Photo Credit: Bob Kaufman

Anchorage Winter Activities

While the majority of visitors come to Anchorage during the summer months, winter offers many unique experiences; viewing the northern lights, going on an authentic dog sled ride, and hitting the ski slopes. See our recommendations below for the best things to do in Anchorage during the winter.

Need winter clothing? Here's our packing list. Or, rent gear from Alaska Outdoor Gear Outfitter & Rentals!

Northern Lights Tours View All

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: October - April $825 | 1 - 5 people 7+ hrs

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: Nov 01 to Mar 28 $129+ Day Trip, $2495+ Multi-Day 4 hrs - multi-day packages

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.

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Snowmobiling Tours View All

$340+ 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: 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. 

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.

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Snowshoeing & Winter Hikes

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 $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!

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Flightseeing Tours View All

Prince William Sound • Knik Glacier • Denali (Mt McKinley) • Floatplane tours
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.

Season: Year Round $205+ 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: Year Round $399+ 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: May 01 to Sep 10 $195+ 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: Year round - water landing approximately May 1st - October 5th $140+ .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: 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. Suit­able for all ages. Get a taste for heli­copter flight­see­ing on a 30-minute trip into the 20-Mile riv­er val­ley and the heart of glac­i­er country.

Season: Year Round $145+ 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.

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Bicycle Tours & Rentals

Rent or take a guided tour on a Fat Tire bike

Season: Year Round $105+ 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.

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Dog Mushing View All

Learn to mush, or enjoy the ride

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. 

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.

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 $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.

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Photography Tours

Photograph alpenglow on snow capped mountains, frosty scenes & possibly the northern lights!

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!

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Indoor Adventures

Escape rooms, museums & more

Season: May 21 - Sep 20 $38

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 $159+ 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

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.

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Attractions & Sightseeing

Small group guided van tours, winter day cruises, wildlife viewing & walking tours

$66+

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.

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.

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 $115+ 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 $200+ 3.5 to 9 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

Season: Year Round $130+ 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: Year Round $20

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: 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.

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Skiing & Snowboarding View All

Head 50-90 minutes north OR south of Anchorage 50-90 to ride the slopes

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: Jul 23 to Aug 02
From $8,750+
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.

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

Season: Year Round Summer $505+ | Winter $379+

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.

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.

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 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

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. 

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. 

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.

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

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

$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

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.

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.

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

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: 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.

How and where to find Alaska’s glac­i­ers — some of the state’s most beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al attractions

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. 

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: May 10th – Mid September $975+ 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.

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.

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 $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.

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.

From $4,850+
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: 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!

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.

Season: Mid-May to Mid-Sept $389+

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

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!

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: 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: Year Round $205+ 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.

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.

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, Glen­nallen, 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.

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: Year Round $130+ 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.

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.

Alaska’s pre­mière shop­ping des­ti­na­tion. Anchored by JCPen­ney, this 5‑level shop­ping cen­ter hous­es options like Apple, Michael Kors, lul­ule­mon, Sepho­ra & 100 oth­ers, along with local shops and bou­tiques like Alas­ka Wild Berry Prod­ucts and Once in a Blue Moose. 

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 

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. 

Season: Year Round $399+ 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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. 

Season: Year Round $39+ 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!

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.

$340+ 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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

Height: 10 ft.

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: 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. Suit­able for all ages. Get a taste for heli­copter flight­see­ing on a 30-minute trip into the 20-Mile riv­er val­ley and the heart of glac­i­er country.

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. 

Season: Year Round $145+ 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.

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

Wiki-Licious offers Hawai­ian donuts known as a malasa­da. Watch the cre­ation of these fried con­fec­tions filled with spe­cial­ty fla­vors that are per­fect to grab on the go for a road trip. 

Season: May 27 – September 17 $235+

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

Season: June 2 - Sept 10 $265

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.

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 $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 $20

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.

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. 

Season: Year Round $179

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. 

Season: Year Round $200+ 3.5 to 9 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

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!

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

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: 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.

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.

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.

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

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. 

Season: May - September $685+ fly-in fishing day trip, $1,386+ 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.

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!

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

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.

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.

Season: October - April $825 | 1 - 5 people 7+ hrs

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.

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. 

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.

Season: Year round - water landing approximately May 1st - October 5th $140+ .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!

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.

