­ly enclosed — with fam­i­ly and friends as you splash through rivers, take in stun­ning views, and even pan for gold on this unique, 3‑hour excur­sion with Hatch­er Pass ATV Tours out of Willow.

Enjoy a wide vari­ety of Alaskan beers on tap, as well as deli­cious dish­es baked in a huge stone oven at this fam­i­ly-friend­ly restau­rant in south Anchor­age. Open for lunch and din­ner, Fire­tap Ale­house has a bright, invit­ing atmos­phere, with 6‑seater booths as well as tables that can be pushed togeth­er for large groups. Dur­ing the warmer months, you can also dine out on the deck and take in the view of snow-capped mountains.

Season: May 10 to Sep 17 $6 one-way

Con­ve­nient shut­tle pro­vid­ing trans­porta­tion from mid-town area hotels to the Log Cab­in Vis­i­tor Cen­ter in Down­town Anchorage.

Anchor­age’s Waf­fles and What­Not is the per­fect des­ti­na­tion for food­ies look­ing for some­thing new and excit­ing. This award-win­ning restau­rant, fea­tured on the Food Net­work and in Entre­pre­neur mag­a­zine, serves up one-of-a-kind waf­fles, made-to-order omelets, and break­fast bur­ri­tos. Veg­an, gluten-free, and Keto options are also available.

Season: May 10 - Sept 15 $200 per person 3 hrs

Join Flow AK on a back­coun­try adven­ture with expert guides as you nav­i­gate the nar­row canyons and chal­leng­ing rapids of Six Mile Creek. With small groups and per­son­al­ized atten­tion, you’re sure to make new friends and unfor­get­table mem­o­ries. Just a short dri­ve from Anchor­age, this excur­sion is not to be missed!

Season: May 30 - Sept 4 Day Hikes $120 | Multi-day $2,695+ Day & Multi-Day

Dri­ve your own Jeep equipped with a rooftop tent while guides lead­ing the way in a sep­a­rate vehi­cle take care of the details as you go. Along the way you’ll enjoy some of the most icon­ic spots and expe­ri­ences that the 49th state has to offer.

Season: Year Round $99+ per day

Rent a car from Alaskan Car Rental in Anchor­age for your Alaskan adven­ture. Great val­ue, wide selec­tion, 247 sup­port, and local advice make this the per­fect choice.

Stop in for slices, whole piz­zas, sal­ads, wings and more. Find local craft brews on tap. Dine-in, car­ry-out, or opt for deliv­ery. Locat­ed in the heart of Down­town Anchorage. 

Tent City Tap­house is an authen­tic Alaskan gas­trop­ub locat­ed in the heart of Anchor­age. Dis­cov­er deli­cious, local­ly sourced cui­sine and a wide vari­ety of Alaskan beers on tap. Expe­ri­ence the unique blend of Alaskan his­to­ry and mod­ern décor while enjoy­ing a meal with friends and fam­i­ly. Don’t miss out on the chance to learn about Anchor­age’s Tent City his­to­ry and enjoy brunch with a flight of mimosas in four flavors. 

Hand­made pas­tas and deli­cious piz­zas are just the begin­ning of Flattop’s unique menu, which is full of inven­tive options. Set in the heart of Down­town Anchor­age, the restau­rant brings togeth­er high-end cui­sine and an exten­sive wine list and serves it in a casu­al, fam­i­ly-friend­ly atmosphere.

Season: Mid May– Early September $30+ day rentals 1+ day rentals

Whether it’s kayak­ing, canoe­ing, or pad­dle­board­ing, you’ll find top-flight equip­ment for rent at AK Paddlesports

Season: Year Round $99+ 3+ hrs

Short on time and want to see anoth­er side of Anchor­age and the gor­geous sur­round­ing area? Take a small-group tour with Escap­ing Anchor­age, whose own­er, Brit­tney, cre­ates per­son­al­ized adven­tures fea­tur­ing beau­ti­ful scenery and real insights.

Season: Year Round Summer $700+ | Winter $300+ 2+ Nights

Immerse your­self in the Alaskan lifestyle by rent­ing this sophis­ti­cat­ed home with mag­nif­i­cent views in the foothills of Chugach State Park, just a 25-minute dri­ve from Anchorage.

Season: Year Round $140+ 3-8 hrs

Get to know Alas­ka in a tru­ly authen­tic way — through its unique cui­sine. On this walk­ing food tour, you’ll sam­ple fla­vors as you explore Anchor­age and hear sto­ries of the 49th state.

Season: Jun 01 to Nov 30 Sleeps 10

Stay at Bob’s (founder of Alas​ka​.org) fam­i­ly cab­in in Gird­wood — a charm­ing town that’s home to Alaska’s famous ski resort, just a 45-minute dri­ve south of Anchor­age. The cab­in includes a pri­vate deck, hot tub, fast WiFI and is per­fect­ly locat­ed at the base of the ski resort, Alyeska. It’s just a few min­utes’ walk to Girdwood’s best shops and restau­rants, yet set apart from the bustle. 

Ski or snow­board in this com­mu­ni­ty ski area set in the Tal­keet­na moun­tains, 90 min­utes north of Anchor­age and 25 min­utes from down­town Palmer. Hatch­er Pass has always been a place back­coun­try skiers flocked to, but Skeetawk makes the great ter­rain avail­able to even more snows­ports lovers.

Drop by this Anchor­age store and dis­cov­er a wide selec­tion of unique jew­el­ry made from gold and min­er­als mined right here in Alas­ka or hand-select­ed from around the world. Find nat­ur­al gold nugget jew­el­ry, a daz­zling selec­tion of dia­monds, jasper, agates, jade, thun­der eggs, pet­ri­fied wood, and fos­sils — set beau­ti­ful­ly in rings, chains, pen­dants, charms, ear­rings, and more.

Season: Year Round Call for quote

Hire a pro­fes­sion­al dri­ver to take up to 4 pas­sen­gers (plus lug­gage) any­where with­in the Talkeetna/​Seward/​Soldotna/​Kenai cor­ri­dor — basi­cal­ly, any­where with­in a 2.5- to 3‑hour radius of Anchor­age. Use for day trips (they’ll wait while you do your tour), trans­fers to your cruise ship, a pri­vate dri­ver for your whole vaca­tion, and more. 

Season: October - April $1325 | 1 - 6 people 7 Hr Evening Tour or Custom Multi-Day Adventure

Chase the lights on a pri­vate tour with Wild Alas­ka Jour­neys and you’ll be in the capa­ble hands of local guides who know where to look and under­stand the sci­ence behind them. All trips are pri­vate, so bring your fam­i­ly or group and spend a night on the look­out for the auro­ra or make it part of a mul­ti-day jour­ney. Either way, you’ll leave with unfor­get­table memories.

Season: Year Round $329+ 1.5+ hrs

Glac­i­er trekking, kayak­ing, ice climb­ing, and oth­er activ­i­ties are even more spe­cial when com­bined with a spec­tac­u­lar heli­copter ride through Alaska’s dra­mat­ic scenery. Thanks to key part­ner­ships with oth­er expe­ri­enced Alaskan tour oper­a­tors, Palmer based Out­bound Heli Adven­tures is able to coor­di­nate seam­less out­ings of a life­time! And, they pride them­selves on offer­ing the most amount of flight time with their excursions.

This unique mar­ket is locat­ed in Wasil­la, about 60 miles north of Anchor­age. You’ll find cre­ations of over 80 Alaskan artists and chefs that make for per­fect sou­venirs or gifts for friends back home.

Season: Year Round $99+ 2 hrs - Multi-Day

Get out there on one or more of these super-acces­si­ble trips, which range from easy nature walks to stren­u­ous alpine mul­ti-day treks. You’ll not only get a healthy dose of scenery, you’ll also exer­cise your body, mind, and soul. In win­ter, mar­vel at frozen water­falls, snow­shoe treks and even heli-snowshoeing!

The only spe­cial­ty cheese shop in Anchor­age is also a can’t‑miss café. It’s the only place in Anchor­age to pur­chase spe­cial­ty cheeses sourced from across Europe and the U.S. But it’s also a hip, casu­al spot with a great lunch menu that mix­es arti­san cheeses with high-qual­i­ty fast food. Some peo­ple come just for the cookies!

Season: Sep 09 to Sep 15
Single: $4,595; Double: $4,045 each
7 Days
Visits: Anchorage, Glacier View, Palmer / Wasilla Area, Denali State Park
Land Package Type: Photography Tours

South­cen­tral Alas­ka is a fall col­or pho­tog­ra­phers dream. This pho­to tour is per­son­al­ly craft­ed and led by Michael DeY­oung and his wife, Lau­ri; they make up one of Alaska’s most sea­soned trav­el and adven­ture pho­tog­ra­phy teams, bring­ing more than 30 years of expe­ri­ence pho­tograph­ing and adven­tur­ing in this area.

Season: June – October Custom, call or email to discuss your trip

Every­one from begin­ners to experts can book a cus­tom, mul­ti-day pho­tog­ra­phy trip in Alas­ka. As a long­time Alaskan, Michael knows the best spots to go. And he can care­ful­ly craft cus­tom trips to take you to the most mag­i­cal areas. His spe­cial­ty is land­scape, wildlife and adven­ture-trav­el based trips around South­cen­tral Alas­ka — places like Chugach and Denali State parks, and the region’s acces­si­ble glaciers.

Season: Year Round $950 | Up to 7 people 4-8 hrs

See Alaska’s unique and authen­tic side by hir­ing a guide for a day and cre­at­ing a cus­tom, pri­vate adven­ture for your­self and up to 7 oth­ers. Tours depart from Anchor­age or Gird­wood. Excur­sions include Matanus­ka glac­i­er hikes, ATV tours, gold pan­ning, north­ern lights view­ing, snow­mo­bil­ing, and more.

Season: June - August | Operating Daily $59 - $119 per person

What’s an afford­able, com­fort­able, and reli­able way to get around the Kenai Penin­su­la? Just hop aboard one of Alas­ka Bus Company’s 27-pas­sen­ger shut­tle bus­es! This sum­mer­time-only ser­vice runs 7 days a week. The 5‑hour route runs in both direc­tions between the Anchor­age air­port and the charm­ing town of Homer, stop­ping in Gird­wood, Coop­er Land­ing, and Soldotna.

Season: June 1 - August 31 $162 per person 3 hrs

Vis­it and snug­gle real Idi­tar­od sled dogs with their mush­er on this unique sum­mer­time tour. After tour­ing their ken­nel, you’ll har­ness up and explore trails along Gird­wood’s moun­tains which offer spec­tac­u­lar views while your guide offers fas­ci­nat­ing gold min­ing his­to­ry in the area.

Season: May 22 to Sep 01 $930 per person 6-7 hrs

With Alas­ka Air Ser­vice you’ll fly from Anchor­age to Lake Clark Nation­al Park, where they’re a licensed park con­ces­sion­aire. On the 6- to 7‑hour expe­di­tion with an inti­mate group (there’s a 4‑to‑1 guest-to-guide ratio), you’ll start with a land­ing inside the park on a beach or in the grass­lands to watch bears. Then you’ll trav­el, unrushed, to oth­er spots in the park. Few oper­a­tors include mul­ti­ple loca­tions, but show­ing you as much of the park’s  ...more

Season: May 01 to Sep 10 $295+ per person 30 min - 3.5 hrs

You’ll take off from Anchor­age, and Alas­ka will open up for you as you appre­ci­ate its vast­ness from the air. Where will you go? That’s up to you! Choose from a vari­ety of tours. Take one of the clas­sics, like flight­see­ing to Denali, or opt to explore one of the state’s hid­den gems. You can also fly to see glac­i­ers, go bear view­ing in Lake Clark Nation­al Park, or work with the pros at Alas­ka Air Ser­vice to cre­ate your own cus­tom itinerary.

Season: April to Mid-October Summer $289+ per night | Spring & Fall $199+ per night 3+ days

Com­plete with rooftop tents that set up in min­utes, camp stove, and refrig­er­a­tor, Over­lan­ders are per­fect for explor­ing Alas­ka. Explore the Denali High­way, McCarthy Road, or Dal­ton High­way just as eas­i­ly as you can zip into towns like Homer, Tal­keet­na, or Fairbanks.

Season: Year Round $299 per person 9 hrs

Walk­ing out across the ice of Alaska’s largest road-acces­si­ble glac­i­er is an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence that you can take advan­tage of year-round — and it’s just a two-hour dri­ve from Anchorage.

