The wild is a day trip from here.
Anchorage is where the glacier cruises, the sled-dog runs, the floatplanes and the aurora chases all start. Here is what each one is actually like, what it costs, and which to book first.
The days you flew north for.
First visit or fifth, these are the days that make the flight north worth it — the fjord full of tidewater glaciers, a team of huskies, a helicopter set down on the ice, the aurora over the Chugach.
Anchorage Trolley Tour
Anchorage trolley tour: an hour of city highlights, moose sightings, Lake Hood float planes, and 1964 earthquake stories for $25.
From $25 per person
Read the review →
★ 4.5Books out fastKenai Fjords National Park Glacier & Wildlife Tour from SewardFrom $2231,036 reviews
★ 4.8Guide favouriteSeward: Kenai Fjords National Park Catamaran Cruise w/LunchFrom $265736 reviews
★ 5.0Small groupsDog Sledding Adventure in Willow, AlaskaFrom $175398 reviews
★ 5.0Worth the early startFull-Day Kenai Fjords National Park Northwestern CruiseFrom $340341 reviews
★ 5.0Big-day pickGlacier View & Wildlife Anchorage Adventure TourFrom $177317 reviews
★ 4.5Local pick26 Glacier Cruise and Coach from Anchorage, AKFrom $336281 reviews
Where the glaciers meet the sea.
Drive the Seward Highway down to Resurrection Bay, board a catamaran and spend the day among calving tidewater glaciers, sea otters, puffins and humpbacks in Kenai Fjords National Park. It is the day most people fly to Alaska for — and it is back in Anchorage by evening.
How do you want to reach the ice?
Everyone comes north for a glacier; the difference is how you get onto one. Three ways to do it — from the water, on foot, or out of a helicopter — each already reviewed and priced. Pick the one that sounds like your kind of day.
From the water
By boat
4 hours (approx.) · from $165 · 1,156 reviews
Ride out from Seward or Whittier and watch a tidewater glacier calve straight into the sea, with otters, sea lions and whales along the way. The least effort for the biggest view, and lunch is usually on board. Best May to September.
See the glacier cruises →
On the ice
On foot
8 hours 30 minutes (approx.) · from $310 · 89 reviews
Strap on crampons and walk out onto the Matanuska or Knik with a guide — blue crevasses, meltwater streams, ice that groans under your boots. A real half to full day of effort, and the one people talk about for years afterwards.
See the glacier hikes →
From the air
By air
2 hours (approx.) · from $761 · 374 reviews
Lift off by helicopter or floatplane and land on a glacier no road reaches — some tours add a dog team waiting on the snow. The most expensive way and, on a clear day, the one nothing else touches. Weather calls the shots.
See the flightseeing tours →
The real show starts after dark.
From late August to April, a guide drives you clear of the city lights, reads the forecast and the Kp index for you, and waits with hot drinks until the sky turns green over the Chugach. Cloud is the only enemy — going with someone who chases the gaps is how you actually see it.
Alaska on a plate and in a pint.
Anchorage punches above its size for food — fresh-off-the-boat halibut and salmon, reindeer sausage from a downtown cart, and a brewery scene that rivals cities twice its size. These are the tastings and food walks worth an afternoon.
The parts with no road.
Most of Alaska has no highway to it. A floatplane out of Lake Hood or a helicopter off the Knik is how you reach the summit of Denali, a glacier landing, or a bear-viewing beach — back for dinner in Anchorage. Book the clearest morning you can.
People were here first, and still are.
Before the highways and the cruise ships, this was Dena’ina land. At the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the downtown museum you meet that story from the source — clan houses, carvers and dancers from the eleven cultures who have called this country home for ten thousand years.
Pick your corner of Alaska.
Anchorage is the hub; the good days fan out from it. Seward for the fjords. Whittier for the sound. The Mat-Su for glaciers you can walk on. Talkeetna for the view of Denali. Portage for the reflection everyone photographs.
Know the kind of day you want?
Twelve ways to spend a day out of Anchorage — pick the one that sounds like you and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
The best days start on the highway.
Point the car south down Turnagain Arm or north to the Mat-Su and the whole of Southcentral opens up — fjords, an ice sheet you can walk on, Denali on the horizon — each one out and back from Anchorage in a day.
Three days from touchdown.
You can’t see all of Alaska from Anchorage in one trip; you can absolutely do the right three days. This is the run we’d hand a friend flying in tomorrow — water, ice, and sky, in that order.
Day 1
Out to the fjords
Drive the Seward Highway at dawn and spend the day on Resurrection Bay — tidewater glaciers, otters and whales. The single best day in Southcentral, and back in Anchorage by night.
Plan day one →
Day 2
Onto the ice
Head up the Glenn Highway to the Matanuska, rope up with a guide and actually walk on a glacier — blue crevasses, meltwater, ice underfoot. Home by dinner with muddy boots.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Into the sky
Save the splurge for last: a floatplane to Denali or a helicopter onto a glacier, weather permitting. In winter, swap it for an evening chasing the aurora out past the city lights.
Plan day three →
Latest Anchorage reviews.
★ 5.0Snowmobile and Snowshoe Dual Adventure in Kenai Fjords NPFrom $3983 reviews
★ 5.0Mount Marathon Bowl / Race Summit with Seward Guided HikesFrom $2403 reviews
★ 5.0Seward: Helicopter Glacier Dogsled Tour with 2 LandingsFrom $8703 reviews
★ 5.0Northern Lights UTV Tour with Roundtrip Transportation3 reviews
★ 5.0Knik River Lazy River Float TripFrom $2003 reviews
★ 5.0From Anchorage: Chugach State Park Walk with NaturalistFrom $1293 reviews
★ 5.0Scenic Tour to Wildlife Center with hotel pickupFrom $1293 reviews
★ 5.0Anchorage Brews TourFrom $1693 reviews