Anchorage Day Tours & Attractions

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. 

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

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. 

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

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Pad­dle­board­ing becomes a tru­ly unique sport in Alas­ka, espe­cial­ly when you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to glide across bright blue pools on a glac­i­er! And that’s exact­ly what you can do when you go glac­i­er pad­dle­board­ing with Alas­ka Heli­copter Tours. Enjoy a 15-minute scenic flight then set off on a serene pad­dle across crys­tal-clear water. No expe­ri­ence necessary!

Embark on an unfor­get­table pad­dling adven­ture in Alas­ka with AK Pad­dle­sports! Nes­tled just out­side Anchor­age, this fam­i­ly-found­ed com­pa­ny offers a vast selec­tion of top-qual­i­ty water­craft, includ­ing pad­dle­boards, kayaks, and canoes, avail­able for rent by the day. Expe­ri­ence the con­ve­nience of equip­ment deliv­ery and pick-up, allow­ing you to spend more time explor­ing Alaska’s scenic lakes.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Embark on an unfor­get­table pad­dling adven­ture in Alas­ka with AK Pad­dle­sports! Nes­tled just out­side Anchor­age, this fam­i­ly-found­ed com­pa­ny offers a vast selec­tion of top-qual­i­ty water­craft, includ­ing pad­dle­boards, kayaks, and canoes, avail­able for rent by the day. Expe­ri­ence the con­ve­nience of equip­ment deliv­ery and pick-up, allow­ing you to spend more time explor­ing Alaska’s scenic lakes.

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.

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.

Love bik­ing? Love art? Then this ebike excur­sion around Anchor­age from Free­wheel Tours is per­fect for you. The 3‑hour, 18-mile trip runs in the morn­ing and after­noon and takes an inti­mate group (there’s a 4‑person max­i­mum) past gor­geous murals, to appre­ci­ate the art and learn the back­sto­ry of each. It’s cul­ture, his­to­ry, and recre­ation wrapped up in one tour — and any­one ages 15 and up who can ride a bike is welcome.

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. 

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.

Set right in Anchor­age, this ski moun­tain trans­forms into a sum­mer­time won­der­land for bik­ers and hik­ers. Take a bicy­cle up the lift to the scenic peak and expe­ri­ence one of the many sin­gle-track trails as you descend across var­ied ter­rain at the base of the Chugach Moun­tains or ride the lift up and walk down. It’s the north­ern­most bike park in North Amer­i­ca and a LOAM pass destination.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Feel the thrill of explor­ing the Alaskan wilder­ness while dri­ving your own snow­mo­bile over the tun­dra, look­ing for wildlife and tak­ing in amaz­ing views. And on a clear day you’ll get an amaz­ing view of Denali.

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. 

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.

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.

Find out what this icon­ic Alaskan sport is all about when you meet the dogs and learn about rac­ing them with Susit­na Sled Dog Adven­tures out of Tal­keet­na. Come in win­ter and you can also hop on a sled to real­ly feel what dog mush­ing is like!

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.

Get an insider’s look at the icon­ic Alaskan sport of dog mush­ing when you vis­it Hap­py Trails Ken­nel in Big Lake, oper­at­ed by four-time Idi­tar­od cham­pi­on (and mem­ber of the Alas­ka Sports Hall of Fame) Mar­tin Buser. You can vis­it year-round; come in win­ter and you can expe­ri­ence the thrill of dog mush­ing your­self on a dog sled ride!

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

There’s climb­ing a moun­tain – and then there’s climb­ing an ICE moun­tain. Regard­less of your climb­ing abil­i­ty or expe­ri­ence, you’ll end the day feel­ing ful­filled and inspired. MICA also offers short, guid­ed hikes and longer treks if you pre­fer a more leisure­ly explore of the glac­i­er and its grandeur.

Feel the thrill of explor­ing the Alaskan wilder­ness while dri­ving your own snow­mo­bile over the tun­dra, look­ing for wildlife and tak­ing in amaz­ing views. And on a clear day you’ll get an amaz­ing view of Denali.

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

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!

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.

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.

Expe­ri­ence the thrill of walk­ing or climb­ing on a glac­i­er. The Matanus­ka is Alaska’s largest road-acces­si­ble glac­i­er, and it’s just 90 min­utes from Anchor­age, so it’s an easy way to get up close and per­son­al with these amaz­ing nat­ur­al won­ders. You don’t need to be expe­ri­enced in either activ­i­ty — just be in good shape and up for adven­ture. You’ll either walk around on the glac­i­er with cram­pons or learn how to use an ice axe and safe­ly work your  ...more

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.

