Athens
Madeleine
In her element planning active, outdoor-heavy itineraries. Also the one to call for group travel — reunions, milestones, friends going together.
Alaska has more coastline than every other state combined. That single fact decides most of the trip.
It’s why so many people see Alaska by ship — the towns of the Inside Passage were built around water, not roads, and several of them still have no highway in. Juneau is the only state capital in the country you can’t drive to.
The question we actually spend time on is what happens either side of the cruise. A week at sea shows you glaciers and whales; the interior — Denali, Talkeetna, Fairbanks — is a different Alaska entirely, and it’s usually the part people wish they’d given more days to.
Where to go
Three places worth building a trip around
One coastal, one interior, one for the sky.
Juneau
The capital you can’t drive to
Mendenhall Glacier on the edge of town, humpbacks in the channel, and Gold Rush history downtown, with Mt. Juneau and Mt. Roberts behind it. Reachable only by boat or plane, which tells you most of what you need to know about Alaska.
Denali & Talkeetna
North America’s tallest peak
Talkeetna sits at the base of Denali and is where the flightseeing trips leave from — landing on a glacier is a genuine option. Small town, good food, and the interior wilderness starting at the edge of it.
Fairbanks
Midnight sun or northern lights
The gateway to the Arctic, and the best aurora odds in the state from late August through April. In summer it flips entirely — daylight that never quite ends.
Endless ways to experience it
What kind of Alaska are you after?
Cruising the Inside Passage
The classic way in, and for good reason — glaciers, whales, and towns that only make sense from the water. Ships range from big and family-friendly to small and expedition-style.
Cruisetours
A sailing paired with a rail-and-lodge trip into the interior. The version that gets you both Alaskas rather than half of one.
Wildlife
Humpbacks and orcas offshore, bears at the salmon runs, bald eagles more or less everywhere. Timing matters — tell us what you most want to see.
Northern lights
A Fairbanks trip, not a cruise trip. Late August through April, with enough nights built in to give the sky a fair chance.
Rail journeys
The route through the Kenai Peninsula is one of the great train rides in North America, and it connects the coast to the interior properly.
Adding Seattle or Canada
Most sailings begin or end in Seattle or Vancouver. A few extra days either side turns a cruise into a proper trip.
Who you’ll work with
Pick the office nearest you.
All four of our advisors plan Alaska. Which one you work with is usually just a question of which office you’d rather walk into.
Dunwoody
Leslie
She’s been to Alaska herself, and has been planning travel since 1990. Ask her about the history nobody told you to look for.
Dunwoody
Steve
Left a career as a chiropractor for a year-long trip around the world, and came back to help other people take theirs.
Tuscaloosa
Stella
A year living abroad taught her to travel slowly. She builds trips around local life rather than the tourist checklist.
Go deeper
More on Alaska
Region guides, cruise lines, and current offers — kept up to date through our relationships with colleagues around the world.
Ready when you are.
Tell us roughly what you have in mind and we’ll take it from there.
