Anchorage: The Great Outdoors
Page 3 of 3

You can make a number of excellent day trips or short overnights from Anchorage. One of the best full-service resorts in Alaska is the luxurious Alyeska Prince Resort, in the small village of Girdwood, a 45-minute drive south of the city. In winter, it's the state's top venue for downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, snow-tubing, and sledding. You can also take the aerial tram up to Mt. Alyeska, which has a restaurant at the top. In summer, you can book a tandem paragliding ride off the top of the mountain.

Another option is the two-and-a-half-hour drive to Seward, a slightly gritty old fishing town on the Kenai Peninsula. It's gradually developed into a popular cruise port and leisure destination, thanks to its proximity to nature and also the Alaska Sealife Center, a marine-life research facility where visitors can observe the habitats of 2,000-pound Stellar sea lions, diving puffins, and dancing King crabs, among other creatures native to this region.

Just outside of Seward, you can visit Exit Glacier - in fact, you can practically drive your car right up to the edge, as it's the most accessible glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park, which encompasses more than 900 square miles. From the parking area it's a flat 15-minute hike to the foot of the glacier, where you can get some great up-close photographs of this hulking, slowly retreating mass of ice.

Downtown Seward has a handful of restaurants and souvenir shops, mostly along 3rd and 4th avenues, and the community also has plenty of tour operators offering kayaking trips, flightseeing excursions, and sailing adventures.

Perhaps the most dramatic way to get around the region, especially if you're a fan of vintage trains, is to book one of the popular sightseeing runs on the Alaska Railroad. There are extensive tours lasting from two to 10 days through the Denali National Park's backcountry and up into the Arctic Circle, as well as easy day trips that depart Anchorage and take you through rugged Chugach Forest, past soaring glaciers and across wildflower-strewn meadows. Many of these trains have glass-dome roofs, allowing incredible photo ops. These colorful jaunts narrated by experienced naturalists offer the perfect chance to get a sense of America's richest tract of scenic wilderness, the Alaskan countryside.

Andrew Collins is the author of Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA and as well as numerous other guidebooks.