Season: Year Round $69+ 1-3.5 hrs

Sum­mer or win­ter, vis­it a fam­i­ly-run cham­pi­on ken­nel, meet friend­ly dogs and an expe­ri­enced mush­er for a ride along pri­vate trails with views of Denali. Opt to ride in the sled or mush your own. Or, for a tru­ly authen­tic adven­ture, go on a train­ing run for the Idi­tar­od! Large groups and spe­cial events wel­come when orga­nized in advance.

Season: Sep. 15 - 22 
$8,795+
8 Day / 7 Nights
Visits: Anchorage, Talkeetna, Palmer
Land Package Type: Photography Tours

This fall pho­tog­ra­phy trip offers some of the best pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties in Alas­ka as the sea­sons change. Head to Lake Clark Nation­al Park for griz­zly bears, turquoise-col­ored lakes, snow­capped moun­tains and the bright gold col­ors of fall. You’ll also spend a half day pho­tograph­ing moose, and a heli­copter flight to an ice­berg-filled glacial lake only acces­si­ble by air. Fall can also be a won­der­ful time to pho­to­graph the auro­ra bore­alis, weather  ...more

Season: Year Round May - Sep $290 / night | Oct - Apr $215 / night 3+ nights

Adven­ture in a lux­u­ri­ous camper van on your own terms. No time­line. No agen­das. Pure free­dom. These camper vans were designed specif­i­cal­ly for Alaska’s wilder­ness by incor­po­rat­ing addi­tion­al insu­la­tion, gear stor­age, cab­in heat­ing, and all of the essen­tials for your adven­ture, in an easy-to-dri­ve Camper Van. Set off on your own, or work with Riv­er Wild to build a cus­tom itin­er­ary – includ­ing the high­lights as well as  ...more

Season: Mid-November to mid-April $275+ 3.5+ hrs

Hop aboard an eco-friend­ly snow­mo­bile in Gird­wood and ride on groomed trails beneath mas­sive, 7,000-foot glaciat­ed peaks or vis­it the daz­zling blue ice of Spencer Glac­i­er. Or, head north of Anchor­age for a trail ride through mid-alpine black spruce forests. No expe­ri­ence nec­es­sary, all gear pro­vid­ed, and warm bev­er­ages and snacks included. 

All-nat­ur­al Angus beef burg­ers and hand-cut made to order fries are the high­lights of this nation­al chain with two Anchor­age loca­tions. There are options for veg­ans too! And don’t for­get the frozen cus­tard for dessert.

Need a car for your next Alaskan adven­ture? Find the wheels you need, plus great ser­vice and afford­able prices, at Thrifty, which has two con­ve­nient loca­tions: one at the Anchor­age air­port and a sec­ond just south of down­town on Spe­nard Road.

The City of Anchor­age may be largest urban area with­in a thou­sand miles, but it still sup­ports a full menagerie of its orig­i­nal Alas­ka wildlife. Look for moose, eagles, migra­to­ry birds, and more.

What­ev­er your cloth­ing and gear needs are, you can find top-qual­i­ty prod­ucts — along with advice from Alaskan experts — in this long-run­ning fam­i­ly-owned store with loca­tions in Anchor­age, Fair­banks, and Kodiak.

Season: May 27 to Aug 30
From $3,102*
10 Days / 9 Nights
Visits: Anchorage, Homer, Seward & Kenai Fjords, Talkeetna, Denali National Park
Land Package Type: Self-Guided Land Tours

Expe­ri­ence diverse water­ways on three unique guid­ed kayak tours. Des­ti­na­tions include Homer, Seward, Tal­keet­na, and Denali Nation­al Park.

Season: June 25 - July 5
From $9500*
5 days / 4 nights
Ports of Call: Anchorage, Whittier, Prince William Sound, Lake Clark National Park & Preserve
Cruise Ship Type: Small Ship Cruises
Ship Name: Discovery

Explore a wildlife rich slice of Alas­ka, set in the scenic wilder­ness set­tings of Lake Clark Nation­al Park, and the Chugach Nation­al For­est Wilder­ness of Prince William Sound.

Season: May–October $225+ Half & Full-Day

Expe­ri­ence Alas­ka ATV and Side by Side tours at his­toric Hatch­er Pass. These half-day and full-day tours take place high in the Tal­keet­na moun­tains where you will ven­ture through creeks, twist­ing trails, and climb to amaz­ing views. This tour is suit­able for begin­ners and more advanced rid­ers! Locat­ed just an hour from Anchorage.

Season: Year Round Summer: $75+ | Winter: $150+ 2+ hrs

Win­ter or sum­mer, expe­ri­ence the thrill of run­ning Idi­tar­od sled dogs and even have a chance to dri­ve! Meet the sled dogs and hear first-hand just what it’s like to run the Iditarod.

More than 1,000 moose live year around inside green­belts and neigh­bor­hoods through­out the Anchor­age Bowl. It’s not unusu­al for cow moose to bed down twin calves in sub­ur­ban back­yards, or for a bull moose with a full rack of antlers to amble straight across busy a boule­vard, halt­ing traf­fic as it passes.

All five species of Pacif­ic salmon con­verge on Anchor­age streams each sum­mer, some­times in spec­tac­u­lar num­bers. And they’re easy to view — whether you seek feisty chi­nooks as long as human’s arm in spring, or dense con­gre­ga­tions of hump­ies dur­ing the sum­mer peak, or the last, lin­ger­ing cohos after the first frost.

Season: Shack: May–August. Guided Trips: Year-round $100+

Go fish­ing right in Anchor­age – whether you have only have a few hours or a full day. Rent a gear pack­age and fish on your own. Or, hire one of our local guides to take you on a guid­ed tour to land your dream catch. You can also buy bait and fish­ing licenses.

Rea­son­ably priced gifts for friends, fam­i­ly and office mates, or a just a deli­cious snack for the plane ride home. Almost three quar­ters of the shop con­sists of foods and acces­sories that were made, caught or picked in Alas­ka — from smoked salmon, rein­deer sausage and jerky to jams, syrups or Ketchikan-made Ravens Brew Coffee.

Vol­ca­noes not only shaped the face of Alas­ka but also make for spec­tac­u­lar sights. Here are the top vol­ca­noes to look for and pho­to­graph dur­ing your Alas­ka vacation.

Just a 45-minute dri­ve from Anchor­age, Raven’s Perch lies with­in the main lodge at the cozy Alas­ka Glac­i­er Lodge, with big win­dows and an out­door deck look­ing out to a spec­tac­u­lar view. The focus here is on local, sus­tain­able ingre­di­ents and prod­ucts. The staff talks with local farm­ers and plans ahead to see what veg­eta­bles are com­ing into sea­son to cre­ate their menus.

The main rail­road hub, all trains depart from here. Trav­el north to Wasil­la, Tal­keet­na, Denali, and Fair­banks. Or, trav­el south to Gird­wood, Whit­ti­er, Spencer Glac­i­er, and Seward.

Season: July 1 - Sept 30 $1250+ per person 6 - 12 hrs

View­ing brown bears in their nat­ur­al habi­tat is one of the most amaz­ing things you can do in Alas­ka. If it’s high on your list, book a flight-see­ing/ bear view­ing trip with Trail Ridge Air, know­ing that per­son­able pilots will take you to where bears splash and fish, and where vis­i­tors run out of words to describe their amazement.

Dis­cov­er some­thing tru­ly unique to bring home at this one-of-a-kind gallery that car­ries only work by Alaskan artists. Shop for high-qual­i­ty glass, met­al, and wood art; jew­el­ry; mit­tens; hand­bags; scarves; hand­made soap; jour­nals and note­books; pho­tog­ra­phy; water­col­or prints; cards; stick­ers and more. 

Season: Year Round $245+ Full day, half day and multi-day

Head out into the Alaskan wilder­ness on this excit­ing ATV adven­ture, dri­ving through woods and splash­ing through rivers on your way to a gor­geous glacial moraine sur­round­ed by tow­er­ing snow-capped peaks. Trans­porta­tion from Anchor­age included.

For many Alaskans, trav­el by plane is essen­tial for work, get­ting to med­ical appoint­ments in the big city, or con­nect­ing with fam­i­ly in anoth­er part of the state. For vis­i­tors, plane trav­el helps max­i­mize their lim­it­ed time explor­ing the state, show­cas­es spec­tac­u­lar views of the land, and gives an authen­tic peek into Alaskans’ air-cen­tric lifestyle. Ravn Alaska’s net­work offers flights to major Alas­ka cities such as Anchor­age and Fairbanks,  ...more

Season: Sep 23 to May 05 $72+

Win­ter in Alas­ka is a mag­i­cal time, with few­er vis­i­tors and a serene, snow-cov­ered land­scape. If you’re here from mid-Sep­tem­ber to mid-May, you can take it in from the com­fort of the Auro­ra Win­ter Train, which runs between Anchor­age and Fair­banks. It’s an easy and mem­o­rable way to trav­el north and expe­ri­ence the auro­ra bore­alis, or even do a week­end get­away to Talkeetna.

Elevation Gain: 3293 feet

You don’t have to be a moun­taineer to reach the sum­mit of O’Malley Peak — the promi­nent spire ris­ing from the Front Range above Anchor­age — but don’t mis­take it for an easy climb. Some of the 5‑mile-long trail climbs quite steeply; oth­er parts add very loose grav­el to the incline. Still, these con­di­tions don’t make this hike exces­sive­ly dan­ger­ous, just sat­is­fy­ing­ly laborious.

Season: May–September $360 4 - 4.5 hours

Faster than a kayak and more inti­mate than a day cruise, the Jet Ski is a great way to get up close and per­son­al with Alaska’s gor­geous scenery. Go with Whit­ti­er-based Glac­i­er Jet Ski Adven­tures and you’ll be tak­ing your machine out on the water to explore the stun­ning glac­i­ers and wildlife of Black­stone Bay. All equip­ment is pro­vid­ed and no expe­ri­ence is nec­es­sary on this unique 4.5‑hour journey.

Tequi­la 61, a unique gas­trop­ub in down­town Anchor­age, fus­es authen­tic, hand­made Mex­i­can dish­es and clas­sic Alaskan ingre­di­ents to cre­ate an entire­ly new take on con­tem­po­rary cui­sine. This mod­ern approach extends to the cre­ative, hand­craft­ed cock­tails and the rus­tic, indus­tri­al inte­ri­or, where every table is hand­made. The result is a mem­o­rable din­ing expe­ri­ence you won’t find any­where else.

To snatch a sense of the state’s only real city, take this quick, two-to-three hour dri­ving tour. It works whether you’re a local res­i­dent with a house full of wired (and maybe jet­lagged!) guests — or a vis­i­tor with a rental car and few hours free to explore. Per­fect for that first after­noon after arrival.

A stretch of exposed bedrock south­east of Anchor­age along Tur­na­gain Arm was gouged and pol­ished by mile-thick glac­i­ers dur­ing the last ice age. The grooves appear as smooth chan­nels carved into the rock itself by almost unimag­in­able forces. Some are sub­tle, like rip­ples, and hard to see. Oth­ers are large enough to lie inside on a sun­ny afternoon.

Bring­ing the right gear for a vaca­tion in Alas­ka can seem daunt­ing. This inde­pen­dent store, in the Spe­nard area of Anchor­age, offers both an afford­able way to buy any­thing from rain pants to a moun­tain bike once you get here — as well as an effi­cient way to sell that same gear when it’s time to go home. Essen­tial­ly a con­sign­ment store, Hoard­ing Mar­mot lets folks buy and sell gen­tly used gear — the ulti­mate in good recycling.

Season: Year Round
$975+
Land Package Type: Photography Tours

Don’t just expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of Alas­ka — learn how best to cap­ture it on your cam­era. Trav­el with award-win­ning pho­tog­ra­ph­er Jeff Schultz and you’ll get per­son­al­ized, hands-on instruc­tion as you take in the state’s mag­nif­i­cent sights. Choose from cus­tom tours or small group tours with a max­i­mum of 6 par­tic­i­pants that depart through­out the year and include accom­mo­da­tions, trans­porta­tion, and meals.

Season: Year Round
Inqure for rates
Land Package Type: Photography Tours

Award-win­ning Alas­ka-based pho­tog­ra­ph­er Jeff Schultz can take you to stun­ning Alas­ka loca­tions to cre­ate your dream images of Alaskan land­scapes & wildlife. Whether you want to make pho­tos in clas­sic Alas­ka loca­tions or in places that the aver­age trav­el­er will nev­er see, based on decades of liv­ing, trav­el­ing and pho­tograph­ing all over Alas­ka, Jeff can cre­ate a cus­tom pho­to trip that will meet all your wants and desires.