Season: Mid May– Early September $30+ Rentals | $80 Tours 2 hour tours | 1+ day rentals

Whether it’s kayak­ing, canoe­ing, or pad­dle­board­ing, you’ll find top-flight equip­ment for rent at AK Pad­dle­sports, along with expert-guid­ed kayak­ing tours and lessons.

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.

Season: May 10 to Sep 21 $73 to $489

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: Year Round Custom pricing, contact for rates Full & Half Day Options

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.

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.

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 - August | Operating Daily $49 - $109 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: Year Round $20

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

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

Season: May 22 to Sep 01 $845 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

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.

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.

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.

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

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. 

Season: June 3 - Sept 17 $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.

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? 

Height: 15 ft.

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. 

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 

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: Jun 01 to Sep 17 $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.

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: June 8 - Aug 12
From $2,950
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. 

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. 

$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.

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

Season: May - Sept $745+ 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.

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.

Season: Year Round $650 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 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

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

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: May 01 to Sep 10 $579+ 1.5 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 $115+ 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: 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.

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.

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.

Season: Year Round Call for rates 1+ nights

Expe­ri­ence the best of remote Alas­ka with a stay at this rus­tic, fly-in lodge locat­ed south of Denali Nation­al Park, with end­less activities. 

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.

Season: May 6 - October 1 $189 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

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.

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 $7 to $24.  ...more

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.

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

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: 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. 

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

Season: May 21 - Sep 20 $38

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

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. 

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!

Eski­mos invent­ed this ancient curved blade which rocks back and forth, fil­let­ing salmon and trout. Old-fash­ioned ones were made of slate or bone, but today’s are stain­less steel with hard­wood handles.

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.

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. 

Season: Year Round $105+ 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: May 13 - Sept 17 $71 to $148

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: Sep 13 to Sep 19
Single: $4,395; Double: $3,795 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.

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.

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.

Season: May 13 - Sept 25 $88 to $393

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: Mid-April to Mid-Sept $125+

See web­site for oth­er Princess prop­er­ties open in 2021. Views abound at this unique down­town hotel, and each of the 200 over­sized rooms has a bal­cony to look out at the Chugach Moun­tains and Inlet. Or just wan­der through the prop­er­ty and appre­ci­ate the Alaskan art and photographs.

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.

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.

The most spec­tac­u­lar and acces­si­ble water­falls around Alas­ka you can see from the road, from a hike, or from a day cruise.

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

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: Nov 01 to Mar 28 $129+ Day Trip, $2495+ Multi-Day 4 hrs - multi-day packages

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–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.

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. 

Season: May 1 - Sept 30 $239+ per night 3+ nights

Take a road trip across Alas­ka with­out the size or cost of a full-size RV. These con­vert­ed camper­vans, rent­ed out of Anchor­age between May and Sep­tem­ber, come with unlim­it­ed mileage, sleep four and offer most of the com­forts of a big RV in a com­pact mod­el — with a pop-up tent on top.

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.

Long­time Alaskans Doug and Heather Robuck make 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.

Season: May 1 - Sept 30 $695 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Season: May 24 to Aug 22 $6395 to $6595 (+ 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.

Thun­der­bird falls is a 200ft wall of water that drops spec­tac­u­lar­ly in front of a wide view­ing plat­form. The access trail is just one mile long and only gains 100ft, so this is a great short hike to do with the family. 

Focus of Alaska’s pre­mier ski resort. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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 $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 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.

Season: Mar 16 to Sep 24 $113+ 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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Season: May 25 - Sept 30 $59+ 2 hrs

See Anchor­age in a whole new way aboard the only par­ty bike in Alas­ka! Ride this unique, open-air vehi­cle, and take in the city by your­self or in a group. It’s elec­tric and per­fect for most age and abil­i­ty lev­els so ped­al or sit back and relax with food and drinks you bring or pick up along the tour.

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

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.

Season: May 13 to Sept 21 $45+ 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. 

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: June–early September
$2890+
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!

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

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. 

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. 

Season: Sep 13 to Sep 19
Single: $4,395; Double: $3,795 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.

Small but pret­ty waterfall. 

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. 

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

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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

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.

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.

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

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.

$66+

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.

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!

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

$15

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

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

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.

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

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.

Season: Dec 18 - Mid April $93+ 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

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.”

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. 

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: July 1 - Sept 30 $1100+ 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.

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

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.

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.)

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.

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. 

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.

