Alaska

Tiny Ketchikan is just 3 miles long and 3 blocks wide, but here you’ll find Alaska’s busiest waterfront, buzzing with float planes, fishing boats and pleasure craft. Once colonised by Tlingit and Haida tribes, Ketchikan is a thriving fishing town with colourful stilted houses, a rich Alaskan culture and a throng of trawlers hauling in fresh crab and salmon. You’ll witness local life with hardy fishermen working on crab trawlers catching local delicacies like King Crab, octopus, shark, prawns and Rock fish. It is not only known as Alaska’s First City due to geographically being the first place travellers stopped when heading north, it is also a figurehead of the outstanding natural beauty of Alaska. Many visitors to Ketchikan use the city as a base from which to visit Misty Fjords National Monument, just 22 miles east of the city. Part of the Tongass National Forest, Misty Fjords is one of Southern Alaska’s most beautiful natural wonders, combining sheer sea cliffs, towering rock faces and expansive fjords. Seaplane offers one of the best ways to take in this magnificent scene, and is sure to provide a memorable highlight of your Alaska holiday.

Beneath an ice field that never melts, on a waterway that never freezes, Juneau is the most unusual and stunning of capitals. Home to 280 species of birds, brown and black bears, nature lovers can also watch out for orca and humpback whales here. Ashore, there’s an excellent theatre and range of clubs, bars restaurants to suit all tastes. The town that kick-started Alaska’s gold rush is rich with treasures of all varieties, from native Tlingit history and excellent seafood to an abundance of outdoor pursuits. It’s little wonder that most of Juneau’s residents arrived for a short stay and decided never to leave. If you’re feeling fit try exploring Alaskan-style amongst the glaciers by kayak or trekking with crampons and an ice axe. By far, one of the most popular excursions from Juneau is to Mendenhall Glacier. At half a mile wide, the glacier is one of the most accessible in Alaska and a visit here is high on many Juneau visitor’s wish lists.

Gateway to the Klondike, the gold rush town of Skagway, Alaska was once a lawless Wild West outpost. Skagway is Alaska’s gateway to the Klondike where in the late 1890s more than 100,000 prospectors arrived in search of gold. Even today, frontier-style saloon-style buildings still line the town’s streets, an enduring reminder of this key period in Alaska’s gold rush history. While feeling as though you’ve somehow fallen through time and into the Wild West is undoubtedly part of Skagway’s appeal, there’s so much more to admire, discover and experience on a port call to this southerly part of the Great Land. Now a national historic park, the preserved boardwalk, shops and streets provide the perfect setting for actors to bring the town’s story to life on entertaining tours through its colourful past. Skagway’s surroundings are nothing short of magnificent. The piercing waters hugging its shores outdone only by the frosted peaks painted on the horizon. It’s a vista best savoured from a vintage passenger car on the area’s famous White Pass and Yukon Route railway.

Glacier Bay is the crowning jewel of Alaska's Inside Passage. Part of a 25-million-acre World Heritage Site, it's home to an array of wildlife and some of the world's most amazing tidewater glaciers.

Icy Strait Point is an idea brought to life, a specially created hub of unparalleled Alaskan action and adventure. Watch for whales in the picturesque wilderness or enjoy warm hospitality and hearty food ashore. Built around a restored 1912 salmon cannery, the shops are 100% Alaskan-owned and there are restaurants, nature trails, a museum and even a beach. Bear watching is a big attraction on Chichagof Island which is home to more bears than humans.

Sparkling still waters. Majestic mountains. Soaring eagles. All these and more are sights that await at Endicott Arm. Enjoy scenes of extraordinary natural beauty as your Cunard Queen sails along this 30-mile stretch of glasslike water, at the end of the Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness.

Victoria is a unique blend of historic charm and contemporary charisma, offering an exquisite variety of sights, drawing visitors from around the world. Notable landmarks such as Craigdarroch Castle and the elegant Empress Hotel contrast with bohemian shops and restaurants ashore. You can also do a spot of whale watching and wildlife viewing on and around the water of this sophisticated seaside city.

Seattle sits on the slip of land between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, with the Olympic and Cascade Mountains serving as a dramatic backdrop for this oh-so cosmopolitan city. Soar up the futuristic Space Needle and experience the views atop this stunning landmark created for the 1962 World's Fair. Seattle’s proximity to Alaska makes it an ideal starting point for your Alaska cruise holiday and that means you’ll spend less time sailing and more time exploring Alaska's charming towns and wilderness.