Attractions near downtown Anchorage, AK

Anchorage, Alaska is the largest city in Alaska, with more than forty percent of the state's population living in the Anchorage Metropolitan Area. Because it has the largest population concentration in the state, Anchorage contains many attractions for both tourist and resident alike. The Alaska Center for the Performing Arts hosts many performing arts events throughout the year, and is the premier arts center in Alaska. In addition to hosting a variety of performing arts companies, the center is also the scene for a number of annual festivals and touring performance arts events.

The Fur Rendezvous Festival and the Sitka Summer Music Festival are held each year at the center. The center has also hosted a number of traveling Broadway shows in the past, including The Lion King and Mama Mia! Another fascinating attraction in downtown Anchorage is the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center. The museum was opened in 1968, and is a public-private partnership dedicated to chronicling the history and cultural heritage of Anchorage and the wider Alaska area. A particularly interesting part of the museum is the Alaska Gallery.

The Alaska Gallery features over 1,000 objects that chronicle the history and ethnology of Alaska from Alaska's earliest native inhabitants through Alaska's settlement by the Russians to its current status as an American state. The museum went through an extensive renovation in 2010. Perhaps the most interesting attraction found in Anchorage is the plethora of wildlife that exists in this urban environment. Anchorage is the home to urban populations of bears, moose, foxes, and mountain goats. Incredibly, sightings of these and other animals are a common occurence throughout Anchorage. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates that there are up to 1000 moose in the Anchorage urban area during the winter. There are over twenty parks in and around the downtown area, and these parks afford the visitor numerous opportunities to see Anchorage's rich diversity of wildlife.