Vancouver to Anchorage: the Inside Passage, the Yukon and Alaska

1. Day 1: Arrive in Vancouver

   Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to your hotel in downtown Vancouver

   • Drive about 24 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Vancouver
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Vancouver International Airport (YVR), about 15 km from downtown, and a driver meets you for the ride to your central hotel. Plan to land by about 4 pm to meet the group; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary. If you arrive early, walk the seawall around Coal Harbour or the cobbled streets of Gastown, both a short walk from most downtown hotels, or take the little False Creek ferries across to Granville Island. In the evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the two weeks ahead: which days are long travel days, how the two ferries and the flight connect, what goes in your day bag on the ferry, and the border paperwork for Alaska and the Yukon. Then we sit down together for a welcome dinner in town. The light lasts late in June and July, so there is time for a walk afterwards.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Day 2: Vancouver: Stanley Park and Northwest Coast art

   Downtown Vancouver to Stanley Park, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC and Granville Island

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Vancouver
   Day 2 details

   A gentle first day that sets up the coast we follow north. We start with the guide on foot in Stanley Park, walking a stretch of the seawall to the totem poles at Brockton Point and the view across Burrard Inlet to the North Shore Mountains. Then the vehicle takes us out to the University of British Columbia and the Museum of Anthropology, where the Great Hall holds carved poles, house posts and canoes from the First Nations of the coast: Haida, Kwakwaka'wakw, Tsimshian and others whose territories the ferries pass through later in the week. Its big windows look out on the forest and the sea. Late morning we head to Granville Island, where the public market is the place to choose your own lunch, and the afternoon is free: the market and studios, a False Creek ferry back downtown, or a coffee in Kitsilano. The evening is yours.

   Included

   • Guided walk on the Stanley Park seawall to Brockton Point
   • Museum of Anthropology at UBC
   • Granville Island

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Vancouver

   Activity: About 3 to 4 km on foot on flat paths.

   

3. Day 3: Vancouver Island to Port Hardy

   Vancouver to Horseshoe Bay, ferry to Nanaimo, then north via Campbell River to Port Hardy

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Port Hardy
   Day 3 details

   This is one of two long road days, and it is long for a reason: the Inside Passage ferry leaves Port Hardy, at the far north of Vancouver Island, at 7:30 the next morning, so we have to sleep there tonight. We leave the hotel after breakfast for the BC Ferries sailing from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, about an hour and forty minutes across the Strait of Georgia, which you can spend on deck. From Nanaimo the Island Highway runs north, about 390 km and roughly four and three-quarter hours at the wheel in all, broken into three parts: a stop at the beach at Qualicum, lunch together in Campbell River on Discovery Passage, and a leg-stretch on the quiet last stretch through second-growth forest where black bears are often seen on the verges. We reach Port Hardy in the early evening. The hotel is close to the ferry terminal, and the evening is free for a walk along the harbour.

   Included

   • BC Ferries sailing from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo
   • Stop at Qualicum Beach
   • Lunch in Campbell River

   Free time: Evening free in Port Hardy

   Activity: About 4.75 hours on the road plus the ferry, with three stops.

4. Day 4: The Inside Passage by day

   Port Hardy to Prince Rupert on the BC Ferries Inside Passage sailing

   • Drive about 18 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Prince Rupert
   Day 4 details

   The one early start of the trip: we check in at the Bear Cove terminal at about 6:30 am for the 7:30 sailing, because the ship sails once and does not wait. The summer sailing runs in daylight for most of its roughly 16 hours. The first two hours cross Queen Charlotte Sound, open to the Pacific, where the ship can roll; after that it slips into Fitz Hugh Sound and a chain of narrow channels between forested mountains, with no road anywhere beside them. Your guide spends the day on deck pointing out the landmarks and watching for humpback whales, orcas, Dall's porpoises and bald eagles, and there are lounges with big windows when it rains. Lunch and dinner are in the ship's restaurant. Grenville Channel, long and narrow, comes in the evening light. We reach Prince Rupert at about 11:30 pm and transfer straight to a hotel near the terminal.

