America's Best Summer Getaways 2009

National Park: Kenai Fjords, Alaska

This remote swath along the southern coast of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula is home to glaciers and fjords, puffins and porpoises—and now an upscale hotel. Accessible only by boat, Alaska Wildland Adventures’Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge (doubles from $950) is a collection of 16 comfortably rustic log cabins set on a 1,700-acre wildlife sanctuary owned by Alutiiq natives. Here, the park is literally your backyard.

—Bree Sposato