Summer Is the Perfect Time for an Alaskan Adventure

Alaska is where otherworldly glacial hikes, backcountry dog sledding, and award-winning culinary experiences come together. You can also have these epic adventures and protect the land at the same time. Many lodges have joined the state’s Adventure Green Alaska sustainable certification program to protect the land that provides those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. So if you want to find some bears or get up close to a humpback whale, here are our five favorites for an Alaskan adventure.

Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge is a member of Adventure Green Alaska and part of the Alaska Wildland Adventures collection of lodges. It’s the only wilderness lodge within Alaska’s Kenai Fjords National Park and within the Native-owned Pedersen Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary. 

Experiences include wilderness hikes, wildlife viewing, sea kayaking, canoeing, glacier viewing and photography. Guest cabins are private and blend in seamlessly with the surrounding landscape. As part of their commitment to the environment, they minimize the number of guests scheduled for sea trips and trails on any given day, emphasizing small group travel. The lodge tracks their environmental impact through their Greenworks Program, using solar and micro-hydro power to minimize their uses of generators.

Who doesn’t love dogs? Susitna Adventure Lodge near Cantwell sits in Alaskan backcountry. During the winter, the lodge will train guests in mushing, and supply them with their own dog team to explore trails with guides, or camp overnight in the backcountry with their teams. Owners Cody Strathe and Paige Drobny are competitive mushers—Paige took 3rd in the 2025 Iditarod and won the Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for her care for her dogs. 

During the summer, guests can hike, fish, pack raft, canoe, kayak, paddle board, and explore glaciers by small plane. Wildlife can be viewed from the lodge’s large wrap-around windows. This is a newly built and off-the-grid luxury lodge, producing its own power and aimed at conserving the land around it.

Part of the Within the Wild Adventure Company and also a member of Adventure Green Alaska, Tutka Bay Lodge is a high-end wilderness retreat on 35-acres of coastal rainforest in Kachemak Bay, and getting there requires a seaplane or boat. They have six private, newly renovated guest cabins and a main lodge. Within the Wild focuses on properties and experiences that engage in stewardship of the Alaskan wilderness through their Be the Wild project. They protect local animal habitats and offer mindful wellness experiences. 

Experiences include everything from bear-viewing, helicopter excursions, snorkeling, deep sea and fly fishing, kayaking and marine wildlife tours. They are known for their culinary team whose menu is local, seasonal, and foraged. Tutka Bay Lodge also has an off-the-grid sewer and water system, and uses solar energy, wind turbines, and biodiesel fuel.

What’s an Alaskan visit without bears? Natural Habitat’s Alaska Bear Camp is located in prime brown bear territory, surrounded by Lake Clark National Park. Camp chefs use locally sourced ingredients, including freshly caught seafood. 

Guests stay in WeatherPort tent cabins on platforms, each with two twin beds and battery powered lights. The camp is surrounded by a solar-powered electric fence—because, remember, the bears. There are charging stations, a dining tent, hot showers, composting toilets, and porta-potties in tents for your night business. NatHab partners with the World Wildlife Fund for sustainable outdoor adventures and offsets their emissions by supporting sustainable projects. 

Beyond Alaska, NatHab offers a range of itineraries called Climate Change in Our Wild World, which includes the offer to offset the carbon footprint for their guests for a full year.

Part of Adventure Green Alaska, Alyeska Resort is located in the beautiful Chugach Mountains. With 299 spacious guest rooms, Alyeska’s summer adventures include wildlife watching, hiking, mountain biking, and braving their Veilbreaker Skybridges, suspended 2500 feet over the valley floor. 

In the winter guests can ski and snowboard, or take part in a guided tour of the region. The resort is focused on protecting the land through sustainable practices like preserving existing trails, minimizing traffic, and supporting the indigenous Dena’ina community. With the resort’s Green Stay Initiative, guests can opt-out of daily housekeeping to conserve water and energy in exchange for a dining credit.