Q: I’m looking to do a trip with sea kayaking, plus B&B and railroad sightseeing. What would you recommend? —Stuart

A: Stuart, there are a lot of great sea kayaking experiences in Alaska. Some are day trips, and some overnighters. You can kayak in placid waters where the emphasis is spectacular coastline and wildlife. Or, you can paddle in water so thick with glacial ice that you can barely plunge your paddle into the water.

A friend of mine, John Page, runs a company called Sunny Cove Sea Kayaking out of Seward. I think it fits your bill because he can arrange any kind of trip: You can stay in Resurrection Bay and do a shorter trip, or he can take you out to the glaciers of Kenai Fjords National Park. Their trips range from $65 for a half day trip to $130 or $179 for full day trips. (They even do multi-day camping-and-kayaing trips for anywhere from $350 to $1,500.)

They can recommend lodging, too, but you can also check out our map of great Alaska B&Bs. One of the reasons I’d recommend this is because you can tie in a 4.5-hour train ride from Anchorage to Seward, which is certainly the most scenic section of the entire Alaska Railroad route.

Another option I recommend, if you want outrageous glacial scenery, is to go with Honey Charters out of Whittier into Prince William Sound. They take you on a charter boat (for one price, whether your party is just one person or 6) and then come pick you up when you’re done (lots of people camp overnight). For a trip to Cascades, close to a great spot called Black Sands Beach, the one-way trip would cost $768—not bad if you have six people.

The train ride from Anchorage to Whittier, meanwhile, is spectacular, but less than three hours, so you don’t get as much scenery as you do taking the train Seward. What you do get is calving glaciers beyond your wildest imagination, and harbor seals sunning on big floating chunks of ice. If you want to see what I mean, check out a blog post I did about a visit to Black Sands beach.

If you want to explore different areas, though, look at our page on Sea Kayaking and Rafting.