With nearly 300,000 residents, Anchorage is a big city, but it’s also the only place on earth you can play golf in bright sunshine at 10 p.m. and watch a moose run through the course, ruining your bogey. Wildlife sightings abound within the city’s 1,944 square miles, an expanse that includes a vibrant downtown area, but also nourishes black bears, grizzlies, bald eagles, beluga whales, Dall sheep, hundreds of bird species, and, of course, moose. In fact, in Anchorage, “a moose was blocking my driveway” is a perfectly acceptable excuse for being late for work or school.
A female moose takes a rest in the heart of the city, Town Park Square, while traffic passes by. Around 1,500 moose call Anchorage home. While they can be found in suburban backyards, you’ll also see them in Kincaid Park, Earthquake Park, and Potter Marsh, as well as at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. Photo by Roy Neese, courtesy Visit Anchorage.
Festivals and events in Anchorage are some of the most unique on the planet. One of them, the Running of the Reindeer, is held in conjunction with the Fur Rendezvous, a celebration that includes dogsledding, snow sculptures, and outhouse races. Photo by Jody O. Photos, courtesy Visit Anchorage. 
The Alaska Gallery at the Anchorage Museum and the Alaska Native Heritage Center allow visitors to learn about and explore more than 10,000 years of Alaska’s indigenous culture, including artifacts, arts, dance, languages, and dwellings. This traditional gut parka at the museum is one of many examples on display. Photo by Juno Kim, courtesy Visit Anchorage. 
No one knows how to cook salmon better than Alaskans. In Anchorage, you’ll find some of the top chefs in the country, and all of them have a signature dish involving seafood. The Spenard Roadhouse, a local favorite, serves up five different types of salads, with fresh Alaskan wild-caught salmon as a topper, as well as salmon and halibut entrees and sandwiches. Photo by Jody O. Photos, courtesy Visit Anchorage.
Visit Anchorage
Beyond wildlife and the jaw-dropping scenery of the Chugach Mountains and surrounding trails, the city teems with Native cultural history, culinary artistry, and a rich heritage of mining, fishing, and aviation—giving it that “something extra” in addition to its staple of breweries, events, theaters, and coffee shops. So, while you can use Anchorage as the hub and jumping-off point for other adventures throughout the state, it’s a worthy destination of its own. Whether you spend a week or just a weekend, you’ll find Anchorage to be a place as unique and interesting as a moose’s paddle-shaped antlers.
A group takes in the view of Portage Glacier from the Portage Pass Trail. A hop, skip, and jump down the scenic Seward Highway, you’ll come to the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center, which contains a sobering look at the retreat of the glacier, as well as a simulated ice cave and icebergs. To get up close to the glacier, you can take a boat cruise in summer, or hike, bike, or ski the frozen lake in winter. Photo by Jody O. Photos, courtesy Visit Anchorage. 
This view of people enjoying fishing for salmon in Ship Creek shows the area’s easy access from downtown. Anglers can wet their line on a lunch break from meetings or work while on business in the city. Photo by Frank Flavin, courtesy Visit Anchorage.
A float plane rests in its slip while another takes off from Lake Hood in Anchorage, the world’s largest and busiest float plane base in the world. On average, Lake Hood has over 160 takeoffs and landings daily, peaking at nearly 500 daily in the summer months. Enjoy dinner or a beverage on the outdoor deck of the Millennium Lakefront Hotel in Spenard to watch the aviation spectacle unfold. Photo by Frank Flavin, courtesy Visit Anchorage.
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