Alaska is famous for its stunning scenery, giant glaciers, pristine forests, romantic lodges and abundant wildlife. See the highest mountain in North America, watch the Northern Lights, drive along the 1,500-mile Alaska Highway, and explore Alaska’s charming towns and cities, including Juneau, Anchorage, Ketchikan, Talkeetna, Skagway, Sitka, Haines, Homer and Valdez. Here are the best places to visit in Alaska, including Denali, Glacier Bay and Mendenhall Ice Caves.
1. Denali National Park
Denali National Park is the one of the largest in the United States, located in the northern Alaska range. Denali is the traditional name, but modern explorers dubbed it Mount McKinley. The name is a strong point of local contention. Skip naming, the six million acres of wide river valleys, tundra, high alpine ranges, and glacier-draped mountains are purely spectacular. The only way to enter the park is use the buses and go to Savage River. Views of Denali can be enjoyed from the park road, weather permitting.
Located midway between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Denali is the big home of grizzly bears, wolves, reindeer, elk, and other animals. More than 167 species of birds have been noted to appear in the park. Another favorite among the park's many things to do are the Sled Dog Kennels, which offer demonstrations and are home to dozens of energetic huskies.
2. Wrangell St. Elias National Park
Three mountain ranges called the Chugach, the Wrangell and the St. Elias located in an area that is known as the Mountain Kingdom of North America. In the heart of this kingdom, you’ll come across the vast Wrangell St.Elias National Park is the largest national park in the U.S. The park is home to a number of informative visitor centers and ranger stations, but you can also get off the beaten track with ease and explore glacier hiking trails or overnight camping adventures. Hunting, fishing, mountain biking and kayaking are other popular pastimes in in the Wrangell St. Elias National Park.
3. Tracy Arm Fjord
Tracy Arm is located south of Juneau and is a frequent attractive destinations for cruise ships and boat tours.Waterfall cascading down sharp stone walls has created beautiful small ice sheets. The scenic setting lies within the Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness of the Tongass National Forest. At the head of the fjord sit the twin Sawyer Glaciers. Wildlife sightings are common on tours, it's can a brown bear or moose on land, or the whales and seals that inhabit these waters.
Other tourist favorites include Glacier Bay National Park, northwest of Juneau, and Prince William Sound, near Anchorage.
4. Juneau
Sitting on a hillside overlooking the Inside Passage, Juneau’s downtown area is nestled between Mount Juneau, Mount Roberts and Gastineau Chanel. Its labyrinth of narrow streets run past a mix of old storefronts, new structures and charming houses with early 19th-century architecture, dating from its gold mining beginnings. Popular activities include whale watching tours providing a great way to see the wide variety of marine life like humpback and killer whales as well as Steller sea lions and Dall’s porpoise.
Juneau is also home to Mendenhall Glacier, located just a short drive from downtown. Adventure enthusiasts can kayak to the 12-mile-long glacier and then ice-climb to the caves inside. As the recent rising temperatures have caused the caverns to shrink to about a third of their original size, there have been dramatic shifts of color inside.
5. Kenai Fjords National Park
Kenai Fjords is located near Seward, offering 607,000 acres of snow, ice, long fjords and hundreds of tranquil bays and coves, as well as lots of wildlife, including harbor seals, Steller sea lions, sea otters, moose, black bears, wolverines, mountain goats and coyotes. Snow and ice cover 60 percent of the park, and lining the edge is its crown jewel, the vast 936-square-mile Harding Icefield. It feeds nearly three dozen glaciers flowing out of the mountains, as a vestige of the massive ice sheet that covered much of Alaska in the Pleistocene era.
Park adventures include Activities include kayaking, camping, fishing, beach combing, biking, hiking, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, dog sledding, boat tours, flightseeing, mountaineering and more.
6. Sitka
Sitka,located on Baranof Island, on the southern tail of Alaska, can only be reached by air or sea, which makes getting there an adventure of itself. It’s the only Inside Passage community that fronts the Pacific Ocean, hugging the west shore of the island in the shadow of the impressive Mount Edgecumbe, a dormant volcano with a cone reminiscent of Mount Fuji in Japan. There are 22 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places right downtown, along with plenty of restaurants, unique local shops and art galleries.
Thanks to its incredible natural landscape, visitors can enjoy kayaking, fishing, whale watching and hiking on trails that begin in the lush rain forest that surrounds Sitka, with many ending high in the surrounding mountains.
7. Misty Fjords National Monument
The Misty Fjords National Monument is located 22 miles east of Ketchikan and is the largest wilderness area in the state’s national forests, with its 2.3 million acres spread across the Tongass National Forest. It’s filled with rock walls that rise 3,000 feet from the ocean, steep fjords and sea cliffs. Living up to its name, there is almost always precipitation in the area, which means the monument is covered with dense rain forests that grow on practically vertical slopes from sea level to the mountain peaks, while dramatic waterfalls can be seen tumbling throughout the landscape.
You can explore this fjord by boat, by helicopter. . . but the best way to enjoy the view is I think you should go kayaking. However you choose to see it, you’ll have the chance to view some of the area’s wildlife, from killer whales and Dall porpoise in the water to black bear, moose, marten, wolf and mountain goats on land.
8. Homer
If you’re interested in exploring nature or doing some fishing, Homer is the best chose for you, it should be absolutely be on your Alaskan itinerary. Located on the Kenai Peninsula, Homer is known as the fishing capital of Alaska, and it serves as a gateway to a number of national parks, enjoyed by visitors. While you’re in Homer, you can walk along the beach to the iconic Homer Spit, drive up Skyline Drive for fantastic views or spot wildlife in Kachemak Bay State Park, where you’ll find mountain goats, bald eagles, sea lions, humpback whales and black bears. Day-long halibut fishing trips are incredibly popular, and you’re all but guaranteed an impressive haul that local restaurants will happily cook up for your dinner.
9. Ketchikan
Ketchikan is located on Revillagigedo Island in the Tongass National Forest, a 17-acre rainforest full of Sitka spruce, cedar, waterfalls, and diverse wildlife. Ketchikan is the southernmost Alaskan city backed by forested slopes of Deer Mountain and facing Tongass Narrows waterway, which is buzzing with fishing boats, floatplanes, ferries and barges.
10. Mendenhall Glacier
Just a short drive from the city of Juneau is the Mendenhall Glacier, an enormous glacier that is calving, or separating, into its own adjacent lake. There are a number of different ways to experience the glacier, ranging from a simple shuttle ride to see it up close or a helicopter ride to truly appreciate the sheer size of the glacier. The fittest visitors may want to try out the Mendenhall Glacier West Glacier Trail, which is very challenging but provides incredible opportunities for photography. Also worth a visit is the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, which includes exhibits about the glacier as well as several viewing platforms.
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