   Included

   • BC Ferries Inside Passage sailing from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert
   • Lunch and dinner on board
   • Transfers to the Port Hardy terminal and to the Prince Rupert hotel

   Optional experiences

   • A day cabin on the ship, if available

   Activity: About 16 hours on the ship, with lounges, open decks and a restaurant. Bring seasickness tablets if you need them for the first two hours.

5. Day 5: Prince Rupert, then the Alaska ferry

   Prince Rupert to the North Pacific Cannery at Port Edward, then the Alaska Marine Highway ferry north

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in On board the Alaska Marine Highway ferry
   Day 5 details

   After the late arrival there is no early start. Mid-morning the guide walks us to the Museum of Northern British Columbia, built in the style of a Tsimshian longhouse above the harbour, for the 10,000-year story of the people of this coast. Then a short drive south to Port Edward and the North Pacific Cannery, a national historic site on the Skeena estuary where a guided tour walks you through the cannery buildings, the boardwalks and the bunkhouses of the salmon-canning era. Lunch together nearby. In the afternoon or evening, depending on the timetable for your dates, we board the Alaska Marine Highway ferry at the terminal next to the BC Ferries dock and settle into two-berth cabins. You clear US border control when the ship reaches Ketchikan, the first Alaska port, a few hours north. Sitting in the covered solarium on the top deck with the guide as the islands slide past is the best part of the evening.

   Included

   • Museum of Northern British Columbia, Prince Rupert
   • Guided tour of the North Pacific Cannery National Historic Site, Port Edward
   • Lunch together
   • Alaska Marine Highway ferry from Prince Rupert to Juneau in a two-berth cabin

   Free time: Free time in Prince Rupert before boarding, if the sailing is in the evening

   Activity: Easy walking around the museum and the cannery boardwalks.

   

6. Day 6: Through Southeast Alaska to Juneau

   Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg by sea to Juneau

   • Drive about 24 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Juneau
   Day 6 details

   A day on the water through the islands of Southeast Alaska, where most towns have no road to anywhere and the ferry is the highway. The ship calls at Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg; which of them we pass in daylight, and whether there is time to step ashore, depends on the timetable, and the guide plans around it. The stretch through the Wrangell Narrows, a twisting channel lined with navigation markers that only shallow-draft ships can use, is a highlight if it falls by day. Watch for humpback whales, sea lions and eagles from the solarium or the forward lounge, and bring a book for the quiet hours. Breakfast and lunch are in the ship's cafeteria. We reach the Auke Bay terminal, about 20 km north of downtown Juneau, usually in the late afternoon or evening, depending on the timetable, and transfer to a central hotel. The evening is free in Alaska's capital, which no road reaches.

   Included

   • Alaska Marine Highway ferry via Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg
   • Breakfast and lunch on board
   • Transfer from Auke Bay to downtown Juneau

   Free time: Evening free in downtown Juneau

   Activity: A seated day on the ship, with open decks to walk.

7. Day 7: Mendenhall Glacier and whales, then fly to Whitehorse

   Juneau to Mendenhall Glacier and Auke Bay, then fly to Whitehorse

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Whitehorse
   Day 7 details

   Juneau fills with cruise-ship passengers by mid-morning, so we are at Mendenhall Glacier when the visitor centre opens, with the lake, the ice and Nugget Falls still quiet. Choose the short Photo Point trail or the flat walk to the foot of Nugget Falls with the guide. Late morning we board a whale-watching boat from Auke Bay, about three hours on the water in the channels where humpback whales feed through the summer; the crew also watch for orcas, sea lions and harbour seals. Lunch together back in town. In the afternoon we fly from Juneau to Whitehorse, under an hour in a small plane over the Coast Mountains and the Juneau Icefield, on a seasonal service that flies only on certain days; it crosses the one gap in this route with no road and no ferry. Whitehorse is one hour ahead of Alaska. The evening is free on Main Street and the Yukon riverfront.