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 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: 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: 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 $159+ 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

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.

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.

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

Season: May 01 to Sep 10 $195+ 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.

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: May 15 to Sep 20 $106 - $349 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.

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

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. 

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.

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. 

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

Season: May 15 to Sep 15 $360, 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. 

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: 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

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–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.

This is a pop­u­lar stop as you trav­el the Seward High­way. Here you’ll find 180 degree views of Tur­na­gain Arm with spot­ting scopes and inter­pre­tive signs. Look for bel­u­ga whales rolling in the surf, often seen from mid-July to August fol­low­ing the salmon run. And, try and catch the bore tide, and incom­ing tide that stretch­es the entire width of Tur­na­gain Arm and can be up to six feet high.

Made of Win­ter bleached seal­skin and seal intestine. 

Difficulty: Moderate

Take a hike along Cal­i­for­nia Creek and enjoy the qui­et, wood­ed path. You’ll find the Trail­head on Crow Creek Road near Cal­i­for­nia Creek. 

Difficulty: Easy

If you’re look­ing for a wild oasis that’s just a 15-minute walk from down­town Anchor­age, look no fur­ther than Westch­ester Lagoon (also known as Mar­garet Eagan Sul­li­van Park). One of the city’s most pop­u­lar places, this is where locals come to play, as it has some­thing for every­one. You’ll find access to great trails and wildlife, as well as year-round activ­i­ties and events for the entire family. 

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 9 miles

Old­er books might have referred to this as the old John­son Trail, but anoth­er trail of the same name on the Kenai Penin­su­la made it too con­fus­ing for them to both keep their names. This trail is the first of the trails avail­able for hik­ing in the spring. It fol­lows the high­way, with mild ele­va­tion gains to allow awe­some views of the Tur­na­gain Arm. 

The tow­er you see was decom­mis­sioned in 1977; since then, the Inter­na­tion­al Airport’s con­trol tow­er has over­seen Lake Hood as well — more than 800 flight oper­a­tions every day! You can hear some of the unique vocab­u­lary used by the con­trollers and the pilots when you lis­ten to the Lake Hood weath­er report over the phone: 9072451618. Pilots inter­na­tion­al­ly use a pho­net­ic alpha­bet to avoid con­fu­sion. A = alpha, B = bra­vo, etc. 

In a city filled with rel­a­tive­ly new build­ings, most built well into the 20th cen­tu­ry, the His­toric Anchor­age Hotel stands out for being dif­fer­ent — it’s charm­ing­ly old. And while the 26-room, Queen-Anne-style hotel in down­town Anchor­age is a thriv­ing reminder of the city’s fron­tier past, it con­tin­ues to charm guests with its high lev­el of ser­vice and all the com­forts of a 21st-cen­tu­ry bou­tique hotel. 

The Alas­ka Rail­road offers scenery, wildlife, and his­to­ry; get our audio guide to all the high­lights along its route.

Lim­it­ed on street park­ing is avail­able along Delaney Street. Play equip­ment suit­able for 5 – 12 year olds. 

Locat­ed along­side Air­craft Dri­ve at the Grav­el Strip, the auto­mat­ed gates were installed to pre­vent cars from dri­ving out onto the run­way. Simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, they allow for a nice pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty of a plane taxi­ing to the run­way. How does a pilot open a gate? They dial their avi­a­tion radio into a spe­cif­ic fre­quen­cy and click the micro­phone five times.

Difficulty: Moderate

Black Tail Rocks is a very airy climb that stretch­es to 4,446 feet above Eagle Riv­er, a town locat­ed just north of Anchor­age. It’s a jour­ney that involves only a min­i­mal amount of hand-over-hand scram­bling; you’ll be fol­low­ing a trail for most of the 4‑mile, 2,750-foot hike. And you’ll have a fine view from the top, look­ing up the length of the seclud­ed Mead­ow Creek Val­ley and well into the deep inner reach­es of the Chugach Mountains.

The artist is Aleut, and lives in his home vil­lage of Naknek as a sub­sis­tance fisherman. 

