Home › The Guild Travel Library › United States › Alaska
Alaska
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
The Last Frontier · Capital: Juneau · The West
Glaciers, grizzlies and the midnight sun — the great American wilderness at full scale.
Why go
What makes Alaska worth the trip.
Raw wilderness
Denali, fjords and ice fields on a scale nowhere else in the country matches.
Wildlife
Bears, whales, moose and bald eagles, often from the road or a boat deck.
Cruise gateway
The Inside Passage is one of the world's great cruise routes.
Alaska on the map
The capital and the places worth building a trip around. Click a marker for a quick note and hotels.
Alaska — State Facts
A short history
Alaska has been home to Indigenous peoples — Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Haida and others — for many thousands of years, with cultures deeply adapted to sea, ice and forest. Russian fur traders arrived in the 1700s, founding settlements before the United States purchased the territory from Russia in 1867 for about two cents an acre, a deal once mocked as 'Seward's Folly.'
Gold rushes in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including the Klondike rush that also transformed Canada's Yukon, drew prospectors north and built towns like Skagway and Nome. Alaska became the 49th U.S. state in 1959, and the 1968 discovery of North Slope oil, followed by the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, reshaped its economy and infrastructure.
Today fishing, oil, tourism and the military anchor the economy. Alaska Native corporations play an outsized economic and cultural role, and cruise-based tourism through the Inside Passage has made glaciers, fjords and wildlife-watching central to how the world experiences the state.
The United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for about two cents an acre, a deal critics mocked at the time as 'Seward's Folly' — until gold, then oil, made it look like the bargain of the century.
Where to go
The signature places to build a trip around.
Juneau
Ice-locked capital reachable only by sea or air; Mendenhall Glacier is minutes away.
Selected hotels
Denali National Park
North America's tallest peak and free-roaming wildlife.
Selected hotels
Anchorage
The practical base — mountains, museums and floatplanes.
Selected hotels
Seward & Kenai Fjords
Glacier-and-whale day cruises from a walkable little port.
Selected hotels
Skip the big cruise-ship crowds in Juneau at midday and go up to the Mendenhall Glacier viewpoint early morning instead — you'll have the ice caves and the quiet almost to yourself before the buses roll in.
When to go
June–August for long days and open roads; May and September are quieter and cheaper.
Winter (Dec–Feb)
Dark, cold and snowy, with prime aurora viewing away from coastal cloud cover.
Spring (Mar–May)
Snow lingers in the mountains as days lengthen quickly; a quieter, cheaper shoulder season.
Summer (Jun–Aug)
Long daylight, open roads and peak wildlife and cruise season, especially July.
Autumn (Sep–Nov)
Fall colour arrives fast, crowds thin, and early aurora and snow return by October.
Alaska FAQ
What is the capital of Alaska?
Juneau is the capital of Alaska.
What is the largest city in Alaska?
Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska.
When did Alaska become a state?
Alaska became the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959.
What is Alaska known for?
Alaska is known for glaciers, grizzlies and the midnight sun — the great American wilderness at full scale.
When is the best time to visit Alaska?
June–August for long days and open roads; May and September are quieter and cheaper.
Plan your Alaska trip
Browse hotels and flights through the Guild's travel partner, and explore more of the United States.
All of the USA The Travel Library