   Included

   • Mendenhall Glacier and its visitor centre at opening
   • Whale-watching boat from Auke Bay, about 3 hours
   • Lunch in Juneau
   • Flight from Juneau to Whitehorse

   Easier option: The Photo Point trail and the visitor centre, a short paved walk.

   More active option: The trail to Nugget Falls, about 3.5 km there and back on the flat, to the foot of the falls beside the glacier.

   Free time: Evening free in Whitehorse

   Activity: Easy walking; about 3 hours on the boat.

8. Day 8: Whitehorse and the Yukon River

   Whitehorse, Miles Canyon and the Yukon River

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Whitehorse
   Day 8 details

   A slower day in the Yukon's capital, where the gold rush stern-wheelers once ran north to Dawson City. In the morning choose how to meet the Yukon River. The active option is a guided half-day canoe paddle downstream from town with a local outfitter: the current does most of the work, no experience is needed, and the guides steer the boats. The easy option is the SS Klondike, a restored stern-wheeler on the riverbank, and the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre, where mammoth and steppe bison bones tell the story of the land bridge between Asia and North America. Both groups meet at Miles Canyon, a short drive south, for the walk across the suspension bridge over the basalt gorge, and lunch is on your own in town. The afternoon and evening are free: the Yukon Arts Centre, the riverfront trail or the hot springs outside town.

   Included

   • Guided half-day Yukon River canoe paddle, or the SS Klondike and the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre
   • Miles Canyon and its suspension bridge

   Optional experiences

   • A soak at the hot springs outside Whitehorse

   Easier option: The SS Klondike National Historic Site and the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre, then Miles Canyon.

   More active option: A guided half-day canoe paddle on the Yukon River from Whitehorse, with life jackets and a guide in the group.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Whitehorse

   Activity: Easy walking; the paddle is about 3 hours in a canoe on moving water.

   

9. Day 9: Kluane: Kathleen Lake and Kluane Lake

   Whitehorse to Haines Junction and Kathleen Lake, then along Kluane Lake to Destruction Bay

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Destruction Bay
   Day 9 details

   West on the Alaska Highway, about 160 km and two hours to Haines Junction, with the front ranges of the St. Elias Mountains growing ahead. At the Da Ku Cultural Centre, run with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and Parks Canada, we learn about the land of Kluane National Park and Reserve, then drive a short way south to Kathleen Lake, the view of Kluane most people come for: green water under the King's Throne peak. Lunch together in Haines Junction. In the afternoon the highway climbs to Kluane Lake, the Yukon's largest, where we stop first at the Tachal Dhal visitor centre to look for Dall sheep on the slopes, then a little further on walk the short trail at Soldier's Summit, where the Alaska Highway was opened in 1942. About 320 km and three and three-quarter hours of driving in all. Tonight is at a small lodge by the lake, with dinner together.

   Included

   • Da Ku Cultural Centre, Haines Junction
   • Kathleen Lake, Kluane National Park and Reserve
   • Tachal Dhal visitor centre
   • Soldier's Summit trail, Kluane Lake
   • Dinner together

   Optional experiences

   • Flightseeing over the Kluane icefields from Haines Junction, weather permitting

   Easier option: The Kathleen Lake viewpoint and lakeshore boardwalk, and the first part of the Soldier's Summit trail.

   More active option: A longer walk on the Kathleen Lake shoreline trail with the guide while the group has lunch, then the full Soldier's Summit trail, about 1 km each way uphill.

   Activity: About 3.75 hours on the road with four stops; easy walking.

