Alaska Things to Do By Category

With so many activities available to Alaska visitors, one of the best ways to choose the things you'll do while traveling is by picking favorite types of experiences first. Are you interested in active adventures like hiking or biking? Would you prefer to sit back and sightsee? Take a private tour with a local guide? Eager to try your hand at fishing Alaska's waters? You can do it all.

Because of their accessibility, and the access many can give to Alaska's genuine backcountry, most visitors include one or two Alaska bus tours in their trip. These range from city tours in Fairbanks and Anchorage, to full-day wildlife bus trips deep into Denali National Park. Equally popular for similar reasons are Alaska day cruises. Exploring places like Kenai Fjords National Park, Resurrection Bay, and Prince William Sound, these boat tours take you through Alaska's vivid glacial waters.

Keeping in mind that less than one quarter of Alaska is accessible by road, Alaska helicopter tours and Alaska flightseeing trips are two of the best ways to see the state's vast, untamed, and wildly beautiful landscapes. Some trips, like the popular Denali Experience Scenic Flight, spend their duration in the air. Others include a landing, sometimes on a glacier and other times on a remote alpine ridge, and time to explore the surprising surroundings on foot.

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Often incorporating travel by air and land, tours to the Arctic Circle take visitors off the beaten path to remote locales that most others never see. If you're looking for "only in Alaska" activities, the Arctic Circle is a good start.

Along with bike tours, zip line adventures, and jeep or ATV tours, guided hiking trips are ideal for active travelers seeking a few more heart-thumping activities for their Alaska vacations.

For more ideas about where to go and what to see in Alaska, check out our top Alaska attractions.

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