Towering fjords, calving glaciers, pods of spouting whales and masterfully carved totem poles: these are just a few of the wonders to be seen on Viking’s 11-day tour through some of Southeast Alaska’s most beautiful landscapes. This route, on board Viking Venus, travels from the tree-lined shores of Vancouver, British Columbia, into Alaska’s Inside Passage, protected from intense weather by a series of islands in the west and the mainland shore to the east.
Vancouver, Canada
VANCOUVER
Vancouver was once a thriving, seasonal Indigenous village, named K’emk’emeláy for its plentiful maple trees. Now, it’s the largest port city in Canada. Before boarding Viking Venus to head north, there’s a lot to see here. Bustling Granville Island Public Market makes an excellent introduction to the city’s offerings, or dive deep into culture at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.
Vancouver is also uncommonly green, with more than 10% of its land cover dedicated to parklands. One particular treasure is 1,000-acre Stanley Park, whose seawall merges into the 17-mile Seaside Greenway that runs along the Vancouver shoreline. Once aboard and sailing north to Alaska, keep an eye on the shoreline. The ship will pass small shacks onshore and buoys that mark crab pots in the water. For all this coastline’s rugged, remote nature, it’s also home to plenty of fantastic wildlife.
Ketchikan, Alaska
KETCHIKAN
It takes a full day at sea to reach Ketchikan. It’s nicknamed Alaska’s First City because it’s so often the first port of call for ships entering the Inside Passage. This 8,000-person city clings to a mountainside that is all but engulfed by the Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world. In fact, the Tongass’s tall evergreen trees cover almost the entirety of Southeast Alaska.
But Ketchikan is home to a second sort of forest: the world’s largest collection of totem poles. There are more than 80, some scattered unassumingly in pocket parks around town, with the largest and most evocative collections in Totem Bight State Park, to the north, and Saxman Native Village to the south. Another 30 totem poles have been carefully preserved in Totem Heritage Center, one of two small but excellent city museums.
Ketchikan generally deals in big, bombastic experiences, from a Deadliest Catch themed tour aboard a crab boat to high-energy lumberjack competitions that celebrate the region’s logging history. But there are also quieter gems such as historic Creek Street, a series of boardwalks set on stilts over Ketchikan Creek. Once the city’s red-light district, it’s now full of friendly, locally owned shops.
Also worth a visit is the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center, part visitor center, part natural history museum with 20,000 square feet of exhibits. Or, for a more unusual experience, consider donning a thick wet suit and joining a snorkeling tour in the frigid coastal waters, getting an up-close look at the unique sea creatures — the only activity of its sort in Alaska.
Sitka National Historical Park, Alaska
SITKA
Unlike the more protected communities along the Inside Passage, Sitka sits on the ocean side of Baranof Island, facing out into the restless Gulf of Alaska. This only emphasizes the town’s striking and sometimes temperamental beauty, as swaths of lush, temperate rainforest surge up into tundra-clad mountain peaks on one side, melting down into the Gulf on the other. Sitka’s cruise terminal doubles as a bustling marketplace, with restaurants, merchants, artisans and tour outfitters, ready to dispatch e-bikes, sea kayaks and free shuttles to downtown Sitka. One of the most prominent features in Sitka proper is Castle Hill: this tree-clad overlook was first a stronghold for the Tlingit people, then seized by the Russians after years of conflict. In 1867, it was the site chosen for the official transfer of Alaska into American hands.
Many other relics of Sitka’s multilayered Tlingit, Russian and American history — and ways to learn more about them — are available throughout town. These include the carefully restored 19th-century Russian Bishop’s House; the immersive history lessons from the Alaska Storytellers; and the vibrant singing, dancing and storytelling of the Naa Kahídi Tlingit dancers. There’s also an easy, paved Sea Walk that travels down the city coast, past the harbor and a small hatchery, and finally out to the walking trails of Sitka National Historical Park, where totem poles stand silent witness to the growth of the rainforest and the changing tide. Wildlife sightings are always possible in and around Sitka, but the best odds are at the city’s two sanctuary and rehabilitation facilities: Alaska Raptor Center and the Fortress of the Bear.
Juneau, Alaska
JUNEAU
More than a decade before the Klondike Gold Rush, there was the Juneau Gold Rush, ignited in 1880 when Kawa.ée of the Auk Tlingit people guided prospectors Joe Juneau and Richard Harris to a gold-bearing creek near what is now downtown Juneau. Gold fever drove eager prospectors north, but Juneau continued growing even when that fever ebbed. The focus of local industry shifted to mining and milling, and Juneau was named the new capital of Alaska — the only state capital in the nation that can’t be reached by road or rail.
Despite that relative isolation, Juneau is a bustling hub of government, commerce, healthcare and travel in this part of the state. Excursion options include whale watching, day cruises up nearby fjords, visiting the Mendenhall Glacier and bear viewing trips in local bush planes.
Don’t miss the chance to stroll a few blocks away from the cruise ship docks and shop in local stores. Or follow the trail of carved totem poles that line the cruise ship boardwalk, eventually leading uphill to the Walter Soboleff Center. This mini-museum of Alaska Native culture, artwork and regalia also contains a full-sized replica of a hand-adzed cedar clan house and a unique exhibit on native masks.
