1. Ship Creek

You can literally fish for salmon in downtown Anchorage. Where else can you do that? Take a 15-minute drive from Puffin Inn, grab a latte and walk into the river. But Ship Creek is just one of our awesome fishing spots. Staying in Anchorage gives you easy access to an incredible amount of lakes, rivers, and ocean. Bottom line, you’ll never run out of killer fishing spots.

2. MOOSE’S TOOTH PUB & PIZZERIA

Where’s the most successful pizza restaurant in the entire country? You guessed it: Anchorage, Alaska. Moose’s Tooth is 10 minutes from Puffin Inn and serves more pie than any other single-location pizza place in America. It’s also ranked third-best pizza in the U.S. by Trip Advisor. And, of course, being an Alaska business, they also brew their own beer. But great pizza doesn’t stop there. Anchorage is peppered with great, independently owned pizzerias, from downtown to Southside.

3. BEER

Anchorage has enthusiastically embraced the craft-brew revolution that has swept through the Pacific Northwest and put America firmly in first place for the world’s best beers. From high-end restaurants, like Glacier Brewhouse and 49th State Brewing Co. downtown, to hippy-cool pizza joints and new-kid-on-the-block start-ups, you’re about to have your hop-loving mind blown.

4. TONY KNOWLES

This city has integrated an award-winning trail system over 100 miles long into urban planning. The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is especially beautiful. Less than 5 miles from Puffin Inn, you can rent a bicycle downtown and ride along the ocean with the city on one side, mountains on the other. Trails are plowed during winter, so you’ll find them busy with happy cross-country skiers and fat-tire bikers.

5. BEARS

Hundreds of bears live in Anchorage. So do moose and bald eagles. For guaranteed wildlife, you’re in the perfect spot. Anchorage Zoo is outstanding and only 8 miles from Puffin Inn. It’s got just about every animal natural to Alaska, including polar bears, brown and black bears. An hour drive puts you at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, and lots of tours will take you bear-viewing, whale-watching and more.

6. GIRDWOOD

Our friendly neighborhood ski town is also an awesome summer town. Just a 45-minute drive from Puffin Inn, Girdwood has some of the very best forest and mountain hiking in Alaska, with plenty of bears, moose and eagles. You can even bomb through the mud on an ATV or Jeep, or take a helicopter to a glacier. You can strike it rich panning for gold, hit a music festival, then take a breather with a great meal. Girdwood is fantastic.

7. FLATTOP MOUNTAIN

Not to be immodest, but Anchorage is the king of hiking. Right here in town, Flattop is the locals’ favorite. There are gentle trails winding through mountains and creeks, perfect for seniors and parents with children. But there’s also a pretty serious trail to the summit, which gives you a view you’ll treasure more than any other during your trip – because you earned it. But that’s just one of our great hikes. You can walk to a glacier, lake, mountain pass or waterfall. All easily within reach from Puffin Inn.

8. DENALI

You don’t have to drive four hours to see America’s tallest mountain. Just a mile from Puffin Inn, you can take off in a pontoon plane and soar over glaciers and lakes all the way to the best, closest view of Denali anyone can get without climbing it. You can’t do that from a cruise ship. What’s more, with one of America’s busiest small-plane airports just 6 miles from Puffin Inn, you’ve got a whole world of flightseeing tours available. See the Last Frontier like an eagle every day, have an exceptional meal downtown every evening, sleep like a bear every night. That’s the Puffin Inn experience.

9. ALASKA NATIVE HERITAGE CENTER

Just 11 miles from Puffin Inn, the Alaska Native Heritage Center is the very best place to experience 10,000 years of history. Here, all the state’s major Native cultures are represented in one place, with dancing, artwork, guides, and a life-sized “village” showing how people lived in our very different climates. Closer to downtown, the Anchorage Museum is Alaska’s largest, with exceptional displays on the Last Frontier’s history, ranging from Native cultures to pioneers to gold rushes to World War II.

10. EVERYTHING ELSE

Anchorage has virtually any of the awesome land-based activities you may have missed during your cruise, everything from large art galleries to wilderness adventures. If it’s not right in town, it’s an easy day trip from your cozy room at Puffin Inn. You can sit in a large jet boat that rips you up a raging river into the Talkeetna wilderness, climb onto a four-wheeler for a muddy good time in Girdwood, or zipline across Matanuska Valley. Or keep your shoes dry and ride the tram up Mount Alyeska for a AAA Four Diamond dinner at Seven Glaciers Restaurant with a view of, you guessed it, seven glaciers.