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Southeast Alaska

Southeast Alaska is so un-Alaska. While much of the state is a treeless expanse of land with a layer of permafrost, the Panhandle is a slender, long rainforest that stretches 540 miles from Icy Bay, near Yakutat, south to Portland Canal and is filled with ice-blue glaciers, rugged snowcapped mountains, towering Sitka spruce and a thousand islands known as the Alexander Archipelago.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

Mendenhall Glacier
Juneau
Going to Juneau and not seeing the Mendenhall is like visiting Rome and skipping the Colosseum. The most famous of Juneau’s ice floes, and the city’s most…
Tongass National Forest
Southeast Alaska
Welcome to the largest national forest in the US, a tract of land almost the size of Ireland and significantly larger than adjacent Wrangell-St Elias…
Hubbard Glacier
Southeast Alaska
Just 30 miles north of Yakutat is Hubbard Glacier, the largest tidewater glacier in North America. The 8-mile-wide frozen behemoth is easily Alaska’s most…
Saxman Native Village & Totem Park
Ketchikan
On South Tongass Hwy, 2.5 miles south of Ketchikan, is this incorporated Tlingit village of 475 residents. It's best known for Saxman Totem Park, which…
Wrangell Museum
Southeast Alaska
This impressive museum is what the colorful history and characters of Wrangell deserve. As you stroll through the many rooms, an audio narration…
Totem Heritage Center
Ketchikan
For a crash course in Southeast Alaska's impressive totem art look no further than the Totem Heritage Center, where old poles brought from deserted…
Treadwell Mine Historical Trail
Juneau
It's hard to envisage today, but the Treadwell mine on Douglas Island was once the largest gold mine in the world, set up like a minitown with its own…
Mt Roberts Tramway
Juneau
As far as cable cars go, this tramway is rather expensive for a five-minute ride. But from a marketing point of view its location couldn’t be better. It…