Season: Mid-April – Late September $360+ per driver 4 hours

Tour­ing the spec­tac­u­lar tide­wa­ter glac­i­ers of Prince William Sound is even more excit­ing when you do it on a Jet Ski. Go with Alas­ka Wild Guides out of Whit­ti­er to expe­ri­ence the area’s unique sights and sounds while skim­ming across the top of the water on your own per­son­al watercraft.

Some­times you just want to be amazed. The over­look at the Glen Alps trail­head of Chugach State Park on the Anchor­age Hill­side offers a grand front-row seat on the forces of geol­o­gy as well as one of the best post­card views any­where. Like — how about a three-vol­cano vista? Or the pro­file of Denali, Forak­er and Hunter in a sin­gle glance? Plate tec­ton­ics at your feet? The sky­line of the biggest city with­in 1,000 miles?

Crys­tal-clear Willi­waw Creek and its bank-side trail sys­tem in Portage Val­ley at the head of Tur­na­gain Arm offers excep­tion­al­ly good con­di­tions for watch­ing spawn­ing in action. Coho, sock­eye and chum salmon con­verge on the creek as it winds through the brushy flats begin­ning in mid-August, with some late-arriv­ing fish still present after first frost in the fall.

Season: Year Round Custom pricing, contact for rates Full Day & Multi-Day

Explore Anchorage’s best kept secrets with a local guide. Tra­verse Alaska’s pri­vate, cus­tom adven­tures are designed to take vis­i­tors off the beat­en path and away from the crowds. Adven­tures can incor­po­rate a full day of hik­ing or a com­bi­na­tion of scenic dri­ving and out­door activ­i­ties. Each trip is cus­tom designed to meet your inter­ests and desired activ­i­ty level.

How would your kids like to scram­ble up a huge dune of cool, clean sand? Nap in a groove carved by a glac­i­er? Watch scores of salmon spawn? Here are fam­i­ly adven­tures with­in an hour’s dri­ve or less from Anchor­age. They offer amaz­ing sights, fun activ­i­ties ¬— and the option to return home in time for dinner.

For a leisure­ly ski along a scenic green­belt that cross­es Mid­town Anchor­age along an eco­log­i­cal­ly rich bot­tom­land, try out the Camp­bell Creek Trail — reach­ing 7.5 miles from the Uni­ver­si­ty Lake area to West Dimond Boule­vard. It’s anoth­er one of the city’s through-the-look­ing-glass” expe­ri­ences where you’ll feel sur­round­ed by a win­try ripar­i­an habi­tat even though you’re often ski­ing a few hun­dred feet from indus­tri­al areas and neigh­bor­hoods. Very  ...more

The Chester Creek mul­ti-use trail sys­tem con­nects city parks and moun­tain venues in east Anchor­age with the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail along the shore of Knik Arm. The main trunk runs with­out break some four miles from Goose Lake Park to Westch­ester Lagoon, light­ed all the way. Using tun­nels and bridges, the fun trail offers an unin­ter­rupt­ed trav­el cor­ri­dor for skiers of all ages and abil­i­ty lev­el across the heart of the city. Call it  ...more

Season: Year Round $35 1.5 hrs

Every now and then in Alas­ka — where the weath­er can change quick­ly — a great indoor activ­i­ty comes in handy. But this unique year-round attrac­tion, where a fam­i­ly or a group of friends solves a mys­tery while locked” indoors, makes a fun diver­sion even when the skies are clear outside.

When you feel weary of cold sea­son weath­er and yearn for a whiff of sum­mer, you can vis­it Anchorage’s own trop­i­cal green­house almost any day. The Mann Leis­er Memo­r­i­al Green­house in near-east Anchor­age inside Russ­ian Jack Springs Park fea­tures birds, fish and a col­lec­tion of exot­ic plants from around the world.

Here are win­ter adven­tures with­in a 90-minute dri­ve or less from Anchor­age. Some are out­doors and take advan­tage of Alaska’s win­ter snow cov­er and frozen ground. Oth­ers offer inti­mate indoor escapes to unex­pect­ed sights. All point toward fun activ­i­ties — and the option to return home in time for dinner.

It’s like a block of wilder­ness nes­tled with­in the heart of the city. This easy 7.5‑kilometer loop cir­cum­nav­i­gates much of the unde­vel­oped reserves of Alas­ka Pacif­ic Uni­ver­si­ty and Uni­ver­si­ty of Alas­ka Anchor­age — con­nect­ing sev­er­al city parks while serv­ing as a major hub for cross-city ski­ing, snow bik­ing and oth­er activ­i­ties. A trek here can trans­port you deep into an Alas­ka win­ter set­ting with­out ever leav­ing the urban zone.

The wood­ed, hilly trails of Hill­side Park loop through the moun­tain foothills between Ser­vice High School and Chugach State Park, offer­ing more than 25 kilo­me­ters of groom­ing. They range from the poten­tial­ly stren­u­ous Spencer Loop with the city’s biggest climb to mild Randy’s Loop close to the sta­di­um by the school. These trails include just about every kind of terrain

For a spec­tac­u­lar ski along Anchorage’s coast with views of ice­bergs, active vol­ca­noes, a salt marsh and the majes­tic white mas­sif of Denali, take a cruise along the 11-mile Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. This mul­ti-use civic gem draws skiers, bik­ers and walk­ers in almost every win­ter con­di­tion. Once the city parks depart­ment starts reg­u­lar groom­ing, it is often the eas­i­est of skis, pop­u­lar with fam­i­lies, with only two sig­nif­i­cant climbs along its  ...more

When snow allows, sev­er­al looped ski trails are groomed near Eagle Riv­er High School and along the slope over­look­ing the riv­er canyon. A fun option con­nects trails near the school to a mul­ti-use sec­tion over the snow­bound roads inside the Eagle Riv­er camp­ground of Chugach State Park. This 6‑kilometer sys­tem is a fun way to explore the riv­er cor­ri­dor, with con­nec­tions to exten­sive mul­ti-use routes

Whether clas­sic tour­ing through deep woods or dri­ving hard on your skate skis down a race route, you will find every kind of ski­ing inside Anchorage’s largest park. Scores of mul­ti-use trails suit­able for ski­ing criss­cross this vast, 4,000-acre tract, reach­ing from low­land for­est into the foothills of the Chugach Moun­tains. The most pop­u­lar groomed route may be the Tour of Anchor­age Trail. But with at least 65 trails cov­er­ing near­ly 100 miles,  ...more

It’s easy to take a grand tour” ski across Anchor­age. Using the city’s 120-mile-plus mul­ti-use trail sys­tem, you can kick-and-glide from the moun­tains to the sea. Start at an urban trail­head noisy with traf­fic and end in a qui­et for­est. Launch from a side­walk below sky­scrap­ers to find a wildlife refuge with a vast ocean view. The city’s exten­sive mul­ti-use trail sys­tem fea­tures dozens of itineraries

If you’re seek­ing some fun ski­ing over groomed, forest­ed trails away from crowds, the Coy­ote Trail sys­tem behind Mir­ror Lake Mid­dle School in Chugiak is worth check­ing out. Used most often by mid­dle school ath­letes and the neigh­bor­ing com­mu­ni­ty, the loop fea­tures 5.6 kilo­me­ters easy enough for begin­ners to enjoy and yet chal­leng­ing enough to enter­tain more advanced skiers.

Pas­toral is the word here. This 300-acre park on Anchorage’s near-east side fea­tures groomed paths over the gen­tle fair­ways of a snow-bound golf course. Loops explore a hand­some for­est with bridges over a mean­der­ing spring-fed creek. Most groomed trails are lit or near lights, and are very pop­u­lar with new and younger skiers. Still, you can find plen­ty of hills, plus a more chal­leng­ing clas­sic-style loop in the north-side forest.

There’s noth­ing quite like camp­ing in the woods with the fam­i­ly when you’re a kid. The crack­ling camp­fire and gooey s’mores. Bik­ing around the camp­ground loop. Run­ning through the for­est and gath­er­ing wood. Catch­ing (and land­ing) that first fish. Here we offer details for nine great pub­lic fam­i­ly camp­grounds with­in a 90-minute dri­ve from Anchorage.

For an epic sled run that drops near­ly 500 feet in less than a mile, vis­it what some locals call The Luge” off Arc­tic Val­ley Road in the foothills of the Chugach Moun­tains just east of town. Depend­ing upon on snow con­di­tions, it takes intre­pid sled­ders three-to-five exhil­a­rat­ing min­utes to descend a nar­row chute-like trail to the bottom.

A pre­mier pad­dling des­ti­na­tion in sum­mer, the eight-mile loop canoe trail through 14 lakes can be skat­ed after freeze-up and before sig­nif­i­cant snow­fall. Peo­ple often cruise the entire route in one long day, or skate out a few lakes and return. Be pre­pared to hike portages up to a half-mile between lakes. 71 miles north of Anchorage.

For an oth­er­world­ly encounter with a famous glac­i­er you can’t eas­i­ly approach or even glimpse dur­ing sum­mer, lead the fam­i­ly across frozen Portage Lake to a fan­tas­tic wall of jum­bled, blue ice. Once the lake sur­face has frozen sol­id, peo­ple flock across on foot, ice skates, skis and bikes. 50 miles from Anchorage.

These frozen chan­nels wind for miles across the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge off the Glenn High­way in the mouth of the Matanus­ka and Knik riv­er val­leys, just 35 miles north of Anchor­age. Either trav­el the streams or explore exten­sive pond net­works on the flats.

For the clas­sic city ice skat­ing expe­ri­ence where hun­dreds of peo­ple might spend the after­noon careen­ing along smooth, wind­ing paths or warm­ing them­selves at burn bar­rels, try out Westch­ester Lagoon at the west end of the Chester Creek green­belt off the L Street / Min­neso­ta Dri­ve corridor.

Freeze-up turns this sev­en-mile long fresh-water fiord in Chugach State Park into a mul­ti-mode trav­el cor­ri­dor for ice skaters, hik­ers, skiers and bik­ers. Adven­ture skat­ing can be good before snow gets too deep, or after mid-win­ter thaws or wind rehabs the surface.

Explore the wild ice of Pot­ter Marsh along the Seward High­way in South Anchor­age. After a hard freeze-up, the marsh morphs from bird-nest­ing habi­tat into an intrigu­ing maze, with miles of twisty routes lead­ing to unex­pect­ed rinks. Very pop­u­lar with families.

Season: June–early September
$2990+
Land Package Type: Guided Backcountry Adventures

The unique trips offered by Infi­nite Adven­tures begin with trans­porta­tion in a con­vert­ed school bus that’s been trans­formed into a spa­cious, com­fort­able char­i­ot for 16 trav­el­ers. Accom­mo­da­tions are most­ly in tents, and itin­er­aries have been designed for camp­ing lovers (and those who would like to try it). Plus, the own­ers run most trips them­selves — a hus­band and wife who are pas­sion­ate about show­ing off Alaska!

$310+ 5-6 hours (day trip) or 4-10 days (multi-day)

Explore Alaska’s back­coun­try astride a speedy and fun snow­ma­chine. Alas­ka Wild Guides will take you out for one thrilling day, or for sev­er­al days of exhil­a­rat­ing adven­ture. Find hid­den ice caves and remote glac­i­ers while nav­i­gat­ing along frozen rivers and through deep powder.

Season: May 01 to Sep 10 $599+ 1.5 - 2.25 hrs

Stun­ning scenery, a thrilling ride and hap­py pup­pies: this tour out of the Anchor­age area offers an unbeat­able com­bi­na­tion of clas­sic Alas­ka expe­ri­ences that will delight fam­i­lies or — real­ly, any­body. Tak­ing a total of about 90 min­utes, and run­ning from mid-May to ear­ly Sep­tem­ber, this tour includes a Flight­see­ing round trip, a small friend­ly group envi­ron­ment, and plen­ty of one-on-one time with the dogs and their mushers.

Season: Year Round $199+ Winter | $315+ Summer

One- and two-bed­room suites (that can sleep up to 7 peo­ple) make this cen­tral­ly locat­ed hotel a great choice for fam­i­lies. Plus, you’ll find made-to-order break­fasts, along with the option of tak­ing them to go, if you have ear­ly morn­ing activ­i­ties. Book a moun­tain view room for a breath­tak­ing view of the sur­round­ing Chugach Mountains. 

Season: Year Round $129+ Day Tours | $35+ Rentals Half and Full Day Tours | Rentals 4hrs+

Anchor­age may be Alaska’s big city, but this bicy­cle tour oper­a­tor offers quick proof that the city has a lot of wilder­ness. Choose your ride based on half-day or full-day options, as well as dif­fi­cul­ty. You’ll go from down­town to Moth­er Nature — with moun­tains, coastal views, and the occa­sion­al moose sight­ing — in no time at all. Bet­ter yet, the tours often include beer tast­ings or lunch.

