Best Places To Visit

The best places to visit in Alaska are Denali National Park for mountains and wildlife, Seward and Kenai Fjords for glaciers by boat, Juneau and Glacier Bay for Inside Passage scenery, Katmai for brown bears, and Fairbanks for gold rush history and Alaska Native culture. The right pick depends on access more than taste: some places are a drive from Anchorage, and others need a plane or a boat. Why access should shape your Alaska list Most “best of Alaska” lists rank places by scenery and leave out the part that decides whether your trip works: how you physically get there. Alaska is the largest US state, and much of it has no road connection at all. There are eight national parks in Alaska: Denali, Gates of the Arctic, Glacier Bay, Katmai, Kenai Fjords, Kobuk Valley, Lake Clark, and Wrangell-St. Elias. Only a couple of them can be treated like a normal road trip. So this guide sorts the places into three groups: those reachable by road from Anchorage, those centered on the Inside Passage in Southeast Alaska, and those that need a bush plane or a boat. Pick your group first, then pick your place. Place Region How you get there Best for Denali National Park Interior Road (Parks Highway), then park bus Mountains, wildlife Seward and Kenai Fjords Southcentral Road to Seward, boat for the fjords Glaciers, marine life Fairbanks Interior Road or flight History, culture, hot springs Juneau Southeast Cruise, ferry, or flight Glaciers, a walkable capital Sitka Southeast Cruise, ferry, or flight Russian-era history Glacier Bay Southeast Plane or boat only Tidewater glaciers Katmai (Brooks Camp) Southwest Flight to King Salmon, then floatplane or boat Brown bears Gates of the Arctic Far north Bush plane or long hike True wilderness Places you can reach by road from Anchorage Anchorage Anchorage is the jumping-off point for most Alaska trips, and it blends city comforts with quick access to wilderness. The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail and the Anchorage Museum make an easy first day. The Alaska Native Heritage Center is the strongest cultural stop in the city and gives context for everything else you will see. Treat Anchorage as a base rather than a destination: most travelers spend a night or two here before heading to Denali, Seward, or a fly-in park. Denali National Park Denali is on almost every Alaska list for good reason. The park covers 6.1 million acres, and its single road runs 92 miles west from the Parks Highway to Kantishna. That road is the only vehicle access into the park. The first 15 miles are paved and open to private vehicles. Beyond that, most visitors ride the shuttle or tour buses, so book your seat early. The park’s own bus system, not your rental car, defines the Denali experience. Road conditions have changed in recent seasons because of landslide construction, so check the National Park Service page for the current distance buses can travel before you pay for a long tour. Talkeetna Talkeetna sits on the way to Denali and is the launch point for flightseeing circuits among the Alaska Range’s largest peaks. If the weather turns bad inside the park, a flight out of Talkeetna is the most reliable way to still see the mountains. Plan a full day, because flights depend on cloud cover and may be rescheduled. Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park Seward is the gateway to Kenai Fjords. Only the Exit Glacier area is reachable by road, which makes it an easy short hike for anyone without a boat day. For the full fjord experience of calving glaciers and marine wildlife, you need a boat tour from Seward. Whale and sea otter sightings are common on those tours, though never guaranteed. A good rule: if you only have one day for glaciers and you do not want to fly, Seward is the answer. Fairbanks Fairbanks is one of the most remote cities in the country, and it still has a frontier spirit. Tours here lean into Alaska Native cultures and gold rush history rather than glaciers. Chena Hot Springs, outside the city, is a popular way to warm up when the weather is cold. Fairbanks is also the starting point for flights to Gates of the Arctic, covered below. Inside Passage: Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Glacier Bay Juneau and Mendenhall Glacier Juneau is the state capital with about 30,000 residents, and it is unusual because no road connects it to the rest of Alaska. You arrive by cruise ship, ferry, or plane. Mendenhall Glacier is the city’s headline sight and one of the easiest glaciers in Alaska to reach, since it sits close to town with a visitor center. Pair it with the historic downtown and the state capitol for a full day. Sitka Sitka is the pick for history. Onion-domed cathedrals mark the town’s Russian past, and the dormant volcano Mount Edgecumbe shapes the skyline across the water. It is smaller and quieter than Juneau, which makes it a good choice if crowds are your main worry. Ketchikan Ketchikan is known for its totem poles and for whale-watching boat tours. Nearby Misty Fjords National Monument is the main natural attraction, and wildlife and bear-viewing excursions run from the town in summer. Glacier Bay National Park Glacier Bay cannot be reached by road. Most visitors arrive on a cruise ship, a tour boat, or through Gustavus by plane. The park covers more than 3.3 million acres of glaciers, fjords, and marine wildlife, so it rewards a slow approach. If you are choosing between Glacier Bay and a Southeast city, choose the bay when glaciers matter most and the city when you want restaurants, shops, and history. Fly-in Alaska: Katmai, Lake Clark, and Gates of the Arctic Katmai National Park and Brooks Falls Katmai is the best place in Alaska to watch brown bears. About 2,200 bears live in the park, and many gather along the Brooks River to feed on salmon. The park has no roads connecting

