ALL ASHORE

Juneau is one of Alaska's busiest cruise ports-and it has a booming food scene.

-  Elaine Glusac

WEDGED BETWEEN the Gastineau Channel and the snowcapped Coast Mountains, Juneau is a hub for the 1.7 million cruise passengers who travel Alaska's Inside Passage each year, many of whom are eager to see the impressive Mendenhall Glacier just beyond downtown.

But the state capital warrants its own shore excursion. For one, it's a center for Alaskan Native art, with the newly installed Kootéeyaa Deiyí, a waterfront trail of totem poles that honor the state's Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian peoples. Then there's the Alaska State Museum, which also has robust collections of Indigenous art, as well as exhibits on the area's flora and fauna, including 1,200 seashells, skeletons, fossils, and samples of minerals.