Seward

Seward is a pocket-size (pop. 3,000) port town on a sparkling bay surrounded by snowcapped peaks, and is the only large settlement on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula [1]. It’s connected by bus, ferry, and plane and has a maritime climate and a seafood industry, just like a half-dozen other places you’ve visited so far, but with a difference: Seward is right on the doorstep of Kenai Fjords National Park [2].

Kenai Fjords National Park contains some of the most inhospitable visitable country in Alaska [3]. Harding Ice Field—a prehistoric frozen giant with three dozen frigid fingers—rivals Glacier Bay National Park [4] for scenery and wildlife but is decidedly less expensive to visit.

Combine this with Seward’s Alaska SeaLife Center [5], convenient camping [6], good food [7], and excellent access by public transportation, and you’ve got all the elements for a great time in this old town.

Getting to Seward

An Alaska Railroad Coastal Classic train (907/265-2494 or 800/544-0552, www.alaskarailroad.com [8], $75 one-way, $119 round-trip) leaves Anchorage [9] daily during the summer at 6:45 a.m. and arrives in Seward at 11 a.m., then returns to Anchorage at 6 p.m., arriving at 10:15 p.m. Passenger service to Seward is only available mid-May–mid-September.

Located seven miles north of Seward, Bear Lake Air (907/224-5985 or 800/224-5985, www.bearlakeair.com [10]) offers flightseeing trips over the Harding Ice Field. Scenic Mountain Air (907/224-9152 or 800/478-1449, www.scenicmountainair.com [11]) operates out of the airport.

Seward Bus Lines (907/224-3608 or 888/420-7788, www.sewardbuslines.net [12]) has daily year-round bus service to and from Anchorage. Homer Stage Line (907/362-3644, www.homerstageline.com [13]) provides daily service all summer (and six days a week in the winter) to Anchorage, plus connections to Cooper Landing [14], Soldotna [15], Kenai [16], and Homer [17].

Alaska Park Connection (907/245-0200 or 800/266-8625, www.alaskacoach.com [18]) has summertime buses connecting Seward with Anchorage, Talkeetna [19], and Denali [20]. Girdwood Shuttle (907/783-1900, www.girdwoodshuttle.com [21]) provides daily summertime vans connecting Seward with Anchorage [9].