Alaska · The last frontier
Glaciers calving into the sea before your ship, humpback whales leaping clear of the water, bears fishing for salmon a few metres from the boardwalk and the highest mountain in North America closing the horizon. Alaska is the last place where the wild world keeps its original scale — and you can live it in full comfort, designed tailor made.
The destination
Alaska is the extreme in its purest form: a territory larger than several countries combined, with room for entire mountain ranges, endless fjords and a population of bears, whales and moose that still outnumbers people across much of the map. It is the kind of place that gives travellers back a rare feeling — that of being small before the world.
It is also a surprisingly comfortable destination. The right cruise turns the Inside Passage into a balcony facing the glaciers; panoramic trains and floatplanes stitch the distances together; wilderness lodges set breakfast in front of Denali. Adventure here never means giving anything up.
This page travels the state in the order the trip usually unfolds: the glaciers of the Inside Passage, the fjords and whales of Kenai, the Denali interior — and, at the end, the two spectacles that justify the journey on their own: the bears fishing for salmon in Katmai and the northern lights of Fairbanks. You can live one chapter at a time, or stitch sea and interior into a single journey: drawing that cut is exactly our job.
Inside Passage · The corridor of glaciers
First chapter
Southeast Alaska is a labyrinth of fjords, islands and forests where the towns don't even need roads — Juneau, the capital, can only be reached by boat or by plane. It is along this sheltered corridor, the Inside Passage, that the classic journey begins: days of sailing on calm waters, with whales escorting the ship and glaciers rising off the bow like blue ramparts.
The highlights have names of their own. Glacier Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site, holds an entire bay sculpted by ice, where the ship cuts its engines before the Margerie Glacier so you can hear the crack of the calving. Further north, the Hubbard — the largest tidewater glacier in North America — closes the scene with an ice front kilometres wide. And in Juneau, the Mendenhall can be visited on foot, by boat or by helicopter.
Squeezed between the mountain and the sea, Alaska's capital fills a delicious day: the tram up Mount Roberts, impossibly fresh king crab by the harbour and, twenty minutes away, the Mendenhall Glacier with its blue ice caves.
Few places on Earth let a family walk to a glacier after breakfast. Flat trails lead to viewpoints with a waterfall and stranded icebergs — and those who want more fly over the icefield by helicopter.
The ship inches between icebergs until it stops before a wall of ice kilometres wide. Then you simply wait: the Hubbard is one of the most active glaciers in the state, and every calving thunders across the bay.
Kenai Fjords · The sea in celebration
Second chapter
South of Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula concentrates the finest marine safari in the Americas. From Seward, on Resurrection Bay, boats enter Kenai Fjords National Park — a jagged coastline where dozens of glaciers flow from the Harding Icefield straight into the ocean.
Along the way, the whole sea is at work: humpbacks that crossed the Pacific from Hawaii blow and breach, orcas patrol in family pods, sea lions squabble over the rocks and sea otters float on their backs, cracking shellfish open like someone lunching in a hammock. At the end, the boat stops before a tidewater glacier — and the silence is broken only by ice falling into the water.
Between May and September, the cruise through the fjords becomes a live documentary: humpbacks, orcas, porpoises and grey whales in season. The captains talk over the radio — when a blow appears, everyone knows where to look.
No animal steals the show like the sea otter: it floats on its back, carries its pup on its belly and uses pebbles to open lunch. In the sheltered waters of Resurrection Bay they appear a few metres from the boat — guaranteed success on board.
For those who want the fjord in silence, private kayak outings glide between blocks of blue ice, with the glacier as a backdrop and curious seals following the paddle. Expert guide, protected waters and that feeling of a world all your own.
There are places you visit and places that put you back at your true size. Alaska is the second kind: every glacier, every whale and every mountain reminds you that the world is still bigger than we are.
From the last frontier to your itinerary, everything designed tailor made
Denali · The roof of North America
Third chapter
In the heart of the state, Denali rises 20,310 feet — so tall it manufactures its own clouds, and seeing it whole is a privilege the locals celebrate. Around it, a national park the size of a small country protects tundra where grizzlies graze on blueberries, moose wade the rivers and caribou trace trails along the horizon.
Getting there is a show in itself: the Alaska Railroad winds between mountains in glass-domed cars, on what many consider one of the most beautiful railways in the world. And from Talkeetna, a gold-rush village turned mountaineering base, floatplanes take off for the definitive excursion — flying over Denali's glaciers and, weather allowing, landing on one.
