As America’s last frontier, Alaska is well-known for spectacularly wide-open spaces teeming with amazing wildlife, ideal for both cool and cold outdoor fun. Half of Alaskans live in Anchorage, but it’s the quaint small towns that can give you the true Alaska experience. North of the city are interior towns born out of its mining history. To the south, however, are communities rich in Russian cultural heritage with abundant fishing waters, glacial fields, and beach ports for Inside Passage cruises.
There are 36 such towns located on the Kenai Peninsula in the south-central part of the state. It has been called Alaska’s playground, “where mountains, ice, and ocean meet.” Bounded to the west by the Cook Inlet and the east by the Gulf of Alaska, the Kenai Mountains lie on the western side of the state, creating the natural bounty called Kenai Fjords National Park. The jewel of the park is the famous Hardings Ice Fields. There are also six great rivers and over 50 lakes. At its southern tip, Kachemak Bay State Park was Alaska’s first legislated state park. Together with the Kachemak Wilderness Park, they comprise 400,000 acres around the pristine waters of Kachemak Bay.
My husband’s daughter and my sister both lived in Anchorage, and visits to each of their homes have blessed us with opportunities to explore this incredible state. Our first visit to Kenai was so much fun that we went back for more the following year. In the following paragraphs, we share Cooper Landing and Homer from the first visit; then Kenai, Soldotna, and Seward from the second. But first, Whittier.
1. Whittier
The 14-mile isthmus that connects Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula is called Portage Valley. It is on a waterway called Turnagain Arm. The Portage Glacier once sat here and its remnants can still be seen today. The ghost town of Portage, about 47 miles south of Anchorage, is what remained after the 1964 Alaska earthquake.
An alternating railroad and road passageway was built here linking Seward Highway and Alaska Railroad to the Portage Glacier Park and the town of Whittier. It was quite an experience to pass through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel.
Only about 60 miles southeast of Anchorage, the small town of Whittier is technically not part of the Kenai Borough. It sits on the northeast shore of the peninsula at the head of the Passage Canal, a port for the Alaska Marine Highway. In the off-season, 272 people make it home, but it doubles in summer. Nestled between glacier-draped mountains, the town is the charming gateway to Prince William Sound on the Gulf of Alaska. Several cruise lines use it as a departure port for their famous 4-hour Inland Passage cruises.
Pro Tip: Our cruise took us up close to 26 glaciers on Resurrection Bay and the College Fjords. The high-speed catamaran had huge picture windows inside and extensive outside viewing decks. This is the less expensive way to explore these glaciers (rather than to cruise all the way from Seattle) and it gives you the chance to explore the peninsula.
2. Cooper Landing
Straight south on Seward Highway, about 100 miles from Anchorage, you will come across a centrally located census-designated place about the same size as Whittier — Cooper Landing. Because of its scenic location at the outlet of Kenai Lake into the Kenai River, it has become a popular tourist destination and a fisherman’s playground near the area’s salmon fishery.
Pro Tip: You can get great fish and chips and the best smoked-salmon chowder you will ever find (just $10 a bowl) at historic Gwin’s Lodge, established in 1952 (before Alaska became a state). The oldest surviving roadside lodge on the peninsula, you can find it at the confluence of the Kenai and Russian Rivers.
3. Homer
My husband, his daughter, her son, and I continued to the southern tip of the peninsula just 2 hours away, to the quaint town of Homer, fondly called the “halibut fishing capital of the world.” Over 5,000 people reside on the foothills of the southern Kenai Mountains, overlooking a beautiful spit jutting out into the cold blue waters of Kachemak Bay. There, the grandfather and grandson fished to their hearts’ content while I lost track of time taking photos of them and the wondrous seascape. At night, we let the inn’s chef turn their catch into a fish feast.
Perched in colorful huts above the waters along the spit shore were quaint shops and restaurants. It made a very lovely place for souvenir hunting and snacking. I could not resist having my photo taken with the largest halibut (almost 200 pounds) caught in a derby that day.
Pro Tip: This is where we found the iconic Salty Dawg Saloon, perfect for drinks. The place is famous for its ceiling and walls covered with currency. I posted my Philippine peso 100 bill, and the rest of the group, a U.S. Dollar. We hope they will both still be there when we go back!
4. Kenai And Soldotna
My husband’s daughter met somebody wonderful, so the following year, we were back in Alaska for her wedding! When the brand-new couple went on their honeymoon, the grandpa, grandson, and I tried to replicate the previous year’s fun times and drove 3 hours just slightly off the same road to Homer. They wanted to fish again, this time at the coastal capital town of Kenai (population 7,000) and its twin town of Soldotna (5,000) at the western mouth of the Kenai River leading into the Cook Inlet.
Being late in the summer though, it was already colder, wetter, darker, and windier. There was not much fishing to do in Alaska’s renowned fishing area. The snow-capped mountains seemed farther away, hidden by haze. Even my photos turned out less bright.
But at Old Kenai Town, our disappointment suddenly went away. We entered near the historic church, built at the turn of the 19th century when the land was still under Russian rule. (Alaska only became a state in 1959. Russia sold it to the U.S. in 1867 for $7.2 million.) At the gilded Holy Assumption Russian Orthodox Church, we even found a set of wedding crowns we wore for a souvenir picture.
Pro Tip: In Soldotna, we rejoiced at finding a local Fred Meyer, which had complimentary dump and potable water stations. We loved camping there for the night and shopping for provisions in the morning.
5. Seward
Sensing my disappointment in the weather, instead of going back to Anchorage, my husband headed off to the eastern side of the peninsula. Less than 2 hours away is the small quaint town of Seward (population 3,000), sitting at the mouth of Kenai Fjords National Park. It is another lovely cruise ship town nestled between the mountains and the fjords. It was already off-season, however, so there was hardly a soul on the waterfront. But the boats were all still moored in the marina, the shops were still open, and tours to the Kenai Fjords were still running!
Soon, I would be treated to one of the great experiences of my lifetime. A sign led us to the Exit Glacier only 8.5 miles west of town. Considered the toe of the 500-square-mile Harding Ice Fields, it is so named because it has been receding slowly since the earliest recorded terminus in 1815. There were recordings all along the way, the last about 2 miles from the present one. You can imagine the former size of the glacier from the marshland being created at its feet.
On that massive ice, I got a second chance to walk on a glacial ridge. The previous year, I had chickened out when we came upon the Worthington Glacier en route to Valdez. This time, I summoned enough courage to experience the thrill. But it was so cold, it felt like I was inside a freezer. I turned back after one quick photo op!
Such are the charming discoveries we made all over this beautiful peninsula. It’s a place where disappointments don’t last long. An abundance of small quaint towns collectively makes it an unforgettable vibrant playground.
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