Season: Year Round Call for Rates

The team at Alas­ka Auto Rental offers rental cars for the most unique itin­er­ary: over grav­el high­ways, through win­ter weath­er, on one-way legs, or start­ing out from unusu­al loca­tions. It’s local­ly-owned, with employ­ees who know Alaska’s roads and their chal­lenges. You’ll get help­ful trav­el advice, a can-do atti­tude, and reli­able wheels.

Season: Year Round $147+

Some of Alaska’s most allur­ing des­ti­na­tions are along its grav­el roads, through tim­ber, tun­dra and quaint towns. Alas­ka 4×4 Rental’s 4‑wheel dri­ve vehi­cles are per­fect for nav­i­gat­ing these rugged roads. Choose a new mod­el Jeep, SUV, pick­up or van for your own cus­tom road trip – and you can dri­ve all the way to the Arc­tic Circle!

Season: Year Round $429+ 1 hr - full day

For out­stand­ing view­ing and incred­i­ble access to remote places, there’s noth­ing like flight­see­ing by heli­copter. Join Alas­ka Heli­copter Tours – a local­ly-owned, high­ly-respect­ed heli­copter tour and char­ter com­pa­ny – for excur­sions that reveal hid­den sites just min­utes from Anchor­age. Spot wildlife from the air, stand on a glac­i­er or land on a remote airstrip.

Season: Winter $169+ 1 - 8 hours

Expe­ri­ence the excite­ment of rac­ing cham­pi­on sled dogs at the Alas­ka Mush­ing School, just 75 min­utes from Anchor­age. Get a professional’s insight into the mush­ing lifestyle as you ride behind a team of ener­getic sled dogs on trails con­nect­ed to the famous Idi­tar­od route. Bun­dle up and ride in com­fort, or brave the cold and dri­ve the team yourself!

Season: Year Round $43+ Daily Gear Rentals

When your Alas­ka trav­el plans include out­door activ­i­ties (and they should!), gear up with afford­able, high-qual­i­ty equip­ment rentals from local experts. Alas­ka Out­door Gear Out­fit­ter & Rentals will pull togeth­er what you need for every­thing from a sum­mer cam­pout to a win­ter snow­shoe or auro­ra view­ing expe­di­tion. So get out there!

Craft beer, local­ly sourced food, and a ter­rif­ic loca­tion in the heart of down­town Anchor­age all add up to a can’t‑miss expe­ri­ence. Dine inside the two-sto­ry restau­rant, or step upstairs to the rooftop deck for mag­nif­i­cent views of the Alas­ka Range and Cook Inlet.

Today, the ACA is the largest per­form­ing arts pre­sen­ter in Alas­ka: it’s the only orga­ni­za­tion that presents Broad­way shows in the state, and it’s the largest res­i­dent com­pa­ny that uses the city’s Alas­ka Cen­ter for the Per­form­ing Arts (known to locals as the PAC), home to both the Atwood Con­cert Hall and the Dis­cov­ery Theatre.

Season: Aug 17 - April 24 $269+ 6 hours

Pho­to­graph alpen­glow on snow capped moun­tains, frosty scenes glow­ing in rich win­ter light, wildlife wan­der­ing snowy paths, city lights reflect­ing on the water at twi­light, and pos­si­bly even the north­ern lights!

Season: May 1 - Sept 30 $900 8 hrs

You don’t need to be an expert or a Hol­ly­wood star to enjoy fly-out fish­ing in the wilds of Alas­ka. Trail Ridge Air offers guid­ed, non-guid­ed and cus­tom trips, get­ting you into creeks and lakes where you can catch not only fish, but also a great Alaskan fish tale of your very own.

Season: Year Round $215+ 1-5 hours

Trail Ridge Air offers an on-demand per­spec­tive of Alaska’s wilder­ness, with per­son­able and knowl­edge­able pilots. Watch for wildlife, check out mas­sive glac­i­ers, alpine lakes, Denali, or even Lake Clark Nation­al Park. Trail Ridge accom­mo­dates for the busiest of sched­ules, with flights rang­ing from one hour to a full day.

Season: Dec 18 - Mid April $109+ Half or Full Day

Alyeska Resort is famous for its down­hill ski­ing and snow­board­ing for a rea­son — it’s tru­ly world-class, fea­tur­ing tons of snow, steep moun­tains, and views that stretch on for­ev­er. But there are a ton of oth­er win­ter activ­i­ties that make Alyeska an epi­cen­ter for win­ter adven­ture. Go cross-coun­try ski­ing or snow­shoe­ing on one of the area trails; or head off into the back­coun­try with a guide for some heli- or cat-ski­ing; try a snow­mo­bile excursion;  ...more

Season: May 15 - Sept 15 $375, Full Day 8 hrs - Full Day

Lazy Otter offers guid­ed kayak tours and trans­porta­tion to seclud­ed areas of Prince William Sound. The calm waters have a gor­geous back­drop of the Chugach Moun­tains’ ser­rat­ed peaks. Keep an eye out for the crea­tures that walk the shores and swim in the sea: orcas, hump­back whales, sea lions, puffins, seals, sea otters, eagles, goats, and bears. 

Season: May 15 - Aug 31 $579 2 hrs

Ratch­et up the adven­ture fac­tor and try your hand at dogsled­ding. Alpine Air Alas­ka flies to a dog camp run by the old­est estab­lished dog-sled tour busi­ness in Alas­ka. With a shut­tle option avail­able from Anchor­age, you’ll trav­el by heli­copter from Girdwood’s green forests up over a small sad­dle to land on a glac­i­er and be intro­duced to the dog team. Dri­ve” the dogs your­self, or sit in the sled and enjoy hang­ing glac­i­ers that sur­round you.  ...more

Season: Jun 01 to Sep 15 $995 per person 8-10 hours

The 7- to 9‑hour tour out of Anchor­age’s Lake Hood is led by a pho­tog­ra­ph­er-pilot whom has pub­lished pho­tos in such mag­a­zines as Air and Space, Stearns and Nation­al Geo­graph­ic. Set up for the best shots, every pas­sen­ger gets a win­dow seat and a two-way head­set for pilot nar­ra­tion — you’ll have a stun­ning ride filled with pho­to ops of rugged moun­tains, glacial pools and ice blue glac­i­ers. Then, you’ll land on a remote water­way to take pho­tos on the  ...more

If the Hotel Cap­tain Cook sits in the heart of Anchorage’s buzzing busi­ness dis­trict — and it does — then this cof­fee bar, right off the lob­by, could be its nerve cen­ter. And while it is unde­ni­ably a con­ve­nient spot to swing by to pick up an espres­so or iced cof­fee, local fans come back because it’s the kind of friend­ly place where the barista remem­bers your name when you order.

Cre­at­ed by the folks behind Anchorage’s award-win­ning Snow City Café, Spe­nard Road­house and Sack’s Café, South Restau­rant + Cof­fee­house was launched to take the best qual­i­ties of those pop­u­lar eater­ies to the South side of town. Locat­ed in a new devel­op­ment near the famed Alas­ka Sand and Grav­el— and off Old Seward High­way — South Restau­rant + Cof­fee House chan­nels a bit of the area’s indus­tri­al past, with a clean, mod­ern space, fea­tur­ing a  ...more

The old­est retail store on 6th Avenue is a tourist favorite offer­ing Every­thing for your Alaskan Adven­ture!” Fish­ing gear or win­ter rentals, plus the Out­let Upstairs for inex­pen­sive items and a great out­door store staff by Alaskans sin­cere­ly inter­est­ed in you hav­ing your best trip! Stop by and see why 6th Avenue Out­fit­ters Co-op remains a down­town icon peo­ple love. 

Season: Year Round $189

Join Alas­ka Pho­to Treks as they go hunt­ing for the best light of the day, which dur­ing sum­mer at this lat­i­tude can last for sev­er­al glo­ri­ous hours before sun­set. You’ll be trans­port­ed to scenic loca­tions around South­cen­tral Alas­ka to shoot a vari­ety of enchant­i­ng sub­jects. The itin­er­ary is flex­i­ble and allows for spon­ta­neous stops to pho­to­graph wildlife en route. 

Fairview was built beyond the city bound­ary and became an estab­lished com­mu­ni­ty after World War II. Yet the area main­tained a fierce inde­pen­dence streak. Those who lived here hoped to avoid bureau­crat­ic over­sight and tax­a­tion, and even had their own pub­lic util­i­ty dis­trict. It was the only neigh­bor­hood that African-Amer­i­cans could buy prop­er­ty in. And when Anchor­age tried to annex the area in the 1950s, locals fought back, in a law­suit that  ...more

This neigh­bor­hood was cre­at­ed in the late 1930’s and ear­ly 1940’s in response to the wartime build-up and ongo­ing need for hous­ing. To encour­age farm­ing, many lots were larg­er here than in Down­town or Gov­ern­ment Hill.

Downtown’s con­ve­nient grid pat­tern was set up at the same time that con­struc­tion start­ed on the Gov­ern­ment Hill neigh­bor­hood. And in 1915, downtown’s plots of land were auc­tioned off to the high­est bid­ders. Many of the build­ings from that era not only still stand, but are still named after some of the city’s found­ing fathers, remind­ing us of the sac­ri­fices they made to give a future to their bud­ding city.

Today, this unique, geo­graph­i­cal­ly iso­lat­ed area is acces­si­ble only by bridge. But it’s worth the effort: you can stand on the very spot where Anchorage’s first neigh­bor­hood began, at the cor­ner of Delaney and West Har­vard streets. From here you can see the Brown’s Point Cot­tages to the west, now list­ed on the Nation­al Reg­is­ter of His­toric Places. And walk north along West Har­vard Street to see what remains of the old cottages.

What ele­ments make a great city? When Anchorage’s fore­fa­thers land­ed at Ship Creek in 1915, those ele­ments were peo­ple, edu­ca­tion, jobs, cul­ture, cap­i­tal invest­ments, pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and growth, food pro­duc­tion and sub­sis­tence, wildlife and nat­ur­al beau­ty. So these pio­neers set out to make them all a real­i­ty. Four dis­tinct neigh­bor­hoods arose to meet the call for hous­ing and land man­age­ment offices, as well as school, library, and muse­um facilities.  ...more

Season: Year Round $169+ 4 - 11 hrs

If you’re a beer snob — or just like soak­ing up the per­son­al­i­ty of a city through its brew­pubs — this cre­ative tour com­pa­ny offers a few dif­fer­ent tours, each of which pro­vide an inter­est­ing look at life in Alas­ka, as well as through a taste of the state’s legit craft beer indus­try. The Anchor­age Brews Tour, is a short, 3.5 hour local brew­ery tour. Hops on the Rail tour com­bines brew­eries between Anchor­age and Tal­keet­na with a ride on The Alaska  ...more

A giant sand dune ris­es into the trees of Kin­caid Park near the south­west cor­ner of the Anchor­age Bowl. Its brown face of gor­geous speck­led grains looms more than 40 feet above the sur­round­ing for­est floor, pre­sent­ing a pyra­mid-steep slope that just begs to be climbed. This nat­ur­al fea­ture is a blast for the whole fam­i­ly, per­fect for any­body who has ever delight­ed in a romp at the beach.

The Camp­bell Creek Gorge over­look is one of Anchorage’s best kept secrets. It’s just a 25-minute uphill hike — even short­er on bike— from both the Hill­side Ski Chalet park­ing area and North Bivouc Trail­head, or a slight­ly longer 1‑hour hike from Camp­bell Airstrip. From the tree-cov­ered over­look, you can gaze hun­dreds of feet down a sheer cliff to Camp­bell Creek as it crash­es through a nar­row, brush-infest­ed canyon.

Season: Jun 01 to Sep 04 $6595 to $6795 (+ internal air) 6 Days / 5 Nights

In the best way pos­si­ble. you’re out­num­bered by bears dur­ing your stay at this pri­vate fly-in wilder­ness camp. Fly by char­tered plane from Homer to Alas­ka Bear Camp on a 5‑night, 6‑day all-inclu­sive pack­age. This deluxe back­coun­try camp accom­mo­dates just 14 guests in some of the best bear habi­tat in the world. In con­trast to day trips cater­ing to dozens of vis­i­tors at a time, Bear Camp offers a rare and exclu­sive wilder­ness immersion.

