Must-see attractions in Prince William Sound

This is the star glacial attraction in Prince William Sound – a large sea inlet named by British colonizers after a young English prince in the eighteenth…

This lovingly curated museum includes an ornate, steam-powered antique fire engine, a 19th-century saloon bar and the ceremonial first barrel of oil to…

Old Valdez is like a wilder, starker, less trammeled version of Italy's Pompeii. This is where the town stood before the devastating 1964 earthquake…

In Cordova, the standard greeting among locals is ‘Been fishing?’ Unsurprisingly, the harbor is the community’s heart, humming throughout the season as…

Whittier's history goes back to – well – 1941, so you might be surprised to hear that it has a museum. Bivouacked next to a grocery store beneath the…

This annex of the Valdez Museum is dominated by a scale model of the Old Valdez township. Each home destroyed in the Good Friday Earthquake has been…

Valdez’ harbor is a classic: raucous with gulls and eagles, reeking of fish guts, sea salt and creosote, and home to all manner of vessels. The benches…

For a small town Valdez has several wonderful museums, including this one, the private collection of an American couple who settled in Alaska in 1947 and…

Cordova's Museum has been relocated to new digs in the impressive Cordova Center. It was on the cusp of opening at the time of research and was due to be…

Part of Whittier’s bizarreness stems from the fact that most of its inhabitants live in the same building, the 14-story Begich Towers. The Begich started…

You can’t miss this ugly Cold War creation that melds into the surrounding landscape like a moose on a catwalk. Hailing from an architectural school best…

This compact museum operated by local Alaska Natives has a small but high-quality collection of Alaska Native art from all over the state. Don’t miss the…

Every summer Cordova’s population swells with young idealists, opportunists and stragglers hoping to make a mint by canning salmon on 16-hour shifts…

This dockside research facility offers themed ‘Discovery Packs’ for kids, which include information on the birds, flora and geology of Cordova. Inside the…

A huge 25ft-high rendering of an Alaska Native in Sitka spruce warily guards Prince William Sound College. The sculpture by Peter Wolf Toth is one in a…

Standing sentinel over the small-boat harbor, this bronze study of a fisherman at the wheel of his trawler in inclement weather was commissioned in the…

Across the inlet from town, Valdez’ ever-pumping heart once welcomed visitors, but since September 11, 2001, stricter security protocols have closed it to…

The Civic Center sits amid greenery with picnic tables, a small lake and the short Overlook Trail in close proximity.