5 Best Sights in Juneau, the Inside Passage, and Southeast Alaska, Alaska

The main focuses at this natural history museum are bald eagles and associated fauna of the Chilkat Preserve. Lectures, displays, videos, and a taxidermy-heavy diorama help tell their stories, and there's a raptor center that has live presentations and an aviary displaying live eagles.

The exhibits here explore commercial fishing and the cannery industry, the era of fish traps, the social life of Petersburg, and Tlingit culture. Don't miss the 126½-pound king salmon—the largest ever caught commercially—as well as the Tlingit dugout canoe; the Cape Decision lighthouse station lens; and Earth, Sea and Sky, a 3D wall mural outside.

The owner started his impressive collection of 1,800 hammers decades ago and founded the museum—the world's first—in 2001. Noteworthy specimens include a Roman battle hammer and 6-foot-long posting hammers used to secure advertisements to exterior walls.

A 2-mile hike (uphill) or shuttle-bus ride from town, this small museum is housed in the former compressor building of Juneau's historic AJ Gold Mine. The collection includes old mining tools, railcars, minerals, and a 3D map of the ore body. If you didn't arrive on foot, it's well worth scheduling some extra time for meandering along Basin Road. Though the road itself is fairly flat, the surrounding country is steep and wooded, with abundant waterfalls and trails leading in all directions, including one to the summit of Mt. Juneau.

A Tlingit war canoe sits beside this brick building officially named Harrigan Centennial Hall. Check out the museum's collection of Tlingit, Victorian-era, and Alaska-purchase historical artifacts, including spruce-root basketry, nautical instruments, and mining tools.