Your Tour Director will welcome you to Alaska! Transfer to your downtown hotel and get your first taste of Alaska in the nearby shops and museums.

Today you’ll board our McKinley Explorer, the largest domed railcars on the historic Alaska Railroad route, an Alaska Scenic Byway. Sit back and relax in the observation lounge and watch magnificent scenery glide by. Upon arrival at Denali National Park, transfer to the finest lodge and spend your afternoon and evening at leisure.

Depart your lodge for an early morning official Tundra Wilderness Tour (6-8 hours) of Denali National Park. Travel up to 53 miles of the Park Road for great wildlife viewing — caribou, moose, grizzly, wolves and Dall sheep are frequently sighted. Weather permitting, your vistas of Mt. McKinley will be unsurpassed. Later, reboard the McKinley Explorer and transfer to your downtown Fairbanks hotel.

We have a full day planned — lunch included. Start your adventure aboard the sternwheeler Discovery III for native culture, gold rush history, and local color. You’ll even meet Susan Butcher of Iditarod fame, or members of her family, and watch a bush pilot demonstration. At Gold Dredge No. 8, a National Historic Site, you’ll browse the mining exhibits and pan for gold during an informative tour. Tonight, explore under the Midnight Sun on a choice of optional tours.

You’re off along the Alaska Highway where scenes of the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge blend with the distant peaks of the Wrangell Mountains. Soon you’ll be driving past Delta Junction, the TransAlaska Pipeline and crossing the Tanana River. A pause at the famed Rika’s Roadhouse along the original wagon road echoes the past and offers tempting homemade pies. Today’s discussion will focus on gold mining and the local natural history. We welcome you to remote Beaver Creek, Canada’s westernmost settlement, with our famed Yukon Rendezvous Dinner Show (included).

Enjoy more sights along the Alaska Highway past the peaks of the St. Elias Mountains and the sparkling waters of scenic Kluane Lake. Spend the day marveling at ancient, glacier-carved valleys. Today’s discussion by your driver and Tour Director will focus on native history and culture in the Yukon as well as the history of the Alaska Highway. Arriving in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory, you’ll check into your downtown hotel.

Today’s travels take you to an amazing tapestry of every-changing scenery. Discussion by your driver and Tour Director will focus on the region’s natural and gold rush history. Next, board the nostalgic White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad and descend through some of Alaska’s most spectacular country. In Skagway, you’ll transfer to your Holland America cruise ship and say "Good-bye" to your Tour Director.

Calving glaciers are the star attraction today as you spend a full day exploring Alaska’s best glacial attraction, with a backdrop of 15,000-foot mountains. Onboard today will be a National Park Service ranger and a local Huna native storyteller to explain the significance of this protected wilderness.

Besides the main attractions – Creek Street, the Tongass Historical Museum, Totem Bight State Park and Saxman Village – there’s one other thing we highly recommend you do. A flightseeing trip to breathtaking Misty Fjords National Monument is essential.

Steep coastal mountains and marine wildlife will be the backdrop to a relaxing day at sea. Whether with a massage in the Greenhouse Spa, a cooking lesson in the Culinary Arts Center or a game of chance in the casino, you’ll discover exciting daily activities and elegant service.

The Wilderness Enthusiast: Between Denali and Glacier Bay national parks, the broad open vistas from the AL-CAN Highway and the Inside Passage, wilderness and wildlife viewing opportunities abound.

The History Buff: You will travel the famous AL-CAN Highway. An engineering marvel during WWII, you will learn of Gold Rush history, its fascinating construction story and the lore of the local First Nations people between Whitehorse and Fairbanks.

The Railroad Lover: Between Holland America Line’s new McKinley Explorer luxury domed railcars and the White Pass & Yukon Route’s narrow gauge trip back in time, this tour includes 3 days riding the rails

Alyeska Resort Pre-CruiseTour Option: The only Alaska hotel to be included on Condé Nast’s Gold List, Alyeska Resort is nestled in the Chugach National Forest. Including a four-diamond restaurant with a view of seven nearby glaciers, extending your CruiseTour here will be a most relaxing journey.

Anchorage & Portage Glacier: Add an extra night in Anchorage, plus a 7-hour tour including a cruise to Portage Glacier, aboard Holland America Line’s mv Ptarmigan. Traveling by deluxe motor coach, you will also see the wilderness of the Chugach and Kenai Mountains as you look for beluga whales in the scenic Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet.

Denali National Park: Cabin Nite Dinner Theatre. Savor family-style platters of salmon and marinated ribs as you enjoy a historical musical based on the life of Fannie, an adventurous woman who found fame and fortune in Alaska. The young and young at heart will love this show!

Fairbanks: Ester Gold Camp & Buffet Dinner. These historic buildings date back to the early 1900’s. Here you’ll find a bountiful buffet featuring crab, halibut, reindeer stew, chicken and homemade biscuits. The Malamute Saloon is the perfect setting for an evening of entertainment with songs, sketches and Robert W. Service poetry.

Ketchikan: Misty Fjords Wilderness Cruise & Flight by Floatplane. Cruise on a high-speed catamaran through the national monument, surrounded by cliffs towering thousands of feet and cascading waterfalls. Then transfer to a floatplane and cross this 2-million acre wilderness with a bush pilot.

Explore Historic Ketchikan. Nestled between the sea and rain forest, Ketchikan is rich in history. Drive the shores of the Tongass Narrows to Libby Cannery to see natural salmon spawning streams. Then stop at Saxman Native Village to see the beaver Clan House and majestic Totems.