Juneau
Going to Juneau and not seeing the Mendenhall is like visiting Rome and skipping the Colosseum. The most famous of Juneau’s ice floes, and the city’s most…
Must-see attractions in Alaska
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Alaska
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a 30,625-sq-mile wilderness in Alaska’s northeast corner, straddling the eastern Brooks Range from the treeless…
Southeast Alaska
Welcome to the largest national forest in the US, a tract of land almost the size of Ireland and significantly larger than adjacent Wrangell-St Elias…
Southeast Alaska
Just 30 miles north of Yakutat is Hubbard Glacier, the largest tidewater glacier in North America. The 8-mile-wide frozen behemoth is easily Alaska’s most…
Anchorage
This world-class facility is Anchorage’s cultural jewel. The West Wing, a four-story, shimmering, mirrored facade, adds 80,000 sq ft to what was already…
Anchorage
If you can't travel to the Bush region to experience Native Alaska culture firsthand, visit this 26-acre center and see how humans survived – and thrived …
Seward
A fitting legacy of the Exxon Valdez oil-spill settlement, this $56-million marine research center is more than just one of Alaska’s finest attractions…
University of Alaska Museum of the North
Fairbanks
In an architecturally abstract, igloo- and aurora-inspired edifice sits one of Alaska’s finest museums, with artifact-rich exhibits on the geology,…
Saxman Native Village & Totem Park
Ketchikan
On South Tongass Hwy, 2.5 miles south of Ketchikan, is this incorporated Tlingit village of 475 residents. It's best known for Saxman Totem Park, which…
Southeast Alaska
This impressive museum is what the colorful history and characters of Wrangell deserve. As you stroll through the many rooms, an audio narration…
Ketchikan
For a crash course in Southeast Alaska's impressive totem art look no further than the Totem Heritage Center, where old poles brought from deserted…
Aleutian Islands
This small but impressive museum is one of the best native cultural centers in Alaska. It relives the Aleutian story from prehistory through the Russian…
Aleutian WWII National Historic Area
Aleutian Islands
In 1996 Congress created this 134-acre national historic area to commemorate the bloody events of WWII that took place on the Aleutian Islands. Most of…
Denali National Park & Preserve
What makes 20,310ft Denali (formerly Mt McKinley) one of the world’s great scenic mountains is the sheer independent rise of its bulk. Denali begins at a…
Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve
Alaska
Standing in the middle of this park's eight million acres of uninhabited mountains and tundra, you could be forgiven for assuming a woolly mammoth was…
Alaska
At 4739ft, the Atigun Pass is the only road pass through the Brooks Range. We'd call it 'dramatic,' but that's sort of like calling the Sahara sandy; the…
Treadwell Mine Historical Trail
Juneau
It's hard to envisage today, but the Treadwell mine on Douglas Island was once the largest gold mine in the world, set up like a minitown with its own…
Juneau
As far as cable cars go, this tramway is rather expensive for a five-minute ride. But from a marketing point of view its location couldn’t be better. It…
Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge
Fairbanks
Birds have been migrating through this idyllic little stretch of farmland for millennia, and when the local dairy finally shut its doors, the community…
Southeast Alaska
Twenty miles north of Hyder and back inside Canada lies the fifth-largest glacier in Canada (and the largest in the world accessible by road). The old…
Juneau
Get ready for some spiritual enlightenment. The Shrine of St Thérèse is a natural stone chapel on a beautifully wooded island connected to the shore by a…
Anchorage
At the western ‘nose’ of the peninsula and southern terminus of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is this beloved 1400-acre park populated by…
Anchorage
The unique wildlife of the Arctic is on display at this zoo, the only one in North America that specializes in northern animals, including snow leopards,…
Juneau
A spectacular sight at Mendenhall Glacier is this waterfall, a mini-Niagara (in season) caused by Nugget Creek diving off a hanging valley into Mendenhall…
Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center
Juneau
This mini-museum holds ranger talks, shows an 11-minute film and displays exhibits relating to the glacier and its formation. There are huge panoramic…
Anchorage
Housed in the city’s oldest wooden-framed home, this little museum overlooks the delightful Elderberry Park. Anderson was the 18th American settler to set…
Ketchikan
Ten miles north of downtown Ketchikan is this seaside park that contains 14 restored totem poles, a colorful community house and a viewing deck…
Southeast Alaska
Of the three totem parks on POW, the Klawock Totem Park is by far the most impressive and obviously a great source of community pride. Situated on a hill…
Alaska
The northernmost extremity of the US (though not, as locals sometimes claim, North America) is Point Barrow, but it's tough to get to this narrow strip of…
Denali National Park & Preserve
This scenic area, at 3500ft, has views of the Toklat River to the south. The pass, which is a regular stop on Denali tour- and shuttle-bus routes, gets…
Totem Historic District – Kasaan
Southeast Alaska
This is one of the great Haida cultural centers in Alaska. It's in Kasaan, one of only two Haida villages in the state, and, since 2002, has been listed…
Denali National Park & Preserve
Eielson is the most common turning-around point for day trippers taking the shuttle or tour buses into the park. This remote outpost is built directly…
Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center
Fairbanks
There are a few contenders for 'best visitor center in Alaska' but this one, an ingenious mix of museum, info point and cultural center, has to be in the…
Alaska
This 24,000-sq-ft facility houses a museum, gift shop and a large multipurpose room where short traditional dancing-and-drumming performances take place…
Anchorage
Comprising 4000 acres of forest and muskeg in east central Anchorage, this park features 20 miles of trails. In the center of the park is the Bureau of…
Juneau
Amble out to the end of Basin Rd, a beautiful 1-mile walk from the north end of Gastineau Ave, to the former Alaska-Juneau Gold Mining Company complex. It…
Southeast Alaska Discovery Center
Ketchikan
Three large totems greet you in the lobby of this center run by the National Park Service (NPS), while a school of silver salmon suspended from the…
Juneau
Demolished and rebuilt in a snazzy new $140-million complex in 2016, the result is impressive. Sometimes called SLAM (State Library, Archives and Museum),…
Ketchikan
Departing from Stedman St is Creek St (a boardwalk built over Ketchikan Creek on pilings), a history book of misshapen wood-paneled houses painted in…
Denali National Park & Preserve
This station, situated at the crossing over the eponymous river, is one of the major stops on both the Denali shuttle route and Denali bus tours. On site,…
