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Quick question: when you picture Alaska, what do you see? Probably the postcard. A cruise ship sliding past a glacier. A bear snagging some salmon. Snowy peaks, endless sky, maybe a moose for good measure.
It’s all real! But ask someone who actually lives there, and you’ll hear about mosquito season, the drive that takes all day, and the beach you have to visit at low tide.
“A lot of guests don’t understand the scale of Alaska. Seeing Alaska involves a lot of travel from here to there, but the travel time is never wasted. Everywhere you go in Alaska is beautiful.”
– Karen Siegfried, Big Lake
So we skipped the guidebooks and went straight to the source for our Alaska travel tips: our colleagues at Going Places Travelโs Alaska offices. Willamette International Travel is part of the Going Places Travel family, and these advisors donโt just plan Alaska trips. They live there. Here’s Alaska, according to them.
Meet the Locals
First, meet your Alaska ambassadors. Two were born here, one fell for Alaska from the deck of a cruise ship, and one came for a summer and never left.
Karen Siegfried, Travel Advisor Big Lake ยท Born and raised in Anchorage ยท Why she stays: “Well, everywhere else is too hot.” Favorite season: Fall. “I love wind and rain, and weather that is warm enough but after the mosquitoes leave. Also, the fall colors are gorgeous.”
Jesse Voice, Travel Advisor Anchorage ยท About six months in Alaska ยท Came for a summer adventure and stayed “for all the places left to explore.” Favorite season: Autumn. “You can’t beat all the colors of autumn: yellow and orange leaves, red tundra, crisp white snow caps on the mountains, blue skies, and a still lake to reflect it all.”
Kelly Jo Rodriguez, Senior Travel Consultant Anchorage ยท Born and raised in Alaska. Her grandparents arrived in the early 1900s, before Anchorage existed. Favorite season: All of them. “The stunning snow in winter, the beautiful colors of fall, the new buds of spring, and the flowers of summer and the long sunsets.”
Natalia Lizogubova, Corporate Travel Advisor Anchorage ยท Five years in Alaska. She first saw the state while working on cruise ships and “fell in love with what I saw right away.” Years later, tired of Los Angeles, she rearranged her life in two weeks, took a summer job in Talkeetna, and later settled in Anchorage. Favorite season: Summer. “Alaska summers are fabulous.”
What They Wish Visitors Knew
Every place has its myths, and Alaska has more than its share. Here’s what our advisors wish they could tell every traveler before the plane touches down.
It’s bigger than you think. Almost every advisor brought this one up first: distance. “Even though there is a road, it takes a full day of travel from Whittier to Denali, or vice versa,” Jesse says. “Stay two nights in Denali, not just one!”
Karen adds that it pays to be specific about what you want to see. “If a guest asks for Glacier Bay specifically, I will include it. But if the guest asks for glaciers in general, I may find better options with less travel time.”
Summer and northern lights don’t mix. “There are no northern lights in the middle of summer,” Jesse says. “It’s hardly ever fully dark!”
It’s not always dark and cold. “Yes, in winter,” Natalia says. Summer is the opposite. In Anchorage, you get more than 19 hours of daylight around the summer solstice in late June. Up in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), the sun doesn’t set for nearly three months, from mid-May to early August.
Wildlife is wild. “You will never be guaranteed to see that moose or bear, however likely sightings are,” Jesse says. Karen puts it simply: “Everything is based on odds.”
Kelly Jo agrees: “We do not parade the wildlife out, but they are around often.”
Give yourself more time. Asked what clients wish they’d known, Karen didn’t hesitate: “Many guests wish they’d given themselves more time.”
A cruise is just the start. “Taking an Alaskan cruise, you are only seeing a very small part of Alaska,” Kelly Jo says. “Even just seeing Alaska by road, you only see a small part.” What do her clients wish they’d known? “Just how much there is to see.”
Yes, it gets hot. Nobody believes this one until it happens to them. “I had family here from West Texas, and they had to go inside because it was too hot outside,” Kelly Jo says. Pack the sunscreen right next to the rain jacket!
Jesse’s Pick: Book two nights in Denali, not one. A full day of travel each way doesn’t leave much time for the park itself.
– Jesse Voice, Anchorage
When to Go
Most visitors come in summer, and it’s easy to see why. Cruise season runs roughly May through September, the days are long (sunset-near-midnight long), and nearly everything is open.