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

The inti­mate, 8‑chalet Blue­Wa­ter Base­Camp immers­es you in the soli­tude of the Alaskan wilder­ness, yet lies just an hour from the Anchor­age air­port. Great for cou­ples and fam­i­lies look­ing for lodg­ing in a wilder­ness set­ting with­out being remote. Enjoy access to kayak­ing, hik­ing, bik­ing and win­ter recre­ation when the sea­sons change. Prop­er­ty is also avail­able for wed­ding, retreat, and fam­i­ly reunion buy-outs.

At Bom­bay Deluxe the vibrant fla­vors of India come to life in the heart of Anchor­age. Savor cur­ries, tan­doori naans & kababs, biryani dish­es, as well as a vari­ety of veg­an and veg­e­tar­i­an options.

Set right in Anchor­age, this ski moun­tain trans­forms into a sum­mer­time won­der­land for bik­ers and hik­ers. Take a bicy­cle up the lift to the scenic peak and expe­ri­ence one of the many sin­gle-track trails as you descend across var­ied ter­rain at the base of the Chugach Moun­tains or ride the lift up and walk down. It’s the north­ern­most bike park in North Amer­i­ca and a LOAM pass destination.

Go ski­ing or snow­board­ing right in Anchor­age at Hill­top Ski Area. New to snows­ports? 80% of the trails designed for begin­ners and 20% for inter­me­di­ate users. There’s also a begin­ner and pro-lev­el ter­rain park. Equip­ment rentals and lessons are available.

This down­town cof­fee shop sources as many prod­ucts as it can from local busi­ness­es. Their cof­fees come from Anchor­age roast­er Kala­di Broth­ers Cof­fee, while their teas come from Sip­ping Streams Tea Com­pa­ny in Fair­banks. Enhance it with a local­ly-made syrup like car­damom and vanil­la or birch syrup. The choose a snack from the Char­cu­terie Bar where you can build your own box. Choose a com­bi­na­tion of meat, cheese, nuts or fruit, hon­ey sticks, and a  ...more

Join Hatch­er Pass ATV Tours in Wil­low for an unfor­get­table Alaskan win­ter adven­ture. Climb into a heat­ed UTV with snow tracks for a 2.5‑hour scenic tour through the Tal­keet­na Moun­tains, offered at sun­rise and sun­set. With options for begin­ners and sea­soned rid­ers, these guid­ed tours promise warmth, safe­ty, and the stun­ning beau­ty of Alaska’s win­ter landscape. 

Love bik­ing? Love art? Then this ebike excur­sion around Anchor­age from Free­wheel Tours is per­fect for you. The 3‑hour, 18-mile trip runs in the morn­ing and after­noon and takes an inti­mate group (there’s a 4‑person max­i­mum) past gor­geous murals, to appre­ci­ate the art and learn the back­sto­ry of each. It’s cul­ture, his­to­ry, and recre­ation wrapped up in one tour — and any­one ages 15 and up who can ride a bike is welcome.

Lift off in a heli­copter for an incred­i­bly scenic 15-minute flight over the Knik Riv­er on your way to the Knik Glac­i­er. Once you’ve land­ed, your guide will help you get equipped with all the gear you need to make your ascent up the glac­i­er wall or down into a glacial moulin, includ­ing rope, har­ness, hel­met, boots, cram­pons, and ice tools. Nev­er ice climbed before? No problem

The sport of pack­raft­ing is a great way to enjoy raft­ing and explore the gor­geous Alaskan wilder­ness. Do it with Alas­ka Heli­copter Tours out of Palmer and you’ll also expe­ri­ence a scenic heli­copter ride and have your choice of half- or full-day trips.

Pad­dle­board­ing becomes a tru­ly unique sport in Alas­ka, espe­cial­ly when you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to glide across bright blue pools on a glac­i­er! And that’s exact­ly what you can do when you go glac­i­er pad­dle­board­ing with Alas­ka Heli­copter Tours. Enjoy a 15-minute scenic flight then set off on a serene pad­dle across crys­tal-clear water. No expe­ri­ence necessary!

Find out what this icon­ic Alaskan sport is all about when you meet the dogs and learn about rac­ing them with Susit­na Sled Dog Adven­tures out of Tal­keet­na. Come in win­ter and you can also hop on a sled to real­ly feel what dog mush­ing is like!

