17 Days in Alaska: Rail, Road and Inside Passage Cruise

You'll land in Anchorage and meet your Tour Director at the hotel sometime between 3 pm and 7 pm. From there, the day is yours to get a feel for the city at your own pace, with dinner wherever you choose. If you'd like a steer on restaurants or local spots, just ask your Tour Director.

The day opens with a welcome orientation, a chance to meet the rest of your group. Your route runs through the Matanuska Valley, where those huge cabbages fatten up under 24-hour daylight, then over Tahneta Pass with glacier views along the way. You'll stop at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Visitor Center and the Ahtna Cultural Center to learn about Alaska Native heritage, pause at Bridal Veil Falls, and carry on to Valdez, a seaside port town where you'll spend the night.

A local guide from the Valdez Museum leads a walking tour of Old Town Valdez, touching on Gold Rush history, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, earthquakes and the area's recovery from the oil spill. Afterwards you'll board a boat for a cruise on Prince William Sound, passing the three-mile face of the Columbia Glacier while keeping an eye out for seals, sea otters, birds and whales. On the way back, you'll pass the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Terminal, where supertankers take on their loads.

Today follows the Richardson Highway, with a stop at the Delta Junction Roadhouse and its living history homestead: a museum, the original roadhouse and farm animals. Along the way you'll see the longest elevated stretch of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the Tanana Pipeline River Bridge, a 1,200-foot suspension span over the water. The route then turns west on the Alaska Highway toward Fairbanks, Alaska's second-largest city, where your evening is free to explore downtown.

The morning takes you to Gold Dredge #8 for a narrow-gauge railroad ride and a go at panning for gold. Later you'll board the Sternwheeler Discovery for a cruise on the Chena River, stopping at Chena Village to learn about Athabascan Native culture. You'll also meet Iditarod mushers and their dog teams and hear how the dogs are bred and trained for the big race. Dinner is at a local restaurant in town.

You'll spend the whole day aboard the famous Alaska Railroad, rolling through wild country with panoramic windows that make the most of the views. The line ends at Denali National Park, where 20,320-foot Denali towers over six million acres. Your afternoon is free; later, a Naturalist gives a presentation about the park, followed by dinner at a local restaurant.

Your morning is open to rest or explore the park at your own speed. Then you'll head into Denali National Park with a Naturalist Driver Guide, looking out for grizzly bears, caribou, moose and other wildlife. You'll watch the animals from a safe distance and get a real sense of one of Alaska's great natural places.

Heading south toward Anchorage, you'll stop at Happy Trails Kennels, home of four-time Iditarod Champion Martin Buser. Here you'll learn how long-distance sled dogs are raised and trained, watch a mushing demonstration with a mock race checkpoint, and spend time with the dogs. The drive continues to Anchorage and the Alaska Native Heritage Center. In the evening, your Tour Director hosts a farewell dinner, with an Alaskan bush pilot on hand to share stories of wilderness adventures.

The day begins with a scenic drive along the south shore of Turnagain Arm to Seward, where you'll board a vessel for a cruise on the glacial waters of Kenai Fjords National Park. Across 600,000 acres of protected landscape, keep watch for glaciers calving into the sea, orcas, humpback whales and sea otters.

Today you'll travel to Whittier, a remote village on Prince William Sound that's home to bald eagles, sea otters and orcas. Here you'll say goodbye to your Tour Director and Driver and board your ship for a seven-night cruise south through the Inside Passage toward Vancouver, BC. Whittier is an unusual place: its roughly 220 residents all live in the 14-story Begich Towers, once a Cold War Army outpost, where every town service sits sheltered from the harsh winter weather.

Today you'll cruise across the Gulf of Alaska, with breakfast, lunch and dinner served on board each day. Fill the hours as you like, with a range of activities and entertainment to keep you busy.

Your ship spends the day gliding through Glacier Bay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where you'll hear creaking ice, the calls of gulls and eagles, and the splash of humpback whales. Around you are frosted peaks, mossy forests and seven broad tidewater glaciers alive with marine wildlife. Watch for ice breaking off the mile-wide Margerie Glacier, and keep your camera handy for humpback flukes and brown bears.

You'll arrive in Skagway, once the main gateway to the Klondike Gold Rush and, for a time, Alaska's largest settlement. The old frontier hub of trading posts, saloons and guesthouses now welcomes visitors drawn to the region's history, wildlife and scenery. Gold rush stories turn up at every corner, from the Red Onion Saloon to the narrow-gauge White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad, which climbs through rugged mountains, waterfalls and glaciers.

The ship docks in Juneau, Alaska's capital, ringed by water, forest and mountains. The city is known for outdoor recreation, fresh seafood and fine dining, but wildlife is the real draw. You can hike Mount Roberts to look for wild deer and bald eagles, or join a whale-watching tour out to Auke Bay. To find land mammals, take a floatplane to nearby reserves such as Chichagof or Admiralty Island in search of bears. Home to around 32,000 people, Juneau keeps a frontier feel and is often wrapped in mist.

Today you'll dock in Ketchikan, which clings to the banks of the Tongass Narrows beneath green forest. Dive into the cultural heritage of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples, with finely carved totem poles at the Totem Heritage Center and Totem Bight State Park. At Saxman Village, traditional carvers and dancers share their traditions. There's also historic Creek Street, a boardwalk built over Ketchikan Creek, lined with shops and local art.

You'll sail Alaska's Inside Passage, a sheltered network of waterways that threads through glacier-cut fjords and lush temperate rain forest along the Southeast Alaska coast. Keep watch for humpback whales, orcas, bald eagles and brown bears. It's one of the world's great cruising routes, running from Misty Fjords National Monument all the way to Glacier Bay National Park.

Your Alaska adventure comes to a close this morning after breakfast, when you'll disembark in Vancouver, BC. Plan to fly out of Vancouver International Airport after noon.