The city of Sitka, Alaska at dawn.

Getty Images

Southeast Alaska

Southeast Alaska is so un-Alaska. While much of the state is a treeless expanse of land with a layer of permafrost, the Panhandle is a slender, long rainforest that stretches 540 miles from Icy Bay, near Yakutat, south to Portland Canal and is filled with ice-blue glaciers, rugged snowcapped mountains, towering Sitka spruce and a thousand islands known as the Alexander Archipelago.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Four people walking on Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska, USA

    Mendenhall Glacier

    Juneau

    Going to Juneau and not seeing the Mendenhall is like visiting Rome and skipping the Colosseum. The most famous of Juneau’s ice floes, and the city’s most…

  • Part of Tongass National Forest, Mendenhall Glacier and Lake are approximately 12 miles from downtown Juneau, Alaska.

    Tongass National Forest

    Southeast Alaska

    Welcome to the largest national forest in the US, a tract of land almost the size of Ireland and significantly larger than adjacent Wrangell-St Elias…

  • Sunrise at Hubbard Glacier with mountain in Alaska.

    Hubbard Glacier

    Southeast Alaska

    Just 30 miles north of Yakutat is Hubbard Glacier, the largest tidewater glacier in North America. The 8-mile-wide frozen behemoth is easily Alaska’s most…

  • Saxman Native Village & Totem Park

    Saxman Native Village & Totem Park

    Ketchikan

    On South Tongass Hwy, 2.5 miles south of Ketchikan, is this incorporated Tlingit village of 475 residents. It's best known for Saxman Totem Park, which…

  • Wrangell Museum

    Wrangell Museum

    Southeast Alaska

    This impressive museum is what the colorful history and characters of Wrangell deserve. As you stroll through the many rooms, an audio narration…

  • Totem Heritage Center

    Totem Heritage Center

    Ketchikan

    For a crash course in Southeast Alaska's impressive totem art look no further than the Totem Heritage Center, where old poles brought from deserted…

  • Old pump station at the beach in the Treadwell mine historic park in Juneau, Alaska.

    Treadwell Mine Historical Trail

    Juneau

    It's hard to envisage today, but the Treadwell mine on Douglas Island was once the largest gold mine in the world, set up like a minitown with its own…

  • Juneau Alaska from Mt. Roberts with tramway.; Shutterstock ID 37133203; Your name (First / Last): Alexander Howard; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: Destination Next Pages

    Mt Roberts Tramway

    Juneau

    As far as cable cars go, this tramway is rather expensive for a five-minute ride. But from a marketing point of view its location couldn’t be better. It…

View more attractions
  • placement: fullWidth
  • path: destinations/top
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [300, 250], [320, 50], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "destination": "Southeast-Alaska",
  "region": "Americas",
  "continent": "North-America",
  "country": "The-USA"
}

Articles

Latest stories from Southeast Alaska

Filter by interest:

A dark grey humpback whale with a white underbelly breaches backwards out of the deep blue waters of Glacier Bay, surrounded by whitecaps and spray.

Sports

8 US national parks where you can scuba dive

Apr 16, 2021 • 5 min read

Read more articles

Go Beyond

Southeast Alaska and beyond

Beyond Southeast Alaska
  • placement: fullWidth
  • path: destinations/bottom
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [300, 250], [320, 50], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "destination": "Southeast-Alaska",
  "region": "Americas",
  "continent": "North-America",
  "country": "The-USA"
}