It’s a 5‑hour dri­ve up to the park from Anchor­age, and you’ll find a num­ber of scenic high­lights and activ­i­ties along the way

In the 1940s and 50s, the men work­ing in the coal, oil and lum­ber indus­tries around Alas­ka had only one place to come spend their mon­ey and blow off steam: 4th Avenue, where the string of drink­ing estab­lish­ments became known as the world’s longest bar (a nick­name, leg­end has it, giv­en by a vis­it­ing Bob Hope). Also mak­ing its home on the street is a log cab­in cre­at­ed in Homer dur­ing the 1950s, which was imme­di­ate­ly tak­en down and reassem­bled in…  ...more

Difficulty: Difficult Distance: 2 miles Elevation Gain: 2100 feet

It’s not as dif­fi­cult as you might think to hike to stand atop the pre­cip­i­tous, gul­ly-scarred face of Bear Point. But it’s not easy, either. The 2‑mile hike ascends 2,100 feet and can be tricky. But your reward is an amaz­ing view in all direc­tions, from the Kenai Penin­su­la to Denali and the Chugach Moun­tains to Matanus­ka Peak. 

A short dri­ve from 5th Ave, you’ll find this great dis­play of Anchorage’s nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment, which coex­ists along­side the indus­tri­al port and rail areas that sup­ply much of south­cen­tral Alas­ka. There are hard­ly ever any peo­ple here, mak­ing this a great place, close to down­town, to get a moment of solitude.

If you like to fish for Sil­vers and Kings with a bob­ber and eggs, Ship Creek’s mouth is a great option. Though you may have to deal with a lit­tle bit more mud along the banks, bring a pack­able chair, and once you’re about 100 meters north of the road, you can claim a grassy area to set­tle in. 

To explore the road less trav­eled, take the Old Glenn High­way to Palmer, a back road that feels like old Alas­ka. This 19-mile coun­try road cuts through the heart of Alaska’s farm­land and is a scenic, qui­et alter­na­tive between Anchor­age and Palmer. The road access­es state parks and recre­ation areas, pet­ting zoos, and hik­ing trails and pass­es through pic­turesque ter­rain: pas­toral coun­try­side beneath the Chugach Moun­tains and Pio­neer Peak. The…  ...more

For your con­ve­nience, this ameni­ty is being offered free-of-charge and is our way of wel­com­ing you to the airport. 

So don’t just stroll through town — take the offi­cial tour, brought to you by long­time res­i­dent experts: Alas​ka​.org and the Anchor­age Con­ven­tion & Vis­i­tors Bureau.

Ready for a chal­lenge? Though tech­ni­cal­ly not part of the sin­gle track com­plex, this long trail in Kin­caid Park snakes along the edge of the bluff, and is best rid­den only by advanced bik­ers. The views are stun­ning at points, but with tall grass, logs, and roots crowd­ing the trail it’s best to keep your eyes on the busi­ness at hand. Take care not to slide off the edge on a few sandy sec­tions where more than one expe­ri­enced bik­er has slipped…  ...more

The pan­els are deep-relief and tex­tur­al. Mate­ri­als include hand carved wood pieces, alu­minum and lay­ers of pigment. 

This pad­dle, tra­di­tion­al­ly used by hunters and in cer­e­monies, is a tes­ta­ment to the ele­gance of old-style Aleut & Alu­ti­iq art. 

Locat­ed in the South ter­mi­nal, Lev. 2, Food court 

Phone: 9072485338 Address: 3730 Spe­nard Road, Anchor­age, AK Hours: June 1 — Aug 31: 7am-7pm (dai­ly), Sep 1 — May 31: 8am-6pm 

Sylvester is a sculp­tor with art­work in per­ma­nent col­lec­tions in Anchor­age and at the Smithsonian. 

For­get pick­ing up a gener­ic sand­wich dur­ing your lay­over. This local craft beer and food mec­ca in Ted Stevens Anchor­age Inter­na­tion­al Air­port offers mul­ti­ple lay­ers of local fla­vor from the orig­i­nal pro­duc­tion brew­ery and restau­rant in Fox, Alas­ka. Sil­ver Gulch is America’s Most North­ern Brewery. 

SE on N Eagle Riv­er, SE on Eagle

This is a series of pieces by Dana Bous­sard. The series con­tins a total of 14 paint­ed and pieced car­pet pan­els, each depict­ing a dif­fer­ent ani­mal but all have a sim­i­lar U’ shaped design ele­ment at the bottom. 

InMo­tion Enter­tain­ment is the largest air­port-based elec­tron­ics and enter­tain­ment retail­er in the nation, offer­ing tablets, net­books, dig­i­tal cam­eras, pock­et cam­corders, DVD play­ers, noise-can­cel­ing head­phones and accessories. 

