Alaska: Exploring the gloriously remote US state from whale watching to road tripping

The great outdoors doesn't get much better than this

Views of Broken Knife Ridge, Tutka Bay Wilderness Lodge

Alaska is a bucket-list destination that more than lives up to the hype. Indeed, the great outdoors doesn’t get much greater than this. The state’s main draw lies in the natural, rather than the man-made, but visitors this year will have the added attraction of Anchorage’s centenary celebrations. The state’s largest settlement sprang up as a tent city around Ship Creek, a construction camp for Alaska Railroad workers – although it still only has 300,000 inhabitants (and 1,500 moose wandering the streets). Celebratory exhibitions, tours and events are taking place throughout the year to mark the milestone (anchoragecentennial.org).

More than 33,000 miles of coastline weave in and out of dramatic fjords, inlets and bays. The wildlife-rich waters are full of orcas and humpback whales. Prince William Sound is pricked with 10,000 glaciers. You can sail among them, listening to the glaciers calve on a half-day boat trip from Whittier, three hours from Anchorage, with companies such as Major Marine Tours (001 907 274 7300; majormarine.com). With the densest number of tidewater glaciers in the world, it is little wonder cruises here are also popular. Princess Cruises (0843 374 4444; princess.com) has a seven-day Voyage of the Glaciers cruise, from Anchorage to Vancouver from £500pp full-board without flights.

Alaska is also home to North America’s highest mountain, Mount McKinley –also known as Denali – which towers 20,237ft over Denali National Park. “Flightseeing” trips (001 907 243 1595; flyrusts.com) cost $425/£290 for three hours.

Denali Highway, Interior Alaska, view of east and south face of Mt. McKinley with fall colors near western end close to Cantwell (Michael DeYoung)

Elsewhere, Wrangell-St Elias National Park, which contains many of Alaska’s highest peaks, is a Unesco World Heritage Site, sprawling over 13 million acres of pristine wilderness; a vast, remote adventure playground with back-country hiking, river rafting, glacier trekking and mountain biking within its borders.

The state is sprinkled with three million lakes – the majority of which don’t even have names – and 3,000 rivers teeming with fish. Sportquest (01603 407596; sportquestholidays.com) has a range of fly-fishing trips staying in remote fishing lodges from £4,560 for 10 days, including flights.

The vast, untamed wilderness is ripe road-trip territory, although flying can help you cover a lot of ground. The capital, Juneau, is only accessible by boat or by plane. The city, in the south-east, has a historic downtown area and waterfront packed with cruise ships, fishing boats and seaplanes. It’s secluded and scenic with just a peppering of tourist sights, such as the Last Chance Mining Museum (001 907 586 5338). To pack in as much as possible, a round-up tour of the highlights can be a good option. Intrepid Travel (0808 274 5111; intrepidtravel.com) has a new 12-day Wild Alaska group trip this year. It includes a visit to Juneau, rafting and hiking in Denali, a ferry to Sitka’s spruce forests, whale-watching, and Wrangell-St Elias, where you can take a scenic flight or tackle a glacier walk. From £1,190pp including accommodation, transport, some meals and a guide, but not international flights. Single traveller specialist Solos Holidays (0844 815 0001; solosholidays.co.uk), also has a new itinerary. Awesome Alaska is a 12-day escorted tour visiting Anchorage and historic Fairbanks, Denali, and Prince William Sound with a journey on the Alaska Railroad and a cruise down the Chena River. From £4,799 including B&B accommodation, some meals, a guide, transport, excursions and international flights.

Anchorage City Skyline (Roy Neese)

The best time to visit Alaska is May to September. In contrast to the severe winter, in summer the days are long and generally balmy (in Anchorage the average summer temperature is 18C – although the Arctic regions don’t thaw until June). It is also prime time for wildlife watching. The peak tourist season is from mid-June to mid-August, but the shoulder periods are slightly cheaper and less crowded.

Birthday bash

Anchorage (right) may feel like an overgrown, slightly rickety frontier town, but that is part of its quirky charm. Shops sell fur thongs and street food comes in the form of reindeer burgers.

However, a startling addition to the city is the state-of-the-art Anchorage Museum (001 907 929 9200; anchoragemuseum.org). It has a dazzling mirrored facade, designed by London architect David Chipperfield, and is hosting a number of special exhibitions to celebrate the centenary, including City Limits, a display of historic photographs and artefacts from Anchorage’s past.

For an interesting way to explore the city, Regal Air (001 907 243 8535; regal-air.com) offers an Anchorage and Chugach Mountain Flightseeing Tour ($110/£75, 30 minutes) which circles Anchorage and sweeps over the surrounding Chugach Mountains, the northernmost range on the Pacific Coast.

Alaska has more than 20 breweries, many of them in Anchorage. Big Swig Tours (001 907 268 0872; bigswigtours.com) lets you raise your glass to toast the city’s birthday with a tour of bars and breweries. The three-and-a-half hour experience includes 12 beer samplings and introduces you to brewery owners (US$99; £59).

Trains and automobiles

The distances might seem daunting, but nothing can beat the freedom of the open road. Self-drive trips (right) are a popular way to explore this vast state and there are plenty of scenic highways – just watch out for moose.

