Regular flights connect U.S. cities like Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Detroit, and Chicago with the Alaskan cities of Anchorage, Fairbanks, Ketchikan and Juneau. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is the most common port of arrival for tourists. By bus, Greyhound -- www.greyhound.com -- can take you from Seattle to Whitehorse, Canada, stopping through Vancouver. Take an Alaska Direct bus -- www.alaskadirectbusline.com -- from Whitehorse to Anchorage. By boat, you could take the Alaska Marine Highway -- www.ferryalaska -- which links Bellingham, Washington, with 14 towns on Alaska's Southeast coast. Luxury cruises along Alaska's coast abound. For tours from all Alaskan cruise-liners, check www.cruisealaska.com. Finally, a good week's road trip from the continental U.S. can land you in Fairbanks.
By far the fastest way to cover Alaska's vast distances on your tour is to fly. Alaska Airlines connects most Alaskan towns, and for more remote destinations, "bush pilots" can be hired. Reserve seats early on the popular Alaska Railroad -- akrr.com -- linking Seward and Anchorage to Denali and Fairbanks. Buses also link most towns in the state. If you plan on driving yourself, plan your route map carefully and be sure to check the scale: You'll have plenty of miles to cover. Also, organized tours can arrange your transport across Alaska by through rail packages, car packages and cruise packages. See www.alaskatours.com for a list of such tours.
When planning on touring, traveling or sightseeing in Alaska you'll have choices to face regarding which region or regions you want to explore, especially if you have a limited amount of time. Especially when constrained by time, consider touring a specific region of this vast state rather than trying to race to each of its far-flung corners. Alaska can be broken into five regions. The Far North is home to the Inupiat Eskimos high above the Arctic Circle, and like other parts of Alaska, it boasts the midnight sun as well as the Northern Lights. Alaska's Interior claims large game like grizzly bears and caribou as well as giant forests and mountains, including Mt. McKinley. The Southwest is made up largely of the Aleutian Islands extending west toward Asia, and you can check out brown bears, volcanoes and Katmai National Park. The South-Central region, like other regions, has heaps of hiking and fishing opportunities. The major difference is that here they are within reach of roads as half of the state's population resides in the Southwest region. Finally, the Inside Passage has glacial fjords and green islands as well as sea lions, porpoises, whales and a Russian legacy of blue-domed churches.
The vastness of this state, spanning from lush forests to arctic tundra, means that its weather varies drastically from one place to another within Alaska's borders. For example, while much of the year sees subzero temperatures in the Far North, the Interior region can get above 90°F from July to mid-August, which is also the tourist high season. The South-Central and southeast see highs of about 70°F in the same season, and the latter region sees regular rainfall. While the vast majority of tourists are after Alaskan summers, May and September are less crowded, often cheaper alternatives that see mild weather. The amazing Northern Lights are enjoyed by those who brave the harsh winters.
Alaska is filled with spectacular nature preserves, giant wildlife and endless outdoor activities in its expanse of wilderness. Many Alaskan tours can revolve around specific outdoor activities or focused sightseeing. While listing all the state's sites and attractions would fill volumes, some of Alaska's top attractions around which to plan your trip are the tidewater glaciers such as at Glacier Bay National Park or Prince William Sound; Kodiak Island and Katmai National Park, home of the world's largest brown bears; and Denali National Park, home of Mt. McKinley, North America's tallest mountain. From kayaking fjords, hiking backtrails, fishing rainbow trout, chasing whales and scaling icy peaks to cruising through the breathtaking scenery of Dalton Highway, Alaska is a nature lover's paradise.
