Alaska Visitor Information Centers

Take a deep breath and explore Fair­banks! With the mid­night sum­mer sun shin­ing near­ly 24 hours a day, Fair­banks is burst­ing with ener­gy and things to do. Explore Fair­banks is head­quar­tered at the Mor­ris Thomp­son Cul­tur­al and Vis­i­tors Cen­ter which is also the hub of year-round staffed vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion and services.

This is the place to begin for infor­ma­tion about Sol­dot­na and the sur­round­ing area — every­thing from where to stay and eat to the per­fect activ­i­ties for your inter­ests. You can also pick up statewide vis­i­tor guides and oth­er pub­li­ca­tions, and enjoy their board­walk down to the Kenai River.

The Mor­ris Thomp­son Cul­tur­al and Vis­i­tors Cen­ter in down­town Fair­banks has brochures, maps, free WiFi and tele­phone, dai­ly lodg­ing avail­abil­i­ty, and local walk­ing and dri­ving tours. Serv­ing as the region­al vis­i­tor facil­i­ty, the friend­ly and knowl­edge­able staff have answers to all your questions.

The City of Kenai’s vis­i­tor cen­ter goes well beyond a per­son at a counter hand­ing out maps. You’ll find an impres­sive per­ma­nent col­lec­tion of Native Alaskan and local his­to­ry arti­facts, art exhibits, as well as the largest col­lec­tion of mount­ed bald eagles in North Amer­i­ca. The gift shop fea­tures sou­venirs, maps, books, music, and local­ly pro­duced items. And, indeed, friend­ly staffers dis­trib­ute infor­ma­tion on local lodg­ing, tours and…  ...more

Forty min­utes from down­town Anchor­age lies Eagle Riv­er Nature Cen­ter, a gate­way to Chugach State Park and a glacial riv­er val­ley as wild and dra­mat­ic as any in Alas­ka. Enjoy an easy, 3‑mile nature walk on the Albert Loop or trek up-val­ley 5 miles to see plung­ing water­falls and 3,000-foot cliffs. In win­ter, tra­verse the trails on cross-coun­try skis or snowshoes.

Offer­ing indis­pens­able resources like free maps for a vari­ety of trails — includ­ing those for hik­ing, his­toric Fort Seward, and the route to the Yukon — the Haines Vis­i­tor Cen­ter is an explor­er’s hub.

Need a din­ner rec­om­men­da­tion? Want to know the best place to see whales? Or how about kid-friend­ly activ­i­ties in Seward? There’s no bet­ter place to have your ques­tions answered and to learn about Seward than the Seward Cham­ber of Com­merce and Vis­i­tors Center.

Out on the tip of the Kenai Penin­su­la, at (lit­er­al­ly) the end of the road, sits the quirky town of Homer — the eco­tourism cap­i­tal of Alas­ka. Artists, adven­tur­ers, and food­ies all come to expe­ri­ence the town’s cre­ative ener­gy, great restau­rants, and gor­geous wilder­ness. And at the entrance to town, just off the Ster­ling High­way, you’ll find the Homer Cham­ber of Com­merce Vis­i­tor Center.

Take a walk out­side the Nature Cen­ter on the Mount Roberts Alpine Loop Trail.

This log cab­in with a pitched roof and panoram­ic win­dows sits on a bluff beside the high­way and is easy to miss. But be sure to stop in for advice on your vis­it to the Mat-Su. There’s an infor­ma­tion­al video run­ning inside, plus a bevy of vol­un­teers who have at least 60 years com­bined expe­ri­ence in the area. Where should I eat din­ner? What tour should I take for wildlife view­ing? Where’s the best camp­ground? They help­ful locals here will help…  ...more

Some 80 per­cent of Alaskan land is pub­lic space. And no one has more infor­ma­tion on it all than the Alas­ka Pub­lic Lands Infor­ma­tion Cen­ter. Stop by for trip-plan­ning infor­ma­tion, inter­ac­tive dis­plays, and movies on Alaska’s wildlife, cul­tures, and des­ti­na­tions. Whether you like to hike, camp, hunt, fish, view wildlife, or take scenic dri­ves, the cen­ter can point you in the right direc­tion. You’ll also find a vari­ety of edu­ca­tion­al programs,…  ...more