But summer isn’t the only answer. The shoulder months bring fewer crowds and, in late summer and early fall, changing colors across the tundra. And winter, especially in the Interior, is northern lights season.
So when would the locals go? Turns out they can’t agree. And honestly? That’s the best part!
Summer: pick your moment. Karen’s pick is late August. “The fall colors come in, the mosquitoes start to leave, and if you go late enough in the month, the northern lights may be visible while summer tours are still possible.”
Jesse leans a little earlier, from late July to early August. It’s salmon season, so bear viewing tours tend to be successful. Days are warmer and sunnier, and every vendor is still running a full schedule. And here’s a tip you won’t find in most guides: by then, “the seasonal workforce has gained experience in their roles, so they can generally deliver a better tour.”
Kelly Jo goes earlier still: June or July, “for the best wildlife viewing and the flowers.”
September: color, lights, and polar bears. “September is super underrated for how beautiful all the autumn colors are,” Jesse says. “Seeing these rugged landscapes with a variety of yellows and reds is very special.” Karen notes it’s colder, but it’s a good month to pair the northern lights with summer activities. It’s also the short window when a polar bear excursion is possible.
Kelly Jo agrees: “In September you have the mountains full of color and it is dark enough to see the northern lights.”
May: cheaper, but it’s Breakup. May is usually less expensive, but the weather can be volatile. “May is not spring, it’s Breakup,” Karen says. “Bring water boots, because puddles from all the snow melting can become mini lakes.”
Kelly Jo is a little more blunt: “Early May can be a little blah. The snow is just melting, and the trees are not leafed out yet.”
Winter: not as scary as it sounds. “Winter trips are fun too,” Karen says. Her winter cheat sheet:
- Northern lights: best around either equinox (March and September)
- Dog sledding and skiing: mid-November through March
- Fur Rondy and the Iditarod: late February to early March
- Hot springs in Fairbanks: “best the colder it is outside”
For Kelly Jo, winter comes down to two things: “There is nothing like being in a winter wonderland and viewing the northern lights. Or soaking in the hot springs while the snow is falling.”
Natalia would actually have a friend visit twice: once in January and once in July, to get the most out of both seasons. Many of her winter clients come for the northern lights alone. Her go-to winter trip:
- Ride the Alaska Railroad’s Aurora Winter Train to Fairbanks
- Soak at Chena Hot Springs
- Take a sled dog tour
- Chase the northern lights with a tour like Borealis Basecamp
- Go flightseeing over Denali
Karen’s Pick: Late August. You get fall color, fewer mosquitoes, and a shot at the northern lights while summer tours are still running.
– Karen Siegfried, Big Lake
Where They Actually Go
Alaska is more than twice the size of Texas, and the fastest way to wear yourself out is trying to see all of it. It helps to think in regions:
| Region | Includes | Known For |
| Inside Passage (Southeast) | Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway | Cruise routes, glaciers, rainforest, whales |
| Southcentral | Anchorage, Seward, Homer, Valdez, McCarthy, Kenai Peninsula | Road and rail access, fjords, fishing |
| Interior | Fairbanks, Denali National Park | Road and rail access, fjords, fishing |
| Southwest | Kodiak, Katmai | Brown bears, fishing |
| Far North | Utqiagvik, Brooks Range | Remote wilderness, midnight sun |
Kelly Joโs Fun Fact: Alaska is the northernmost, westernmost, AND easternmost state.
- Northernmost: Alaska reaches well above the Arctic Circle. Its northernmost point, Point Barrow, sits at about 71ยฐ north.
- Westernmost: The Aleutian Islands stretch so far into the Pacific that they cross the 180th meridian.
- Easternmost: And because they cross it, a few of those islands land in the Eastern Hemisphere. That technically makes Alaska farther east than Maine!
That’s the map. Now here’s where the locals go when nobody’s paying them to plan a trip.
Their days off. Karen likes short weekend trips: Kenai Fjords, Chena Hot Springs, and Matanuska Glacier. Her favorite place of all is Fox Island, in Resurrection Bay outside Seward.
For a day out of Anchorage, Jesse heads to Eklutna Lake to rent a kayak for a few hours. Come winter, heโs planning to snowboard at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood.
Kelly Jo spends most summer days off in her garden. When she hits the road, it’s usually to Homer. “As you crest the hill driving into Homer, there is an OMG moment with the view of the Homer Spit, the bay, and the mountains on the other side. It does not matter if it’s winter or summer, or how many hundreds of times I have made that trip, it still makes me go WOW.” Then again, she says, so does her drive home each day in Anchorage.
