Proud of its Norwegian ties, Petersburg bills itself as Alaska’s little Norway. This tidy town of 3,100 and its splendid natural setting on the northern tip of Mitkof Island offer much more to visitors than Norwegian flavours.

The town’s major industry is readily apparent along the waterfront. There adjacent harbours sheltering hundreds of trollers, gillnetters, long-liners, and other fishing boats make Petersburg a top fishing port.

For learning about the history and culture of Petersburg and vicinity, there’s no place better tan the Clausen Memorial Museum. It houses Tlingit artefacts, a massive lighthouse lens, a dugout canoe, and a stuffed salmon so big that it brings fishermen to their knees in awe.

The Blind Slough Swan Observatory hosts hundreds of migrating trumpeter swans in late fall; some 50 to 75 stay the winter. In summer, visitors may spy salmon a little downriver and bears fishing for those spawners.