Southcentral Alaska
Southcentral Alaska is a region of Alaska, home to its largest population center around Anchorage, on the north Pacific Ocean.
Regions
- Kenai Peninsula
- Matanuska-Susitna Valley - Also known as the Mat-Su Valley
Cities
- 1 Anchorage - Alaska's largest city and seaport, located on the north end of Cook Inlet, between Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm.
- 2 Anchor Point
- 3 Cooper Landing
- 4 Eagle River - Mostly residential area 10 miles north of Anchorage.
- 5 Girdwood - Home of Alaska's largest downhill ski area at Alyeska, and the 2007 US Alpine Ski Championships.
- 6 Glennallen
- 7 Homer - A very popular fishing town at the end of the Sterling Highway, on Kachemak Bay.
- 8 Kenai
- 9 McCarthy - A ghost town that lies within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. It was the town that served the workers at the Kennecott Copper Mines in the early 1900s.
- 10 Moose Pass - A two street town that hasn't changed much in the last 40 years. It's on the highway about 29 miles north of Seward.
- 11 Nikiski
- 12 Palmer - Alaska's first major farming community and lies in the Matanuska Valley about 40 miles north of Anchorage.
- 13 Seward - One of Alaska's major seaports that was used during World War II to protect its country. Major cruise lines stop here and the Alaska Railroad starts here.
- 14 Soldotna
- 15 Talkeetna - The closest major town to Denali, a 2.5 hour drive north of Anchorage and jump-off point for Denali mountain climbers & flight-seeing.
- 16 Valdez - Farthest north ice-free port in the US and is at the beginning of the Richardson Highway. The terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (formerly Alyeska Pipeline).
- 17 Wasilla - originally was a stop on the highway at Teeland's General store, but started developing in the 1970s after the Parks Highway was built, and has become a well-established town.
- 18 Willow - This town is now the beginning of the famous Iditarod Race, after its official start in Anchorage.
- 19 Willow Creek
Other destinations
- 1 Kenai Fjords National Park - at Kenai Fjords, glaciers, earthquakes, and ocean storms are the architects.
- 2 Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve - the continent's largest assemblage of glaciers and greatest collection of peaks above 16,000 feet
- 3 Chugach National Forest
- the second largest forest in the country and home to a network of trails for hiking and mt. biking.
Understand
Get in
By plane
Visitors will most likely arrive at Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage (ANC IATA) with Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines. From Anchorage, the highway goes in two directions, either south to the Kenai Peninsula or north to the MatSu Valley (Palmer and Wasilla), where the road splits into either the Parks Highway (Denali, Fairbanks) or the Glenn Highway (Glennallen, Canada).
By train
The Alaska Railroad [dead link] runs passenger trains to Seward on the Kenai Peninsula in the summer and north to Fairbanks year round.
By car
There are plenty of rental car agencies in Anchorage, but it is important to book ahead in the high season.
By boat
Another way of getting here is the Alaska Marine Highway
By bus
There is a bus service south to the Kenai year round.
Get around
See
Itineraries
Do
Eat
Drink
Stay safe
Stay away from moose! Feeding them is dangerous and people have been killed by angered moose - they are much faster than they look!
Go next