Here the floatplane is almost public transport — Anchorage has the world's busiest seaplane base, on Lake Hood. The flightseeing around Denali, skirting granite walls and icefields, tends to be the most memorable hour of the whole trip.
The park's single road works like a safari on wheels: grizzlies, moose, caribou, Dall sheep and, with luck, wolves — all spotted from the comfort of the vehicle, with naturalists pointing out what untrained eyes would miss.
Between Anchorage and Denali, the train runs through gorges and over bridges no road can reach, with glass domes, tables set and the landscape rolling slowly by. It is that rare journey nobody wants to end — book the right side of the car, we know which one.
Katmai & Fairbanks · The rare spectacles
Fourth chapter
Two images sum up Alaska in the world's imagination — and both are real. The first happens in summer, in Katmai: when the salmon run upriver, brown bears line up at Brooks Falls to catch them in mid-air, before boardwalks just metres away. It is probably the best place on the planet to watch bears in the wild.
The second calls for winter: Fairbanks, in the state's interior, sits right beneath the auroral oval — and between August and April the northern lights dance there with a frequency rare anywhere on Earth. You wait for them in glass-roofed lodges, in natural hot springs steaming at twenty below, with dog sledding to fill the day.
You arrive by floatplane, walk with rangers and watch, from safe boardwalks, the most photographed scene in the wild world: half-ton bears catching salmon as they leap the falls. A full day that feels like a documentary.
Few addresses on the planet see the aurora so consistently: on clear nights in season, you are more likely to see it than not. You wait at heated private lookouts, hot chocolate in hand — while the sky explodes in green above.
In the silent season the interior becomes a scene of snow-buried cabins, husky-drawn sleds and hot springs steaming under starry skies. It is Alaska at its most intimate — and the perfect match for an aurora trip designed without haste.
Day by day
A skeleton of a summer trip through Alaska's interior and seas, to give you a sense of scale — every block can grow, shrink or leave the map. Length, pace and order are always adjusted to you.
Arrival in Anchorage, the city where floatplanes share the sky with eagles. An easy afternoon to reset the clock, a Pacific seafood dinner and a first night under a sun that refuses to set.
Down to Seward along the Turnagain Arm, where belugas ride the tide and glaciers hang from the mountains. Viewpoint after viewpoint, lunch on the road and arrival at the fjord by late afternoon.
A full day's cruise through the national park: humpbacks, orcas, otters and sea lions along the way, and the stop before a tidewater glacier calving into the sea. At night, Seward's harbour at village pace.
Board the Alaska Railroad towards Denali: glass domes, braided rivers below and the mountain growing on the horizon. Arrival in Talkeetna, the mountaineers' base village, in time for sunset.
In the morning, the scenic flight around Denali — glaciers, granite walls and, sky permitting, a landing on the snow. The afternoon asks for Talkeetna at ease: gold-rush cafés, the river with a view of the mountain and the local beer at day's end.
A full day on the park's single road, safari-style: bears on the tundra, moose in the rivers, caribou on the horizon — and the mountain appearing between clouds whenever it deigns to. Night at a wilderness lodge.
The epic day of the trip: floatplane to Katmai, a ranger briefing and hours on the boardwalks watching bears catch salmon in mid-air. Back at base, the unanimous feeling — no screen prepares you for the real thing.
A scenic morning transfer and embarkation: the suite becomes your home for the days ahead, and the balcony, the best stateroom in Alaska. By dusk, the first whale usually shows up before the first glass is finished.
A whole morning before the Hubbard, a solemn day in Glacier Bay, the call at Juneau to see the Mendenhall up close — a new scene every day, without packing and unpacking. Southeast Alaska parades past your balcony.
The ship reaches Canada and the trip closes in Vancouver — from there, the flight home or the extension through the Rockies. The suitcase returns with too many photos; the memory, with the true scale of things.
Gallery
Click any image to enlarge.
How we travel
Alaska looks like one destination and is several: sea and interior, summer and winter, distances the size of countries. Stitching the pieces in the right order — ship, train, floatplane, lodge — is exactly our craft, and it is all solved before you board.
Nobody sees all of Alaska at once. With one week, the glacier cruise or the Denali interior; with two, sea and land in full. We draw the cut from your days, the season and what cannot be missed.
