Alaska is a land of almost unimaginable scale, bigger than the next three largest States in the USA combined.
Cruise Alaska’s Inside Passage ideally on a ship small enough to get truly close to whales, wildlife and glaciers.
Travel by legendary McKinley Explorer railcars through Alaska’s breathtaking interior, past awesome Mt. McKinley, North America’s tallest mountain, in Denali National Park.
Marvel at brown bears and their cubs fishing for salmon in Katmai National Park. Relive the days of the gold rush in Fairbanks or cross the Arctic Circle on a tour visiting the fascinating communities of Nome, Kotzebue or Barrow in Alaska’s far north.
Top Highlights
The Inside Passage: Most visitors to Alaska will cruise through the Inside Passage and Glacier Bay to view the abundance of wildlife on the water and on land - like whales, orcas, porpoise, seals, sea lions, otters, bears, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, goats and wild sheep.
Ketchikan, one of Alaska’s southern most ports of call for most cruise ships. Visit the Totem Heritage Centre to see the world’s largest collection of totem poles.
Sitka, the Russian capital of Alaska from 1808 to 1867. St Michael’s Cathedral and the Russian Bishop’s House are among the reminders of the Russian tenancy. The Alaska Raptor Rehabilitation Centre offers a close view of eagles and other birds.
Juneau, Alaska’s capital is on many cruise itineraries. Local attractions include St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, the famed Red Dog Saloon and the world’s only suburban glacier - Mendenhall. Boat tours provide access to Tracy Arm Fjords, where the glaciers descend as much at 1,000 feet below the water’s surface. Admiralty Island National Monument shelters the densest brown bear population in Alaska’s Inside Passage and has the highest concentration of nesting bald eagles on the continent.
Skagway recalls the days of 1898, when 20,000 prospectors passed through town in search of Klondike gold. The town preserves its gold rush feel with wooden boardwalks and false-fronted buildings. Take an excursion on the vintage railcars of the White Pass & Yukon Route, one of the world’s most scenic mountain railways.
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve:
Sixteen spectacular glaciers flow from surrounding mountains into the waters. If cruising on a small-ship you are able to go where large ships cannot, eg: small bays, arms and towns. Small-ships operate on a far more casual itinerary taking time to get right up to glaciers and stopping for wildlife viewing, as and when it appears.
Anchorage:
Alaska’s largest city is home to the Alaska Native Heritage Centre which has been set up by a variety of native tribes to showcase the different Native villages and to learn about the culture.
From Anchorage there are plenty of opportunities to get out in the wilderness with flight-seeing over glaciers, fishing, and glacier cruises in Prince William Sound.
Prince William Sound encompasses 15,000 square miles of protected waterway, islands, fjords and about 2,000 glaciers.
The Columbia Glacier is known for its bluish wall of ice and is one of the most spectacular tidewater glaciers on the Alaskan coast.
The region offers ocean habitat for whales, porpoise, sea otters, sea lions and seals. Deer, bear, goats and sheep inhabit the mainland.
Fairbanks and the Northern Lights:
Alaska’s second-largest city is often described as ‘extremely Alaska’ with its enormous amount of log cabins, husky dogs, rugged people, extremely cold winters and long summer days.
From mid-May through July, visitors can enjoy more than 20 hours of sunlight a day.
Take the time to explore the exhibits at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Museum; tour a gold mine, visit an authentic gold dredge, or cruise the Chena River aboard a sternwheeler.
The nearby community of North Pole receives thousands of letters for Santa Claus every year. From Fairbanks it is an easy flight up to the Arctic towns of Barrow, Kotzebue or Nome.
People come from around the world to view Alaska’s northern lights, the ‘aurora borealis’. One of nature’s most inspiring sights, the northern lights appear most often on cold, clear nights from late September through April. Created by the earth’s magnetic field, these curtains of yellow, green and red light dance silently across the sky.
Mt McKinley and Denali National Park and Preserve:
At 20,316 feet, Mt McKinley offers many recreational opportunities include hiking, rock and ice climbing, photography and wildlife viewing, nature walks, horseback treks and sled dog demonstrations.
Wildlife found in the park includes caribou, grizzly bears, wolves, moose, Dall sheep, lynx, marmots, fox and snowshoe hares.
Arctic Circle:
For many visitors to Alaska, crossing the Arctic Circle is the most memorable moment of the journey.
In Nome, take the opportunity to enjoy Alaska’s great outdoors and immerse yourself in the legends of a town built on gold. Located 26 miles above the Arctic Circle, Kotzebue is one of Alaska’s largest and oldest Inupiaq Eskimo villages, and during the summer, this arctic village receives 36 days of continuous daylight.
The Inupiat Eskimo community of Barrow is the northernmost settlement in America, and home to one of the largest Eskimo communities. This far north, the summer sun doesn’t set for 82 days, shining from May 10 to Aug 02.
Two hundred miles east of Barrow is Prudhoe Bay, home of the largest oil field in North America. The 800 mile Trans-Alaska pipeline starts here, and ends in Valdez.
More Highlights
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Whittier
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Valdez
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Cordova
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Seward
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Kenai Fjords National Park
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Kodiak Island and its brown bears
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Alaska Peninsula
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Katmai National Park and Preserve
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Bering Sea