Must-see nightlife in Alaska

Java Hus

Southeast Alaska

This is where half of Petersburg gets buzzed first thing in the morning.

Raven

Anchorage

One of a couple of gay and lesbian bars in Anchorage.

Viking Lounge

Juneau

Packed with all the calling cards of a classic Alaskan dive bar, including car license plates, taxidermy, TVs on sports-channel loops and a tin ceiling…

First City Saloon

Ketchikan

'Established 1893' reads the sign, though the interior with its disco ball and stripper’s pole is more 1970s. This piece of Ketchikan history has live…

Senator Saloon

Fairbanks

This bar, attached to the Pump House Restaurant, plays the frontier-gold-rush card hard. There's a late 19th-century pool table, a mahogany bar, and a…

Fairbanks Distilling Company

Fairbanks

Located centrally downtown, in a building that has been a jail and a firehouse, this little homegrown outfit produces Alaskan vodka distilled from local…

McGinley’s Pub

Anchorage

We’re all Irish, at least on St Patrick’s Day, and in Anchorage this is where you come for corned beef and cabbage, bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie, a…

Rayme's Bar

Southeast Alaska

If you’re on a tour of gritty Alaskan bars that smell of spilt beer and old carpets, pop into Rayme’s, where inhaling deeply is usually enough to make you…

Potlatch Bar

Ketchikan

Dive favored by fishers overlooking Thomas Basin where you can exercise your beer-drinking arm while fine tuning your dart-throwing skills.

Glacier Express

Southeast Alaska

Petersburg’s ‘other’ coffeehouse is a fairly basic affair with drinkable coffee and substantially sized muffins and cookies.

Pit Bar

Seward

Just past Exit Glacier Rd, this is where the crowd heads when the bars close in town.

Totem Bar

Southeast Alaska

Wrangell’s redneck dive bar. Take a deep breath and dive in.