Why go The For­est Service’s Begich, Bog­gs Vis­i­tor Cen­ter is locat­ed in Portage Val­ley, one of Alaska’s most vis­it­ed recre­ation areas. The val­ley is a show­case of glacial activ­i­ty with a num­ber of ​“hang­ing” glac­i­ers grac­ing the encir­cling moun­tains. The vis­i­tor cen­ter is locat­ed on the north­west­ern shore of Portage Lake, and was built on the ter­mi­nal moraine left behind by Portage Glac­i­er almost a cen­tu­ry ago. The Trail of Blue Ice, Byron…  ...more

The Unalaska/​Port of Dutch Har­bor Con­ven­tion and Vis­i­tors Bureau is estab­lished to pro­mote and encour­age tourism and to sup­port the devel­op­ment and sus­tain­abil­i­ty of tourism infra­struc­ture in the Unalaska/​Dutch Har­bor Region. They are Mon­day through Fri­day 8am to 5pm. Feel free to drop in, call, or email them with any ques­tions about the region. The Unalas­ka / Port of Dutch Har­bor CVB is a great resource; pro­vid­ing maps, vis­i­tor guides,  ...more

If you want to climb Denali (Mt. McKin­ley), this is where you have to come to get your per­mit. Not a climber? Vis­it­ing is still a fas­ci­nat­ing les­son in moun­taineer­ing and Denal­i’s his­to­ry — from inter­pre­tive pro­grams to a tit­il­lat­ing video about climb­ing that shows through­out the day. The rus­tic and beau­ti­ful build­ing also hosts a per­ma­nent col­lec­tion of pho­tos of the Alas­ka Range. Pho­tog­ra­ph­er, explor­er, and sci­en­tist Brad­ford Wash­burn is…  ...more

Take a step back into Seldovia’s past while learn­ing about the present at the Sel­dovia Muse­um & Vis­i­tor Cen­ter. Check out detailed exhibits on the cul­tur­al tra­di­tions and lega­cies of the Native peo­ples of the area, see inter­ac­tive wildlife exhibits and pick up free trav­el infor­ma­tion and maps.

From mid-Sep­tem­ber to mid-May, the Murie Sci­ence Learn­ing Cen­ter serves as Denali Nation­al Park’s win­ter vis­i­tors’ cen­ter. It’s open from 9am to 4pm and pro­vides an array of park exhibits and movies. You can talk with rangers about cur­rent trail con­di­tions, bor­row a pair of snow­shoes, and get back­coun­try per­mits for overnight trips. Head out to explore trails from the cen­ter or dri­ve a cou­ple miles fur­ther up the park road to the Park…  ...more

Vis­it the Gird­wood Cham­ber web­site for infor­ma­tion on lodg­ing, activ­i­ties, restau­rants, shops and more. You can also view a map of the town to help plan your stay in Gird­wood. The Gird­wood Cham­ber does not have a phys­i­cal loca­tion, vis­it web­site or email for information.

You’ll find friend­ly, local staff who are ready to answer ques­tions and help you with your trip, and it’s open year round. In a hur­ry? At least stop in to pick up a free trav­el guide or brochure.

Stop here for more infor­ma­tion about the park and local area, exhibits, and ranger-led activ­i­ties, as well as an Alas­ka Geo­graph­ic book­store. Always check on cur­rent Nabesna Road and trail con­di­tions before begin­ning your jour­ney. Recre­ation­al off-road vehi­cles (ORVs) are typ­i­cal­ly allowed on estab­lished trails. How­ev­er, trails can be tem­porar­i­ly closed to ORVs due to main­te­nance and improve­ments. ORV per­mits are required and avail­able at…  ...more

Housed in a one-room log cab­in, this muse­um and vis­i­tor cen­ter packs a lot into its small space. Learn about Aht­na Athabas­can natives, explore min­ing and trap­ping his­to­ry, and check out the his­to­ry of the fas­ci­nat­ing Colony project — a New Deal pro­gram that brought 204 farm fam­i­lies to Alas­ka. You can also pick up tour books and maps, or ask the knowl­edge­able staff about area attrac­tions. The museum’s per­ma­nent col­lec­tion spans the development…  ...more

At Mile­post 75 Tay­lor High­way you can pull off and read the inter­pre­tive pan­els to learn more about the Fortymile gold rush. 

