Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska, in the Southcentral region. Anchorage is a cosmopolitan port city with a population of over 300,000. It is a consolidated city-borough referred to as a municipality. The urbanized city is defined by Muldoon Road to the east, Rabbit Creek Road to the south, and Cook Inlet to the north and west. Several small suburbs are within the Municipality of Anchorage while physically outside what most Anchorageites would call the “Anchorage” proper area. These include Eagle River and Chugiak to the north and Girdwood to the south.

. . . Anchorage . . .

Let’s be clear, if you are looking for the “real Alaska” this is not it, but you can see it from here. Anchorage is a city — a real city with freeways, traffic, giant malls, tall buildings, crime and most other things one expects to find in an American city. It is an important hub and the gateway to other marvelous areas including the Alaskan Interior and the Kenai Peninsula, but is not really a tourist destination. While it is not the administrative capital of Alaska, it is the economic capital. There are good places to eat and plenty of shopping, but the city is just that, a city. A great place to gear up for a trip, but it’s not particularly “Alaskan” except for the weather and its spectacular setting.

Alaska is well known for its winters—but most visitors come in the summer, when the days are long and the temperatures are moderate.

Many people consider the period between May and early September to be the best time to visit Anchorage. The month of June usually has the best combination of long days, good weather, and warm afternoons.

As you would expect in the high northern latitudes, the longest days come around the summer solstice, 21 June, and they get quite short around the winter solstice, 21 December. In the summer, Anchorage gets up to 19.5 hours of sunlight, beginning by 4am, the sun sets just before midnight especially early in the season. Under clear skies, the sky wouldn’t get completely pitch black in June. At the start of winter however, the area only gets 5 hours of sunlight each day – it only gets bright from as late as 9:30AM and the usually cloudy winter days further exacerbate the amount of sunlight, it is dark at 4PM.

The Anchorage-area climate, including the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound, often sees summer temperatures in the mid-70s F (24°C). Winter temperatures may fall into the -20s and -30s (-30s°C) for a short spell.

. . . Anchorage . . .

. . . Anchorage . . .