How do I get to Alaska? There are several ways to get to Alaska, including flying, taking the ferry, or driving. Of these, by far the quickest and most popular is flying into Anchorage.
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The Alaska Marine Highway System is another option to reach the major ports of call in the state by boat. These ferries welcome both drive-on and walk-on travelers, and offer multi-day mainline routes to reach Alaska from Bellingham, WA, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia.
In additional to Seattle, direct flights are available from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Kahului (Maui), Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Portland, some of which only operate seasonally.
The primary airlines flying to Anchorage are Alaska Airlines, Delta, United, American, and Sun Country (summer only). International airlines include Air Canada, Condor, and Icelandair. Direct flights are available from Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Chicago, and Minneapolis.
The train climbs steeply up to White Pass, the boundary between the United States and Canada, at 2,888 feet in elevation. The two hour train tour is one of the top excursions in Skagway and is a popular option for cruise ship passengers in port for the day. Alaska is not accessible from the contiguous U.S. by train.
You can't get to Alaska by train, but you can get close. From the west coast of the U.S., you can take Amtrak's Cascades train (tel. 800/USA-RAIL [872-7245]; www.amtrak.com) to Bellingham, Washington; the dock for the Alaska ferry is quite close to the railroad station.
The Alaska Ferry (officially called the Alaska Marine Highway System) departs from Bellingham, Washington to access America's remote north through the awe-inspiring Inside Passage. This is how the locals travel.
The best time to see the aurora borealis in Alaska is from August 21 to April 21. We call it the Aurora Season. So yes, there are some very lucky cruise passengers who will see the northern lights in the Inside Passage late in the summer and fall, but don't bank on it.