Anchorage is Alaska's largest city and the gateway to most of the state's wilderness. It sits between Cook Inlet to the west and the Chugach Mountains to the east, with Denali visible on clear days 130 miles to the north. About 40 percent of Alaska's entire population lives here.
The city itself is largely functional — a grid of low-rise buildings and strip malls rebuilt quickly after the devastating 1964 earthquake — but it has good museums, a lively bar scene on Spenard Road, and the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail running 11 miles along the inlet shoreline. The Anchorage Museum is worth a morning for its coverage of Alaska Native cultures and the state's history, and the Alaska Native Heritage Center on the east side of town goes deeper into the cultural side. For an unusual urban touch, the Light Speed Planet Walk — a scale model of the solar system embedded in the city pavements — makes a clever introduction to the geography.
The real draw is what surrounds the city. Denali is accessible by Alaska Railroad. Kenai Fjords National Park is a train ride south to Seward. Portage Glacier and the town of Girdwood are an hour's drive. Most visitors pass through Anchorage en route to these places, and that's the right way to use it — as a comfortable base with good food and gear shops before heading into the backcountry.