Sitka

Before Russia sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million, Sitka served as the capital of Russian America — a fur-trading empire stretching from the Aleutian Islands to Fort Ross in California. The Tlingit people, however, had called this archipelago home for over ten thousand years, and their fierce defense of the land culminated in the Battle of Sitka in 1804, one of the bloodiest confrontations between Indigenous peoples and European colonizers in North American history. Today, the onion-domed St. Michael's Cathedral still anchors Lincoln Street, a tangible remnant of the Russian era in a town framed by snow-capped volcanoes and old-growth temperate rainforest.

Sitka occupies a setting of almost theatrical natural beauty. Mount Edgecumbe, a dormant volcano strikingly similar to Japan's Mount Fuji, rises symmetrically across Sitka Sound, while the town itself is scattered across Baranof Island amid a labyrinth of forested islands and channels. Totem poles carved by Tlingit and Haida artists stand sentinel in the Sitka National Historical Park, where a moss-carpeted trail winds through towering Sitka spruce trees along the Indian River. The Alaska Raptor Center rehabilitates injured bald eagles and other birds of prey, offering intimate encounters with these magnificent animals against a backdrop of misty peaks.

Seafood defines Sitka's culinary identity. Wild-caught king salmon, pulled from the frigid waters of the Inside Passage, is smoked over alder wood in a tradition inherited from the Tlingit. Dungeness crab, halibut cheeks pan-seared in butter, and spot prawns so fresh they still twitch on the plate are staples at waterfront restaurants. For something more adventurous, bidarski — a traditional Tlingit preparation of herring eggs on kelp — offers a briny, textural experience unlike anything else. Local microbreweries serve spruce-tip ales that taste unmistakably of the forest.

The waters and wilderness surrounding Sitka offer extraordinary day-trip potential. Whale-watching excursions into Sitka Sound, where humpback whales breach and feed from May through September, depart regularly from the harbor. Kayaking through the islands of the Sitka Sound reveals sea otters, harbor seals, and an astonishing density of bald eagles. The Fortress of the Bear sanctuary, housed in a repurposed pulp mill, provides close encounters with rescued brown bears. For hikers, the trail to the summit of Harbor Mountain offers panoramic views of the archipelago, accessible in a moderate two-hour climb.

Sitka is a key port of call on Alaska's Inside Passage itineraries. Azamara, Carnival Cruise Line, Crystal Cruises, Cunard, Explora Journeys, Explorations by Norwegian, Holland America Line, HX Expeditions, Lindblad Expeditions, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Silversea, The Boat Company, Viking, Virgin Voyages, and Windstar Cruises all include this port. The cruise season runs from May through September, with the longest daylight hours in June and July — when the sun barely dips below the horizon and the rainforest is at its most luminous green.