The best places to visit in Alabama are Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham for civil rights history, Huntsville for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Gulf Shores for beaches, Mobile for the USS Alabama and Mardi Gras, Florence for music heritage, and Cheaha State Park, the state’s highest point at 2,407 feet, for mountain views. Choose by trip type, and favor spring or fall to avoid summer heat and humidity. Alabama at a glance: which place fits your trip? Most “best of” lists for Alabama run top to bottom as a flat ranking. That hides the real decision, which is that Alabama is several different trips in one state. A beach week on the Gulf Coast and a civil rights pilgrimage through the central part of the state have almost nothing in common, so ranking them against each other does not help you plan. The table below sorts the eight picks in this guide by what you want out of the trip. Place Best for Anchor attraction Montgomery Civil rights history National Memorial for Peace and Justice Selma Voting rights history Edmund Pettus Bridge Birmingham Civil rights museums, food Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Huntsville Space and science U.S. Space & Rocket Center Gulf Shores Beaches, nature Gulf State Park Mobile History, Mardi Gras USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park Cheaha State Park Mountain views, hiking Bald Rock overlook Florence Music, architecture Rosenbaum House, Muscle Shoals area 1. Montgomery: the heaviest, most important history stop Montgomery is the place to start if you only have time for one history destination. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice commemorates the roughly 4,400 victims of lynching between 1877 and 1950, and it sits alongside The Legacy Museum. A few blocks away, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church is where Martin Luther King Jr. pastored from 1954 to 1960 and where he helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott as a leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association. The city also holds the Civil Rights Memorial, a circular black granite table designed by Maya Lin that is engraved with the names of movement martyrs, plus the Freedom Rides Museum and the Rosa Parks Library and Museum. Give the memorial and museum a full afternoon. They are emotionally demanding, and rushing them defeats the purpose. 2. Selma: where the march for voting rights began Selma is small, and a visit works best as a half day paired with Montgomery. The Edmund Pettus Bridge is the site of Bloody Sunday in March 1965, when marchers heading toward Montgomery in support of voting rights were beaten. Walking across it is the core experience. The bridge anchors the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, which AARP describes as 54 miles long. When the march finally reached Montgomery, roughly 25,000 people took part, according to Alabama Living. In town, the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute and the Selma Interpretive Center explain the events that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Together, these sites are among the more than 100 on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, a public initiative launched in 2018 that spans 15 states and Washington, D.C. 3. Birmingham: civil rights landmarks within walking distance Birmingham’s Civil Rights District is compact. You can walk between Kelly Ingram Park, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and 16th Street Baptist Church, which makes it the easiest civil rights stop to see on foot. The Institute is part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument and is a Smithsonian affiliate, and among its artifacts is the door to the jail cell where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was held, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Beyond the district, Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark covers the city’s industrial past, and the Negro Southern League Museum covers its baseball history. Birmingham also works as a base for reaching Cheaha State Park. For a full route that links all of these civil rights stops, see the three-day itinerary below. 4. Huntsville: the best place in Alabama for space fans Huntsville earned the nickname “Rocket City” because the Saturn V moon rocket was developed here. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center opened in 1970 and displays more than 1,500 pieces, including a Saturn V that is a National Historic Landmark, an Apollo 16 command module, a Skylab Orbital Workshop and Pathfinder, a full-stack space shuttle display. General admission covers Rocket Park, Shuttle Park and the indoor exhibits, including the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. Planetarium shows, the National Geographic Theater and bus tours of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center need separate tickets. The center is also the home of Space Camp, which runs programs for children and adults. Plan on most of a day, and check current hours and tour availability before you arrive. 5. Gulf Shores and Gulf State Park: the beach and nature pick Gulf State Park is the best single stop on Alabama’s coast. Its 6,150 acres take in dunes, a freshwater lake, marshes and pine forest, and the main attraction is a two-mile white sand beach on the Gulf of Mexico. The fishing pier is 20 feet wide and extends 1,512 feet into the Gulf, according to AARP’s local guide. Beyond the sand, the park has a campground with 496 hookup sites, a Nature Center, a lodge overlooking the beach and kayaking on Lake Shelby, which covers 592 acres. Lonely Planet recommends visiting in a shoulder season, spring or fall, to avoid the intense heat and humidity of summer. If you want a quieter trip, the weekdays outside peak summer are your best bet. 6. Mobile: Mardi Gras, a battleship and a Gulf Coast city feel Mobile suits travelers who want a real city rather than a resort strip. USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, at 2703 Battleship Parkway, is the headline: the 1942 battleship is docked along the waterfront and is surrounded by military aircraft. Lonely Planet pairs the battleship with Mardi Gras as the city’s two signature draws, and Mobile’s Joe Cain Day parade is one of its best-known carnival events. The bay