It’s impos­si­ble to dri­ve Tur­na­gain Arm with­out notic­ing the mas­sive green moun­tains on both sides of the Inlet. The hulk­ing moun­tain which dom­i­nates this stretch of road between Bird and Gird­wood is Pen­guin Peak​.In ear­ly Spring, avalanch­es thun­der down its slopes. Most years, the deposits are deep enough to shut down the high­way for hours, frus­trat­ing motorists. In sum­mer, the delays are of a more cheer­ful nature — as dri­vers stop to photograph…  ...more

Like most func­tion­al North­west Coast art, pad­dles were his­tor­i­cal­ly dec­o­rat­ed with the clan and crest sym­bols of their own­ers. The flash of a pad­dle by kins­men enter­ing a coastal vil­lage for a pot­lach or oth­er fes­tiv­i­ties once served to under­score the pow­er and pres­tige of those who approached by canoe. 

There’s a nice bar, with good view, and tables as well. The menu is good pub food. 

The sweep­ing view of Pot­ter’s Marsh south of Anchor­age is a fam­i­li­er one to Alaskans as they leave the city. 

A ceil­ing mosa­ic designed from the acute per­spec­tive of look­ing up along birch trunks in the north­ern, bore­al for­est. The dif­fer­ent thick­ness­es of glass smalti, var­i­ous mar­ble and gran­ite pieces cre­ate a rich, com­plex sur­face that responds to the chang­ing light in the clerestory 

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 8 miles

Take the trail on the right hand side of the road a mile or two before Alpen­glow Ski resort. The area is forest­ed and heads down­ward two miles pri­or to reach­ing Ship Creek. There is a branch that goes straight and fol­lows the road that many kids use for sled­ding in the win­ter, and it will take you to the Arc­tic Val­ley road in a cou­ple of miles where par­ents await to pick them up. How­ev­er, hik­ers take a left after a mile and this trail…  ...more

Offers a lot of tech­ni­cal fea­tures inter­spersed through­out a smooth run. 

Despite hav­ing a brown bear in the state of Alas­ka, we actu­al­ly have three sub-species; Griz­zly Brown Bears, Coastal Brown Bears, and the Kodi­ak Brown Bear.

This ath­let­ic cen­ter in down­town Anchor­age’s Hotel Cap­tain Cook offers sep­a­rate work­out facil­i­ties for men and women, as well as sep­a­rate steam, sauna, sun room and lounges. Shared facil­i­ties include pool, Jacuzzi, rac­quet­ball courts, aer­o­bics room and cir­cuit train­ing room. From 6 am to 8 pm, the Club offers fit­ness and yoga class­es, and guests can also book Swedish, sports or deep-tis­sue mas­sages. Hours 6am to 8pm dai­ly. For hotel guests, or…  ...more

The park was orig­i­nal­ly called McKin­ley View Park. In 1997 the com­mu­ni­ty request­ed the name be changed to Suzan Nightin­gale McK­ay Memo­r­i­al Park. 

Dri­ving north from Anchor­age isn’t as instant­ly dra­mat­ic as going south, but with­in an hour you’re immersed in stop-and-shoot scenery. The Glenn High­way runs north­east to agri­cul­tur­al Palmer, then twists east along the Matanus­ka Riv­er Val­ley, sand­wiched between coastal and inte­ri­or mountains.

Difficulty: Easy

Russ­ian Jack Springs Park is approx­i­mate­ly 300-acres in size and offers end­less activ­i­ties for any time of the year rang­ing from a golf course, to a dog park as well as one of the best sled­ding hill Anchor­age has to offer! 

The dri­ve to McCarthy and Ken­ni­cott isn’t your run-of-the-mill road trip. It’s 7 – 8 hours from Anchor­age, with the last 61 miles-between Chiti­na and the Ken­ni­cott Riv­er-on an his­toric, grav­el road. Not all rental vehi­cles are allowed on the McCarthy road, so check with your rental agency before you travel.

You’ll find even more play­grounds that take advan­tage of the unique assets of their loca­tions. Here’s a list of our top picks!

This new, log cab­in comes with an airy inte­ri­or space, a child-safe sleep­ing loft, two cov­ered porch­es and view of Eklut­na Lake. Locat­ed down a flat trail about 650 yards from year-round park­ing, the cab­in bal­ances a bit of soli­tude with easy access and ample recre­ation. Great for families.

