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…
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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Anchorage
From mid- to late summer, king, coho and pink salmon spawn up Ship Creek, the historical site of Tanaina Indian fish camps. At the overlook you can cheer…
Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum
Anchorage
On the south shore of Lake Hood (the world’s busiest floatplane lake), this museum is a tribute to Alaska’s colorful Bush pilots and their faithful planes…
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Alaska
Sand zero, so to speak, of Nome’s famed gold rush, this beach is still open to recreational mining and all summer long you can watch miners set up work…
Anchorage
At the western ‘nose’ of the peninsula and southern terminus of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is this beloved 1400-acre park populated by…
Juneau
Get ready for some spiritual enlightenment. The Shrine of St Thérèse is a natural stone chapel on a beautifully wooded island connected to the shore by a…
Anchorage
The unique wildlife of the Arctic is on display at this zoo, the only one in North America that specializes in northern animals, including snow leopards,…
Juneau
A spectacular sight at Mendenhall Glacier is this waterfall, a mini-Niagara (in season) caused by Nugget Creek diving off a hanging valley into Mendenhall…
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…
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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…
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Cathedral of the Holy Ascension
Aleutian Islands
Unalaska is dominated by the Cathedral of the Holy Ascension, the oldest Russian-built church still standing in Alaska. It was built in 1825 and then…
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Alaska
Ilisagvik is the only tribal-controlled college in Alaska, and the northernmost community college in the country. The campus consists of a main building…
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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…
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Fairbanks
Like many cities with little surviving history, Fairbanks attempts to recreate the 'old' days in a historical theme park. Suffice to say, it doesn't…
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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…
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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…
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Alaska
Encompassing some 88,695 sq miles of land area, the Alaskan borough of North Slope is larger than all but 10 American states, but with a population of…
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Aleutian Islands
Next to a disheveled hillside graveyard overlooking the bay is Memorial Park. The park has several monuments dedicated to the Coast Guard and Navy…
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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…
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Fairbanks
If you can’t make a trip to the Arctic for a little wildlife observation, consider visiting this research station that tends herds of musk ox, reindeer…
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Alaska
Built in 1901, when there were 20,000 people living in Nome, this church and its spire were located on Front St and used as a beacon for seafarers. By the…
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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…
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Ketchikan
Dolly's house, in Creek St, looks like a dollhouse from the outside, but it once operated as a bastion of the world's oldest profession (read:…
