United States
Alaska, United States — Towns & Travel Guide
Denali and the highest peaks in North America rise over Alaska, the largest state of the United States, set beyond Canada in the far north.
Find your area →
Towns & cities in Alaska
Pick a town or city — each links to where to stay.
United States
Anchorage
Cook Inlet frames Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska, a port and municipality known for the Anchorage Museum above the water.Where to stay →
About Alaska
What is Alaska known for?
Alaska is known as the largest state of the United States and its wildest. Denali, the highest peak in North America, crowns a line of the ten tallest mountains in the country, and beyond the ranges lie vast forests and frozen tundra reaching into the Arctic. Scale is the draw.
Separated from the rest of the country by Canada, it stands apart.
Where is Alaska?
Alaska occupies the northwest of North America, the largest state of the United States and one of only two set apart from the rest of the country. Canada frames its eastern side, bordering the Yukon territory and the province of British Columbia, while a maritime border runs through the Bering Strait toward Russia in the west. The Arctic Ocean lies to the north, its Chukchi and Beaufort Seas edging the coast, while the Pacific Ocean washes the south.
Denali crowns the interior. The ten highest peaks in the country stand here, above forests and tundra that reach toward the Arctic. It sits closer to Asia than any other state.
What is Alaska like?
Alaska carries the nickname of the last frontier, and the name fits its culture. Life here is shaped by distance, a harsh climate, and the scale of the land, with small communities set among mountains, forest, and tundra rather than along dense city corridors. Remoteness is the common thread.
Separated from the rest of the United States by Canada, the state looks toward the Arctic and the Pacific as much as toward the contiguous states. Space defines the place.
What is the history of Alaska?
Alaska became a state of the United States in 1959. Before and after that, its story is one of a remote northern territory bordering Canada and facing Russia across the Bering Strait, folded late into a country centered far to the south. Statehood came slowly.
The land held its distance even as it joined the union.
What is the climate of Alaska?
Alaska has among the harshest climates in the United States. Most of the state lies in the Arctic or close to it, which means long, dark winters and short cool summers, with milder and wetter conditions only along the Pacific coast in the south. Winter sets the rhythm.
Snow and ice hold the interior for much of the year.
How do you get to Alaska?
Reaching Alaska usually means flying or a long overland haul. Separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, the state is a challenging destination, reached by air into its towns, by road up through the Yukon, or by sea along the Pacific coast. There is no quick way in.
Distance is the cost of the far north.
Good for
Updated July 2026