Cox and Kings (020 7873 5000; coxandkings.co.uk) has a new nine-day, self-drive itinerary starting in Anchorage and travelling to Fairbanks, via Denali National Park, before looping back to Anchorage via the pretty fishing port of Valdez and Prince William Sound. The trip covers some of Alaska’s most impressive roads, including the George Parks Highway, stretching over vast swaths of mountainous grandeur, and the postcard-perfect Richardson Highway, which borders Wrangell-St Elias National Park. From £1,495 including accommodation and car hire, but not international flights.

If you aren’t keen on driving, Artisan Travel (01670 785085; artisantravel.co.uk) has a new nine-night Alaskan Railroad Tour, travelling cross-country on the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Fairbanks. From £1,997pp with nine nights’ B&B accommodation, rail travel, a domestic flight, and activities such as a Sternwheeler riverboat tour. International flights not included.

Bear necessities

Every wildlife-watching wish list should include spotting grizzlies fishing for salmon. It is expensive, but a short bear-watching excursion can easily be tagged on to a longer trip. Local operators include Alaska Bear Adventures (001 877 522 9247; alaskabearviewing.com), based in Homer, which offers half-day and full-day trips by Cessna to bear-viewing hotspots in Katmai National Park or Lake Clark, from $589pp.

Brown bears (grizzlies) at Silver Salmon Creek, Alaska. (Chris McLennan)

If you need more time, Discover the World (01737 214 250; discover-the-world.co.uk) has a six-night Alaska’s grizzlies: Kodiak to Katmai small group tour, focusing on bear-viewing in Katmai and on Kodiak Island, led by a naturalist guide.

Accommodation for three nights is a converted research vessel, which can sail the shallow waters around Katmai and access the tidal flats where bears can be found foraging. And on Kodiak Island you’ll find the mighty Kodiak Bear, a unique subspecies. From £5,341pp including transport and six nights’ full-board accommodation. Excludes international flights.

Whale of a time

Whales bubble-net feeding are one of nature’s most amazing spectacles. The humpbacks work together, circling a shoal of fish with a net of bubbles which forces them together. Then the whales soar up through the net with their mouths open, erupting out of the water in an orchestrated feeding frenzy.

Wildlife Worldwide (01962 302086; wildlifeworldwide.com) has a new trip this year, Bubble-net Bonanza, aboard Snow Goose, a 12-berth motor yacht which sails from Sitka around the northern Chatham Strait in south-east Alaska, the best place to see them each August. The trip costs £6,295pp including international flights (or £4,845pp without), seven nights’ full-board on Snow Goose, two nights’ B&B in hotels, transfers, activities, national park fees, and a naturalist guide.

Whales bubble net feeding in Juneau (Reinhard Pantke)

Alternatively, local tour operators offer day trips. Kenai Fjords Tours (001 877 777 4051; kenaifjords.com) has a four-hour grey whale watching trip, sailing from Seward, a two-hour drive from Anchorage, to Resurrection Bay. From $89pp including lunch.

Where to stay

In general, Alaska lags a few decades behind other major US destinations on the accommodation front. However, there is a handful of luxury wilderness lodges that tick the boutique bolthole boxes.

Chef and cookery book author Kirsten Dixon and her husband Carl own two of them: Winterlake Lodge and Tutka Bay Lodge (001 907 274 2710; withinthewild.com).

Winterlake is an old hunting cabin on the western edge of the Alaska Range, some 150 miles from the nearest road and 198 miles north-west of Anchorage on the historic Iditarod Trail. The property is accessed by seaplane and comes complete with bears in the yard.

You can fly in to Tutka Bay, at the entrance to a fjord at the southern end of Kachemak Bay, or take a 25-minute water taxi from Homer. This cluster of cabins sits on a picture-postcard bay, while the cookery school is in a huge, beached wooden boat. It’s a little slice of heaven, with a price tag to match: Tutka Bay costs $1,300pp (£867) per night full-board, with transfers from Anchorage or Homer, a guide and activities.

The Dock at Winterlake

If your budget doesn’t stretch quite that far, or you’re joining in the celebrations in Anchorage, the Arctic Fox Inn (001 907 272 1239; arcticfoxinn.com) is a friendly, boutique B&B with double rooms starting from $119 (£79).

Travel Essentials

Getting there

A trip to Alaska comes with a hefty price tag – and that includes airfares, with the cheapest starting at around £800 return from the UK in May. Most visitors fly into Anchorage, the main hub, although you can also arrive at Juneau and Fairbanks. There are no direct flights to Alaska from the UK. From Heathrow, British Airways (0844 493 0758; ba.com) and American Airlines (020 7660 2300; aa.com) offer one-stop flights through gateway cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles, with the onward connection operated by Alaska Airlines.

Virgin Atlantic (0344 209 7777; virgin-atlantic.com) and codeshare partner Delta (020 7660 0767; delta.com) also fly through Seattle, among other cities, while Air Canada offers services via Vancouver. Icelandair (0207 874 1000; icelandair.co.uk) via Reykjavik is one of the quickest routes, with departures from Manchester and Glasgow, as well as Heathrow.