The places that deserve more love. Karen’s pick is McCarthy, inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. “It’s an often overlooked location since it involves a lot of driving to get to. However, once you arrive, it’s uncrowded and has a wonderful mix of hiking trails and history.”
For Jesse, it’s Homer. “Homer is a gem, and well worth the drive. If you visit around low tide, put on your rubber boots and go for a walk on Bishop’s Beach. You can find all sorts of sea creatures in the tide pools. It’s also the best spot for halibut: fishing, dining, or both!”
Kelly Jo had a hard time choosing. “Really, they are all beautiful.” If she had to pick one, it would be Valdez, “as it is off the beaten path a little bit.” Natalia seconds Karen’s pick: McCarthy and its neighbor, Kennicott.
Experiences That Stick
Glaciers and wildlife are on every Alaska list for good reason. But we wanted to know what people are still talking about once they get home. Here’s what our advisors hear about, over and over.
Get up in the air. “It’s always the flightseeing tours that clients remember the most,” Jesse says. “When you are in a small plane or helicopter in the middle of Alaska’s vast, untouched wilderness, it makes you feel so tiny.” He remembers watching a bright blue puddle below his helicopter grow into the size of a lake by the time they touched down on the glacier beside it.
His most unforgettable trip was a flight into Redoubt Bay, then a small boat into remote bear country, “watching a mother bear and cubs fishing for salmon right in front of us, oblivious to us even watching.”
Karen’s advice is to start with what you really want. “Every guest is different. The important thing is to figure out which experience the guest really has in mind and find the best way to make it happen. It could be whales, northern lights, or something else.”
Kelly Jo hears the same thing about flightseeing over Denali and bear viewing. As one of her clients put it this year: “It was all so much more than we could have imagined.”
Denali, Done Right
Karenโs rule: go long. โI recommend the longest bus tour into Denali National Park.โ That means riding to the very end of the park road. โIt takes 11 to 13 hours, but it is so worth it.โ
And the timing couldnโt be better. The far end of the Denali Park Road has been closed since 2021 because of a landslide at Pretty Rocks. A new bridge opened in September 2026, and full bus service is expected to return for the 2027 season.
Want something shorter? Jesse likes hiking Denaliโs trails or taking the Tundra Wilderness Tour bus. Kelly Jo is a fan of the Denali bus trip too, plus a guided heli-hike, which she calls โstunning without all the people.โ
Food
In Anchorage, Jesse sends everyone to Wild Scoops for ice cream. They have the classics plus Alaska-inspired flavors like fireweed honey and wild blueberry. Their spot at 49th State Brewing is a โcone-tainer,โ a shipping container turned ice cream shack. In Homer, itโs all about halibut.
Kelly Jo keeps it simple: “Our salmon or crab is great and served in many restaurants.”
Natalia’s must-try list is short and sweet: Alaska halibut and salmon.
And in McCarthy, Karen says, “there are only 25 permanent residents, but also one of the most celebrated restaurants in the state. McCarthy Lodge’s Salmon & Bear lists a 2026 National Geographic Traveller Culinary Collection 50 award.
- Cruise ship, the classic way to see the Inside Passage
- Alaska Railroad, which connects Seward, Anchorage, Denali, and Fairbanks
- State ferry, linking coastal towns along the Alaska Marine Highway
- Small plane, for remote areas, flightseeing, and bear viewing
- Rental car or RV, for the road system around Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, and the Interior
So which one’s right for you? Our advisors have thoughts!
Cruise, Land, or Both?
Hereโs the good news: thereโs no wrong answer. Alaska is just as stunning from the deck of a ship as it is from the window of a train.
Why cruise: A cruise is the way to see the fjords and glaciers from the water, Jesse says, and to reach towns like Ketchikan and Juneau that arenโt on the road system. Karen adds that cruises are a great fit for large families, travelers with mobility issues, and anyone who loves creature comforts and hotel amenities. And just ask Natalia. Cruising is how she first met Alaska, visiting every major port while working on cruise ships. She โfell in love with what I saw right awayโ and eventually moved here.
Why land: A land trip lets you string together destinations along the road system, with more chances to spot wildlife and add on flightseeing, rafting, hiking, ATV tours, or fishing. โFor the smaller, more individualized experience, and for trips into Alaskaโs interior, a land tour is going to offer more flexibility,โ Karen says.