This near­ly 20-acre park near Camp­bell Creek has sev­er­al soc­cer fields, pic­nic tables, a lit­tle league ball field (with­out the back­stop), a view­ing area over­look­ing Wal­dron Lake, and sev­er­al ele­vat­ed fish­ing and salmon-view­ing decks that are sus­pend­ed above Camp­bell Creek. You can access the Camp­bell Creek Trail and all of these ameni­ties from Rakof Ave., just east of the New Seward High­way, as well as from a park­ing lot off of Shelikof…  ...more

The dis­tinc­tive style of ivory carv­ing from Nuni­vak Island fea­tures styl­ized ani­mals, with pierced open­ings and min­i­mal red and black engraved features. 

This restau­rant in Gov­ern­ment Hill offers a mix of Lao, Thai, and Viet­namese cui­sine — and deliv­ers big on both fla­vor and por­tions. The sig­na­ture dish­es are the phở dish­es, which come in huge bowls, and the Pad Thai, which is mild in heat and slight­ly sweet. You can also order from a delight­ful selec­tion of cur­ries and stir-fries. 

Acces­si­ble from both the Camp­bell Creek Green­belt Trail and Lake Otis Park­way, this cen­tral­ly locat­ed park got a seri­ous facelift to its play­ground in 2013

The term griz­zly” in its name refers to griz­zled” or grey hairs in its fur. These pow­er­ful hunters of the Norther are nor­mal­ly soli­tary, active animals. 

Cer­ti­fied by the U.S. Track and Field Asso­ci­a­tion, this annu­al marathon is run against the gor­geous back­drop of the Alaskan wilder­ness. Peo­ple come from far and wide to par­tic­i­pate: all 50 states and some 15 coun­tries. And if you’re not up for the full 26.2, you can still be a part of it by run­ning the half-marathon, the 4- mile race, the 1.6‑mile youth race, or the marathon relay.

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 10 miles

This trail is an off­shoot of the South Fork Trail that leads to Eagle and Sym­pho­ny Lakes. It pro­vides some awe­some views of the Eagle Riv­er Val­ley and South Fork Eagle Riv­er as it works its way up into the hang­ing val­ley perched above the Eagle Riv­er Val­ley floor. The final des­ti­na­tion for most hik­ers, near the end of the val­ley, is the hid­den Hang­ing Val­ley Tarn, nes­tled in a seclud­ed cirque. This is an excel­lent camp­ing area gar­land­ed with…  ...more

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 1 mile

Access to Abe’s Trail is via the Cal­i­for­na Creek/​Beaver Pond Trail North Access. This is a steep climb that affords nice views of the Cook Inlet and Gird­wood area. 

Accessed from either the Jodh­pur park­ing lot or the cor­ner of Kin­caid Rd. and Jodh­pur St. (where there is a con­ve­nient pullout). 

Difficulty: Easy

This wide trail con­tin­ues from mile 4, up the val­ley to the Bird Creek cross­ing. A less devel­oped trail con­tin­ues on for anoth­er 2 miles, then quick­ly gains ele­va­tion to the pass. Trav­el­ing to the East from Bird Creek Pass will lead you to Griz­zly Bear Lake and Moraine Pass. 

A free air­port shut­tle bus takes pas­sen­gers to the South (Domes­tic) Ter­mi­nal, North (Inter­na­tion­al) Ter­mi­nal and Rental Car Facil­i­ty dai­ly, every 15 min­utes. Air­port shut­tle bus ser­vice to/​from the Park, Ride & Fly Lot (i.e. for extend­ed stay park­ing) is pro­vid­ed on-cal­l/on-demand.

Ron Senunge­tuk grew up in Wales, Alas­ka where he learned tra­di­tion­al ivory carv­ing and then con­tin­ued more for­mal art study at Mt. Edge­cumbe High School in Sit­ka. He pur­sued wood­work and met­al-smith inter­ests at School for Amer­i­can Crafts­men of the Rochester Insti­tute of Technology. 

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 12 miles

Part of the Abbott Trail Sys­tem, this is a well-defined access trail that drops before cross­ing the South Fork Camp­bell Creek and inter­sect­ing with the Spencer Loop. (Go left, cycling clockwise.)

Three Anchor­age artists were asked to paint their vison’ of what the Anchor­age Air­port of the Future would look like. 

