All-Alaska Tour

July 18 – July 30, 2025
13 Days, 12 Nights

$5,150

Fairbanks, Denali National Park, Anchorage, Juneau, and Sitka

The $5,150 tour fee is based on double occupancy lodging. 

Overview

Fairbanks

• Welcome dinner hosted by Fairbanks UUs
• 3 nights with Fairbanks UU hosts
• Alaska State Museum of the North (at UAF)
• Large Animal Research Station tour (“Musk Ox Farm”)
• Optional gentle Chena River canoe trip to Sunday service ($30)
• Sunday service with the Fairbanks UUs
• Riverboat Discovery cruise on the Chena River

Denali National Park

• Alaska Railroad to Denali National Park
• 2 nights lodging in nearby cabins
• Afternoon free to explore Denali National Park
• Optional Nenana River whitewater rafting trip ($140)
• Interpretive 5-6 hour Tundra Wilderness Tour
• Free time to enjoy Visitor Center, hiking, sled dog demonstration, etc.

Anchorage

• First Class Alaska Railroad full dome car to Anchorage
• 2 nights with Anchorage UU hosts
• Alaska Native Heritage Center
• Anchorage Museum OR explore downtown Anchorage
• Dinner hosted by Anchorage UUs

Juneau

• Alaska Airlines flight to Juneau
• 2 nights at a Juneau hotel
• Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center and nature walk
• Tracy Arm Boat Tour: calving glaciers, whales, and spectacular scenery
• Dinner hosted by Juneau UUs

Sitka

• Alaska Airlines flight to Sitka
• 3 nights with Sitka UU hosts or at a hotel
• Wildlife Quest boat tour: look for whales, seals, sea lions, etc.
• Alaska Raptor Center
• Sitka National Historic Park Visitor Center and Totem Park
• Dinner with Sitka UU Fellowship
• Sheldon Jackson Museum
• Historic Russian Bishop’s House tour
• Tlingit traditional dance performance
• UU Sunday Service “Inspired by Nature”
• Optional guided kayaking tour ($175)
• “My Sitka” custom afternoon tours led by Sitka UUs
• Free time to explore Sitka on your own

Optional Tours:

• Canoe Trip to Sunday Service ($30)
• Whitewater Rafting ($140)
• Guided Kayak Tour ($175)

All-Alaska Tour Slideshow

Detailed Itinerary

Day One (7/18, Fri.)

The 2025 All-Alaska tour begins in Fairbanks, Alaska’s Golden Heart City. Each guest arranges (and pays for) their own flight. We recommend that you arrive in Fairbanks in the afternoon or early evening so you can have some time to acclimate and to get a good night’s sleep. You will be met at the Fairbanks International Airport by a Fairbanks UU. You will stay the night with your Fairbanks UU host. Many guests choose to arrive in Fairbanks one or more days early and explore the area on their own. This allows you to adjust to the new time zone and to the 24 hours of daylight. If you do decide to arrive early in Fairbanks, you will be responsible for your lodging accommodations for those extra nights.

Day Two (7/19, Sat.)

You will have breakfast with your hosts this morning. After breakfast, we will meet for a tour orientation. It’s fun to get to know the people that you will be traveling with. Typically, at least 20 states are represented in our group! Lunch will be delivered by a local restaurant. After lunch, we will shuttle to the UAF Large Animal Research Station (locals call it the “Musk Ox Farm”) where a docent specially trained in the biology of large mammals will tell us about the musk ox and reindeer there. The musk ox lived through the last ice age. This is the only successful large terrestrial mammal to continuously occupy the arctic for the past 10,000 years. Afterward, we will visit the magnificent University of Alaska Museum of the North. The building is exciting inside and out, and its art and exhibits are outstanding. It features Alaskan animals, Alaska history, and the arctic environment. Following our day on campus, the local UUs will drive us to their beautiful sanctuary for a delicious dinner that they have prepared for us. They will also entertain us with their hometown talent. Be prepared for a strange experience of “nighttime.” It will not get dark in this “land of the midnight sun” during our entire time in Fairbanks! Your host will take you home for a well-deserved night’s sleep.

