The Absolute Best Cruise Ports in Alaska

There is no such thing as a bad cruise port in Alaska. At every single one, you're guaranteed beautiful landscapes, vibrant local culture, wildlife that is never far away, and residents who almost always skew toward the friendly side of life.

But there’s also no denying that some ports—or more accurately, the towns that anchor them—simply excel at certain things. Based on my more than 35 years of living in and exploring Alaska, here are my picks for the best ports to put on your Alaska bucket list.

Best for day tours: Juneau

As the bustling focal point of travel and commerce in Southeast Alaska, Juneau offers some of the best day tours you could wish for. Whether you’re looking for reliable whale watching, glacier landings with a team of sled dogs awaiting you, an aerial tram ride, gold panning, hiking, kayaking, or simply the best Alaska food and drink, Juneau has a tour for that.

Two particular standouts, each well worthy of a splurge, are fly-in bear-viewing trips to Admiralty and Chichagof Islands—home to the highest concentrations of brown bears in the world—and day cruises to explore the Tracy Arm Fjord, with the captain carefully threading the boat through icebergs spewed by the twin glaciers at the head of the fjord.

Best for totem poles: Ketchikan

The world’s highest concentration of standing totem poles resides in Ketchikan. Whether you take a totem pole tour or explore on your own, you’ll find more than 80 of these monumental works of art scattered in and around town. Another 33 totem poles—the ones that would have naturally weathered into the forest by now—are preserved in the Totem Heritage Center.

North of Ketchikan are Totem Bight State Historical Park and Potlatch Totem Park, with almost 30 totem poles between them. South of town, you’ll find the small village of Saxman, where you can walk up a broad avenue lined with more than 20 totem poles, each one of them telling a different story.

Best small-town experience: Haines

Author Heather Lende, arguably the best-known resident of Haines (population 1,800), summarized the town’s vibe in the title of her book If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name. But even if they don’t know your name, the residents of Haines still offer a warm, genuine welcome to those on incoming cruise ships.

In fact, small-town charm permeates Haines so much so that you could easily spend your entire port call wandering around town, chatting with the various shopkeepers and restaurateurs, and browsing the small, independently owned shops.

If you opt for a formal tour, you’ll discover an array of adventures, from cultural tours of the nearby Tlingit village of Klukwan to rafting through the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, where hundreds of eagles live year-round and thousands congregate to feast on late-run salmon in October and November.

Best for an all-local experience: Sitka

Despite being one of the more popular cruise ports in Southeast Alaska, the island community of Sitka still holds firmly to its individuality. With a population of more than 8,000, Sitka is large enough to offer a bounty of locally owned galleries and gift shops, yet small enough that you can easily explore its walkable downtown, popping into a handful of small but fascinating museums.

Follow the downtown harbor walk to reach Sitka National Historical Park, where easy walking trails wind through the looming trees to a series of individual totem poles. The whale-watching, hiking and kayaking are all superb here, too. For guaranteed wildlife sightings, head to Fortress of the Bear, a sanctuary for orphaned bruins, and the Alaska Raptor Center, where injured bald eagles and other raptors are rehabilitated and released when possible.

Best for land tours: Seward

Most Southeast Alaska cruise ports are either on islands or only accessible by plane or boat. But once your ship docks in Seward, which sits on the far side of the Gulf of Alaska on the eastern edge of the Kenai Peninsula, you’re immediately tied into both the road and rail network. The Alaska Railroad’s passenger trains run all the way north to Fairbanks, stopping along the way in Anchorage, Talkeetna and Denali National Park. And if you rent a car for a few days either before or after your cruise, those wheels will take you almost anywhere.

Of course, Seward has some spectacular attractions you should see before leaving town. Chief among them is the Alaska SeaLife Center, a combination research, rehabilitation and education facility where you can have up-close encounters with Alaska seabirds and marine wildlife. Or book a hiking or ice-climbing trip on Exit Glacier in nearby Kenai Fjords National Park. You can even schedule a combo kayak-and-hike tour to WWII-era Fort McGilvray, perched on a promontory overlooking the mouth of Resurrection Bay.

Best for an indigenous-led experience: Icy Strait Point

Most of Alaska’s cruise ports are full of vibrant Alaska Native culture. But for a truly Indigenous-led experience, go to Icy Strait Point, which is owned by the Huna Totem Corporation—essentially the business arm of the Huna Tlingit people who live in the nearby town of Hoonah and have resided in this area for more than 10,000 years.

A visit to Icy Strait Point means your cruise ship fare is doing some real good: The profits from your visit are funneled straight into the local economy, funding vital services, scholarships and community programs in Hoonah. A visit here is full of rich cultural history; it may include demonstrations of traditional regalia, dancing and drumming performances, or a tour of a historic salmon cannery that was once the focal point of the local economy.

There are plenty of adventure activities to do here—with Tlingit residents of Hoonah making up the vast majority of the staff. You can’t beat Icy Strait Point’s fishing, kayaking, bear-viewing and whale watching. But its most popular attraction, hands down, is the largest ZipRider in the world. Up to six people at once can ride side-by-side zip lines as they come screaming down the local mountain at up to 60 miles per hour until a series of brakes eases them to a gentle stop—just in time to hustle into an upward-bound gondola to do it all over again.

While these are my top picks, there’s something exciting to see in every Alaska port. Whatever you do, make sure you save a little time to chat with the locals. We’re generally friendly folks, and we’re always intrigued by the people who come from all places and different walks of life to see our beautiful state.

The port that isn't: Glacier Bay National Park

You may have noticed a very famous Alaska cruise destination that didn’t make this list: Glacier Bay National Park. That's because, for the vast majority of cruisers coming into this 3.3-million-acre national park, your ship never docks. Yet this is undeniably one of the best places to see glaciers from a cruise ship, as you sail serenely through the protected, uncrowded waters and spend hours near a glacier that’s all but guaranteed to calve while you’re there. Those protected waters are also home to a profusion of marine wildlife, from humpback and killer whales to puffins, seals, sea otters and more.