63 Best Hotels in The Kenai Peninsula and Southcentral Alaska, Alaska

The Cordova Ranger District of the Chugach National Forest maintains a series of simple backcountry cabins for rent. These cabins are very basic: four walls, a roof, a floor, wooden bunks, usually a woodstove, a table, benches, counter space for preparing meals, and a pit toilet out back. There's no bedding, cooking utensils, electricity, or running water. Most of the cabins are accessible only by boat or floatplane, although the McKinley Trail cabin is accessible by motor vehicle on the Copper River Highway. Two others can be reached by hiking from the road. Rentals are arranged through the U.S. Forest Service's website up to six months in advance.

The refuge's public-use cabins are in remote areas accessible only by air or boat. If you're willing to overcome these hurdles, you'll find tranquility and true wilderness, and you won't have to worry about your tent springing a leak.

Built in 1916 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Van Gilder is steeped in local history. Early 20th-century photos of Seward adorn the walls, beds are brass or carved wood, and the common rooms foster a cozy B&B feel. This is definitely not a mass-market chain hotel, and the extremely friendly staff gives tours of the property, pointing out interesting historical information. Spend time in the sitting room with books of local interest or by the piano player in the lobby.