From the grand ship with everything on board to the intimate expedition that slips in where the big ones can't, each style of cruise delivers a different Alaska. We help you choose — and take care of the cabin, the balcony side and the right excursions in every port.
Here, getting there is an attraction: the panoramic train replaces the road, the floatplane replaces hours of driving, the scenic transfer stops where the photo demands. Logistics in Alaska is fine design — and it is what makes the trip deliver.
Naturalists in the fjords, rangers and photographers in Katmai, veteran pilots around Denali: the right person beside you turns a sighting into a story. We book the best — privately and at your pace, whenever possible.
Summer sun, glacier wind and tundra night can fit in the same day. We send the exact list by region and by season — the right layering system so the suitcase closes light and nothing is missing in front of the ice.
From boarding in Brazil to the return, a team follows the whole trip. Any surprise — a flight, closed weather, a special request at the lodge — is solved with a message, in your language.
Where to stay
We work with a tight selection of houses and ships we know and trust — organised here by style, which in Alaska defines the experience. The final choice is always designed with you.
From the classic ship with everything on board to the small expedition vessel, the sea is Alaska's most scenic hotel: you wake up in a new fjord every day, and the balcony becomes a box seat for whales and calving ice.
Timber, fireplaces and picture windows onto the tundra: the wilderness lodges put Denali at breakfast and the fjords on your room's balcony — some reachable only by boat or plane, with guided outings from the door.
Full-service hotels in Anchorage to anchor the logistics — and, in winter, stays designed around the aurora in Fairbanks: north-facing windows, a wake-up call when the sky lights up and hot springs steaming in the snow.
Before you go
Practical information for those starting to think about the trip.
Alaska holds two trips inside it: the summer one, when everything runs and the wildlife is on stage, and the winter one, built for the aurora. The windows are clearly marked:
Alaska is the United States: Brazilian travellers need a valid US visa (B1/B2). The process takes lead time — we guide you step by step, with the right calendar so the visa never squeezes the trip.
Cruises ending in Canada, such as those disembarking in Vancouver, also require the Canadian electronic travel authorisation. We check documents, routes and ports of call case by case, before any booking.
In summer the thermometer wanders between t-shirt sunshine and the icy wind before a glacier — sometimes in the same day. The answer is the layering system: a base layer, a fleece and a waterproof shell solve almost everything.
We send the exact list by region and season — including the essentials nobody remembers: sunscreen for nineteen-hour days and binoculars for the wildlife. In winter, polar gear can be rented locally; the suitcase leaves home light.
Alaska is a fifth of the continental United States — and much of it roadless. Here, you don't improvise transfers: internal flights, train, boat and floatplane must mesh like gears, with margins for the weather.
This is how we design it: bases in the right order, air segments booked early, slack where the weather tends to rule — and a silent plan B for every critical connection. The trip flows; the logistics, nobody notices.
To add on
Layers that fit naturally into an Alaska journey.
Whoever disembarks in Vancouver is at the doorstep of the Canadian Rockies: turquoise lakes, panoramic trains and Banff and Jasper stringing mountain after mountain. The most natural extension on the map.
From Fairbanks, you fly over the taiga until you cross the Arctic Circle line — crossing certificate included and the vastness of the Arctic filling the window. For collectors of extremes, a rare stamp on the personal world map.
For those who want the bears unhurried, dedicated lodges in and around Katmai host just a few guests at a time, with daily viewing outings. It is the difference between visiting the scene — and living in it for a few days.
In summer, the helicopter lands on a field of eternal snow where husky teams wait on duty: glacier dog sledding, an improbable blend of scenic flight and childhood fulfilled — irresistible at every age.
King salmon in the rivers, giant halibut at sea: Alaska is the world capital of sport fishing. Private outings with your own guide and boat — and the day's dinner prepared with the trophy, from hook straight to table.
The largest national park in the United States is six times Yellowstone and almost nobody knows it: six-thousand-metre mountains, immense glaciers and a historic mining village in the middle of nowhere. Exclusivity in its raw state.
( Pairs well with this trip )
Banff, Jasper and the turquoise lakes of the Rockies — the natural extension for those disembarking in Vancouver.
From Lapland to Iceland, the other stages of the show — for those who saw the sky dance and want it again.
From the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, the Mundo Kaa way to sail — right ships, right cabins, right ports.
