16 Best Sights in The Kenai Peninsula and Southcentral Alaska, Alaska

A research center as well as visitor center, Alaska SeaLife rehabilitates injured marine wildlife and provides educational experiences for the general public. The facility includes massive cold-water tanks and outdoor viewing decks as well as interactive displays of cold-water fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, including harbor seals and a 2,000-pound sea lion. The center was partially funded with reparations money from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Films, hands-on activities, a gift shop, and private small group tours where you can interact with different animals complete the offerings.

Seward is the gateway to the 669,984-acre Kenai Fjords National Park. This is spectacular coastal parkland incised with sheer, dark, slate cliffs rising from the sea, ribboned with white waterfalls, and tufted with deep-green spruce. Kenai Fjords presents a rare opportunity for an up-close view of blue tidewater glaciers as well as some remarkable ocean wildlife. If you take a day trip on a tour boat out of Seward, it's highly likely you'll see frolicking sea otters, crowds of Steller sea lions lazing on the rocky shelves along the shore, a porpoise or two, bald eagles, and tens of thousands of seabirds. Humpback whales and orcas are sighted occasionally, and mountain goats wander the seaside cliffs. The park's coastal fjords are a favorite of sea kayakers, who can camp or stay in reserved public-use cabins. One of the park's chief attractions is Exit Glacier, which can be reached only by the one road that passes into Kenai Fjords. Trails inside the park lead to an overlook of the vast Harding Icefield. Named for President Warren G. Harding, this area has more than three-dozen glaciers flowing from it. Backcountry travelers should also be aware that some of the park's coastline has been claimed by local Native organizations and is now private property. Check with park headquarters to avoid trespassing on Native land.

In addition to fishing, clam digging is popular at Clam Gulch, 24 miles south of Soldotna on the Sterling Highway. This is a favorite of local children, who love any excuse to dig in the muddy, sloppy goo. Ask locals on the beach how to find the giant razor clams (recognized by their dimples in the sand). Ask also for advice on how to clean the clams—cleaning is pretty labor-intensive, and it's easy to get into a clam-digging frenzy when the conditions are favorable, only to regret your efforts when cleaning time arrives. The clam digging is best when tides are minus 4 or 5 feet. A sportfishing license, available at grocery stores, sporting-goods shops, and drugstores, is required for clam diggers 16 years old and older.

A mass of ice that caps the Kenai Mountains, the Harding Icefield covers more than 1,100 square miles, and oozes more than 40 glaciers from its edges and down the mountainsides; Exit Glacier is the most accessible part of the ice field. Just outside Seward, if you hike a mile up the paved trail that starts at the parking lot, you'll find yourself at the terminal moraine of Exit Glacier. Look for the marked turnoff at Mile 3.7 as you enter town, or you can take the hourly shuttle from downtown ($15 round-trip). There's a small walk-in campground here, a ranger station, and access to the glacier. The hike to the ice field from the parking lot is a 9-mile round-trip that gains 3,000 feet in elevation, so it's not for the timid or out of shape. But if you're feeling up to the task, the hike and views are breathtaking. Local wildlife includes mountain goats and bears both black and brown, so keep a sharp eye out for them. Due to recent ice fall at the toe of the glacier, the entire toe is currently off-limits.

One of the few accessible valley glaciers in the state, Exit is the only destination in the park accessible by car. Named for being a mountaineering expedition's exit from the first recorded successful crossing of the Harding Icefield in 1968, this glacier is the park's most popular destination.

Open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the center includes a bookstore, exhibits of topographical maps, stories of explorers and adventurers, and geological and glaciological artifacts. The center is ADA compatible and has rangers on staff to answer questions and guide short tours of the immediate area.

This is the largest ice field located entirely in the United States. It began forming during the Pleistocene Epoch, about 23,000 years ago, and is now comprised of a number of interconnected glaciers. As it's not possible to see through the ice, it's hard to gauge the depth of it, but radio wave studies have indicated that it's at least 1,500 feet deep in a ridge above Exit Glacier. The surface area is relatively easy to study, however, and research shows that over the past 10 years, the ice field's melt has increased, dropping it 10–12 feet in elevation every year.

The first mile of the historic original trail—at first called the Seward-to-Nome Mail Trail—runs along the beach and makes for a nice, easy stroll.

The Kenai Fjords explode with glaciers, rain forests, and wildlife sights. The marine mammals you'll likely see are the Dall's porpoises, sea lions, otters, seals, dolphins, and whales (orca, humpback, gray, minke, sei, and fin). In the air, on the water, and populating the many islands and outcroppings along the way are almost 200 species of birds that call this region home, including falcons, eagles, and puffins.

Located in Seward's small-boat harbor, the main visitor center is open daily from June to mid-September. The small center has a few things for sale, issues marine tour tickets, and offers free viewings of a short 2-minute film narrated from the perspective of a wilderness kayaker, a marine ecologist, and a Sugpiaq family whose ancestors hailed from the region. Park rangers are on staff to answer questions about the area.

The refuge's nearly 2 million acres include a portion of the Harding Icefield as well as two large and scenic lakes, Skilak and Tustumena. This is the area's premier moose habitat, and the waterways are great for canoeing and kayaking. The refuge maintains two visitor centers. The main center, in Soldotna, has wildlife dioramas, free films and information, and a bookstore and gift shop. There's also a seasonal "contact" center at Mile 58 of the Sterling Highway, open from mid-June to mid-August. Wildlife is plentiful even by Alaskan standards. Although caribou seldom appear near the road, Dall sheep and mountain goats live on the peaks near Cooper Landing, and black and brown bears, wolves, coyotes, lynx, beavers, and lots of birds reside here, along with many moose.

The refuge's canoe trail system runs through the Swan Lake and Swanson River areas. Covering more than 140 miles on 100 lakes and the Swanson River, this route escapes the notice of most visitors and residents. It's a shame because this series of lakes linked by overland portages offers fantastic access to the remote backcountry, well away from what passes for civilization in the subarctic. The fishing improves exponentially with distance from the road system.

If you drive south from the Alaska SeaLife Center, after about 10 minutes you'll reach Lowell Point, a wooded stretch of land along the bay with access to beach walking, hiking, and kayaking. This is a great day-trip destination, and camping is also an option.

For a different view of the town along a less-traveled road, drive out Nash Road, around Resurrection Bay, and look down at Seward, nestled at the base of the surrounding mountains like a young bird in its nest.

Serving as the port for the city of Seward, this 18-mile long fjord is the epic destination for kayakers from all over the world, as well as the entry point to Kenai Fjords National Park. Framed by snow-tip peaks, this scenic body of water is an exciting place for viewing birds and marine life in the summer months.

Seward's museum, community center, and library is a one-stop attraction, with the museum just downstairs from the library. The museum displays art by prominent Alaskan artists as well as relics that weave together the stories of the gold rush, Russian settlements, Alaska Native history, and the upheaval created by the 1964 earthquake. A movie illustrating the disaster and one about the Iditarod Trail are played back-to-back daily.