Alaska Vacations Idea #1:
An Alaskan
Whale Watching Tour is a great idea for the whole family. You can typically also see many other types of marine birds, porpoise, humpback whales and the occasional Orca. Whale watching tours can be found in Glacier Bay/Gustavus, Homer, Juneau, Kodiak, Pelican, Petersburg, Prince William Sound, Seward, Chichagof Island, and Valdez.
Alaska Vacation Ideas #2:
Visit one of Alaska's wonderful
National Parks.
Denali National Park is known for it's wildlife variety
and visibility. Caribou, grizzly, loon, golden eagle are likely sights as you travel the 85
mile long park road.
Gates of the Arctic National Park, in north Alaska, has
backpacking, camping, rough hiking, rock and mountain climbing, and all the river
activities.
Near to Gates of the Arctic is Kobuk Valley National Park. It sits within the Arctic Circle and you will have the place virtually to yourself. Hiking is great but rough because there are no trails. There are no facilities within the park either.
Glacier Bay National Park is on land that was only revealed within the last 200 years as the glacier that covered it shrank away. Cruise ship, tour boat or kayak are the main ways to explore this park.
Katmai National Park vacation contains 15 active volcanoes. You can watch the country's largest population of brown bears catch fish out of the water. Kenai Fjords National Park is noted for the Harding Icefield. Home to 700 square miles if ice and glaciers. You can see Exit Glacier by hiking or tour bus. Boat and plane is the way to get around to camping and biking the area.
Vacation Ideas in Alaska #3:
Take a trip to the
Arctic Circle land of the midnight sun where the summer sun never sets. Solstice Point at the foot hills of the Brooks Range is a favorite with locals for Mid-night Sun Weddings! Enjoy the majestic scenery of the tiaga and the tundra.
Alaska Vacations Idea #4:
Have you ever seen a
Bald
Eagle? Try the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. A natural phenomenon brings over 3,000 eagles into the Chilkat Valley beginning in early October and lasting until January.
The peak of the gathering usually occurs in mid-November. Drive 18 miles from Haines on the Haines Highway to find excellent eagle viewing areas. Newly-created pullouts along the highway are provided for eagle watchers and photographers. Interpretive
displays, walking trails, and shelters now enhance the experience. To see this unique gathering is to witness a true wildlife phenomenon of international scale.
Alaska Vacations Idea #5:
Tour the
Columbia Glacier,
located just 30 miles from Valdez. At 435 square miles it's Alaska's largest tidewater glacier. Tours are offered by several companies to view the glacier and the massive amount of icebergs that it produces. Columbia Glacier itself is receding, leaving huge blocks of ice and an impassible moraine. It is always changing and each day the bay is filled with floating ice. Some of this ice floats all the way out to the Gulf of Alaska, where it becomes a hazard to shipping. One cause for the Exxon Valdez's departure from its shipping lanes was the icebergs.
Alaska Vacations Idea #6:
How about an
Iditarod Sled Dog Tour. The world famous Iditarod is a 1,100 mile dog sled race between Anchorage and Nome. Take a ride on a dog sled cart. Learn about the Iditarod race and the dog mushing drivers. Visit the dogs that pull the sleds, even hold and cuddle adorable husky puppies.
Alaska Vacations Idea #7:
Experience the excitement of traditional salmon fishing in a
Fish Camp on the Yukon River. Enjoy the very beautiful and scenic surroundings, life on the Yukon and the continual movement of this enormous river. Using traditional nets and fish wheels, help haul in huge Yukon River salmon as they migrate upstream. Go out daily by riverboat to check nets and fish wheels to bring in the daily catch and discover how these fresh salmon are prepared for smoking and drying. If you wish, you can have fresh Salmon "all you can eat" every day. Check out Alaska Backcountry Touring if this sounds like your idea of fun.
Alaska Vacations Idea #8:
Ketchikan Bear Watching is a great idea.
Admiralty Island is renowned as one of the most famous bear sanctuaries in the world. The observatory deck at
Traitor's Cove Bear Watching Observatory is a great place to watch black bear feeding on the salmon that are fighting their way up stream to spawn. These tours and more are available at Dolly
Varden Alaska.
Vacation Ideas in Alaska #9:
The Alaskan towns of Skagway and Dyea were the jumping-off points for the for the 600-mile trek to the goldfields along the
Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory.
Klondike Goldrush National Historic Park offers exhibits and displays, restored buildings, ranger presentations and films about the world famous Alaskan Gold Rush of the late 1800s.
Alaska Vacations Idea #10:
130 miles north of Fairbanks is
Artic Circle Hot Springs Resort. Dating back to the 1890s, Circle Hot Springs
attracts visitors all year. The springs are 140 degrees F at its source and produce 386 gallons of steaming water each minute. They were discovered by a prospector who trailed a wounded moose and came across an unusually warm creek. Circle Hot Springs
Resort offers historic accommodations, fine dining, plus an Olympic-sized pool filled with water from the nearby Circle Hot Springs
Alaska Vacations Idea #11:
Alaska has some wonderful scenery and a great way to enjoy it is a road trip along
Seward Highway. This 127-mile stretch of road winds through the beautiful Alaskan wilderness between Anchorage and Seward. You will see spectacular scenery including icy blue glaciers, saltwater bays, spruce forests, alpine meadows and valleys, crystal lakes, fast rushing rivers and a lot more. The Beluga Point Scenic Overlook is an excellent place to spot whales. Along the way there are plenty of places where you can stop to enjoy fishing, hunting, backpacking, camping or skiing.