The bald eagle, our nation­al sym­bol, is stag­ing a come­back, from few­er than 3,999 birds (1,000 nest­ing pairs) ini the 1970’s to over 6,000 adults (3,000 nest­ing pairs) in the con­ter­mi­nous 48 states. 

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.

The dri­ve from Anchor­age to Valdez takes 6 to 7 hours on aver­age. But, there are many scenic vis­tas and unique places to stop along the way mak­ing it easy to spend more than 6 hours on the road. You will have views of sev­er­al moun­tain ranges, glac­i­ers, and more.

This 90-room, down­town hotel is with­in walk­ing dis­tance of the Anchor­age Muse­um, Egan Con­ven­tion Cen­ter, the down­town Saturday/​Sunday mar­kets and lots of shop­ping and restau­rants. Rooms have views of Mount Susit­na, Cook Inlet or the Ship Creek Val­ley. Perks include free break­fast, free park­ing, gym, free Inter­net and free shut­tles to/​from the air­port and rail­road sta­tions. Be sure to check out the on-site Slip­pery Salmon Bar & Grill,…  ...more

In the cold and dark heart of win­ter, in the slight­ly twist­ed, yet bril­liant mind of a local DJ, an ember slow­ly burned. How long, how hot, who knows? What we do know is that the ember grew into a flame and once released, grew legs, antlers and much more…A leg­end was born. In a small office, not far away, a com­mu­ni­ty fes­ti­val strug­gled. After stag­ger­ing debt was paid off thanks to com­mu­ni­ty sup­port, it was time to give Rondy back to the…  ...more

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 7 miles

This trail is pop­u­lar in the win­ter for ski­ing (low avalanche dan­ger) and sum­mer for views, and berry pick­ing. Many peo­ple begin at Glen Alps Park­ing lot and ini­tial­ly fol­low Pow­er­line Pass trail until it turns off to the left. Go down and over the creek and then fol­low the trail up an easy slope towards what is com­mon­ly known as the Ramp and the Wedge, on either side of the val­ley. When you get to the pass, or ridge, look down towards the…  ...more

Per­ma­nent col­lec­tion of the Anchor­age Muse­um of His­to­ry and Art, Doy­on Native Cor­po­ra­tion, Smith­son­ian Insti­tute, Yuga­travik Muse­um, Yukon Kuskok­wim Health Cen­ter, and the Alas­ka Native Med­ical Center. 

For a while in the 1990s, planes weren’t the only winged things tak­ing off from the lake. Swarms of water­fowl would inter­fere with flight oper­a­tions in and out of the air­port. A task force in charge of reduc­ing the bird pop­u­la­tion tried many expen­sive options, but final­ly found a sim­ple solu­tion. They put three farm pigs — named Curly, Lar­ry, and Moe — on the island that sep­a­rates the Take­off and Taxi Lanes, to destroy as many nests and devour as…  ...more

Set along the Coastal Trail at the very end of 5th Avenue in Anchor­age, Elder­ber­ry boasts 1.5 acres of scenic park­land with great views of Cook Inlet. Because it’s close to down­town, you can make this a rest stop while tour­ing and shop­ping down­town. Come with a pic­nic, or just a walk while enjoy­ing the view. 

Made of Spruce wood, con­crete, seal­ers and oil paint, over steel armature. 

This is one spot you don’t want to miss. July through Sep­tem­ber you’ll wit­ness a spec­tac­u­lar run of Sil­ver Salmon. Fish­er­men from all over the world come into Alas­ka to cast a line here. There will be hun­dreds of peo­ple com­ing and going from Bird Creek on any giv­en day. In their hands will be the days boun­ty; a nice big sil­ver salmon that is deli­cious when smoked and even bet­ter when grilled and coat­ed with lemon and a hon­ey mus­tard glaze.…  ...more

This 64.3 acre park has lots to offer with open fields, ski­jor­ing trails, a sled­ding hill, one soc­cer field, fish­ing dur­ing des­ig­nat­ed sea­sons, and a fish view­ing plat­form that is best dur­ing the mid to late summer.

Moose are the largest mem­ber of the deer fam­i­ly, and the Alaskan Yukon Moose is the largest of the moose fam­i­ly. At birth, calves typ­i­cal­ly weigh approx­i­mate­ly 25 pounds.

