Fly into Ted Stevens International Airport and transfer to your nearby hotel. In the evening, settle in early for a good night's rest. The adventure is just beginning. Overnight Anchorage.

Discover the rowdy history of Alaska's largest city on a guided tour of Anchorage. You'll visit Earthquake Park, the old town site (and now renowned king salmon fishery) at Ship Creek, and Lake Hood, the busiest seaplane airport in the world.

The rest of the day is yours to enjoy Anchorage on your own. Overnight Anchorage.

Pick up your rental car, stop to stock up on road snacks, and hit the highway headed for Seward. The drive takes just under three hours without stops, but you'll want to make plenty along the way: Check out Beluga Point, the rest area at Turnagain Pass, and picturesque Summit Lake. Overnight Seward.

Today you'll trade travel by highway for a full-day boat tour out of Seward and into the far reaches of Kenai Fjords National Park. The day's destination is the isolated Northwestern Fjord, a quiet inlet less often visited by tour boats. Here you'll see colossal tidewater glaciers, rugged cliffs laced with waterfalls, forests dense with Sitka spruce, and plentiful marine wildlife. Overnight Seward.

Retrace the road you traveled into Seward, this time turning west onto the Sterling Highway once you reach Kenai Lake. You'll soon pass the Russian River, home to one of the state's most accessible and thereby busiest sockeye salmon streams. From here it's another two hours to Homer. Overnight Homer.

You've got quite the day in ahead of you! You'll spend about four hours across the bay on a guided kayaking tour. After your return by water taxi be sure to take some time to stroll through the shops and galleries on the Homer Spit. Overnight Homer.

You'll return toward the Turnagain Arm today, bound for Girdwood. Overnight Girdwood.

Continue through Anchorage and north on the Glenn Highway to the Alaska Glacier Lodge near Palmer. Although it's not far from civilization, the lodge has the feel of a remote backcountry hideaway. Settle into your cabin and enjoy a quiet evening on your private porch. Overnight Palmer.

So far you've seen Alaska by land and by water. Today you'll see it by air. Your morning helicopter tour leaves from a helipad at the lodge. You'll quickly gain altitude and views, too, rising over ridgelines and zooming along mountainsides bordering the valley carved out by the mighty Knik Glacier. You'll explore that glacier by foot for 30 minutes before returning to your lodge.

The rest of the day is yours to enjoy. Overnight Palmer.

Your drive today rivals any other in the state in terms of the diversity of scenery you'll see. Leaving Palmer, you'll climb through the steeply walled Matanuska Valley and crest within view of the Matanuska Glacier. From here it's scraggly spruce and brushy tundra, followed by the stark and rocky Thompson Pass (the snowiest place in Alaska) and the misty Keystone Canyon. Overnight Valdez.

After a relaxed breakfast at your hotel, walk the few blocks to the Valdez harbor to catch your day cruise to Columbia Glacier. The Columbia is a highly active glacier and one of the most quickly retreating glaciers in the world. Overnight Valdez.

Take time to explore a few roadside gems on the way from Valdez to McCarthy: Horsetail and Bridal Falls, which are two of the more predominant wispy waterfalls in Keystone Canyon, and the Worthington Glacier State Recreation Site. After leaving the main Richardson Highway, you'll head east into Wrangell-St. Elias National Park via the gravel McCarthy Road. Once you've reached the road's end, it is just five more miles by shuttle to the Kennicott Glacier Lodge. Overnight Kennicott.

Spend the morning exploring the dynamic features of nearby Root Glacier on a guided hike. The afternoon is yours to visit the Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark and the funky-rustic enclave of McCarthy. Overnight Kennicott.

It's your last day on the road as you retrace your steps on the McCarthy Road and continue traveling north to Fairbanks. Much of the landscape on the way is vast tundra bordered by the snowy caps of nearby mountains. Once you arrive in town, you'll drop off your rental car. Overnight Fairbanks.

Continue your travels north on a full-day tour into the Arctic Circle. The trip starts by van on the Dalton Highway, a remote "thoroughfare" known by locals as the Haul Road. Your turnaround point is the tiny outpost of Coldfoot. From here you'll return to Fairbanks by small plane. Overnight Fairbanks.

Sit back and relax aboard a new kind of ride this morning as you leave Fairbanks via the Alaska Railroad. The train arrives at the Denali Depot around midday. Overnight Denali.

You'll spend the day traveling into Denali National Park on a guided wildlife bus tour. Time in the park passes quickly as you spot wildlife, learn the park's history, and view its varying landscapes. Overnight Denali.

Continue your railroad journey south today, leaving the Denali Depot around midday for the next major stop of the track. The small town of Talkeetna is often called the "Gateway to Denali," as most climbers who come to scale North America's tallest mountain catch flights from here to base camp. Overnight Talkeetna.

You'll experience that flight into the mountains for yourself today, taking off in a small plane from the Talkeetna Airport and heading northwest into the Alaska Range. The scenery is unlike anything you'll see in your previous weeks in Alaska. The granite peaks are harsh and wild, the glaciers snaking between them unbelievably deep. Depending on the weather and route, you'll see some notable landmarks by air: Denali's south face, the Sheldon Amphitheater, the Great Gorge of Ruth Glacier.

Spend the afternoon taking in the town galleries, shops, eateries, and local characters. Overnight Talkeetna.

Board the train for your final ride from Talkeetna to Anchorage. The package ends with an overnight in Anchorage.