Alaska’s end-of-the-road town has glaciers crashing into the sea and it’s only 2.5 hours from Anchorage

Seward’s at the end of the road

Seward, Alaska, sits at the head of Resurrection Bay, 127 miles south of Anchorage, with about 2,700 people who call it home year-round. Snow-capped mountains rise straight up on one side of town.

Deep, cold water stretches out on the other. You can drive here in about two and a half hours from Anchorage on the Seward Highway, a designated All-American Road that hugs Turnagain Arm and cuts through the Kenai Mountains.

The town swells every summer with people chasing glaciers and wildlife, and for good reason.

Named for the man who bought Alaska from Russia

The Alutiiq people, also called Sugpiaq, have lived along these coasts for more than 7,500 years. In their language, this place is called Qutekcak, meaning “big beach.”

The modern town started in 1903 when the Alaska Railroad picked it as the starting point for a rail line heading north into the interior.

Its namesake, William Henry Seward, was President Lincoln’s Secretary of State, the man who brokered the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867.

A 9.2 magnitude earthquake hit on Good Friday in 1964, sending underwater landslides and a tsunami through the waterfront. The community rebuilt.

A 700-square-mile icefield feeds nearly 40 glaciers

Kenai Fjords National Park covers 607,805 acres on the southeastern coast of the Kenai Peninsula, and most of it is ice.

The Harding Icefield sits on top, spanning roughly 700 square miles, the largest icefield entirely within U.S. borders.

Nearly 40 glaciers flow down from it, and several of them are tidewater glaciers that calve directly into the ocean.

Ancient glaciers carved the fjords over thousands of years, cutting deep, narrow inlets between steep mountain walls. Boat cruises leaving from Seward are the most popular way to see it all up close.

Walk right up to Exit Glacier’s face

Exit Glacier is the only part of Kenai Fjords National Park you can reach by road, just a 10-minute drive from town. A network of trails leads from the visitor center to viewpoints near the glacier’s face.

Along the way, markers show where the ice stood in past decades, so you can see exactly how far it has pulled back over time.

The glacier got its name in 1968, when the first mountaineers to cross the Harding Icefield “exited” here.

In summer, rangers lead guided walks, and outfitters run ice-hiking and ice-climbing trips right on the glacier itself.

Climb 3,500 feet to the edge of the ice

The Harding Icefield Trail runs 8.2 miles round trip and gains about 3,500 feet from the valley floor to the edge of the icefield.

You start in cottonwood forest, pass through meadows full of wildflowers, then break above the tree line into open alpine terrain. At the top, ice stretches to the horizon in every direction.

This is one of only four major ice caps in the United States. The hike takes six to eight hours and earns its strenuous rating.

Keep your eyes open for mountain goats, hoary marmots, and black bears on the way up.

Humpbacks arrive in May and orcas follow

Resurrection Bay and the waters around Kenai Fjords are packed with marine life. Humpback whales show up in mid-May and stay through September.

Orcas are most common from mid-May through mid-June.

Steller sea lions haul out on rocky outcroppings along the coast, and harbor seals rest on floating icebergs near tidewater glaciers. Both horned and tufted puffins nest on the coastal cliffs from May through August.

Sea otters float in the bay year-round, and bald eagles circle above the shoreline so often you stop counting them.

Paddle past sea otters and tidewater caves

Sea kayaking gives you a quieter way to see the coastline than the bigger cruise boats. You glide past rocky coves, rafts of sea otters, and tidewater caves with glacier-capped peaks behind you.

Guided half-day trips work well if you’re a beginner, and full-day glacier kayaking adventures bring you close to floating icebergs and glacier faces.

If you want to get even more remote, water taxis from Seward drop kayakers at launch points deeper in Resurrection Bay and Kenai Fjords National Park.

Built with oil spill money and one giant octopus

The Alaska SeaLife Center is the state’s only public aquarium and its only permanent marine mammal rehabilitation facility. It opened in 1998, built with funds from the Exxon Valdez oil spill settlement.

Inside, two-story viewing habitats hold Steller sea lions, harbor seals, puffins, and a giant Pacific octopus. The center rescues, treats, and releases stranded marine animals from across Alaska’s Gulf Coast.

A hands-on discovery pool lets you touch sea stars, sea urchins, and anemones, which is harder to resist than you’d think.

The July 4th race that started on a bet

Every July 4, Seward hosts the Mount Marathon Race, one of the oldest mountain races in North America. It started in 1915 after a local bet over whether someone could climb and descend the mountain in under an hour.

Runners cover about 3.1 miles with nearly 3,000 feet of elevation gain, scrambling over loose rock, scree, and steep cliffs.

Up to 30,000 spectators pack the streets and trails, making it the biggest event of the year in a town of 2,700. Separate divisions run for men, women, and juniors, with the junior race going to the halfway point.

Nine days of chasing silver salmon in the bay

Each August, the Seward Silver Salmon Derby brings anglers to Resurrection Bay for one of Alaska’s oldest fishing tournaments. The derby started in 1956 and runs for nine days.

Competitors go after the heaviest silver salmon, also called coho.

Resurrection Bay is one of the most productive salmon fishing areas in Alaska, and you can also pull halibut and rockfish from these waters. A portion of the proceeds goes to fishery restoration in the area.

For many Alaskan families, this derby is an annual tradition that mixes competition with community.

Five miles of paved trail along the bay

The Seward Waterfront Park trail stretches more than five miles along the shore of Resurrection Bay.

The paved path connects the Small Boat Harbor to the Alaska SeaLife Center, passing monuments, public art, and overlooks along the way.

You can spot bald eagles, sea otters, and sometimes harbor seals right from the trail.

Downtown Seward’s main street sits within easy walking distance, lined with local shops, galleries, and small restaurants. Down at the boat harbor, fishing boats unload their catch while sea birds circle overhead.

Hike to a WWII fort hidden in the mountain

Caine’s Head State Recreation Area sits south of Seward along the coast of Resurrection Bay, and buried in the mountainside is Fort McGilvray, an abandoned World War II military fort built to defend against a possible Japanese invasion.

You reach it via a 6.5-mile coastal trail from Lowell Point, but the first stretch is only passable at low tide, so check the tide tables before you go.

The trail passes through old-growth Sitka spruce forest with views of the bay and surrounding peaks. Water taxis from Seward can also drop you at Caine’s Head if you’d rather skip the tidal section.

Explore Seward, Alaska

You can reach Seward by car on the Seward Highway, by train on the Alaska Railroad’s Coastal Classic route, or as a port of call on a cruise ship.

The town sits at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula, about 127 miles south of Anchorage. Most outdoor activities and attractions run from mid-May through mid-September.

The Seward Waterfront Park, Small Boat Harbor, and Alaska SeaLife Center all sit within a walkable one-mile corridor along the waterfront, so you can cover a lot of ground on foot once you arrive.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• A 14-story copper mill is rotting beautifully in south-central Alaska and you can walk through it
• 45 miles from Juneau, Alaska hides glaciers, seals, and a fjord you can only reach by boat
• How Coast Guard crews saved 42 lives from 32-degree water in America’s deadliest ocean