Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska, in the Southcentral region. Anchorage is a cosmopolitan port city with a population of 291 247 (2020). It is a consolidated city-borough referred to as a municipality. The urbanized city is defined by Muldoon Road to the east, Rabbit Creek Road to the south, and Cook Inlet to the north and west. Several small suburbs are within the Municipality of Anchorage while physically outside what most Anchorageites would call the "Anchorage" proper area.
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Let's be clear, if you are looking for the "real Alaska" this is not it, but you can see it from here. Anchorage is a city — a real city with freeways, traffic, giant malls, tall buildings, crime and most other things one expects to find in an American city. It is an important hub and the gateway to other marvelous areas including the Alaskan Interior and the Kenai Peninsula, but is not really a tourist destination. While it is not the administrative capital of Alaska, it is the economic capital. There are good places to eat and plenty of shopping, but the city is just that, a city.
While not nearly comparable to the size of major world cities (the city is several thousand square miles, but most of it is uninhabited and mountainous), the developed part of the Municipality of Anchorage is fairly spread out and not very walkable—with the exception of the compact downtown area. Most of Anchorage is built on a grid system laid out by the railroad: numbered streets run east-west, starting at First Avenue in the extreme north of the city (at the Port and train depot) and ending up in the mid-hundreds at the south edge of town.
1 Anchorage Museum, 625 C Street (downtown between 6th and 7th Avenues), ☏ +1 907-929-9200. Summer (1 May-30 Sep) 9AM-6PM; Winter (1 Oct-30 Apr) Tu-Sa 10AM-6PM, Su noon-5PM, closed M. The Anchorage Museum, the largest in Alaska, tells the multi-faceted story of the North, weaving together social, political, cultural, scientific, historic and artistic threads. With its major expansion in 2008-2009, it has become a must see. The museum features an extensive exhibit on the first peoples of Alaska, Alaskan history, a Discovery Center for hands-on exploration of the history and science of the North for all ages, and part of a Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center.
1 Alaska Center for the Performing Arts (My Alaska Center), 621 W 6th Ave (downtown from G to F Sts), ☏ +1 907 263-2900. The Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, a performance venue (concert hall) opened in 1988, consists of three theaters and entertains over 200,000 patrons annually. Together with the Dena'ina Center (7th and F) and the Egan Convention Center (5th and F), these three facilities linked by covered walkways form a civic center in the heart of downtown Anchorage. (updated Jan 2017) Anchorage Summer Music Concerts, downtown Anchorage.
1 Kriner's Diner, 2409 C St, ☏ +1 907 929-8257. Giant portions for little money ($4-15 per person), from Ted's Big Breakfast to Jenne's Reindeer Sandwich to the homemade Giant Cinnamon Rolls, you can't go wrong. It's home-cooking, the Alaskan way. 2 Yak and Yeti, 3301 Spenard Rd, ☏ +1 907 743-8078. Remarkably good Himalayan and Indian cuisine in Spenard. Five minutes from the airport. 3 Hula Hands, 4630 Mountain View Dr, ☏ +1 907 278-4852. Good, cheap Hawaiian and Tongan food. Another location on Fireweed. 4 Arctic Roadrunner, 5300 Old Seward Hwy, ☏ +1 907 561-1245. Second location at 2477 Arctic Blvd, ☏ +1 907 279-7311.
Anchorage has many, many bars. Bars must close by 2:30AM M-F, 3AM Sa & Su under municipal law. Bars can stay open until 5AM in the cities of Palmer and Wasilla, about 45 minutes north. Anchorage also probably has more micro-breweries per capita than anywhere else (except maybe Portland, OR). All bars and restaurants in Anchorage are non-smoking. Also see "Bear Tooth Theatrepub", "Glacier BrewHouse", and "Moose's Tooth" under "Eat." First Tap Thursday - On the first Thursday of each month, Bear Tooth Theatrepub celebrates a new Broken Tooth Brewing draft beer with live music. 1 Bernie's Bungalow Lounge, 626 D St (between 6th and 7th; across the street from Nordstrom's entrance), ☏ +1 907 276…
Anchorage has a reputation for being a dangerous city — a reputation that's not entirely unwarranted — but the average traveller should not be too overly concerned or cautious of their surroundings. A lot of the crime occurs between those involved in the drug trade or organized crime. Like most cities, location is very important as security changes from place to place. Areas close to downtown are safer to walk at night. Stay in populated areas, avoid poor neighborhoods, especially at night, and don't walk there at any time if you are alone. Vicious beatings have been reported at resorts by people who have travelled alone, so stay alert for any suspicious-looking individual.
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
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In Jul, Anchorage typically sees ~20°C daytime highs and 6 rainy days.
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