Glacier-sized discoveries in the desert
Although I spent a couple of days at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, the destination I learned about couldn’t be any more different. For two days, I spent my time learning about all things Alaska, thanks to the Alaska Travel Industry Association’s annual Alaska Media Road Show. Learning about the several cities, properties and excursions groups can look forward to when they visit the state left me in awe that nearly rivaled seeing my first Alaskan glacier.
Alaskan Experiences
Alaska Helicopter Tours flies around two locations: Seward, a coastal city of 2,800 near Kenai Fjords National Park, and Knik Glacier Valley, 45 minutes north of Anchorage.
The year-round Knik Valley location offers several tour durations and multiple landings. A crowd favorite from the Knik Valley tour is the two-hour Grand Knik Tour, which features three landings, the last of which is the pilot’s choice. Other adventures include glacier ice climbing on frozen waterfalls and ice walls, as well as glacier paddleboarding.
Seward is the more recent tour offering. Only available from May through mid-September, the tour offers dog sled tours, iceberg tours and helicopter hiking tours. Tour operators can hold as many as six passengers at a time in their largest helicopter and three in their smallest. Alaska Helicopter Tours’ base in Knik River Valley also features lodging in the form of private cabins and the five-bedroom Crown Mountain House.
Read More: Notes from the Road: Anchorage, Alaska
The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show (GALS) is a one-hour show that has been in operation since 2000 in downtown Anchorage, one block from the cruise ship docks. GALS has up to six shows daily, during which its loggers—world-class athletes who compete around the world—participate in 12 events.
Attendees who want to grub can add the crab feast while they watch the show. Outside, attendees can get competitive in the axe-throwing competition (group winners compete against loggers) and cool down at one of GALS’ dining rooms. This April, GALS will open its second location in Ketchikan, at the Ward Cove Port.
Seabourn is a cruise line encompassing boutique, ultra-luxury cruises. Its Alaskan routes feature eight-day to 15-day cruises through the Alaskan Inside Passage and Canadian Inside Passage.
Given the ship’s size, compared to the behemoths other cruise lines offer, Seabourn’s fleet can adventure throughout areas other ships can’t, such as the Inian Islands and Alert Bay, where passengers might get a sighting of humpback whales and brown bears.
Seabourn’s Expedition Team makes the cruise even more intimate, hosting naturalists, marine biologists, ornithologists, geologists and historians who provide educational insights on the region both on board and in the field. The company partners with Starlink, making calls and checking the occasional email a breeze.
Sequestered, With a View
Open from mid-August through early April, Borealis Basecamp, located 20 miles outside of Fairbanks, offers a beautiful experience that allows groups to engage. The accommodations consist of 36 igloos, eight cubes and one cube suite. The igloos provide the best way to view the Northern Lights from inside the room; they each feature clear roofs that stretch 16 ft. across.
Located in Kantishna, the 19-cabin Camp Denali is in the middle of Denali National Park. Along with Denali, the cabins and park sit six million acres of forest, rivers and glaciers.
Camp Denali has two spaces for potential groups: the 60-person dining room and the 30-person lodge. With its rustic charm and stunning views, a trip here is sure to be one of the more memorable experiences.
Camp Denali offers guided group hikes with expert naturalists and educators. There are three options for guided hikes: “strenuous” for those who want to cover long distances and tackle steep climbs, “moderate” for those who wish to adventure at a slower pace and “foray” for those who want to take it slow and delve deeply into the surrounding terrain.
Cities at Your Disposal
Ketchikan, on the southern end of the state’s Inside Passage, connects the Gulf of Alaska to Washington’s Puget Sound.
The 71-room Cape Fox Lodge offers day tours of Ketchikan, as well as tours of the lobby’s native artifacts exhibit. After the day’s touring adventures, groups can grab a bite at one of the property’s dining outlets, Heen Kahidi Dining Room, which serves Alaskan seafood, pastas and sandwiches, or Eagle’s Nest pizzeria.
Cape Fox is home to two meeting rooms and two suites, which can accommodate groups of just under 10 to more than 200. The adjacent Ted Ferry Civic Center features a 4,500-square-foot ballroom and private meeting areas.
Owing to Alaska’s northern location, many major cities experience days and nights that are over 20 hours, but Fairbanks is one of the cities that has extended periods of time without sun—several weeks, in fact.
Its summers offer 70 days of complete sunlight. At its peak, during the summer solstice, the city hosts the Midnight Sun Festival downtown, where 30,000 people attend live performances, food and the annual midnight baseball game.
The city is also home to several convention centers and venues to host your next meeting or event. The 5,100-seat Carlson Center is the second-largest arena in the state, second only to Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. Westmark Fairbanks Hotel & Conference Center is another excellent option for meeting professionals, featuring 400 guest rooms and over 17,000 sq. ft. of meeting space.
Anchorage is the most populous city in Alaska, and as such, it offers a plethora of meeting space.
The city is also home to two major convention centers: Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center and William A. Egan Civic & Convention Center. The former is the largest convention center in Alaska, spanning 200,000 sq. ft. across 15 rooms; the latter features 85,000 sq. ft. of space across 19 rooms.
This article appears in the January 2026 issue. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