The Skag­way Con­ven­tion and Vis­i­tors Bureau pro­vides local infor­ma­tion for the his­toric town and out­ly­ing areas. Stop in at the vis­i­tor cen­ter down­town to get all your ques­tions answered. 

Built in 1939 by the Civil­ian Con­ser­va­tion Corps, the Won­der Lake his­toric ranger sta­tion was built to serve as quar­ters at the west end of the road. Today it pri­mar­il­ly serves vis­i­tors. The Park staff use addi­tion­al struc­tures for sum­mer hous­ing. The com­pact site has indi­vid­ual ranger bunkhous­es, a head­quar­ters build­ing, a shop, a pump shed, and a few oth­er mis­cel­la­neous small struc­tures. Eight Park rangers are on site from mid-May to…  ...more

This large glacial lake was dammed by a ter­mi­nal moraine locat­ed to the north. This area has beau­ti­ful views and good hik­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties into the Brooks Range. This is a great place to stop for infor­ma­tion about this region. There are inter­pre­tive pan­els with infor­ma­tion about the for­ma­tion of the Brooks Range, his­toric uses of the area and major archae­o­log­i­cal dis­cov­er­ies; the Arc­tic Nation­al Wildlife Refuge and Gates of the Arc­tic National…  ...more

Only 33 miles from the sum­mit of Denali, and at an ele­va­tion of 3300’, Eiel­son offers some of the most spec­tac­u­lar views of Denali (for­mer­ly Mt McKin­ley). There are many activ­i­ties you can do here, includ­ing ranger-guid­ed hikes up to near­by Tho­ro­fare Pass and self-guid­ed expi­ra­tion of the high-alpine tun­dra environment.

It’s rare when a Nation­al Wildlife Refuge has an amaz­ing vis­i­tor cen­ter, but this one is a must-see. Kids and adults will love the dis­plays, includ­ing the com­plete skele­ton of a grey whale. You can learn about the grey whale migra­tion from Baja to the Bering Sea, the food they eat, their evo­lu­tion­ary devel­op­ments, and the sev­en-year process of dis­cov­er­ing and trans­port­ing the skele­ton to the muse­um. The cen­ter also coor­di­nates educational…  ...more

In a nation­al park with some 13 mil­lion acres, decid­ing on a spot for the vis­i­tor cen­ter can’t be easy. But the Nation­al Park Ser­vice found a great loca­tion in Cop­per Cen­ter, where you can get infor­ma­tion on hik­ing trails, back­coun­try expe­di­tions, flight­see­ing, and guid­ing com­pa­nies, along with books, brochures, and a relief mod­el of the park’s moun­tain ranges

Tetlin is one of only two refuges in Alas­ka that are road acces­si­ble. It har­bors a var­ied land­scape, from rugged snow­capped peaks and glacial­ly fed rivers to tun­dra, for­est, and wet­lands. The Refuge was estab­lished to con­serve water­fowl, rap­tors and oth­er migra­to­ry birds, furbear­ers, moose, and cari­bou — which lie in abun­dance with­in its bor­ders. The vis­i­tor cen­ter is about 1.5 hours from Tok.

