Turnagain Arm, Wildlife Center & Glaciers: Small-Group Tour

Six hours, one unforgettable road. This small-group tour (14 guests max) trades the big motorcoach for a Mercedes Sprinter and a born-and-raised Alaskan guide who's driven Turnagain Arm his whole life.

Heading south from Anchorage, the Seward Highway squeezes between the Chugach Mountains and the sea. At Beluga Point we glass the water for belugas and the cliffs for Dall sheep and eagles. At the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, rescued bears, moose, bison, caribou, and muskox roam big natural enclosures — your best shot at photographing Alaska's icons in one visit. Then Portage Valley: Explorer and Byron Glaciers and a short walk through mossy rainforest.

Lunch happens like a local on the way home: Girdwood Brewing Company, in a mountain ski town, with rotating Alaska food trucks (lunch is at your expense).

A lifelong local behind the wheel, 14 seats instead of 50, and no rush when the wildlife shows up. See Alaska between the postcards.