Skagway, Alaska
SKAGWAY
No Alaska community is as strongly associated with the 1896 Klondike Gold Rush as Skagway, Alaska’s famed “Gateway to the Klondike.” Originally used by the Chilkoot and Chilkat Tlingit people for hunting and fishing, Skagway quickly shot to fame as the port where hopeful prospectors arrived by ship and made their way over the relatively easy White Pass to reach the Klondike gold fields.
The port town itself boomed as some people stayed and made their living by providing essential services for incoming prospectors. Others took advantage, including Skagway’s most famous scoundrel, Jefferson “Soapy” Smith, who sold bars of soap purported to have cash bills inside the wrapper — but only Soapy’s accomplices found money in their soap.
Park rangers dish out lessons about the Gold Rush and Soapy Smith’s scams in the museums of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Further into town, Skagway morphs from the Gold Rush-era facades of the park to a sweet town with quaint shops and local artisans. Other attractions include hikes and a scenic train ride on the historic White Pass & Yukon Railroad, which once drew so many gold miners to their fortune.
Alaskan Brown Bears
ICY STRAIT POINT
Each day of this sailing highlights a new aspect of Alaska’s raw, visceral beauty. At Icy Strait Point, passengers will explore the human relationship to that wildness, as shared through the stories of the port’s owners — a corporation representing the descendants of the Tlingit people, who’ve lived in this area for thousands of years.
Some 85% of the port’s staff are Tlingit people from the neighboring town of Hoonah. They have tales to tell, and they know where to find the best of everything. Whether fishing, kayaking, whale-watching, searching for bears, birdwatching, enjoying a gondola ride up the mountain or zooming back down on the world’s largest ZipRider, visitors to this port are in expert hands.
Speaking of whales, Icy Strait Point is within reach of Glacier Bay National Park, so the same marine life abounds in these waters, too. Lastly, don’t miss a chance to tour Icy Strait Point itself and learn more about its history, from cultural demonstrations to a tour of the cannery that was once the key driver of commerce in this area.
Hubbard Glacier, Alaska
HUBBARD GLACIER
One might argue that the truest Alaska experience comes between ports of call, as Viking Venus sails through exactly the sort of untrammeled wilderness that populates tourism brochures — except this is real life. That’s certainly the case for this day at sea near Hubbard Glacier, which springs to life from an ice field on the flanks of mighty 19,551-foot Mount Logan in Canada’s Yukon territory. The glacier’s calving face is six or seven miles wide and about 600 feet tall, although “just” 350 feet of that appears above the waterline. The glacier’s face is roughly equivalent to a 35-story skyscraper, if that same building had another 25 levels in the basement.
When the glacier calves, it becomes more obvious why Viking Venus and all other ships stand off at a safe distance. The ship-sized pieces of ice that crumble off its face can break into smaller pieces that travel a great distance through the air, and “shooters” — chunks of ice that break off beneath the waterline — can surface nearly a quarter-mile from the glacier face.
Valdez, Alaska
VALDEZ
Valdez may be one of the smallest ports Viking Venus calls at, but it looms remarkably large in Alaska’s history. It first sprang to life as a tent city, populated by eager gold prospectors who’d been lured in by stories of a fictitious route over Valdez Glacier and into Interior Alaska. They arrived expecting an established trail but were met with raw wilderness instead.
That original townsite was destroyed in 1964, with searing loss of life, by a tsunami from the magnitude 9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake — the second-largest earthquake ever recorded. The people of Valdez rebuilt their town in a more stable and protected position, only to endure another disaster as, some 25 years later, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground on a nearby reef and spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the waters of Prince William Sound. These days, the casual observer would never see the marks of that tragic past, but Valdez’s small, city-run museums excel at showcasing the community’s place amid all that history.
The most exciting destination in town has to be Solomon Gulch Hatchery, where thousands of fish swarm home to spawn — and sea lions, bears and other wildlife often congregate to feed on all those fish. There’s also a chance of seeing bears at the Crooked Creek Salmon Spawning Area, just a short distance up the road.
Alaskan Totem
SEWARD
Seward is Viking Venus’s last port of call on the itinerary, and the first with connections to Alaska’s road and rail systems. With the aid of a train or rented car, travelers can journey inland to destinations like Anchorage, Talkeetna, Fairbanks and Denali National Park. But it’s worth spending at least a day here — a small, welcoming community.
Seward has a knack for setting tired travelers at ease. Maybe it’s the fresh air, or watching the lapping waters of Resurrection Bay, which are either moody gray or crisp aquamarine depending on the weather. A few gems shine among Seward activities: the first is Fort McGilvray, a Second World War-era relic that still keeps watch from a nearby promontory and can be reached by kayak or water taxi, followed by a two-mile hike. Next are the hiking trails in Kenai Fjords National Park (reached by shuttle bus). In Seward, day cruises provide great odds of seeing whales, while the Alaska SeaLife Center offers up-close encounters with seals, sea lions, puffins and even octopuses.
Writer: Lisa Maloney
