Alaska Railroad

#1 Tony Knowles Coastal Trail For a family-friendly outdoor excursion, grab your camera and hit the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, named for the for former Alaska governor Tony Knowles. Winding its way from the downtown ... Read more » Kevin Smith / Design Pics / Getty Images

#2 Anchorage Museum For a thorough introduction to everything Alaska, head to the Anchorage Museum. The state's largest museum houses exhibitions that detail everything from local wildlife to native cultures to Alaskan ... Read more » Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center

#3 Alaska Center for the Performing Arts A staple in the Anchorage arts scene since 1998, the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts (or, Center of the PAC, as it is locally known) is the place to ... Read more » Christie13 / Flickr

#4 Alaska Native Heritage Center What makes Alaska truly unique are the cultures that thrive there. For example, you can learn all about the Last Frontier's indigenous people at the Alaska Native Heritage Center ... Read more » Ashley Johnston / ACVB / Courtesy of the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau

#5 Anchorage Market & Festival A local favorite since it first opened in 1992, the Anchorage Market and Festival started out as a Saturday-only market with just two dozen vendors, but it quickly grew to ... Read more » Visit Anchorage PR / Flickr

#6 Potter Marsh At the southern end of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge is Potter Marsh, a wooden boardwalk that winds through a half-mile of marshlands. This is a popular destination for birders ... Read more » Moelyn Photos / Getty Images

#7 Kincaid Park Kincaid Park is the ideal place for when you need an escape from city life without having to actually leave Anchorage. Overlooking Cook Inlet from the city's southwest corner ... Read more » Michael Jones / Design Pics / Getty Images

#8 Oscar Anderson House Museum When it was first founded, the city of Anchorage was just a jumble of tents. That is, until Oscar Anderson came along. The city butcher built the first permanent home ... Read more » AnchorageDowntownPartnership / Flickr

#9 Chugach State Park Located about 13 miles south of downtown, this sprawling state park is one of the largest in the country, clocking in at nearly half a million acres of hiking trails ... Read more » HagePhoto / Getty Images

#10 Alaska Aviation Museum Aviation has played a major role in Alaska's development – before there was a significant network of paved roads or railways, there were landing strips – and at the Alaska Aviation ... Read more » Nicole Geils / Courtesy of the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau

#11 Alaska Botanical Garden Spanning about 110 acres, the Alaska Botanical Garden features 150 native plant species and more than 1,100 perennials. There is an herb garden, a wildflower trail, two perennial gardens ... Read more » Random Michelle / Flickr

#12 Alaska Railroad In a city that was born from the need for transportation, it should come as no surprise that Anchorage's train depot marks the gateway to the Last Frontier. And ... Read more » Nicole Geils / Courtesy of the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau

#13 Alaska Zoo If the thought of running into some of Alaska's four-legged friends in their natural habitat makes you nervous, visit them (safely) at the Alaska Zoo. This little zoo rescues ... Read more » outsiderzone / Getty Images