The Down­town Asso­ci­a­tion of Fair­banks has knowl­edge­able, local staff that are work­ing hard to encour­age and fos­ter eco­nom­ic growth that will result in a down­town that is a vital, ener­getic and an attrac­tive cen­ter of the com­mu­ni­ty. Their pri­ma­ry focus is to pro­mote, pre­serve and revi­tal­ize Down­town Fair­banks. Among oth­er projects, they are work­ing on a com­pre­hen­sive, achiev­able com­mu­ni­ty plan for the revi­tal­iza­tion and future growth of…  ...more

Walk­ing down the main street of Ken­necott, you can’t miss the Nation­al Park Ser­vice vis­i­tor cen­ter on the left, housed in the his­toric gen­er­al store and post office.Stop in and learn about the his­to­ry: The sto­ry goes that when the last train left Ken­ni­cott in 1938, peo­ple had to sud­den­ly aban­don their lives with only a few hours of warn­ing. Until the 1970’s you could still come and stock up on beans, flour, and oth­er sta­ples left behind.You’ll…  ...more

Whether or not you’re a World War II schol­ar, the sto­ry of the Aleut­ian Islands’ role in the sec­ond great war is fas­ci­nat­ing. The mil­i­tary buildup, the bat­tles, the removal and even­tu­al return of Aleut res­i­dents. It’s all detailed at the Aleut­ian World War II Visitor’s Cen­ter, locat­ed in an his­toric Aerol­o­gy Oper­a­tions Build­ing that has been ren­o­vat­ed to its orig­i­nal 1940s-style façade.

Hid­den in the trees, this lit­tle log cab­in vis­i­tor’s cen­ter can be easy to miss! How­ev­er, make sure to stop by and learn about all the activ­i­ties and sights to see in the sur­round­ing area. 

Dri­ving into McCarthy you’ll see a sign for the NPS kiosk on the left. This is a great place to get ori­ent­ed to the McCarthy and Ken­ni­cott area as well as make the most of your vis­it here. The infor­ma­tion kiosk is open dai­ly dur­ing the sum­mer and has friend­ly park rangers and vol­un­teers to answer ques­tions about the McCarthy and Ken­ni­cott area as well as give you infor­ma­tion about park­ing and shut­tle ser­vice. This is a also good place to use…  ...more

Oper­at­ed by the U.S. For­est Ser­vice and open only in sum­mer­time, it’s staffed by guides who can help you under­stand the area. There’s also a stream that runs thick with pink and chum salmon when they return each sum­mer to spawn. Thanks to a foot­bridge over the stream and the clear Alaskan water, it’s easy to see the fish. (The best view­ing is from mid-July through Octo­ber.) You may also see black bears, who come to feast on the fish.

This infor­ma­tion cen­ter is a part­ner­ship between the BLM, the US Fish & Wildlife Ser­vice and the Nation­al Park Ser­vice. The Cen­ter is open dai­ly from noon to 10 p.m. late May — ear­ly Sep­tem­ber. Here you will find infor­ma­tion and inter­pre­tive dis­plays about the regions his­to­ry, nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment and recre­ation oppor­tu­ni­ties in the area. There’s also an Alas­ka Geo­graph­ic Asso­ci­a­tion bookstore.

The Alas­ka Mar­itime Nation­al Wildlife Refuge Vis­i­tor Cen­ter is a com­pre­hen­sive estab­lish­ment on the Bypass that hous­es the Alas­ka Mar­itime Nation­al Wildlife Refuge, ded­i­cat­ed to under­stand­ing and con­serv­ing the marine envi­ron­ment. Their pro­grams include nat­u­ral­ist-guid­ed estu­ary and bird­ing walks and tide pool explo­rations just a lit­tle ways out­side the back door and down to the beach below the Center.

Locat­ed in down­town Juneau, the Cen­ten­ni­al Hall Con­ven­tion Cen­ter, is a great loca­tion to hold an event. Con­certs, con­ven­tions, meet­ings, and trade shows are reg­u­lar­ly held in this con­ve­nient location. 

Built in 1959 as the Nation­al Guard Armory, the build­ing was tak­en off-line in 2004. It was emp­ty for years, until the City and Bor­ough of Juneau Assem­bly hand­ed it off to the Juneau Arts & Human­i­ties Coun­cil to man­age as the Juneau Arts & Cul­ture Cen­ter. Today it pro­vides space for artists to work and show their creations.