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 1 mile

This is part of the Hill­side Trail Sys­tem. It is one of the trails that is groomed for ski­ing in win­ter. There is access to this trail avail­able via the Upper Hill­side Trail­head and the Gasline Trail. 

Difficulty: Moderate

With just a short walk from the park­ing area you will find a beau­ti­ful 20 foot water fall. The trail­head starts off par­al­lel­ing the Tur­na­gain Arm and there are a num­ber of small trails that go to dif­fer­ent look­outs. Take the trail to the left for a short dis­tance and you will find the McHugh Trail branch­ing off to the right. The trail zig-zags upward through the woods and pro­vides ever bet­ter views of the Tur­na­gain Arm and mountains. 

Difficulty: Easy

This is a great pock­et of wilder­ness right in Anchor­age: easy to get to, qui­et and pret­ty idyl­lic. Set in the north­east­ern sec­tion of Kin­caid Park, Lit­tle Camp­bell Lake is packed with lily pads and sur­round­ed by a thick for­est lined with trails. Spend the after­noon hik­ing, swim­ming, fish­ing, or pad­dling around the lake. 

If you need a cup or trav­el mug for your Alas­ka adven­tures, they also car­ry those, so you’ll be caf­feinat­ed and ready to go home or to the Last Frontier. 

The sculp­ture is a focal point which allows vis­i­tors to ori­ent them­selves in the large space. To achieve this, I placed a large three dimen­sion­al glass relief at the head of the esca­la­tors and stairs. 

Difficulty: Moderate

This is part of the hill­side trail sys­tem. It is not one of the trails that is groomed for ski­ing in win­ter. It is locat­ed at the entrance to the trail sys­tem and pro­vides access to many oth­er trails in the system. 

Whether you want a stress-unwind­ing mas­sage before or after your flight — or a quick hair and nails upgrade, this spa offers a lit­tle oasis of calm amidst Ted Stevens Inter­na­tion­al Air­port — with treat­ments start­ing at just $35.

If you love hik­ing or walk­ing in a mature for­est with well appoint­ed trails and inter­est­ing geog­ra­phy — includ­ing a menagerie of Alaskan wildlife plus access to miles of shore­line — you can’t go wrong in Kin­caid Park. With 35 to 40 miles of offi­cial­ly main­tained trails equipped with map kiosks, plus many unsigned but well-trod sin­gle-track paths, the park is a lit­er­al maze. It’s great for every lev­el of inten­si­ty — from fit­ness run­ners to families  ...more

Three Anchor­age artists were asked to paint their vison’ of what the Anchor­age Air­port of the Future would look like. 

The Knik Glac­i­er snakes out of the Chugach Moun­tains, tum­bling into an ice­berg-stud­ded lake that feeds the Knik Riv­er. Expe­ri­ence the glac­i­er up close on an ATV tour from Palmer, or a flight­see­ing trip (with option­al land­ings on or near the glac­i­er) from Anchor­age or Palmer. Flights are as short as 90 min­utes round-trip, mak­ing it one of the most acces­si­ble and impres­sive glac­i­ers from Anchorage. 

Fair­banks, Alaska’s sec­ond-largest city, is a for­mer gold-rush town with a cut­ting-edge uni­ver­si­ty-and it still holds onto its fierce­ly inde­pen­dent roots. Tour old gold mines, take a his­toric river­boat cruise, or just wan­der around downtown.

This doll by Car­o­line Penayah is wear­ing the tra­di­ton­al one-piece gar­ment called a Qal­l­e­vak worn by women and chil­dren of Saint Lawrence Island. 

This Fairchild 24G was built in the ear­ly 30’s and saw heavy usage as both a civil­ian and mil­i­tary plane. 

Hoover had become known for mask­like trip­tych pan­els that unfold to show hid­den rela­tion­ships between humans, ani­mals and the world of spirits. 

Difficulty: Easy

The Ship Creek Trail itself begins at the Alas­ka Rail­road depot on the north side of Anchor­age and trav­els east from down­town for 2.6 miles to end at Tyson Ele­men­tary School in the city’s Moun­tain View neigh­bor­hood. The paved trail fol­lows its name­sake creek for near­ly its entire length, cross­ing it a few times. 

Taxi­dermy work com­plet­ed by Ani­mal Artistry Inc. of Reno, NV

The red paint on the han­dle mim­ics the tra­di­tion­al red ochre pig­ment found in South­east Alaska.