Day Three (7/20, Sun.)

You have a choice about how to spend the first part of your Sunday morning. After breakfast with your hosts, you are invited to join the local UUs for a gentle canoe trip (see below) on the Chena River, ending at the UUFF sanctuary for their morning service. No experience is necessary, since they try to match novices with experienced locals. We might see beaver or moose. If you would rather sleep in, that’s just fine. Your host can drive you directly to the 10:30 am service. After the service, the Fairbanks UUs will serve us lunch in their sanctuary. We will then head to the Chena River to board the Riverboat Discovery, Alaska’s last sternwheeler paddleboat, and travel down the river. Along the way, we’ll stop at a sled dog kennel, where an Iditarod veteran educates us about the sport of dog mushing. We’ll even get to see the dogs enthusiastically pull a dogsled on wheels. Later, an Athabascan woman will welcome us to her fish camp to show us how her people catch salmon in a fish wheel, clean them, and smoke them. Native young people, home from college for the summer, will guide us through this fish camp, giving us a fascinating window into Athabascan culture. Dinner($) is on your own. If you are so inclined, tonight would be the time to take your hosts out to dinner to thank them for their hospitality. (Note: whenever you see the ($) symbol, it means that you are responsible for the designated meal. Your tour includes an average of two meals per day.)

(Option: Canoe to Sunday Service, $30)

You have the option of a gentle canoe trip down the Chena River to the UUFF building for their Sunday Service. No experience is necessary, and they will pair experienced paddlers with those who haven’t canoed before. You will likely see beavers and beaver lodges as you paddle downstream for about 1.5 hours. 

Day Four (7/21, Mon.)

After breakfast with your hosts, you will board the Alaska Railroad to Denali National Park. The train route travels across scenic boreal forests, through the village of Nenana, and high on the ledge of a canyon. Lunch is a sandwich or other to-go meal on the train. Our scheduled arrival in Denali National Park is 12:15 pm. Your luggage will be delivered to our cabins so that you can have the entire afternoon to experience the park on your own. Some options would be to enjoy a hike, explore the Visitor Center, visit our country’s only National Park Service sled dog kennel, or participate in the optional whitewater rafting excursion (see below). Dinner($) is on your own. Our lodging has a nice restaurant, and there are many others within walking distance or a short shuttle ride.

(Option: Whitewater Rafting, $140)

You have the option of a thrilling whitewater rafting trip on the Nenana River. No experience is necessary, since your professional guide will help navigate the rapids. You will be issued a drysuit to keep you comfortable. The $140 cost includes an action photo of each rafting group plus all gratuities.

Day Five (7/22, Tue.)

Breakfast will be to-go from the cabins front office this morning. After breakfast, we board a Tundra Wilderness Tour bus to take us into the park. This 5-6 hour tour is a great way to see many animals – moose, caribou, sheep, grizzly bear, wolf, fox, interesting birds, etc. – and get a feel for the sheer expanse of Denali National Park. It’s the size of Massachusetts. If it’s clear enough, we’ll have a chance to see Denali (“The Great One”), the highest mountain in North America at 20,310 ft. Even if Denali is not visible (it’s in full view only a few days per month), the wildlife and natural beauty of the area are still well worth the trip. A box lunch is included in the tour. After your tour, you can take the rest of the day to enjoy this awe-inspiring park. Dinner($) is on your own.

Day Six (7/23, Wed.)

Breakfast($) is on your own, either at the cabins or at a cafe just a short walk away, and you have the option to sleep in. We will depart mid-morning for the train depot. If you rise early, you can squeeze in one last walk or activity. Around noon, you will board an Alaska Railroad first class train car to Anchorage – one of the world’s most scenic train rides. Our full dome car will afford us magnificent views. Our journey takes us through the Alaska Range, along several wild and scenic rivers, through isolated small towns, and above breathtaking Hurricane Gulch. If it is clear, there will be stunning views of snow-capped mountains, including Denali. This is a train ride you will never forget! Lunch and dinner will be provided in the first class dining car. After dinner, we arrive in Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, where your UU hosts will greet you and take you home for the night.