Humpy’s at the air­port has a selec­tion of 20 beers on tap with most brewed in Fair­banks, Anchor­age, Juneau and the Kenai. In addi­tion to the beers, they serve good pub food: nachos, hum­mus plates, burg­ers, soups and sal­ads. And of course, they have Alas­ka seafood: hal­ibut, salmon and fish tacos.

The store works with local artists and sells authen­tic Alaskan art, but you can take a small­er taste of Alas­ka with you. As a nice alter­na­tive to the usu­al air­port can­dy, pick up a made-in-Alas­ka choco­late bar for your on-the-go snack.

Named after the insect that, some joke, could be Alaska’s state bird, the book­store also makes a great stop for trav­el­ers who’ve just land­ed in Alas­ka. You can pick up guide­books, region­al maps, hik­ing trail maps, or even a nice jour­nal to log your trav­els or wildlife sightings.

Whether it’s shirts, paja­mas, slip­pers or stuffed ani­mals (bear fans, mean­while, while find a few PJs and trin­kets as well). You can also choose among gifts such as quirky mag­nets, notepads and water bot­tles that make great portable gifts.

$120 - $395 3 - 12 hrs

Rid­ing the train in Alas­ka is a relax­ing and fun way to take in amaz­ing sights around every bend, and many trav­el­ers choose a dome car for the best view­ing expe­ri­ence. When you’re head­ed north of Anchor­age, hop on a Wilder­ness Express pri­vate dome car for deluxe view­ing at great value.

Season: June 1 - Sep 15 $849 per person

Expe­ri­ence the wilder­ness of the Chugach Nation­al For­est from sev­er­al dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives. Com­bine a heli­copter ride, alpine hike, glacial lake tour, and train ride all in 9 – 10 hours! It’s one big and bold Alas­ka tour de force with Chugach Adventures.

Season: June 1 - Sept 15 $399+

Enjoy a mag­i­cal morn­ing or evening kayak­ing the calm waters of Spencer Lake, in the awe-inspir­ing pres­ence of a jagged ter­mi­nus glac­i­er. Your time on the water is sand­wiched between two train rides that offer up some of Alaska’s most scenic rail miles. It’s a full day of unfor­get­table expe­ri­ences in our country’s sec­ond largest nation­al for­est – the Chugach.

Season: May 25 – September 15 $238+ (Rate Includes Train Ticket)

The orig­i­nal hall­mark trip that got the Alas­ka Rail­road to bring the Glac­i­er Dis­cov­ery to Spencer Glac­i­er in 2002. This is one of the most scenic glac­i­er riv­er trips in Alas­ka and a per­fect float for all ages. Your trip begins with a scenic ride on Alas­ka Railroad’s Glac­i­er Dis­cov­ery train, which runs from Anchor­age, Gird­wood, and oth­er pick-up points along the rail­belt. Enjoy a beau­ti­ful ride down Tur­na­gain Arm and the Plac­er Riv­er Val­ley and  ...more

From $4,450+
5 to 7 Days
Ports of Call: Anchorage, Whittier
Cruise Ship Type: Small Ship Cruises
Ship Name: Discovery

Our Clas­sic Dis­cov­ery Voy­age is the per­fect wilder­ness sam­pler. We take in the most spec­tac­tu­lar sights of Prince William Sound — moun­tains, fjords, glac­i­ers and wildlife — with the num­ber of dai­ly excur­sions (ashore or by kayak) tai­lored to the inter­ests and activ­i­ty lev­el of the group.

Season: Jul 23 to Aug 02
From $9,250
11 days / 10 nights
Ports of Call: Cordova, Anchorage, Whittier, Prince William Sound
Cruise Ship Type: Small Ship Cruises
Ship Name: Discovery

A 5 day voy­age fol­lows this stay in the remote fly-or-boat-in fish­ing vil­lage of Cor­do­va. Brown bear view­ing tour, flight­see­ing, float trip down the Cop­per Riv­er, and explo­ration of the largest wet­land along the Pacif­ic Coast of North Amer­i­ca — The Cop­per Riv­er Delta.

$2835 6 Days

Won­der­ing how folks up here deal with Alaska’s long win­ter days? It’s easy when the inky night sky comes alive with an amaz­ing light show like the auro­ra bore­alis. Brav­ing the cold is noth­ing if you get a chance to see the lights danc­ing and wav­ing over­head. Com­bine your auro­ra view­ing trip with a few oth­er high­lights planned out by Salmon Berry Tours, and you’ll expe­ri­ence the best of win­ter in Alaska.

Season: May 1 - Oct 15 $169+ per night

Alas­ka Motorhomes Rentals from Alas­ka Trav­el Adven­tures offers one-way rental options. See­ing Alas­ka by motorhome is dif­fer­ent than see­ing it by train, for exam­ple – so why not expe­ri­ence them both? If the thought of a long, round-trip jour­ney on the Al-Can keeps you from set­ting out on that amaz­ing adven­ture, how about dri­ving one way and fly­ing back? You can con­sid­er all these options when you rent one of the com­fort­able, easy-maneu­ver­ing C  ...more

Season: Year Round Contact for rates based on floor plan 3+ days

When you want to explore Alas­ka on your own timetable, with a guar­an­teed bed and meals any time of day, con­sid­er a trip in a state-of-the-art motorhome rent­ed from Great Alaskan Hol­i­days, Sales & Ser­vice. They offer the largest selec­tion of spark­ly clean and well-main­tained motorhomes in Alas­ka, with great pric­ing and a no-fuss reser­va­tion and rental process. It’s the most con­ve­nient, flex­i­ble, and afford­able mode of inde­pen­dent trav­el in  ...more

Season: June 13 - August 26
From $4,850+
5 days/4 nights or 6 days/5 nights
Ports of Call: Anchorage, Whittier, Cordova
Cruise Ship Type: Small Ship Cruises
Ship Name: Discovery

Per­fect for the adven­tur­ous trav­el­er, the Hike and Kayak voy­age sees all the same sites as on our Clas­sic voy­age, but with more excur­sions. Kayak among ice­bergs, hike through moun­tain mead­ows, and take in the scenery on this unique trip. Activ­i­ties can be cus­tomized to suit the inter­ests and activ­i­ty lev­el of those on board.

Season: June 8 - Aug 5
From $2,995
3 Days
Ports of Call: Anchorage, Whittier
Cruise Ship Type: Small Ship Cruises
Ship Name: Discovery

Explore the nat­ur­al won­ders of north­west­ern Prince William Sound Alas­ka in this 3‑day ver­sion of our Clas­sic Dis­cov­ery Voy­age. This is the per­fect cruise for those who don’t have time to do the whole Inside Pas­sage or wish to com­bine their Alas­ka cruise with more shore-based activities. 

Portage Val­ley south­east of Anchor­age at the head of Tur­na­gain Arm offers so many poten­tial adven­tures that you might have to tow a trail­er loaded with gear to sam­ple them all. What will you find here? Bik­ing, hik­ing, pic­nick­ing, fish­ing, pad­dling, wildlife view­ing, poten­tial ice­berg sight­ings — plus a nat­ur­al his­to­ry vis­i­tor cen­ter packed with inter­ac­tive dis­plays about the ecosys­tem of the val­ley and Prince William Sound. It’s like an outdoor  ...more

The Seward High­way hugs the dra­mat­ic shore­lines of Tur­na­gain Arm. One of the most beau­ti­ful stretch­es of high­way in America

Season: November - March $329+ 8 - 9 hrs

Every­body loves sled dogs, and Salmon Berry Tours offers you the chance to get behind the sled year-round. In sum­mer and win­ter, you’ll head to the ken­nel of Idi­tar­od Cham­pi­on Dal­las Seavey, where you’ll see a gear demon­stra­tion, meet the dogs, and ride on the sled behind them. They also have a mul­ti-day adven­ture for Idi­tar­od enthusiasts. 

Quick: what’s the longest com­bined rail and high­way tun­nel in North Amer­i­ca? It’s the Ander­son Memo­r­i­al Tun­nel, and you’ll dri­ve through it on the scenic and his­toric dri­ve to Whit­ti­er. The Kenai Moun­tains-Tur­na­gain Arm Nation­al Her­itage Area is a place whose val­leys and moun­tains, com­mu­ni­ties and peo­ple tell the larg­er sto­ry of a wild place and a rugged fron­tier. This audio guide gives you the inside scoop on its fas­ci­nat­ing his­to­ry. You’ll…  ...more

The City of Anchor­age may be rel­a­tive­ly young, but it has a sto­ried his­to­ry that is rich enough to keep you cap­ti­vat­ed for hours. And who bet­ter to recount some of the high­lights than four for­mer may­ors who were there when they hap­pened? Among oth­er things, you’ll hear about Anchorage’s wilder days, what the 1964 earth­quake was real­ly like, how oil mon­ey helped shape many facets of mod­ern life, and Alaska’s lit­tle-known 911 scare.

Season: June - September $60+ Bike & Gear Rental

Rent a moun­tain bike (and all the body armor you need) for a thrilling, two-wheel ride down Mt. Alyeska. Lessons and tours of the route are offered. Or, go for a hike on one of the many area trails, either with a guide or on your own. You can even strap on some cram­pons and go trekking on a glacier. 

Season: Year Round | Monday, Wednesday, Friday $30+

This is your chance to trav­el like the locals! Many Alaskans ride this bus line that motors between Anchor­age and Tok, and Fair­banks and Tok, mak­ing stops along the way in off-the-beat­en-path des­ti­na­tions. Every Mon­day, Wednes­day, and Fri­day, you can board a van or a 20-pas­sen­ger bus to trav­el Inte­ri­or Alas­ka Bus Lines’ route.

Season: May 01 to Sep 30 $725 8 - 10 hrs

Take a fly-in salmon or trout-fish­ing trip out of Anchor­age with Regal Air to enjoy world-class fish­ing in pris­tine, remote rivers. Regal Air teams up with wilder­ness lodges and guid­ing ser­vices and can set you up with any­thing from lunch to gear. They’ll even teach you how to cast. You’ll get the ulti­mate Alas­ka fly­ing expe­ri­ence, tak­ing off and land­ing in a float plane, and soar­ing over big, braid­ed glac­i­er riv­er val­leys and end­less forests.  ...more

Season: June 2 - Sept 10 $295

This 3‑room inn pro­vides easy access to city excur­sions as well as a great spring­board for any Alaskan adven­ture. The Arts & Crafts-style guest house, with a spa­cious sec­ond-sto­ry liv­ing room, offers panoram­ic views of down­town Anchor­age, near­by moun­tains and Cook Inlet. You can walk to any num­ber of restau­rants, shops and muse­ums, or look for wildlife along the city’s Coastal Trail.

This Anchor­age insti­tu­tion has a great slo­gan: If you don’t know furs, know your fur­ri­er.” The furs them­selves come from Alas­ka and oth­er parts of the world — such as Scan­di­navia and Rus­sia — and come from mink, beaver, lynx, and fox, to name a few. Go upstairs to see how they make every­thing from coats to slip­pers, most­ly by hand. 

Season: May - Sept $795+ all-inclusive packages One day or 3-night

Since 1963, Rust’s has been safe­ly car­ry­ing anglers far away from the crowds. Expe­ri­enced guides lead you to world-class fish­ing for kings, sil­vers, grayling, and trout in some of Alaska’s most beau­ti­ful and remote wilder­ness — and they’ll clean and pack­age your catch for the trip back to Anchor­age. On the way, enjoy a win­dow-seat view and pilot narration.

Season: June 1 - Sept 18 $1350 Day Trips from Anchorage Day trip & multi-day excursions

Brooks Lodge offers their own bear view­ing tours which are less expen­sive than most, and give you more time at Kat­mai Nation­al Park to watch bears feast­ing on sock­eye salmon from sev­er­al view­ing plat­forms. A com­mer­cial flight from Anchor­age takes you to King Salmon where you’ll switch to a small float plane for a quick 20-minute flight to Brooks Camp. After a brief safe­ty ori­en­ta­tion, you can watch bears from sev­er­al view­ing plat­forms, join the  ...more

Season: mid-May to mid-September $49+ 1 hr

Just an hour’s dri­ve from Anchor­age, the MV Ptarmi­gan let you get with­in 300 feet of the tow­er­ing ice wall called Portage Glac­i­er. You can also book a nar­rat­ed motor­coach tour to take you to Portage Glacier. 

