• See the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) dancing across the cold winter night skies between December-March.

• Delight in the wealth of local history that can be seen at the Heritage Library and Museum, the Anchorage Museum of History and Art (website: www.anchoragemuseum.org), the Oscar Anderson House Museum, and the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

• Watch March's world-famous Iditarod Race (website: www.iditarod.com), which traverses 1,851km (1,150 miles) of rugged terrain from Anchorage to Nome, on the Bering Sea. The K-300 (website: www.k300.org), out of Bethel in the Yukon Delta, puts up the largest purse for a mid-length 300-mile sled dog race every January.

• Take a short trip north of Anchorage leading to the Eagle River Visitor Center and the alpine beauty of Chugach State Park (website: www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/units/chugach).

• Experience the most popular excursion, Columbia Glacier, a 6km- (4-mile-) wide piece of ice. This world's fastest-moving glacier can be reached via day cruises, charter boats, flight-seeing tours and the state ferry.

• Explore Denali National Park and Preserve (website: www.denali.national-park.com), famous for its panoramic views of the Alaska Range and Mount McKinley, highest mountain in North America at 6,194m (20,320ft). You can take a popular day excursion through the wilderness to see caribou, grizzly bears, wolves and moose.

• See the world's largest collection of totem poles at Ketchikan, nestled between oceans and mountains. Infamous Creek Street's bars and bordellos of fishing and silver-mining days are now galleries and restaurants.

• Follow the 1890s gold rush trail from Skagway to Whitehorse (Canada) along the 177km (110 mile) Klondike Highway.

• Visit Kodiak Island (website: www.kodiakisland.org), home of Alaska's largest fishing fleet. View its Russian legacy at the Baranov Museum (website: www.baranov.us), and the island's native people at Alutiiq Museum (website: www.alutiiqmuseum.com). The Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge (website: http://kodiak.fws.gov) is a protected habitat for Kodiak brown bears.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.