The state capital, Juneau is one of the most beautiful cities in Alaska. Downtown Juneau hugs the side of Mount Juneau and Mount Roberts and is a maze of narrow streets running past a mix of new structures, old storefronts and quaint houses featuring early 19th century architecture left over from the town’s early gold mining days. The waterfront bustles with cruise ships, fishing boats and floatplanes zipping in and out. Descending from the Coast Range Mountains are the frozen fingers of glaciers reaching for the sea.
Although Juneau officially spans over 3,100 square miles to the Canadian border, making it one of the nation’s largest cities in area, Juneau and its 30,427 residents are the most geographically secluded state capital in the country. The city is accessible by boat or plane, as it is not connected to the state highway system. Its lively downtown is compact, easy to navigate on foot and always a favorite with visitors. Within easy walking distance are many of downtown Juneau’s attractions, including the state capitol, Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, several museums and historic South Franklin Street, where turn-of-the-century buildings today are gift shops, restaurants and pubs. Also nearby is the Juneau Convention & Visitors Bureau (888-581-2201) with visitor information, displays and walking tour maps of the city.
For many visitors Juneau’s best experiences, glaciers and whale watching, are both within minutes of downtown. Egan Drive, the region’s only four-lane highway, heads north from the city center and swings into the Mendenhall Valley. Located at the head of the valley is Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska’s famous drive-up glacier, where you can watch icebergs calve off its frozen face and float away on Mendenhall Lake. The Mendenhall is one of the 38 major glaciers that extend from the 1500 square-mile Juneau Icefield. More glaciers can be seen from Glacier Highway or from the air as part of a flightseeing tour. Most helicopter tours offer glacier landings, glacier treks and dog sled rides.
Whale watching tours are a popular way to see the diverse marine life in the area including Stellar sea lions, Dall’s porpoise, and humpback and orca whales. The Inside Passage region draws humpback whales each summer. These massive creatures feed on krill and herring and engage in a unique behavior called ‘bubble-net’ feeding. Juneau has about 60 humpbacks that frequent the area and are so commonly viewed that many tour operators offer a guaranteed sighting or your money back.
For many, the best way to experience the area is the most affordable — on foot. Few cities in Alaska or elsewhere offer the diversity of hiking trails that Juneau does. Many wind to a face of a glacier or climb above the tree line, where you can overnight in a U.S. Forest Service cabin. The popular Mount Roberts Trail begins on Basin Road only a few blocks from downtown and climbs well above the tree line to offer panoramic views of downtown Juneau, Douglas Island and Gastineau Channel. The trail is also accessible via Mount Roberts Tramway.
Today Juneau is thriving not only as the state capital, but as one of the Inside Passage’s top visitor destinations and the departure point to several wilderness attractions, including Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness Area and Admiralty Island National Monument.