Alaska's capital city, Juneau, is one of the few major destinations in America with drive-up glaciers. Locals get their cars stuck four wheeling on the beach—in snow, not sand. Juneau's ferries stay busy shuttling back and forth to the mainland, cruising the marine highway for want of a paved road connecting the city to the state.

Sitka, on Baranof Island, is an amalgam of Native American, Russian, and modern American heritage, set on an island stage with rugged mountains as backdrop. History buffs will enjoy exploring the Russian Bishop's House, the Finnish Lutheran Cemetery or Sitka National Historic Park, while outdoor enthusiasts can conquer Mt. Edgecumbe, a long spent volcanic peak that punctuates Kruzof Island nearby.

Skagway is the end of the Alaska Marine Highway for ferry passengers up from the south and a destination for tourists down from Whitehorse in the Yukon. Skagway can have as many as 5,000 visitors through a day in summer. Attractions in Skagway include a street car tour of the well-kept downtown and a variety of buildings, parks and museums evocative of gold rush days.

If you're planning to surf the USA, no tour is complete without riding the cold waters of Yakutat, Alaska's surfing capital. Just across the bay rises Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. With views towards Mt. St. Elias and Malaspina Glacier from Yakutat, the city, self-advertised as 'more than just fishing', has the only sheltered deep water port in the Gulf of Alaska.