Vancouver, surrounded by mountains and the ocean, is a vibrant haven for outdoor lovers and cosmopolitan travelers. Its neighborhoods-Stanley Park, the West End, Gastown, Yaletown, and Chinatown-blend scenic pathways with rich arts, food, and culture. Famous as a filming location, it offers old-growth cedar forests, dramatic landscapes, and abundant wildlife: a big city perched on the edge of wilderness.

Ketchikan offers a journey through thousands of years of history and a wild landscape alive with moose, mountain goats, brown bears, and black-tailed deer. Explore Creek Street Historic District, where bridges cross salmon-filled creeks, then soar by seaplane to Misty Fjords National Monument, with granite cliffs dropping 3,000 feet into fjords, snowcapped peaks, and forests of spruce, hemlock, and cedar. Visit some of the oldest totems of the Tlingit and Haida peoples.

Klawock, on remote Prince of Wales Island, sits amid salmon-rich waters and the vast Tongass forest. The Tlingit settled here first, and their history lives on in the outdoor gallery of 21 totem poles and nearby Tuxekan village, where artisans still carve. Paddle islet-dotted waterways, explore protected coastline, and go with a guide to see whales, black bears, Sitka deer, gray wolves, mink, and otters. With both saltwater and freshwater fishing, it's a top angler's destination.

Sitka is known for fishing, whale and wildlife sightings, and legendary battles between Russian fur traders and the Tlingit. Explore vast wilderness-volcanoes, forests, islands, and glaciers-on scenic trails lined with Tlingit and Haida totem poles. Visit the Raptor Center, kayak Sitka Sound, see WWII sites and Mount Edgecumbe, and end at St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Cathedral, where Russia handed Sitka to the U.S.

Encircled by mountains and waterfalls, Valdez is called the "Switzerland of Alaska." See Valdez, Columbia, and Worthington glaciers flow into Prince William Sound, hike lush forest trails, paddle with puffins, or raft the chalk-blue Lowe River. Wildlife includes bears, bald eagles, trumpeter swans, and rufous hummingbirds-some migrating from Mexico.

Seward offers big nature and bigger adventures, with calving glaciers and seabirds as the soundtrack. Sail Kenai Fjords National Park for waterspouts, tailfins, epic icefields, and tufted puffins on shale cliffs. Hike past glacial waterfalls, tackle the Harding Icefield trail or the easier Exit Glacier loop, and take in stunning views of Resurrection Bay's deep glacial waters and towering cliffs.