Glacier Hopping
Alaska affords travelers many opportunities to get up close and personal with staggeringly large ice formations. In Juneau you can watch brown bears munch on salmon from the safe distance of a viewing platform on the 13-mile-long Mendenhall Glacier. Explore dazzling ice caves — with a seasoned guide — on the Hubbard Glacier near Yakutat, which towers 350 feet above the sealine. A kayak or boat is the preferred way to experience the Columbia Glacier in Valdez, which is one of the fastest moving in the world.
Northern Lights
Alaska is one of the best places to see this fantastic atmospheric phenomenon that produces spectacularly colorful, undulating light displays in the night sky. August through April are prime viewing months, and you have your choice of experiences, such as peeping them from a natural hot spring.
Denali National Park
At more than 20,300 feet high, this park’s namesake peak draws mountaineers in droves but is hardly the only attraction here. The national park’s six million acres encompass glaciers, rivers, and valleys accessed by a single road and are home to the Big Five mammals: moose, caribou, wolves, grizzly bears, and Dall sheep, famous for their extravagantly curved horns.