Why not both? Plenty of travelers pair a cruise with a few days on land. Many Alaska cruises start or end in Seward or Whittier, which makes it easy to tack on Denali, Kenai Fjords, or bear country before or after you sail.
A Week in Alaska, Planned by a Local
Whether itโs your whole trip or the add-on to your cruise, hereโs how a local would do it. Karen would build most first trips around Denali National Park and Kenai Fjords National Park: interior tundra and taiga with large land animals, plus coastal scenery with glaciers and whales. Jesseโs sample week does exactly that, starting from Anchorage, โa good base to fly in and out.โ
- Anchorage to Seward. Drive south through Girdwood, with lunch at the aerial tram’s top station. Continue down the scenic Seward Highway, stopping for photos along the way.
- Kenai Fjords. Take a Kenai Fjords cruise to spot whales and other sea life. Spend a second night in Seward.
- Back to Anchorage. Stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the drive (Team Stop, remember?), then spend the afternoon at the museum or the Alaska Native Heritage Center.
- Bears of Redoubt Bay. Fly out of Lake Hood for a flightseeing and boat tour to watch bears.
- Pick your finale. Head north to Denali by way of Talkeetna for lunch. Hike the park trails, visit the sled dogs, and consider extras like a Denali flightseeing tour, a glacier landing, rafting, or an ATV adventure. Or head east through Palmer and the Chugach Mountains to Valdez for a guided fishing charter, the salmon hatchery, Bridal Veil Falls, and Valdez Glacier.
Practical Alaska Travel Tips
Alaska weather likes to keep you guessing, and the temperature can swing a lot in a single day. Here’s how the locals stay comfortable.
What to Pack
“Layer up instead of bundling up,” Karen says. “The temperature can change a lot over a day.” Her rule of thumb is easy to remember: “Wool = W = warm. Cotton = C = cold.”
Jesse agrees on warm layers and adds wet weather gear, “especially if you’re doing a Kenai Fjords cruise, as you will freeze!” He also recommends bringing seasickness medication for the cruise, ask your doctor or pharmacist which option is right for you.
Where Your Budget Goes
Jesse sees the most underspending on excursions. “You can enjoy traveling Alaska plenty without adding on extras, don’t get me wrong. But Alaska is often a once-in-a-lifetime destination, and there is nothing like taking a small plane to land on a glacier, hike in the tundra, circle the peak of Denali, and view some of the 3 million lakes from the air.”
Karen says lodging inside the national parks is expensive, “but it shouldn’t be viewed as a hotel cost alone. Usually, these locations include unparalleled access to remote and beautiful scenery which can’t be matched.”
One Last Look Out the Window
Before you go, a few last stories. Karen’s favorite Alaska memory is a toss-up. One is sailing on a Kenai Fjords cruise “and seeing twenty whales swim right by the prow of the ship.” The other is quieter:
“Waking up to a tray of fresh coffee and cream on my cabin doorstep at Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge and watching a few sea lions on the beach before breakfast.”
– Karen Siegfried, Big Lake
For Natalia, five years in, it’s still “the wilderness, the vastness, the stillness, and the majesty of it.”
Kelly Jo has lived in Alaska her whole life, and it still gets her “every time I see wildlife, even if they think my garden is a salad bar.” Her favorite client story? A traveler who came home upset with her. She had booked the cruise cabin he asked for, one with no windows. His complaint: “You did not tell me how much there was to see.”
Ready to see Alaska the way the locals do? Willamette International Travel is proud to be part of the Going Places Travel family, with offices in Portland, Anchorage, and Wasilla, plus Berkeley, Danville, and La Jolla in California. That means when you plan Alaska with us, youโre working with advisors who actually live there. Give our Alaska team a call:
Anchorage: 907-562-2213
Wasilla: 907-376-5231
Or reach us here in Portland at 503-224-0180. You can find all of our locations at Going Places Travel.
Willamette International Travel is proud to be part of the Going Places Travel family. A big thank-you to Karen, Jesse, Kelly Jo, and Natalia from our Alaska offices for sharing their time, their stories, and their favorite spots.
Photo Credits
Jesse Voice and Kelly Jo Rodriguez
Ready to see Alaska the way the locals do? Contact our excellent travel experts at 503-224-0180 or emailย [email protected].
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