United States
Juneau
No road reaches this state capital, just fjords, glaciers and a harbour full of humpbacks.
Juneau clings to a strip of land between the Gastineau Channel and mountains steep enough that avalanche chutes draw the city limits. Humpbacks surface within sight of the capitol, a glacier hangs a bus ride from downtown, and no road connects any of it to anywhere else.
Juneau is the only American state capital reachable solely by aeroplane or boat; the ferry and the runway are the entire connection to the outside world. Mendenhall Glacier, the most easily reached glacier in Alaska, sits just thirteen miles from downtown, its blue face and waterfall viewable from free trails without a guide or charter. The channel and the fjords beyond fill each summer with feeding humpbacks, and whale boats work out of the same harbour as the fishing fleet and the cruise ships. Downtown, the Alaska State Museum carries ten thousand years of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian culture alongside Russian America and the gold rush that built the town in the first place.
Solo
A capital city with no road out rewards a traveller who likes contradiction: glacier in the morning, museum in the rain, harbour bar among fishing crews by night.
Couple
Walk to the glacier viewpoint, take a whale boat in the afternoon and crack king crab on the wharf while the floatplanes land past your table.
Friends
Whales, glacier trails and dockside crab make an easy shared itinerary where nobody has to drive anywhere at all.
Family
The public bus needs no booking but stops 1.5 miles short of Mendenhall, the visitor centre explains the ice, and porcupines and spawning salmon do the supporting cast.
- Juneau is the only US state capital reachable solely by aeroplane or boat; there is no road out.
- Mendenhall Glacier sits thirteen miles from downtown, the most easily reached glacier in Alaska, with free viewpoints and trails.
- Humpbacks feed all summer in the channels, and whale boats leave from the same harbour as the fishing fleet.
- The Alaska State Museum holds ten thousand years of Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian culture moments from the wharf.
King crab legs cracked at the dockside shacks of the cruise wharf, cold water sweet and priced like the freight it is.
Gold-rush-styled beers at Alaskan Brewing, the first brewery to open in Juneau after Prohibition, pouring since 1986.
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