   

10. Day 10: The Alaska Highway into Alaska

    Destruction Bay to Burwash Landing and Beaver Creek, across the border to Tok

    • Drive about 5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Tok
    Day 10 details

    The second long road day, about 375 km and roughly four and three-quarter hours at the wheel. It cannot be split: between Kluane Lake and Tok there is only Beaver Creek, with very few rooms, and the stretch along the Shakwak valley is slow because permafrost heaves the road. So we break it into four parts. First Burwash Landing and the Kluane Museum of Natural History, then wild country along the Donjek and White rivers to Beaver Creek for a coffee stop. A few minutes on is the US border at the 141st meridian, with time for a photo at the Welcome to Alaska sign before border control. On the Alaska side we stop at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge visitor centre, where the wetlands below are good for swans and moose, and set our watches back an hour. Lunch together on the way. Tok is a small highway town; dinner together tonight.

    Included

    • Kluane Museum of Natural History, Burwash Landing
    • Welcome to Alaska sign at the border
    • Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge visitor centre
    • Lunch and dinner together

    Activity: About 4.75 hours on the road with four stops and a land border crossing; have your passport in your day bag.

11. Day 11: To the end of the Alaska Highway and Fairbanks

    Tok to Delta Junction and Rika's Roadhouse, then Fairbanks

    • Drive about 4 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Fairbanks
    Day 11 details

    We follow the Tanana River north-west, about 175 km to Delta Junction, with the Alaska Range on the left on clear days. Delta Junction is where the Alaska Highway officially ends, at milepost 1422, marked outside the visitor centre. A few kilometres on, Rika's Roadhouse at Big Delta State Historical Park is a log roadhouse from the days when travellers on the trail to Fairbanks went by horse and sled; walk the grounds and gardens, and see the Trans-Alaska Pipeline cross the Tanana River on its suspension bridge nearby. Lunch together. Another two hours bring us into Fairbanks, about 335 km and four hours of driving in all. Late afternoon we visit the University of Alaska Museum of the North on the hill above town, for Alaska Native art, gold and the state's natural history. The evening is free in Fairbanks, where the June sun hardly sets.

    Included

    • End of the Alaska Highway marker, Delta Junction
    • Rika's Roadhouse, Big Delta State Historical Park
    • Trans-Alaska Pipeline crossing of the Tanana River
    • University of Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks
    • Lunch together

    Free time: Evening free in Fairbanks

    Activity: About 4 hours on the road with three stops; easy walking.

12. Day 12: A Chena River sternwheeler, then south to Denali

    Fairbanks on the Chena River, then the Parks Highway via Nenana to Denali Park

    • Drive about 3 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Denali Park
    Day 12 details

    A morning on the water: a sternwheeler cruise of about three and a half hours down the Chena River to its meeting with the Tanana, with a bush pilot's take-off from the riverbank, a sled dog musher's kennel, and a walk through a re-created Athabascan village with Alaska Native guides. Lunch together in Fairbanks. Then the Parks Highway south, about 195 km and two and a half hours, through Nenana, where the Tanana is crossed, and into the hills along the Nenana River to the entrance of Denali National Park. We arrive in the late afternoon at a hotel near the park entrance. The evening is free: the Denali visitor centre, a short walk on the trails behind it, or an early night before tomorrow's early bus. This is about 210 km of driving in all, the easiest road day since Whitehorse.

    Included

    • Sternwheeler cruise on the Chena and Tanana rivers, Fairbanks
    • Lunch together in Fairbanks

    Free time: Evening free near the park entrance

    Activity: About 3.5 hours on the riverboat, then 2.5 hours on the road.

13. Day 13: Deep into Denali National Park

    The Denali park road by bus, then the park entrance area

    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Denali Park
    Day 13 details

    We are on one of the first park buses of the morning, when animals are moving and the light is low; we confirm the departure time with your final itinerary. Private cars may only drive the first 15 miles of the park road, so the park's own buses are the way in. Our Tundra Wilderness Tour has a naturalist driver who stops for whatever appears: grizzly bears, moose, caribou, Dall sheep high on the slopes and, now and then, wolves. Past Savage River the road turns to gravel over open tundra and braided rivers, with the Alaska Range along the southern skyline. Since 2021 the buses have turned at East Fork, about mile 43, while a bridge is built across the Pretty Rocks landslide; the turnaround can change from year to year, and if the road beyond has reopened, we go further. A packed lunch rides with us. In the afternoon choose the park's sled dog kennels or a hike, then a farewell dinner together.