Owned and oper­at­ed by the Nation­al Park Ser­vice, this hall often hosts speak­ers, movies, potlucks, yoga, music, wed­dings, and oth­er com­mu­ni­ty events. You’ll like­ly see fly­ers around town about these events, which are usu­al­ly held for no charge (though they may request dona­tions). If there is some­thing going on dur­ing your vis­it to town, don’t be shy; it’s worth your while to find out what’s hap­pen­ing. And check in at the NPS vis­i­tor cen­ter to see  ...more

A good place to start any tour of Skag­way is the for­mer White Pass and Yukon Rail­road Depot. This mas­sive, col­or­ful struc­ture, built in 1898, was a dom­i­nant part of Skag­way life until 1969, when rail­road oper­a­tions moved to the WP&YR’s new build­ing two doors east. The old depot is now the Nation­al Park Ser­vice Vis­i­tor Cen­ter, where vis­i­tors can enjoy movies, walk­ing tours and oth­er activ­i­ties dur­ing the sum­mer. Although the tracks are now…  ...more

Begin your adven­ture in the Kenai Nation­al Wildlife Refuge at the state-of-the-art, eco-friend­ly (LEED Sil­ver-cer­ti­fied) vis­i­tor cen­ter in Sol­dot­na that’s a must-vis­it for trav­el­ers. Year-round, the cen­ter is a great place to meet with rangers, get maps, plan your activ­i­ties, and learn about wildlife. You’ll also find reg­u­lar talks, like bear aware­ness, for exam­ple; guid­ed walks on Refuge trails; and hands-on pro­grams for all ages.

Alaska’s old­est Nation­al Park isn’t a big one — only 113 acres — but it’s rich with his­to­ry and there’s plen­ty to do: hik­ing trails, ranger-led inter­pre­tive walks, carv­ing demon­stra­tions, ethno­graph­ic dis­plays, and more. The park’s main attrac­tions are the rough­ly 20 totem poles and the beau­ti­ful coastal rain­for­est, which you can explore on your own or with park rangers.

The Denali Nation­al Park Vis­i­tors Cen­ter is actu­al­ly more of a cam­pus. The cen­ter itself is the main Nation­al Park Ser­vice wel­come and infor­ma­tion cen­ter and it is sur­round­ed by oth­er facil­i­ties that include a restau­rant, bookstore/​giftshop, bag check, bus stop and the Alas­ka Rail­road depot.

At any Vis­it Anchor­age infor­ma­tion cen­ter loca­tion, you can find brochures and maps to help you chart your trip around Anchor­age and South­cen­tral Alas­ka. Pay a vis­it to the ulti­mate Anchor­age experts who are in the know on the best activ­i­ties, restau­rants, tours and oth­er local hot spots. Log Cab­in and Down­town Vis­i­tor Infor­ma­tion Cen­ter Open dai­ly, except major hol­i­days: Mid May to mid Sep­tem­ber: 8am-7pm Mid Septe­me­ber to mid…  ...more

Stuffed bears and musk ox: The Valdez Vis­i­tors Cen­ter serves up some unex­pect­ed exhibits, along with all the infor­ma­tion you need to know to have a great expe­ri­ence in town. The knowl­edge­able locals who staff the cen­ter can help answer ques­tions, hand out town maps and vis­i­tor guides, and direct you to the wealth of brochures on tour oper­a­tors and hotels.

Trav­el­ing to Nome? Make the Nome Vis­i­tors Cen­ter your first stop. Pick up some brochures, see a short video on Nome, say ​“Hi” to ​“Oscar” the stuffed musk ox, and talk to staff about things to do in and around town. Open dai­ly: 8 am — 5 pm in win­ter, 8 am — 7 pm in summer.

The Alas­ka Avalanche Infor­ma­tion Cen­ter works to increase pub­lic aware­ness and safe­ty through avalanche edu­ca­tion, and the net­work­ing of avalanche pro­fes­sion­als. It is entire­ly run by vol­un­teers who are pas­sion­ate about the outdoors.

This is a pop­u­lar attrac­tion with wildlife exhibits, free wildlife films, and rangers avail­able to answer about recre­ation and camp­ing in the refuge. Take a short walk down the nature trail to a view­ing plat­form. Use the spot­ting scope to look for wildlife on Head­quar­ters Lake.