Day Seven (7/24, Thur.)

After breakfast with our hosts, we will meet at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, where five indigenous groups – Athabascan, Yupik, Inupiaq, Alutiiq, and Tlingit/Haida – have created a veritable living museum. Reconstructed Native dwellings surround a pond. Native docents at each structure explain the traditions of their people. Contemporary artists, dancers, and storytellers perform every half hour in the main hall of the museum while Native craftspeople in another wing demonstrate their work and talk about their craft and heritage. Lunch is in the Native Heritage Center Café. After lunch, we will shuttle downtown. There, you will visit the superb Anchorage Museum at Rasmussen Center. The museum has fascinating collections of Native and contemporary Alaskan art exhibits on Alaska’s cultures from the earliest inhabitants to the 750,000 people living in the state today. You can explore the museum all afternoon if you like, or take some time to walk around or shop downtown. The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, known as one of the most beautiful coastal trails in the nation, is accessible from downtown, and offers scenic views of the Cook Inlet and surrounding mountain ranges on a clear day. The Anchorage UUs will prepare an excellent dinner for us at their fellowship that evening. You will spend the night with your hosts.

Day Eight (7/25, Fri.)

After breakfast, your hosts will drive you to the Ted Stevens airport for an Alaska Airlines flight to Juneau. Lunch will be a boxed lunch since we will be traveling around lunch time. We will then visit the Mendenhall Glacier and Visitor Center, a part of the Tongass National Forest. There, you can see a glacier that has been retreating dramatically for decades. You can take a 5-minute walk on the Photo Point Trail to a scenic overlook, or a two mile round trip trail to a waterfall. A longer walk on the East Glacier Loop Trail travels 3 miles through a young rainforest that was covered by glacial ice 100 years ago. There are many interpretative displays, both in the Visitor Center and outside. Our bus will then take us downtown or to our hotel. Dinner($) will be on your own, with a wide selection of restaurants to choose from.

Day Nine (7/26, Sat.)

After breakfast at our hotel, we will meet at the Juneau boat dock. We’ll board a small boat for a visit to the stunningly beautiful Tracy Arm Fjord. This all-day excursion is an experience that many guests find to be the highlight of their entire tour. We will see tidewater glaciers calving icebergs into the sea, beautiful mountains and waterfalls, and 2,000 foot granite cliffs rising straight up from the water. We often see humpback whales, mountain goats, bears, bald eagles, and seals resting on icebergs. You won’t find the big cruise ships here, they are simply too large. Lunch ($) will be sandwiches on the boat, or you are welcome to bring your own lunch food from Juneau. After our tour, we shuttle to the Juneau Fellowship building for a dinner prepared by local UUs.

Day Ten (7/27, Sun.)

After breakfast at our hotel, we will take a bus to the airport for a short Alaska Airlines flight to Sitka. We will then take a bus to the Sitka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship where the local UUs will have lunch ready for us. After lunch, we will take a bus to the Alaska Raptor Center. The Center’s scenic 17-acre campus, its bald eagle hospital, and its other programs are all managed by a nonprofit organization. Our admission fees support its mission. From there, we will walk a short trail to the Sitka National Historic Park Visitor Center. There’s a Sitka Spruce forest behind the Visitor Center with many totem poles along the ocean shore. This is the location of the final battle between the Tlingits and the Russians. With its soaring spruce trees, the forest feels like a natural open-air cathedral. We’ll begin with a brief orientation to the park. Then you will have time to explore the interpretive displays both inside and along the trails. We will then walk to the Sitka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship where we will hold our Sunday Service. The title of our program will be, “Inspired by Nature,” and will feature literary readings that you and your fellow guests have brought to share. Dinner, which often features locally-caught fish, will be hosted by the Sitka UUs. The small Sitka UU congregation will host some of our group, and the rest of us will stay in a hotel.

