Inside Passage

Natural waterway from Seattle, Washington, to Skagway, Alaska. The many islands, straits, and inlets on its 1,600 km/1,000 mi-long route offer shelter from the open seas of the Pacific. After leaving Seattle, the Inside Passage passes through Puget Sound, past Vancouver Island and the islands of Hecate Strait, and through the Alexander Archipelago off southeastern Alaska, before reaching the Lynn Canal to Skagway.

The Inside Passage is deep enough to accommodate most vessels. Both cargo and passenger ships travelling between the Pacific Northwest and Alaska generally use this route, with its spectacular views of fjords, conifer forests, glacial waterfalls, and snow-covered mountains. Ports along the route include Victoria, Vancouver, and Prince Rupert, in British Columbia; and Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Juneau, in Alaska. An alternative route at the northern end leads through Cross Sound to the Gulf of Alaska. Over the centuries, navigators from Spain, England, Russia, and the US explored the route and named many of its islands and straits.