Anchorage walking tour & city guide

Downtown Anchorage

Downtown is compact and easy to walk. The Anchorage Museum is the best place to learn about Alaska's art, history and cultures, and the 4th Avenue area has shops selling Native crafts and furs. In summer, flower baskets hang from every lamppost, and the weekend market draws crowds.

Native heritage and wildlife

The Alaska Native Heritage Center presents the cultures of Alaska's indigenous peoples, with traditional dwellings around a lake and performances of dance and games. The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, an hour south along the scenic Seward Highway, shelters bears, moose and musk oxen.

A classic walk on the Coastal Trail

The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail starts at the western end of downtown and follows the shore of Cook Inlet for about 18 kilometers. A good walk is from downtown to Westchester Lagoon and on to Earthquake Park, where you can see the land changes caused by the great earthquake of 1964.

Along the way, there are views across the water to the mountains, and on clear days you can see Denali, North America's highest peak, far to the north. Keep an eye out for moose. The walk to Earthquake Park is about 7 kilometers.

Visiting tips

Summer, from June to August, brings very long days and the best weather. Winter is dark and cold, but it is a good time to see the northern lights and the start of the famous Iditarod sled dog race in March. Day cruises to the glaciers of Prince William Sound leave from Whittier, about 90 minutes away.