Way out in the Bering Sea, St Matthew Island is one of the most remote locations in Alaska, a day’s sailing from the nearest human settlement. Foxes and voles are the only resident mammals, though polar bears have been known to visit, and the cliffs provide shelter for birds including Brünnich’s guillemots, parakeet auklets and glaucous gulls.

St Paul is the largest of the Pribilof Islands, situated in the middle of the Bering Sea between the US and Russia. Sparsely populated by humans, the island comes alive in summer with some 500,000 northern fur seals and sea birds including tufted puffins, auklets, kittiwakes, cormorants and fulmars.

Dutch Harbor is the port that serves the city of Unalaska, and is known for the hardy fishermen who brave the turbulent, icy seas off the Aleutian Islands. Points of interest include the remains of defensive fortifications built during the Second World War and the striking Russian Orthodox church.

Point Adolphus, on the northern tip of Alaska’s Chichagof Island, is a fantastic place to see humpback whales, lured here by the nutrient-rich waters during the summer. It’s also a top birding spot, with species including marbled murrelets, pigeon guillemots, Pacific loons, pelagic cormorants and black-legged kittiwakes.

Sitka was founded by Russian fur traders in 1799 as the city of New Archangel, and there is still a discernible Russian influence here, including the distinctive St Michael’s Orthodox Cathedral. The town also enjoys spectacular natural surroundings, facing the Pacific Ocean and dramatic Mount Edgecumbe.

The breathtaking Misty Fjords National Monument is a 3,570-square-mile swathe of virgin forest and plunging fjords, just to the east of Ketchikan. As the name suggests, the fjords are often cloaked in a fine mist, and the wilderness is home to bears, bald eagles, whales and more.