Glistening snowfields, mighty glaciers, shimmering fjords encircled by snow-capped mountains – nature is firmly in charge in Alaska. At every turn there is something even more astonishing to see; you’ll lose count of the number of times you find yourself holding your breath. Whales breach the cold seas, huge chunks of ice calve off glaciers with an almighty crash, and bears stalk the pine-fringed islets while eagles wheel slowly overhead.

Our luxury cruises to Alaska often start from cosmopolitan Vancouver, but as we sail out of Canadian waters up the breathtaking Seymour Narrows, it soon becomes clear that we’ve moved beyond the trappings of modern urban life and entered a wilder realm. This is a land shaped by ice and sea, where flora and fauna flourish in the pristine conditions. In summer, when our cruises to Alaska set sail, its jagged peaks are softened by lush grass and carpets of wildflowers, and the fjords appear luminously blue in the warm sunlight.

But Alaska is also rich in culture, home to many Indigenous groups whose traditional ways of life still thrive to this day. In Wrangell, you can see 8,000-year-old rock carvings, Skagway was a boom town in the Klondike gold rush, while in Ketchikan many of the houses are perched on stilts above the water and there are totem poles dating back to the 19th century. Yet, for more modern thrills, take a turn on the world’s largest ziprider at Icy Strait Point. Whether you come here to hike, kayak, and fish, or simply to gaze in open-mouthed awe at the scale and majesty of nature, an Alaskan cruise gets you up close and personal with one of the world’s last great wildernesses.