Top 5 places to visit in Alaska

Alaska is America’s greatest wilderness, an Arctic realm with some of the most stunning landscapes on the continent, filled with an incredible array of wildlife.

The sheer breadth of natural wonders on offer in Alaska fills visitors with awe – take a flight-seeing tour over America’s highest peak Mount Denali, watch icebergs calving into the ocean from glaciers in Prince William Sound, see huge brown bears fishing for salmon in Katmai, and watch humpbacks and orcas in the rich waters of Inside Passage.

Whether you explore on a fly-drive, cruise or by railroad, the USA’s northernmost state never disappoints. Here are the top 5 places to visit on holidays to Alaska:

Denali National Park

Stretching 160 miles across the spine of Alaska’s Interior, Denali National Park has incredible mountain scenery inhabited by diverse wildlife. The park is dominated by its namesake mountain, deemed ‘Great One’ by the indigenous Athabascan people. One of the best ways to appreciate the grandeur of the Alaskan range is on a flightseeing tour, while at ground level on guided wilderness excursions you can see Alaska’s Big Five on show – bears, moose, caribou, wolves and Dall sheep.

Prince William Sound

Prince William Sound is a place as majestic as its name, encompassing 10,000 square miles of protected glaciers, inlets, islands and fjords, surrounded by towering mountains and temperate rainforest. The picturesque ports of Whittier and Valdez are the best bases to explore the marine parks of Prince William Sound on day cruises and kayaking excursions. An unforgettable highlight is watching huge chunks of ice crash into the ocean from the immense Columbia Glacier. The coastline and surrounding temperate rainforests of Chugach National Forest are home to black bears, moose, Dall sheep and more than 200 bird species, while you can often spot humpback whales, orcas, otters, sea lions and seals in the bays and fjords.

Katmai National Park

Roughly the size of Wales, this vast national park is the best place in Alaska to watch brown bears. The park is home to a population of more than 2,000 Alaskan brown bears, who congregate on Brooks River Falls to catch salmon, and can be watched in safety from viewing decks. Hallo Bay is another excellent place to see bears feeding. Katmai is also renowned for its ethereal volcanic landscapes in the amazing Valley of 10,000 Smokes, created by a huge volcanic eruption in 1912.

Kenai Fjords

The Kenai Peninsula is famous for its spectacular glacial scenery and fjords inhabited by abundant marine life including whales. Kenai Fjords National Park encompasses nearly 600,000 acres of rugged mountains, stunning fjords, and the Harding Icefield that stretches over 900 square miles with 40 tidewater glaciers extending from the mountains to the sea. The best base for exploring Kenai is Seward, an attractive harbour town on Resurrection Bay. Kenai has diverse wildlife including humpback whales, orcas, fin whales, Dall’s porpoises, sea otters and Steller sea lions, many of which can be seen on kayaking or boating excursions in Resurrection Bay.

Ketchikan

A highlight of a cruise through Inside Passage, which connects Alaska with British Columbia, Ketchikan is famous for its salmon fishing, totem poles and stunning landscapes. The town has a beautiful harbour and boardwalk path built on stilts over Ketchikan Creek with colourful historic buildings, art galleries and restaurants. Ketchikan also has a proud indigenous heritage with dozens of totem poles in and around the town. One of the best excursions nearby is to the wildlife-rich Misty Fjords National Monument, renowned for landscapes of snow-capped peaks rolling down to forested lowlands and waterfalls. Forming part of the Tongass National Forest, Misty Fjords is filled with wildlife including bears, moose, otters, seals and sea lions.

Interested in finding out more? Browse Journeyscape’s range of Holidays in Alaska.