Day Eleven (7/28, Mon.)

After breakfast at the Sitka UU Fellowship building, we will walk to the historic Russian Bishop’s House, which was once the center of the Russian Orthodox Church authority in a diocese that stretched from California to Siberia. A National Park Service ranger will give us a fascinating tour that includes a discussion of local history and of the relationships between the native Tlingit and the Russian conquerors. Many of the original furnishings and icons of the house are preserved inside. From there, we will walk to the Sheldon Jackson Museum. This jewel of a museum is Alaska’s oldest. It contains a superb collection of Alaska Native cultural artifacts gathered from 1888 to 1898 by a prominent missionary. Afterward, we will walk to the Tlingit clan house, or “Sheet’ka Kwaán Naa Kahídi” for a traditional dance performance. The clan house’s large structural beams, central fire pit, and tiered seating provide an ideal ambience. It all starts with the smell of burning cedar that is lit during the introduction of the first dance. The deep sound of the box drum fills the room as Tlingit dancers enter wearing beautiful regalia. They sing ancient songs that have been handed down for generations. The narrator begins with a Tlingit story and then interprets and explains all that is seen and heard. A dozen members of the tribe, also wearing traditional outfits, sing and dance three songs. The program lasts a half hour, but the dancers will linger a while to visit with us and answer questions. Lunch($) is on your own after the dance performance. The rest of the afternoon is free to explore the town of Sitka and all it has to offer. Your Tour Director and local UUs can provide you with activity ideas. If you’d like to get out on the water, this afternoon you will have the option to kayak (see below) on the calm ocean waters of the coast between islands, searching for wildlife and seeing a beautiful lighthouse. Dinner($) is on your own at one of Sitka’s many fine restaurants. This is your opportunity to take your hosts out to dinner, if you so choose.

(Option: Guided Kayaking Tour: $175)

This afternoon, you can choose to take a kayaking adventure. After donning your kayaking gear and attending a kayak skills and safety orientation, you will paddle through Sitka’s pristine and tranquil waters, with plenty of opportunities to spot the beautiful Alaska wildlife of the area. Paddle time is about 2 hours and no experience is necessary. The guide is highly trained and safety-conscious. This is a “rain or shine” activity. (Note: maximum weight: 275 lbs.)

Day Twelve (7/29, Tue.)

After breakfast at the Sitka Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, we will walk to Crescent Harbor to board our chartered boat for a “Wildlife Quest” tour. We will have the opportunity to observe some of Sitka’s most famous residents – sea otters, humpback whales, bald eagles, sea birds, and sea lions – in their natural habitat. Every tour is unique. We might trace the rugged coast of pristine Sitka Sound or explore the narrow waterways that divide countless untouched islands. A naturalist will tell us about the features and habits of the wildlife we see. If we’re fortunate enough to find whales during this tour, it will be breathtaking! Lunch($) will be on your own. In the afternoon, the UUs will treat us to custom tours they will lead to showcase their town. We call this program “My Sitka.” They will offer a variety of unique tours tailored to their own knowledge and interests. Examples may include a tour of the boat harbor and a local fishing boat, a downtown tour focusing on the Russian and American settlement of this country, or a short hike to experience the unique temperate rainforest habitats. Our last dinner together will feature a delicious meal hosted by the Sitka UUs followed by a slideshow, using photos contributed by you and your fellow guests. It will be a sweet, nostalgic ending to our delightful experience together. You will spend the night at the hotel or your host’s home.

Day Thirteen (7/30, Wed.)

Sadly, our tour ends this morning. After breakfast at the UU Fellowship, you will take a shuttle to the airport or be transported by local UUs for your morning flight. Guests are responsible for arranging and paying for their return flight home from Sitka. We hope you have enjoyed a unique and wonderful adventure with WhaleCoast Alaska!