Season: Mid-May to Mid-Sept $549+

Take in the scenic views from the domed win­dows in the pri­vate McKin­ley Explor­er rail­cars by Gray Line Alas­ka. Inde­pen­dent trav­el­ers can book a seat, but most opt for a mul­ti-day pack­age includ­ing hotel and trans­fers. Enjoy excel­lent ser­vice from your car man­ag­er, who will point out sights and scenery along the way. Dine in the restau­rant locat­ed just beneath you, and don’t miss a thing as you con­tin­ue to gaze out of large pic­ture windows.  ...more

Season: May 15 - Oct 31 $180+ 3 hrs

There’s great Alaskan back­coun­try ATV rid­ing just a few miles south of Anchor­age. Engage in the sights, sounds, and smells of the north­ern­most tem­per­ate rain­for­est while expe­ri­enc­ing the thrill of the throt­tle through the wind­ing wood­ed trails of the Chugach Moun­tain Range. In the alpine mead­ows of this wilder­ness area, there are fre­quent sight­ings of both brown and black bears, moun­tain goats, and Dall sheep.

Season: Year Round Summer $599+ | Winter $279

This upscale Mar­riott comes with some great views of moun­tains, inlet, and city sky­line. Take it in, or get up close by walk­ing the near­by Tony Knowles Coastal Trail or Delaney Park strip. You’ll also be with­in walk­ing dis­tance of Anchor­age’s restau­rants and shops.

Season: Year Round Summer $549+ | Winter $259+

This lux­u­ry resort, 40 miles from Anchor­age in the town of Gird­wood, is sur­round­ed by sev­en glac­i­ers. The spec­tac­u­lar scenery is pop­u­lar in sum­mer as well as win­ter, when you’ll find a full-on ski resort. It’s a roman­tic option that’s equal­ly great for families.

Season: Year Round Summer $479+ | Winter $215+

Anchor­age’s tallest hotel is the best place to appre­ci­ate the gor­geous views of city and moun­tains – you may even see Denali on a clear day. You’ll also be with­in walk­ing dis­tance of the train depot and coastal trail, as well as the city’s ter­rif­ic shops and restaurants. 

Season: Year Round Summer $465+ | Winter $195+

Anchor­age’s lux­u­ri­ous grande dame hotel is con­sid­ered by some to be the finest hotel in Alas­ka. The 20-sto­ry, 546-room hotel offers amaz­ing views of the Chugach Moun­tains and even Denali. You’ll also find first-class restau­rants and great amenities.

The Glac­i­er Brew­house is a favorite among locals and vis­i­tors alike. Meals are served in a large rus­tic din­ing area, com­plete with a fire­place in the mid­dle, cre­at­ing a warm and invit­ing atmos­phere that’s always abuzz with con­ver­sa­tion. Here you can enjoy fresh seafood and meats while sam­pling a spec­trum of home­made beers. Before or after you meal, be sure to check out the brew­ing equip­ment on dis­play through the glass wall. 

Giv­ing fresh Alaskan dish­es a unique touch, Orso serves din­ner in a warm, invit­ing atmos­phere. Clas­sics like grilled wild Alaskan salmon are served with an olive and toma­to sal­sa, while Bering sea scal­lops come with a wal­nut-gor­gonzo­la risot­to. And you don’t want to miss the desserts.

Season: Apr 15 to Sep 30 $259+ drive | $139+ passenger Half, Full, and Multi-Day

With Alas­ka Back­coun­try Adven­ture Tours, you can expe­ri­ence glac­i­ers inac­ces­si­ble by road. Nev­er fear if you’ve nev­er dri­ven an before; this com­pa­ny teach­es you to maneu­ver your ATV through the Alaskan wilder­ness with your guide at the lead. Your des­ti­na­tion is the mag­nif­i­cent Knik Glac­i­er, where you’ll enjoy lunch and gor­geous scenery.

Season: May 25 - Sept 15 $78 to $163

The train can be used as a mode of trans­porta­tion, how­ev­er it can also be a round-trip sight­see­ing excur­sion. This pri­ma­ry des­ti­na­tion is the town of Whit­ti­er, a major cruise ship and after­noon day cruise hub. Day Trips from Anchor­age: Whit­ti­er, Gird­wood, Spencer Glac­i­er, Grandview

Season: May 10 to Sep 21 $75 to $509

This train trav­els through the forest­ed areas north of Anchor­age into the bore­al for­est, and even­tu­al­ly into the tun­dra regions fur­ther north. On a clear day the train will slow down to allow you to see beau­ti­ful vis­tas of Denali. You may also spot wildlife along the way. Day Trip from Anchor­age: Tal­keet­na Day Trip from Fair­banks: Denali Mul­ti-Day Trip from Anchor­age: Tal­keet­na, Denali Nation­al Park, and / or Fair­banks Mul­ti-Day Trip  ...more

Season: May 10 - Sept 15 $94 to $430

The Coastal Clas­sic train runs between Anchor­age and the town of Seward — a four-hour trip that’s the most beau­ti­ful along the entire Alas­ka Rail­road. You’ll see Tur­na­gain Arm as the train departs Anchor­age, then a panora­ma of moun­tains, glac­i­ers, lakes, and streams. You may even see wildlife like Dall sheep, Bel­u­ga whales, moose, bear, and more! Day Trip from Anchor­age: Seward, Gird­wood Mul­ti-Day Trip from Anchor­age: Overnight Seward, or  ...more

Season: May 4 - October 6 $173.95+ 3.75 - 5.5 hrs

Phillips 26 Glac­i­er Cruise, out of Whit­ti­er, will take you to 26 dif­fer­ent glac­i­ers in just 5.5 hours. Enjoy cozy com­forts on the high-speed cata­ma­ran and wan­der its out­door decks as you come with­in 300 feet of mas­sive tide­wa­ter glac­i­ers. In addi­tion to glac­i­ers, the cap­tain will be on the look­out for wildlife like otters, whales, har­bor seals, and marine birds. The trip takes place in the after­noon, and a hot lunch is includ­ed in your tour.   ...more

One of the most orig­i­nal gifts you can find in Alas­ka is a piece of cloth­ing made from the under­coat of the musk ox, called Qivuit.” What’s so spe­cial about this fab­ric? It’s fin­er than cash­mere, eight times warmer than wool (and not scratchy like wool), and extreme­ly light. Pick up some items made from this rare, lus­trous fiber when you’re down­town at the co-op; you’ll have a rare trea­sure that can be found nowhere else in the world.

Season: Jun 01 to Sep 07 $750 full day fishing, $1430+ all-inclusive multi-day packages 8 hrs - Multi-Days

The North­woods Lodge is a remote lodge where vis­i­tors can find them­selves in a 45 minute flight from Anchor­age. The lodge spe­cial­izes in guid­ed fish­ing, and guests can enjoy 8 to 10 hours of fish­ing a day if they choose. Guides help you spin or fly fish for tro­phy king salmon, sil­ver and sock­eye salmon, or res­i­dent rain­bow trout, arc­tic grayling and north­ern pike

Season: Year Round $175+ 30 min to 3 hrs

Enjoy a bird’s eye view of Alaska’s scenic high­lights on a flight­see­ing tour with Rust’s Fly­ing Ser­vice, where every pas­sen­ger gets a win­dow seat. Tour options include a short 30-minute Anchor­age Flight­see­ing Safari, a flight to Denali, Denali plus a glac­i­er land­ing, and more. Tours begin at Anchorage’s Lake Hood, the world’s busiest sea­plane airport.

Season: May to Mid September $945+ 6 - 10 hrs

Take off by sea­plane for an all-day bear-view­ing expe­di­tion. Fly past glac­i­ers and vol­ca­noes to the brown-bear coun­try of south­west Alas­ka. Your Sea­plane Bear Safari will take you to Brooks Riv­er Falls in Kat­mai Nation­al Park, home of the world ’ s largest salmon run. You can also fly 70 miles south­west of Anchor­age to Lake Clark Wilder­ness Pre­serve for amaz­ing bear view­ing and lux­u­ri­ous accom­mo­da­tions at the Redoubt Bay Lodge. Rust’s, which has  ...more

Season: Year round - water landing approximately May 1st - October 5th $175+ .5 to 3 hrs

Explore Alas­ka from above with this fam­i­ly-owned com­pa­ny that oper­ates out of Anchor­age. Options include fly­ing above Denali, Knik and Colony Glac­i­er, the Chugach Moun­tains, and more!

Season: May 10th – Mid September $1075+ 6.5 to 10 hrs

Hop aboard one of Regal Air’s planes depart­ing from Anchor­age and after a short, scenic flight you can be watch­ing enor­mous brown bears swat salmon from Alaska’s rush­ing waters. Tours vis­it one of two des­ti­na­tions: Lake Clark Nation­al Park or Brooks Falls in Kat­mai Nation­al Park.

Season: Mid-May to Mid-Sept $549+

Step aboard Princess Rail, whose cars have two lev­els with 360-degree dome views, a din­ing area, and large open-air plat­forms at the rear. You may choose to ride as an inde­pen­dent trav­el­er, or with a larg­er pack­age that will include lodg­ing at the Princess prop­er­ties along the way.

Season: Year Round $129+

This hotel fea­tures the ambi­ence of a remote hunt­ing lodge. Plus, you’ll be locat­ed right on Lake Hood, the busiest float­plane base in the world, with plen­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ty to watch the bus­tle of planes.

Season: Mar 05 to Oct 08 $89+ 3.5 hrs - Full Day

Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords are great places to see wildlife and glac­i­ers. And Major Marine’s ves­sels, which have cozy heat­ed cab­ins and an out­door view­ing area, can take you out to see both. This fam­i­ly-owned tour oper­a­tor has gone above and beyond to give guests an amaz­ing day on the water since 1990

Season: Year Round $200+ 3.5 to 8 hrs

Lazy Otter offers clas­sic tours, but this is a water taxi, so they’ll also take you any­where you want to go with­in Price William Sound — or just cus­tomize a tour to what­ev­er you want to see. Maybe that’s glac­i­ers, or whales, — or maybe it’s qui­et time on a seclud­ed beach. Lazy Otter can also help facil­i­tate tak­ing you and your fam­i­ly on a camp­ing trip. You’re not held to any strict sched­ule, either: if, on a day tour, you can spend more time in one  ...more

1 - 2 hrs

Alas­ka Wild Berry Prod­ucts has two con­ve­nient loca­tions. One, inside the 5th Avenue Mall in the heart of down­town Anchor­age. The oth­er is just a brief 10-minute dri­ve from down­town. The shop itself fea­tures great Alaskan gifts like Alaskan jel­ly, salmon, meats, and chocolate. 

Season: May 21 - Sep 20 $48

The Alyeska Resort’s Aer­i­al Tramway is a sev­en-minute ride that lifts you to a view­ing deck with breath­tak­ing panoram­ic views of moun­tains, hang­ing glac­i­ers, streams, spruce, and an array of wildlife. Enjoy a relaxed mid­day pic­nic or beau­ti­ful evening sun­set on Mt. Alyeska’s obser­va­tion deck, more than 2,000 feet above sea lev­el. Tele­scopes inten­si­fy what Conde Nast Trav­el­er Mag­a­zine rat­ed the best view of any U.S. ski resort. Go exploring,  ...more

Season: Year Round $319+ 30 - 90 min

There are few things more spec­tac­u­lar than lift­ing off in a heli­copter and soar­ing over Alaska’s glac­i­er-filled ter­rain or out across its shim­mer­ing waters. Get a taste for heli­copter flight­see­ing on a 30-minute trip or choose a longer tour with a glac­i­er land­ing. Shut­tle avail­able from Anchorage.

Season: Year Round $25

At the 200-acre Alas­ka Wildlife Con­ser­va­tion Cen­ter, see Alaskan wildlife up close. The center’s mis­sion is to pro­vide refuge for orphaned, injured, and ill ani­mals — those that can’t sur­vive in the wild. The cen­ter, which opened to the pub­lic in 1993, edu­cates vis­i­tors about Alaska’s wildlife. Coy­otes peer out from behind the brush while a bald eagle swoops in on the salmon remains left by a griz­zly bear. Wood Bison plod through 65 acres of tidal  ...more

Season: Mar 14 to Sep 29 4 to 8.5 hrs

This vet­er­an tour oper­a­tor runs a a fleet of fast, mod­ern boats in Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park. You’ll vis­it tide­wa­ter glac­i­ers as you watch for puffins, sea otters, Dall’s por­pois­es, sea lions, and more. Some tours are designed to please bird­ers or shut­ter­bugs, while oth­ers are per­fect for families. 

Height: 10 ft.

