"Anchorage - Gateway to Wild Alaska" Top 5 Page for this destination Anchorage by onebadcat

One of the local moose that frequent my house

People who come to Anchorage expecting a cosmopolitan city are usually disappointed. However for a city of 250,000 people it has most of the big city ammenities covered. The way I look at it all the entertainment, arts and nightlife is represented here but we have a more limited selection than say San Francisco.

But then you wouldn't come to Anchorage to experience big city life would you? What Anchorage offers visitors is a diverse city atmosphere with prices ranging from budget to luxury that serves as a base for adventures into the rest of Southcentral Alaska. You can have the time of your life hiking down a mountain ridge knowing you are just 20 minutes from a fancy seafood dinner and an expensive bottle of wine. (or in my case a few choice beers and some cheap appetizers)

Don't miss the local brews and brewpubs!

Another visitor at the house

I ran across this comment on a fellow VTers page and it made me laugh. I laughed because it IS for the most part true. Compared to the wilder places in Alaska it is a 'hole'. Compared to the beautiful architecture of Paris or Rome it IS a 'hole'. But, compared to any city of 250,000 people in the USA Anchorage is fantastic!

Anchorage grew faster than it could cope with changing overnight from frontier town to the city it is today. Most of the architecture is ordinary, zoning and city planning are horrible, the streets are often potholed after a hard winter and the mayor's hundreds of flower beds don't necessarily hide these facts. However, what Anchorage lacks in urban aesthetics it makes up for with it's huge parks, hundreds of miles of trails and the beauty that still surrounds the city.

Quality of life is what we do best in Alaska — Anchorage is no exception.