When we were planning our motorcycle trip to Alaska I came across tons of things do on the greater Kenai Peninsula, including countless activities in and around Seward.

Given the volatile weather during our visit, we stayed in Seward several days so we would have time to enjoy a few activities when the weather was cooperating. We stayed in the Spruce Lodge, which is just north of town on the road that takes you to Kenai Fjords National Park’s Exit Glacier. This ended up being a perfect spot to distance ourselves from the touristy areas while remaining close enough to walk the biking/walking trail into town.

While by no means comprehensive, below are the top five things we enjoyed experiencing during our time in Seward, Alaska.

1. Visit Kenai Fjords National Park

For those interested in national park experiences, Seward is a perfect homebase for exploring Kenai Fjords National Park.

Here is a closer look at how we spent two days hiking in Exit Glacier Nature Area and cruising out among the glacial fjords.

2. Explore the harbor area

The Seward Highway takes you right through downtown Seward by way of the town’s harbor area. If you’re planning to book a fishing charter or take one of the many boat cruises on offer, this is where you’ll park and access those excursions (mostly paid parking lots).

The harbor area also has a number of seafood restaurants, a waterfront boardwalk, several shops, public restrooms, and the Kenai Fjords National Park Visitor Center. We enjoyed exploring this area before and after our boat cruise into Kenai Fjords National Park.

3. Walk along Waterfront Park

Waterfront Park runs along the western side of downtown Seward and wraps around to its southern shore where it meets Hoben Park. We walked from the harbor area to the northern end of the park by the Boulder and Alice campgrounds and followed the somewhat paved Sea Otter / Waterfront trail to the old railroad depot.

Not only does the park offer awesome views of the water and mountain ranges, it has several points of interest along the trail (from north to south):

• Iditarod Mile Marker 0
• Founders Monument
• Iditarod Trail Pioneer Jujiro Wada Statue
• Iditarod Historic Trail Statue Mile 0
• Seward Seawall (part of it is from the park’s 1923 construction)

4. Eat great seafood

We ate at several eateries during our time in Seward and unfortunately they didn’t all hit it out of the park. For awesome seafood, our top picks were:

• Exit Glacier Salmon Bake. Known as the “home of cheap beer and lousy food,” (which was simply not the case!), this ramshackle conglomeration of rustic wooden buildings may not look like much, but their seafood is solid. We had the best halibut bites of our entire Alaska trip here.
• Ray’s Waterfront. We went to Ray’s for lunch and it was busy – during peak season you might want to see about reservations at dinner time. We managed to time things just right and arrived toward the end of the lunch rush, catching a table along the window with incredible views overlooking the harbor. We were cold and wet so we both went for the seafood chowder and fresh sourdough bread – YUM.

5. Hike in Two Lakes Park

Nestled inland from the northern end of Waterfront Park is Two Lakes Park, which is a lovely wooded area with a trail that makes a loop around – you guessed it – two lakes!

We stumbled upon this gem as we were walking north from downtown Seward toward the harbor area and decided to check it out. There were a number of families as well as people walking their dogs, and it was amazing how quiet and secluded it felt despite being so close to downtown and the main road.

Depending on what time of year you visit, there are tons of things to see and do around Seward, Alaska. Let me know if there is something we missed – I’ll add it to my list for our next visit!