This hid­den, lit­tle vis­it­ed water­fall feels immense as it fills its small canyon with a roar that can be heard dur­ing the approach. Tucked into a gorge where the South Fork of Eagle Riv­er takes a 25-foot-plus plunge, the falls split into two chan­nels as they cas­cade over a giant bedrock out­crop and are very pho­to­genic. One of the Chugach’s secret places. The sur­round­ing access trails are part of the Eagle Riv­er Green­belt sys­tem, but private…  ...more

Small but pret­ty waterfall.

$15

Even in the end­less day­light of Alaska’s sum­mer, you can check out the auro­ra bore­alis in Auro­rA — Alaska’s Great North­ern Lights.”

For glimpses of the big Chi­nook salmon right inside the city’s indus­tri­al heart, check out the hatch­ery-seed­ed run at Ship Creek between late May into June. Hatch­ery-seed­ed coho salmon begin run­ning through the same waters in late July through August.

Alaska’s most pro­duc­tive king salmon sport­fish­ery is locat­ed right in down­town Anchor­age! Fish for salmon at Ship Creek even if you have only two hours. Dur­ing the sum­mer­time der­bies, spe­cial­ly tagged fish bring in $100-$10,000. Buy your tick­ets ($7 – 35) from the Der­by Cab­in next to Com­fort Inn at Ship Creek and warm up your mus­cles-in 2002, a 41-pounder took grand prize! Want to fish Ship Creek? 6th Avenue Out­fit­ters (9072760233) sells…  ...more

Season: May - September $75 - $180

The only same-day ser­vice between Seward and Denali Nation­al Park! Enjoy the ride aboard a deluxe motor­coach with com­fort­able seats, pic­ture win­dows, in-seat pow­er out­lets, and an onboard restroom. Offer­ing reg­u­lar sched­uled sum­mer ser­vice con­nect­ing Seward, Whit­ti­er, Anchor­age, Tal­keet­na, and Denali, plus spe­cial cruise con­nec­tions on ship days.

Season: Year Round $199+

Dis­cov­er cozy cab­ins, great food, and big Alaskan adven­tures at this inti­mate lodge that sits on the edge of the wilder­ness yet is super-acces­si­ble from Anchor­age. It lies tucked in at the back of the Knik Riv­er Val­ley and at the end of Knik Riv­er Road, where Alaska’s real wilder­ness opens up, with moun­tain and riv­er views — but with­out a flight or long dri­ve. It’s the per­fect place to escape for a few days, with lots of activ­i­ties avail­able from  ...more

Adorned with rich woods and pol­ished brass, the Fan­cy Moose Lounge offers a col­or­ful envi­ron­ment where you can mix good times and bev­er­ages with a spec­tac­u­lar view of the lake. Casu­al din­ing fea­tures fresh seafood, burg­ers, sand­wich­es, sal­ads, soups and fin­ger foods, and an assort­ment of spe­cial­ty drinks. Sum­mer draws locals and vis­i­tors to the out­door patio with the promise of bril­liant Alaskan sun­sets. Oper­at­ing Hours 11:00 AM — 12:00 AM  ...more

Season: May - September $785+ fly-in fishing day trip, $1,479+ overnight all-inclusive 1 - 6+ Nights

Explor­ing Alaska’s back­coun­try lakes, forests and rivers is a phe­nom­e­nal expe­ri­ence. Wilder­ness Place Lodge — tucked away on a remote riv­er north­west of Anchor­age — offers excel­lent access to near­ly any fresh­wa­ter fish you came to Alas­ka for, along with a unique eco-trav­el expe­ri­ence that comes with a high lev­el of ser­vice, a vari­ety of non-fish­ing activ­i­ties and the mel­low free­dom to cre­ate an Alaskan expe­ri­ence that suits your own taste.

Difficulty: Easy

This trail has its own sit­ting area and view­ing deck with views of Anchor­age, the Alas­ka Range, and Cook Inlet. It is real­ly good for see­ing sun­sets in the evening but it is also windy. The whole route is wheel­chair acces­si­ble. This is a good short hike for the fam­i­ly to see the view over Anchor­age, but not a good trail for the train­ing runner.

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 4 miles

If you want a great work­out — to stun­ning moun­tain views high above the val­ley floor below — but want to save your knees on the way down, this trail is for you. It leaves from the Alyeska Resort tram build­ing and climbs steep switch­backs 2.2 miles and 2000 feet to the mid-moun­tain restau­rant where you can catch a free aer­i­al tram ride back down to the hotel.

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 1 mile Elevation Gain: 100 feet

Who can say no to a cool water­fall only a half-hour’s dri­ve from town? One of the most pop­u­lar first hikes” for fam­i­lies with small chil­dren, the one-mile trail to Thun­der­bird Falls tra­vers­es a hand­some birch for­est along the Eklut­na Riv­er canyon to reach a deck with views of a 200-foot water­fall. Dur­ing win­ter, the falls can freeze, form­ing fab­u­lous columns of blue ice.

From local plays to Shake­speare­an the­atre, sym­phonies to jazz, spelling bees to whale tales, the Alas­ka Cen­ter for the Per­form­ing Arts hosts pro­duc­tions year-round in their mul­ti­ple venues.

A short dri­ve from down­town Anchor­age will land you in the mid­dle of Kin­caid Park, the jump-off point for this mod­er­ate two-mile out and back hike to Anchorage’s only big, sandy beach. If not for the cool Alas­ka temps, it’d be easy to think you were in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. The sand is fine and very lit­tle mars its sur­face oth­er than the occa­sion­al piece of drift­wood. Flanked on one side by tall bluffs and on the oth­er by gor­geous views of…  ...more

Distance: 5 miles Elevation Gain: 4301 feet

You’ll have a hard time los­ing your way on this 2.5‑mile climb of 4,301-foot-high McHugh Peak. You’ll also have a hard time for­get­ting the view from the sum­mit, which extends up the length of Tur­na­gain Arm and across Knik Arm to the Alas­ka Range. It’s even more sat­is­fy­ing know­ing that you found your way to the sum­mit with only min­i­mal help from the trail.

This restau­rant on the main floor of down­town Anchor­age’s Hotel Cap­tain Cook offers gourmet piz­za, fresh pas­ta dish­es and seafood spe­cial­ties in an Eng­lish pub-style set­ting. Named for Fletch­er Chris­t­ian, the man behind the his­toric mutiny on the Boun­ty, the pub also offers local, micro-brewed beers, wines by the glass or cognac. Hours Dai­ly: 11:30am-1am Prices Prices range from $10 to $38.  ...more

Who can’t be tempt­ed by a place that offers a Bacon of the Month? This Anchor­age restau­rant in the heart of the Spe­nard neigh­bor­hood serves con­tem­po­rary com­fort food in a casu­al, eclec­tic set­ting. Year-round, its menu shows a local and some­times whim­si­cal flair: Bacon Jam Burg­er, Rein­deer and Chevre Piz­za, and S’mores for dessert. Veg­e­tar­i­an options abound, as well. The full bar has its own unique flour­ish­es: it fea­tures small batch and single  ...more

Locat­ed atop Tow­er 3 of down­town Anchor­age’s Hotel Cap­tain Cook, this AAA-four-dia­mond fine din­ing restau­rant — the only one in Anchor­age — offers a blend of French and New Amer­i­can cuisines, a 10,000-bottle wine cel­lar and stun­ning views of Down­town, Chugach Moun­tains, and Cook Inlet. Dish­es reflect local resources, such as veni­son loin and Bering Sea king crab legs. Hours Mon­day through Sat­ur­day — 5pm-9pm. Prices Entrees range from $29…  ...more

Noth­ing beats a good break­fast to kick off a day of adven­ture in Alas­ka, and accord­ing to locals, noth­ing beats this pop­u­lar down­town café for egg scram­bles, omelets, sal­ads and more. Snow City Café been vot­ed Best Break­fast” by Anchor­age Press read­ers for years, thanks to their from-scratch bak­ery items and cre­ative com­bos, such as eggs bene­dict with sock­eye salmon cakes, or hot oat­meal topped with home­made gra­nola and blue­ber­ries. At lunch,  ...more

Since 1935, the Fur Rondy has been cel­e­brat­ing the joys of an Alaskan win­ter. And because of the time of year, this is hard­ly your typ­i­cal fes­ti­val! So bun­dle up and check out the out­house races, native arts mar­ket, snow­shoe soft­ball, a snow sculp­ture con­test, the Open World Cham­pi­onship Sled Dog Race, and the unique­ly Alaskan run­ning of the reindeer.”

This clas­sic steak­house in down­town Anchor­age has a lot of sto­ries to tell: While the restau­rant start­ed in the 1950s, its home build­ing dates back to the 1920s. Cut and aged on the premis­es, the steaks — some four inch­es thick — have been vot­ed the best in Anchor­age for 12 years run­ning. No sur­prise, though, there is surf as well as turf: the menu fea­tures hal­ibut, scal­lops, prawns and the much-sought-after red king crab.

Gin­ger is locat­ed in his­toric down­town Anchor­age, Alas­ka. Open since March of 2007, we spe­cial­ize in Pacif­ic Rim cui­sine and clas­sic Asian spe­cial­ties. Our meals are hand-craft­ed from fresh ingre­di­ents by a devot­ed crew of local restau­rant veterans.

Focus of Alaska’s pre­mier ski resort.

A night at the Sev­en Glac­i­ers restau­rant, perched 2,300 feet above sea lev­el on Mount Alyeska, is a din­ing jour­ney that begins with a tram ride high above the tree­tops, fol­lowed by an ele­va­tor lift, then a stroll along a gold­en car­pet, past a glim­mer­ing, glass-and-steel, wine-tow­er wall and into a din­ing room radi­at­ing the col­ors of alpen­glow and glacial ice. Sev­en Glac­i­ers is one of only three AAA Four Dia­mond restau­rants in Alas­ka. You can  ...more

Difficulty: Moderate

Kin­caid Park offers the eas­i­est way to get deep in the woods right in town. It’s a mec­ca for out­door sports of all kinds in a wilder­ness-like set­ting on the site of a for­mer Cold War mis­sile base. This 1,500-acre park sprawls over an ancient and rugged moraine at the south­west tip of the Anchor­age Bowl at the west end of Rasp­ber­ry Road. From its panoram­ic views of Denali and the vast Cook Inlet to its inti­mate deep woods enclaves, the park is  ...more

At this hip, invit­ing wine bistro, you can choose from 40 wines by the glass with your lunch or din­ner. Sit and enjoy a glass, or share a bot­tle among friends. 

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 1 mile Elevation Gain: 1350 feet

Flat­top is Alaska’s most vis­it­ed peak. Ascend the 1.5 — mile, 1,350 ver­ti­cal foot trail to the rocky, foot­ball field-sized sum­mit in about an hour and take in panoram­ic views from Denali (Mt. McKin­ley) to the Aleut­ian Islands. If you want vis­tas with­out the hike, walk the short path from the park­ing lot to the overlook.

The world’s most famous sled dog race begins in down­town Anchor­age on the first Sat­ur­day in March, in a spec­ta­tor-friend­ly cer­e­mo­ny. The first mile and a half of this leg is on city streets lined with thou­sands of spec­ta­tors. The next six miles run east and south through the city green­belts and parks on the exten­sive sys­tem of bike and ski paths.

Anchor­age Run­Fest is a col­lec­tion of run­ning events that cel­e­brate run­ners of all abil­i­ties from the elite run­ners to the back of the pack­ers. This late sea­son Boston Marathon qual­i­fi­er boasts ide­al run­ning weath­er, mild tem­per­a­tures and a fast course with very lit­tle ele­va­tion gain. The out and back route takes run­ners through down­town Anchor­age before head­ing out along the scenic coast­line and through the city’s wood­ed green­belt. In keeping  ...more

Season: Year Round $29 1 - 3 hrs

This Anchor­age Cul­tur­al Cen­ter offers an in-depth look at Alaskan Native life — with a big focus on Alas­ka Natives. Watch danc­ing, lis­ten to sto­ries, meet carvers, and hear from artists. The set­ting is so small and inti­mate that vis­i­tors are some­times even invit­ed to join the dancers on stage.

With an aston­ish­ing maze of groomed trails over all kinds of ter­rain — includ­ing 12 to 15 miles equipped with lights for night ski­ing — Kin­caid Park is the region’s pre­mier des­ti­na­tion for cross coun­try ski­ing. The sys­tem ranges from sedate, pas­toral loops suit­able for fam­i­lies on an out­ing to demand­ing expert work­outs with hard climbs and scream­ing descents. This venue has ski­ing for every lev­el of experience.

