Valdez is the terminus for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. The port of Valdez was named in 1790 by the Spanish explorer Salvador Fidalgo after the Spanish naval officer Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán. [5]
Located near the head of a deep fjord in Prince William Sound, Valdez is a mix of tidewater glaciers, rainforests, and majestic mountains, wildlife on both land and sea and so much more.
Valdez suffered great damage during the 1964 earthquake, but it’s probably most famous for the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Plant and animal life have mostly rebounded since the cleanup, and some important lessons were learned about oil transport through our pristine waters.
Valdez is a town of mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and coastal scenes. From Worthington Glacier on Thompson Pass, to Bridal Veil Falls in Keystone Canyon, on to Humpback whales breaching in Port Valdez.
The City of Valdez, population 3,900, is located near a deep fjord in Southcentral Alaska at the northeast tip of Prince William Sound. On the road system, Valdez is 300 road miles east of Anchorage, and 365 road miles south of Fairbanks.
Valdez Alaska is a beautiful coastal Alaska city. It sits nestled on the shores of Prince William Sound and is famous for being the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. However, Valdez is far from an industrial town.
Valdez Alaska - Everything you need to know before you visit in 2026
Valdez sits at the end of the road and the beginning of adventure — a place where towering mountains tumble into deep fjords, where icebergs float alongside kayaks, and where great food, world ...