Alaska’s 125-mile Seward Highway runs from city traffic to beluga whales in two hours

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The Seward Highway covers about 125 miles from Anchorage south to the small coastal town of Seward on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.

The road holds three separate designations: USDA Forest Service Scenic Byway, Alaska Scenic Byway, and All-American Road.

You pass through the Chugach National Forest, trace the shoreline of Turnagain Arm, and cut through the Kenai Mountains. Without stops, the drive takes about two and a half hours.

Most people spend a full day.

There are no billboards, few towns, and only a handful of gas stations between Anchorage and Seward, so fill up before you go.

A highway that took decades to finish

The first 18-mile stretch, from Seward to Kenai Lake, opened in 1923.

But a key bridge known as “The Missing Link” held things up until 1946, and the full highway from Seward to Anchorage did not connect until Oct. 19, 1951.

Before that, the only ways into Seward were by sea, rail, or air. By 1952, the entire road had pavement.

Then the 1964 Good Friday earthquake hit, and about 20 miles of the highway sank below the high-water mark of Turnagain Arm. Crews had to rebuild those sections from scratch.

Moose, eagles, and salmon at Potter Marsh

The drive kicks off just south of Anchorage at Potter Marsh, a wetland inside the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge.

A half-mile raised boardwalk takes you right over the water, where more than 130 bird species have been recorded.

You can spot nesting waterfowl, bald eagles, moose, muskrats, and spawning salmon without leaving the walkway.

The marsh exists because the Alaska Railroad blocked the natural tidal flow back in 1917, trapping water behind the tracks. Spring and fall bring the biggest waves of migratory birds.

The only place to see Dall sheep at sea level

A few miles past Potter Marsh, a pullout called Windy Corner gives you something you cannot get anywhere else on earth.

Dall sheep graze the rocky cliffs right above the highway at sea level, drawn down by mineral licks in the rock. Most of the sheep here are ewes, lambs, and young rams, though full-grown rams show up too.

You can see them year-round, and you don’t need binoculars. They move along the cliffs close enough to count.

A 40-foot tidal swing and a wall of water

The first 50 miles of the highway hug Turnagain Arm, a narrow waterway with the second-largest tidal swing in North America.

Tides here reach as high as 40 feet, and that swing pushes a bore tide through the inlet, a rolling wall of water that can reach six to 10 feet high and travel 10 to 15 mph.

It is the northernmost bore tide in the world and the only one in the United States.

Harbor seals ride the incoming surge, and beluga whales follow about 30 minutes behind them, feeding on fish carried in by the current.

Beluga Point and Bird Point both have roadside pullouts for watching.

Gold panning at a mine from 1896

Near mile 90, a turnoff takes you to Girdwood, a small mountain town that started as a gold rush camp in the 1890s.

It went by Glacier City at first, then got renamed after Colonel James Girdwood, who staked claims at Crow Creek.

The Crow Creek Mine has been running since 1896 and is one of the oldest gold mining operations in Alaska still open to the public.

You can pan for gold on the original claims and walk past several historic buildings from the mining era. The property sits on the National Register of Historic Places.

A glacier that retreated out of view

A five-mile side road off the highway brings you to Portage Glacier, one of the most visited spots in Alaska.

The U.S. Forest Service built the Begich Boggs Visitor Center here in 1986, right on a terminal moraine left behind by the glacier.

The glacier has since pulled back far enough that you can no longer see it from the center, but icebergs still float in the lake.

Nearby, the 1.4-mile Byron Glacier Trail leads to the base of an alpine glacier.

Just past the visitor center, the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel connects to the small town of Whittier on Prince William Sound.

Swans, glacial lakes, and a town of 300

Past Portage, the highway climbs into the Kenai Mountains and reaches Turnagain Pass, an alpine stretch where swans stop during spring and fall migration.

The road tops out at about 1,000 feet before dropping past Summit Lake. Farther down, Moose Pass sits on the shores of Trail Lake, a small community of about 300 people.

The glacial lakes around here run turquoise, hemmed in by thick forest.

Trail Lake has a fish hatchery you can walk through, and the area around Moose Pass is good for kayaking and hiking.

Walk right up to a glacier wall at Exit Glacier

Near Seward, a spur road leads to Exit Glacier, the only part of Kenai Fjords National Park you can reach by car. A 1.2-mile trail takes you through stages of plant regrowth right up to a wall of blue glacial ice. Signs along the trail mark where the glacier’s edge stood in past decades, showing how much it has pulled back.

The glacier got its name in 1968, when the first team to cross the Harding Icefield used it as their exit route.

If you want more, a 4.1-mile trail climbs 3,000 feet to an overlook of the roughly 700-square-mile Harding Icefield, the source of more than 35 named glaciers.

The highway ends in Seward, a coastal town of about 2,700 people on the shores of Resurrection Bay. Settlers founded it in 1903, arriving to build a northbound rail line.

The town carries the name of William Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State who negotiated Alaska’s purchase from Russia in 1867.

Seward holds one of the few relatively intact historic Main Streets left in Alaska, with buildings dating back to the town’s early years.

More than 30 large murals by local artists cover walls throughout the downtown, earning it the name “Mural Capital of Alaska.

Whales, sea lions, and a bay that never freezes

Resurrection Bay is a deep, ice-free fjord where glacier and wildlife cruises launch into Kenai Fjords National Park.

Trips range from a few hours to a full day, passing tidewater glaciers and colonies of sea lions, puffins, and other seabirds.

Humpback whales, orca, sea otters, and harbor seals move through the bay and surrounding waters.

Kayaking tours run a quieter route along the coastline and glacier faces.

The Alaska SeaLife Center sits at Mile Zero of the highway on the bay.

It is the state’s only public aquarium and permanent marine mammal rehab facility, and it opened in 1998 using funds from the Exxon Valdez oil spill settlement.

125 miles of glaciers, fjords, and no bush plane needed

In about 125 miles, the Seward Highway takes you through wetlands, alpine passes, glaciers, fjords, and a historic port town. You can see Dall sheep, moose, bald eagles, and beluga whales right from the road.

Side trips to Portage Glacier, Girdwood, and the town of Hope add even more depth to the drive.

The route connects several of Alaska’s major natural spots without needing backcountry gear or a bush plane, and it is one of a small number of roads in the country that carries the All-American Road title.

Drive the Seward Highway in Alaska

You can start this drive right from Anchorage, with Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport connecting to direct flights from many U.S. cities. The Alaska SeaLife Center sits at 301 Railway Avenue in Seward, at the end of the highway.

If you prefer not to drive, the Alaska Railroad’s Coastal Classic train runs much of the same route.

Summer, from June through August, gives you the longest daylight and the best conditions for wildlife and glacier access.

Current winter hours run Thursday through Monday, noon to 5 p.m., closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Check the official website for seasonal hours and ticket prices before you go. Exit Glacier Road closes to cars from late fall through mid-May because of snow.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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