Southwest contains some of the best bear viewing areas in the state including McNeal River State Game Sanctuary, Katmai National Park – Brooks Falls and Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge – South Frazer Lake.

Alaska’s expansive Southwest region is home to the communities of Bethel, King Salmon, Unalaska, Dillingham, Kodiak and the Pribilof Islands. The area is as diverse as it is big.

Unalaska, located on the Aleutian Island chain, is home to Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Ascension and the Bishop’s House. The church hosts one of the largest collections of religious artifacts and icons in the United States.

Kodiak Island, known primarily for its mammoth brown bears, boasts many cultural attractions in addition to housing one of the world’s most legendary mammals. The Baranov Museum, a warehouse built in the 1790s by Alexander Baranof to store furs, is the oldest remaining Russian structure in the state. Kodiak is also rich with Alaska Native culture.

The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository reveal 8,000 years of Alutiiq history through artifacts and archaeological digs. A new archaeological excavation gets underway every summer and volunteers are invited to participate.

Summer Activities: Eat your fill of famous Alaska King Crab at Kodiak’s Crab Festival, Observe brown bears in their natural habitat at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, See thousands of bird species converge on the Pribilof Islands, Learn about World War II history in Dutch Harbor, the site of the 1942 Japanese bombing, Raft the Nushagak River near Dillingham, Fish for trophy-sized trout in Iliamna Lake, Hike through the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes near King Salmon, Visit the Walrus Island State Game Sanctuary near Togiak for the chance to see thousands of walrus, Assist in an Alutiiq archaeological dig on the Island of Kodiak and visit the Alutiiq Museum.

Winter Activities: Tee off at the Pillar Mountain Golf Classic, an irreverent par-70, one-hole golf tournament up the side of 1400-foot Pillar Mountain in Kodiak, Visit the Samuel K. Fox Museum in Dillingham, which houses a permanent collection of traditional Yup’ik Eskimo skin sewing, hunting and food gathering implements and artifacts, native baskets and the art work of Samuel D. Fox and others, Tour the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area in Dutch Harbor, Take the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry from Kodiak to Dutch Harbor, stopping at ports along the way.