Whittier Alaska

Whittier Alaska was definitely a unique experience for us when we visited there. We had to go see it during one of our getaways because how many other cities are out there that can only be accessed by a tunnel? The city is about sixty miles away from Anchorage on the Prince Williams Sound and can only be accessed by car via the one lane Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel built in 1941 which is 2 ½ miles long with alternating traffic. The Alaska Railroad also uses this tunnel so you may have to wait for a train too. The turn off to got there is near Portage and you can see the Portage Glacier and several others from the roadway making it a very scenic drive. There is a fee to drive through the tunnel and of course I had to ask what the fee was for us if we wanted back out at some point just to see what they said.

The tunnel goes through a mountain and you may have to wait for a while if you arrive at the wrong time so try to time your drive if you can. The tunnel was a unique drive because it is a long straight tunnel. It is lit all the way through and there are safety rooms off to the side just in case there’s a major problem. I could only imagine how much work and effort went into carving that tunnel out of solid rock using 1940’s era technology and tools. It is impressive and the completion of the tunnel was actual done by the military to move materials more quickly while using a safer route than the open water that was not as susceptible to foreign submarine or navy attacks.

We went later in the season after Labor Day so many businesses had closed for the season already, but several were still open. Besides good fresh seafood meals you can take day cruises, glacier tours, historical sites, kayaking, and hiking trails when it’s not the off season. Almost all of the people who live there live in an old Army barracks. There are many little shops and restaurants along with areas to walk along the water. We had a very good fresh seafood lunch there and visited several of the shops before walking around to look at the scenery. For us it was a tradeoff between having everything open with crowds of people or catching everything at the end of the season after several places closed so make sure you go during the summer if you want to do more activities or visit all the shops. Whittier was certainly a unique place to visit and there is a lot of fun stuff to do there so we would definitely recommend it if you get the chance.