This mine played a sig­nif­i­cant role in the ear­ly set­tling of the Tur­na­gain Arm. The build­ing here are on the Nation­al Reg­is­ter of his­toric places and the mine is unique because of its asso­ci­a­tion with load min­ing. Indi­an Val­ley Mine was found­ed in 1910 by a vagabond who ran away from home at the age of 12, joined the cir­cus and then final­ly trav­eled to Alas­ka dur­ing the gold rush. The Cowles fam­i­ly will tell you all about the his­to­ry of this…  ...more

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 3 miles

If peo­ple sug­gest climb­ing Flat­top, tell them you’d rather climb Ren­dezvous Peak. Flat­top is arguably Alaska’s most pop­u­lar (and there­fore, most crowd­ed) moun­tain; Ren­dezvous is far less crowd­ed and offers bet­ter views from the sum­mit. See them by hik­ing up 1,500 feet to the 4,050-foot summit.

Difficulty: Easy

Win­ner Creek Trail in Gird­wood (45 min­utes south of Anchor­age) is one of our favorite trails to take vis­it­ing friends and fam­i­ly. It’s an easy 3‑mile hike or bike ride on a wide, well-devel­oped trail with a gen­tle ele­va­tion gain that winds through America’s north­ern­most rain­for­est, cross­es a wood­en bridge over a thun­der­ing blue-water gorge. 2022: Hand tram cur­rent­ly closed, may replace with bridge. Local weigh­ing in.)

This bar was found­ed in 1994 by a few locals who felt that Anchor­age need­ed a real­ly good bar for craft beers. Clear­ly, they were right — both locals and tourists made this place a near-instant institution.

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 9 miles Elevation Gain: 850 feet

Rarely do two lakes lie with­in a few feet of each oth­er. For­tu­nate­ly, the trail to see this geo­log­i­cal rar­i­ty begins just a 30-minute dri­ve north of Anchor­age. From the trail­head for South Fork Eagle Riv­er Trail, it’s a grad­ual 4.8‑mile (one-way) climb up a wide val­ley, lead­ing to a nar­row isth­mus between the green waters of Eagle Lake and the blue waters of Sym­pho­ny Lake.

Difficulty: Moderate

Well used trail by locals as a short (12 hour) aer­o­bic hike with nice views. Take Eagle Riv­er Loop to Sky­line, and fol­low the road as it swich­backs going up and even­tu­al­ly ends with park­ing along­side the road.

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 11 miles

The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is one of four green­belt trails locat­ed in Anchor­age. Even though the trail spans 11.0 miles each way (from Kin­caid Park to just north of where 2nd Avenue ends in the Cook Inlet), it is eas­i­ly picked up from sev­er­al points in the city, so you can enjoy any seg­ment and hike as lit­tle or much of the trail as you desire. In the win­ter, the trail is groomed for cross coun­try skiing.

Authen­tic Alas­ka art shows both incred­i­ble crafts­man­ship — and also a soul. This long­time gallery in down­town Anchor­age has estab­lished a great rep­u­ta­tion for pro­vid­ing a direct link between the Native Alaskan art com­mu­ni­ty and art lovers who want to embrace both the beau­ty and tra­di­tions with­in a piece.

Season: May 1 - Sept 30 $55+

When you stay at the Anchor­age Ship Creek RV Park, you’re just a few blocks from the heart of down­town Anchor­age, but you also get to hang out right where the locals fish. The famed Ship Creek offers plen­ty of action for anglers, bird­ers and spectators.

Difficulty: Moderate Elevation Gain: 1500 feet

This 7‑mile hike, which begins in the moun­tains just above Anchor­age, takes you to the numer­ous Willi­waw Lakes, all of which are clus­tered below the sheer north face of Mount Willi­waw — the high­est peak in the Front Range.

This down­town shop does­n’t just offer ready-made gifts and sou­venirs — though it does have plen­ty of those, includ­ing jew­el­ry, medal­lions and watch­es embla­zoned with Alaskan images such as bears, wolves and even Idi­tar­od cham­pi­ons. One of the most pop­u­lar items here are gold-nugget neck­laces, ren­dered from piece of gold brought in by mod­ern-day prospec­tors. The store’s oth­er claim to fame is being the start­ing point for the Idi­tar­od and Fur…  ...more

This down­town shop and café is a lit­tle glimpse into old Anchor­age — a city that was­n’t com­plete­ly about log­ging, fish­ing and tough guys. Built in 1915, the Kim­ball build­ing, on Town Square Park at the cor­ner of 5th and E, is a stop on the his­toric walk­ing tour and still has antique fix­tures and floor­ing. It’s eclec­tic, quaint-meets-cool” gift and tea shop is an exten­sion of a famed dry goods and sewing notions store that has been in business…  ...more

At first blush, this tra­di­tion­al down­town restau­rant may seem like just a spe­cial occa­sion place: steaks, lob­ster, oys­ters Rock­e­feller and impec­ca­ble ser­vice. But, its also an Anchor­age main­stay for busi­ness pow­er lunch­es, date nights and even upscale prom nights. They also have one of the best Hap­py Hours in town with drink spe­cials and dis­count­ed appetizers.

Talk about one-stop shop­ping: At 14,000 square feet, this Anchor­age store is Alaska’s biggest gift shop. Run by the Green fam­i­ly — a local fam­i­ly that has been active in Anchor­age retail for about as long as Anchor­age has exist­ed — Polar Bear makes legit­i­mate claims for hav­ing the biggest selec­tion and low­est prices of all the gift shops in the state.

Forty min­utes from down­town Anchor­age lies Eagle Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, a gate­way to Chugach State Park and a glacial riv­er val­ley as wild and dra­mat­ic as any in Alas­ka. Enjoy an easy, 3‑mile nature walk on the Albert Loop or trek up-val­ley 5 miles to see plung­ing water­falls and 3,000-foot cliffs. In win­ter, tra­verse the trails on cross-coun­try skis or snowshoes.

For one of the loop­i­est and fun Nordic ski areas in the city, try out the trails behind Bartlett High School along the bound­ary of the mil­i­tary base. Hilly, with lots of curves that spring into quick and sud­den climbs, this five-kilo­me­ter-plus sys­tem through a mature for­est packs a lot of ski­ing into a small footprint.

Season: Nov 15 - April 4 $255+ Half Day, Full Day, Multi-Day

Own­ers Mat­ti and Dan can­not think of a bet­ter way to appre­ci­ate Alas­ka than shar­ing it with oth­ers. Mat­ti was born and raised in Palmer, Alas­ka and has been on snow­ma­chines most of her life. Alas­ka Back­coun­try Adven­tures offers mild to wild” expe­ri­ences and prides itself on pro­vid­ing a cus­tomized expe­ri­ence for all lev­els of abil­i­ty. It offers the widest vari­ety of expe­di­tions on the lat­est and great­est equipment.

Season: Year Round $14 1 - 2 hrs

Walk, hike, watch for birds or paint a pic­ture at this liv­ing field guide of Alas­ka flo­ra and fau­na. The 110 acres are set in a birch and spruce for­est, where you might even see a bear or moose. Walk the Wild­flower Trail, relax in the Herb Gar­den, delight in the peren­ni­al gar­dens, or explore the 1.1 mile Lowen­fels Fam­i­ly Nature Trail.

What was it like for a fam­i­ly liv­ing in Anchor­age in 1915? The Oscar Ander­son House Muse­um, locat­ed in Elder­ber­ry Park at 5th Avenue and M Street, is the per­fect way to find out.

Season: May 4 - Oct 2 $20+ 1-2 hrs

Step aboard Anchor­age’s first trol­ley. Relax and enjoy the ride while your guide shows you the sites and attrac­tions of Anchor­age. You’ll see the Alas­ka Rail­road, Lake Hood (the world’s largest and busiest float-plane base), mys­te­ri­ous Earth­quake Park, Cook Inlet, Anchor­age Muse­um, shop­ping areas, and restau­rants. Your ride is ful­ly nar­rat­ed, and the trol­ley is heat­ed and enclosed.

Thou­sands of pink salmon con­verge on Indi­an Creek each July and August, just about fill­ing this shal­low, easy-flow­ing stream south of Anchor­age along Tur­na­gain Arm from bank-to-bank. This amaz­ing nat­ur­al spec­ta­cle occurs in one of the eas­i­est places to view spawn­ing salmon in the region: No steep banks, crys­tal clear water and fish so close they could almost be touched.

If you want to mar­vel at the sight of thou­sands of fish school­ing in gigan­tic tanks, take the self-guid­ed tour inside the state fish hatch­ery on the banks of Ship Creek east of down­town. The muse­um-qual­i­ty obser­va­tion deck offers inti­mate views of a com­plex oper­a­tion that pro­duces up to six mil­lion sport fish each year.

Season: Year Round $17 1.5 - 2 hrs

The Alas­ka Zoo start­ed in 1966 with one baby ele­phant named Annabelle that was won in a con­test. Since then, it has expand­ed to include over 77 ani­mals across 25 acres of the Anchor­age hillside.

$139+ 2+ hrs

Six Mile Creek is one of the most famous — and most chal­leng­ing — white­wa­ter runs in the entire state of Alas­ka. Your heart will be pound­ing and your mus­cles burn­ing as you pad­dle through rapids called Big Rock Drop,” Suck­hole,” and Let’s Make a Deal.”

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 1 mile Elevation Gain: 100 feet

This short day hike — with an eas­i­ly acces­si­ble trail­head a few hun­dred meters from the Begich Bog­gs Vis­i­tor Cen­ter — offers you big views of the Byron Glacier.

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 2 miles

This trail quick­ly gains ele­va­tion on its way to an alpine mead­ow framed by the dra­mat­ic Twin Peaks and Goat Rock, but climbs to mag­nif­i­cent views over­look­ing the entire val­ley. Dall Sheep are often spot­ted above the tim­ber­line. From here there is a spec­tac­u­lar view of the lake below. This is also a good place for berry pick­ing in the fall. Because of the crushed rocks, the trail is hard­ly ever muddy.

Vari­ety of din­ing choic­es, movie the­aters with reclin­ers, a bowl­ing alley, and an ice rink, it pro­vides enjoy­ment for the whole family.

Long­time Alaskan Heather Robuck makes mod­ern gold prospect­ing easy: Their col­lec­tions of hand­made gold-in-quartz jew­el­ry — a rare com­bi­na­tion — are craft­ed into rings, neck­laces, and bracelets. Also, check out their exten­sive col­lec­tion of nat­ur­al, unal­tered gold nuggets.

For a chal­leng­ing and com­pact cross coun­try ski area where you’ll find just about every kind of ter­rain, you can’t go wrong at Beach Lake Nordic Ski Trails off South Birch­wood Loop in Chugiak. The 15-kilo­me­ter-plus sys­tem ranges from easy glid­ing to a sprawl­ing advanced loop with sud­den head­walls that morph into thrilling, high-speed descents. You can make it as chal­leng­ing or as sedate as you like.

Season: Year Round $59+ 45 min - 9 hrs

This expe­ri­enced, local­ly run com­pa­ny offers a superb guide-to-vis­i­tor ratio, cre­at­ing a real feel­ing of inti­ma­cy, while their expert guides will help deep­en your under­stand­ing of the area. From city overviews to for­ays just out­side town, Salmon Berry Tours offers expe­ri­ences from 2.5 hours up to a full 8‑hour tour.

Season: Year Round $25

There’s no bet­ter place to get a grasp on Alaska’s his­to­ry — real­ly, its many his­to­ries— than by vis­it­ing the Anchor­age Muse­um at Ras­mu­son Cen­ter. The state’s largest muse­um is tru­ly a world-class expe­ri­ence, offer­ing a com­pelling overview of Alaskan his­to­ry, art, cul­ture, and science.

Spencer Glac­i­er ris­es 3,500 feet in a stun­ning, nat­ur­al ramp from a lake of roy­al-blue ice­bergs in the Chugach Nation­al For­est just 60 miles south of Anchor­age. It’s a fam­i­ly-friend­ly recre­ation des­ti­na­tion fea­tur­ing camp­ing, hik­ing, glac­i­er explo­ration, nature walks, pad­dling and sight­see­ing. Maybe best of all: You have to take a train to get there!

The Ulu Fac­to­ry makes high-qual­i­ty ulus that are prac­ti­cal in the kitchen, as well as cus­tom-made birch wood sal­ad grab­bers. Watch skilled crafts­men car­ry on this tra­di­tion at the Fac­to­ry near Ship Creek.

Here you’ll find one of the most acces­si­ble wildlife view­ing areas in Alas­ka. The marsh is a rest area for migra­to­ry birds includ­ing trum­peter swans, red­necked grebes, gold­en eyes, and pin­tails. Also watch for beavers, moose and bald eagles. You may even spot salmon spawn­ing in the deep­er water.

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