Kotzebue

The midnight sun in Kotzebue

Kotzebue (Inupiaq: Qikiqtaġruk) is a town of 3,200 people in Arctic Alaska. It's an important regional hub and a launching point for flights to remote Arctic wilderness reserves.

Understand

Kotzebue is the primary hub for the Northwest Arctic, being the administrative center of both the Borough and Native Corporation governments. It is the most Americanized of the villages in the region (and indeed many residents of the smaller villages would bristle at calling Kotzebue a village at all) and is home to several restaurants and small hotels. It is the place where the competing influences of Americanization and traditional Inupiaq culture are most plainly coextant.

Get in

View of Kotzebue, July, 2012

• 1 Ralph Wien Memorial Airport (OTZ  ^IATA). Flights from Anchorage, Nome and various other settlements in Alaska with Alaska Airlines, Bering Air, and Ryan Air. The airport map marker is the Alaska Airlines terminal while Ryan Air is in the same terminal as Bering Air. (updated Apr 2020)

Get around

Kotzebue is a small enough town to be largely walkable, as well as being the only settlement in the region to have concrete paved roads. In winter it does get somewhat chilly, though this is ameliorated slightly by its proximity to the sea. Main forms of transport include ATVs and boats in summer, snowmachines in winter, and automobiles year round.

See

• 1 Northwest Arctic Heritage Center, ☏ +1 907 442-3890. The National Park Service provides information about nature reserves that you can get to from Kotzebue, along with a museum, a bookstore, and programs run by park rangers. (updated Apr 2020)

Do

Arctic tundra

• Birdwatching
• Hiking – Take the eight-mile (13-km) loop road across the tundra, or walk along the shore.

Buy

Local art and handicrafts.

Eat

Basic groceries are available, in addition to restaurants. Most of the restaurants are East Asian in cuisine, and run by the town's significant East Asian diaspora.

Drink

Kotzebue has one of the region's two bars.

Go next

• Cape Krusenstern National Monument
• Kobuk Valley National Park
• Noatak National Preserve