There’s noth­ing quite like the thrill of catch­ing an icon­ic Alaskan fish like salmon or hal­ibut. And when you take an inti­mate half- or full-day trip with the pas­sion­ate anglers at Alas­ka Out­doors Addic­tion out of Anchor­age, you’ll cast your line amid incred­i­ble scenery on an expe­di­tion that’s care­ful­ly catered to your inter­ests. Rent the entire boat or come as a shared guest; either way, it will be a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence that’s per­fect for both  ...more

Get an insider’s look at the icon­ic Alaskan sport of dog mush­ing when you vis­it Hap­py Trails Ken­nel in Big Lake, oper­at­ed by four-time Idi­tar­od cham­pi­on (and mem­ber of the Alas­ka Sports Hall of Fame) Mar­tin Buser. You can vis­it year-round; come in win­ter and you can expe­ri­ence the thrill of dog mush­ing your­self on a dog sled ride!

Dine on deli­cious Japan­ese cui­sine pre­pared in the tra­di­tion­al tep­pa­nya­ki style at Beni­hana Anchor­age. Enjoy the com­pa­ny of friends, fam­i­ly, and cowork­ers around com­mu­nal hibachi grill tables and watch the chefs per­form their daz­zling skills as they slice, dice, and cook up excep­tion­al tep­pa­nya­ki cuisine. 

Just a 1‑hour dri­ve from Anchor­age, Whit­ti­er is the clos­est town to expe­ri­ence the thrill of fish­ing for hal­ibut. Go with the pro­fes­sion­al guides at Crazy Ray’s Adven­tures and you can also angle for salmon and rock­fish on com­fort­able boats, sur­round­ed by the jaw-drop­ping scenery of Prince William Sound. No expe­ri­ence necessary!

Whether you have some time before a flight or want an hour of fun between activ­i­ties, the rooms at Escape! Alas­ka are a great oppor­tu­ni­ty for group bond­ing. Search for the tomb of a great Egypt­ian High Priest or walk into a 1930s movie where your goal is to solve the mur­der of a beloved local philanthropist.

An aug­ment­ed real­i­ty expe­ri­ence in down­town Anchor­age inspired by the famed north­ern lights. This merg­ing of art and tech­nol­o­gy offers vis­i­tors of all ages a tru­ly unique way to feel the essence and mag­ic of the auro­ra bore­alis any time of year! 

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; Tern Lake to Homer; and the Denali Park Entrance area and the Denali Park road.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rent a car from Alaskan Car Rental in Anchor­age for your Alaskan adven­ture. Great val­ue, wide selec­tion, ²⁴⁄₇ 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.

Embark on an unfor­get­table pad­dling adven­ture in Alas­ka with AK Pad­dle­sports! Nes­tled just out­side Anchor­age, this fam­i­ly-found­ed com­pa­ny offers a vast selec­tion of top-qual­i­ty water­craft, includ­ing pad­dle­boards, kayaks, and canoes, avail­able for rent by the day. Expe­ri­ence the con­ve­nience of equip­ment deliv­ery and pick-up, allow­ing you to spend more time explor­ing Alaska’s scenic lakes.

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.

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.

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 49^th state.

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. 

Skeetawk is derived from the Dena’ina word Shk’ituk’t, which means ​“where we slide down” — a per­fect descrip­tion for 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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Feel the thrill of explor­ing the Alaskan wilder­ness while dri­ving your own snow­mo­bile over the tun­dra, look­ing for wildlife and tak­ing in amaz­ing views. And on a clear day you’ll get an amaz­ing view of Denali.

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.

Join this annu­al com­pe­ti­tion host­ed in Down­town Anchor­age at Ship Creek where anglers cast their line for a prize-win­ning King Salmon. It’s one of Anchorage’s most excit­ing events — come and watch, or cast your own line. Vis­i­tors and locals can par­tic­i­pate! Rent all the equip­ment you need and pur­chase a license from The Bait Shack.

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.

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.

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. 

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

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.

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.

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° offers a unique fusion of tra­di­tion­al Mex­i­can fla­vors and clas­sic Alaskan ingre­di­ents, blend­ing them into cre­ative dish­es and hand­craft­ed cock­tails that have helped rede­fine the mod­ern Alaskan din­ing expe­ri­ence. The name reflects this dual her­itage: a Latin fusion gas­tro­bar with an address in Anchor­age (at a lat­i­tude of 61 degrees).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

ACA is one of the largest per­form­ing arts pre­sen­ters in Alas­ka. Pre­sent­ing a wide spec­trum of per­for­mances, 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. ACA also presents the Sum­mer Con­cert Series, secret shows, pop-up con­certs and in-home con­certs at var­i­ous loca­tions around Anchorage.

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!

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.

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.

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

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. 

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

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 6^th 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 6^th Avenue Out­fit­ters Co-op remains a down­town icon peo­ple love. 

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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 ⁹⁄₁₁ scare.

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. 

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.

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

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. 

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.

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

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. 

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