    Included

    • Denali National Park entrance fee
    • Tundra Wilderness Tour on the park road with a naturalist driver
    • Packed lunch on the bus
    • Sled dog kennels demonstration with a park ranger
    • Farewell dinner together

    Optional experiences

    • Rafting on the Nenana River
    • Flightseeing over Denali, weather permitting

    Easier option: The sled dog kennels demonstration, then a short walk on the Horseshoe Lake trail or a quiet afternoon at the hotel.

    More active option: Hike the Mount Healy Overlook trail with your guide: about 4.3 km each way and about 500 m of climb to a view over the Nenana valley.

    Activity: About 5 hours on the bus on a gravel road, with stops. Bring binoculars and a warm layer.

    

14. Day 14: The Alaska Railroad to Anchorage

    Denali Park to Anchorage on the Denali Star, via Broad Pass, Hurricane Gulch and Talkeetna

    • By train
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Anchorage
    Day 14 details

    A free morning by the park after two weeks on the move: sleep in, walk the Horseshoe Lake trail to the beaver ponds, or spend an hour in the visitor centre. At midday we board the Alaska Railroad's Denali Star southbound in GoldStar Service, the glass-domed double-deck cars with an outdoor viewing platform, while our driver takes the luggage to Anchorage by road. The train is the better choice here: the drive is nearly five hours, and the line leaves the highway for long stretches. It climbs to Broad Pass, crosses Hurricane Gulch on a high steel bridge and follows the Susitna River, with Denali to the west on clear days, then stops at Talkeetna and crosses the Mat-Su valley. Lunch is in the dining car. We reach Anchorage in the evening, about 8 pm in recent summers, and transfer to a central hotel. The rest of the evening is free.

    Included

    • The Alaska Railroad Denali Star from Denali to Anchorage in GoldStar Service
    • Lunch in the dining car
    • Transfers to Denali station and from the Anchorage depot to the hotel

    Free time: Morning free at Denali; evening free in Anchorage

    Activity: About 7.5 hours on the train, with room to walk between cars and stand on the outdoor platform.

15. Day 15: Alaska Native Heritage Center and departure

    Central Anchorage to the Alaska Native Heritage Center, then Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)

    • Drive about 36 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 15 details

    A last morning that ties together the coast and interior cultures met along the way. After breakfast we drive across town to the Alaska Native Heritage Center when it opens, where Alaska Native hosts tell the story of the state's peoples through dance, storytelling and a walk around a lake past full-size traditional houses from each region, including the Tlingit and Athabascan homes of the country we have just crossed. Allow about two hours. Then our vehicle takes you, with your luggage, to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC), about 15 km away, where the trip ends. Book flights leaving after about 1:30 pm. If you are staying on in Alaska, we drop you at your hotel instead, and our Alaska trip to Denali and the Kenai Fjords or a few days in Seward make easy extensions.

    Included

    • Alaska Native Heritage Center, Anchorage
    • Drop-off at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)

    Activity: Easy walking of about 1.5 km around the Heritage Center grounds.

Wildlife and weather: Summer on the coast is mild and often wet, about 12 to 20 °C, with fog and rain in the Inside Passage on any day. The Yukon and interior Alaska are drier and can reach the mid-20s, with cold mornings and mosquitoes in June and July. It barely gets dark in June. Humpback whales feed around Juneau all summer, bears and moose are possible along the Alaska Highway, and the Denali park road is good for grizzlies, caribou and Dall sheep, but no sighting is certain and the mountain is often in cloud.

• Vancouver2 nights
• Port Hardy1 night
• Prince Rupert1 night
• On board the Alaska Marine Highway ferry1 night
• Juneau1 night
• Whitehorse2 nights
• Destruction Bay1 night
• Tok1 night
• Fairbanks1 night
• Denali Park2 nights
• Anchorage1 night