The best free things to do in Anchorage

10.12.2024 - 14:41 / lonelyplanet.com

Dec 9, 2024 • 7 min read

Temperatures may drop as you head north of the 60th parallel, but prices tend to go in the opposite direction. The good news? A visit to Anchorage doesn't need to throw your budget completely off-balance.

If you come in the summer and are prepared to take advantage of the warmer weather and long, light evenings to visit alfresco sights, Alaska’s largest city can provide an economical introduction to one of the pricier corners of the United States.

To help your budget go further, here are some of Anchorage’s best free (or nearly free) sights.

If you don't think fishing is a spectator sport, then you haven’t been to Ship Creek, where every summer, aggressive anglers compete for king, coho and pink salmon as they head upriver to spawn. As fishing spectacles go, there’s nothing like it. Welcome to the only urban king salmon fishery in the world.

Get your first taste of the action at the wide stretch of river between downtown’s C-Street Bridge and the Knik Arm Power Plant dam and spillway, where the wooden walkway crosses the water. Fishers gather expectantly along the banks from late May to early September. From here, the 2.6-mile Ship Creek trail heads upriver, winding east past industrial warehouses and, later on, more salubrious woodland. There are several access points to river overlooks and gravel bars where salmon crowd in pools from mid to late summer.

Close to the trail’s eastern terminus, the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery has an observation deck and a collection of huge fish tanks that produce up to six million salmon, trout and char a year for sport fishing.

In the grand tradition of the US National Park Service, Anchorage’s Public Lands Center is informative, multifarious and free. Housed in the historic Federal Building downtown, this is ground zero for aspiring hikers, mountain bikers, kayakers, glacier gazers and just about anyone looking to indulge in some research on America's "Last Frontier" before heading upstate.

It also acts as a mini-museum with wildlife displays, free movies, fun dioramas, and ranger-led walks of Anchorage offered twice a day in summer. Bring ID and expect airport-style security – this is a government building.

Charging a modest $5 entry, this museum captures some of the finer moments of law enforcement in the US's most rugged and – according to official crime statistics – unruliest state. Highlights include cops' state-issued sealskin boots, a beautifully restored 1952 Hudson Hornet police car and mug shots of film star Steve McQueen, who was arrested in Anchorage in 1972 for alcohol-assisted 'reckless driving' in a rented Oldsmobile Toronado.

Malibu it isn’t, but in the slightly less balmy climate found at 61ºN, Goose Lake is where