One of the highlights of an Inland Passage ferry ride is negotiating the 46 tight turns of the 22-mile-long Wrangell Narrows between Wrangell and the "Norwegian" fishing town of Petersburg on the route north. At times it feels like you can reach out and touch the steep-walled shore, and at night the ferry has to negotiate a slalom course of navigation lights.

Perched on the seaward edge of the Inside Passage and eleven hours from Petersburg, SITKA ranks as one of Alaska's prettiest and most historic towns. The Fuji-like Mount Edgecumbe volcano rises menacingly across Sitka Sound from the spot where Russian colonists established a fort in 1799. Three years later Tlingit warriors massacred the imperialist troops and their Aleut slaves, but were themselves cannoned into submission in 1804. Under Russian occupation the town was rebuilt and christened Novaya Archangelsk (New Archangel), the capital of Russian America - a role it retained beyond the 1867 transfer of ownership to the US, until federal powers passed control to Juneau in 1906. Sitka today earns its keep mostly from fishing and tourism; it's all too keen to flog tacky "Russiocana" - you'll find more nesting dolls here than the rest of the US put together - but the town also has a wealth of great outdoor opportunities and a fine reputation for its festivals, especially the chamber-oriented Summer Music Festival each June and the Alaska Day Festival (celebrating the Russia-US transfer) on the days leading up to October 18.