A far cry from roughing-it fishing trips, the packages available to adventurers willing to hop a floatplane to the middle of nowhere in southeastern Alaska’s Tongass National Forest are downright posh. All rough-hewn cedar walls, roaring fires, and plush leather chairs, Favorite Bay Lodge, on Admiralty Island, pulls off a tough balancing act. It manages to be both satisfyingly Alaskan (antler chandeliers, native Tlingit totems) and luxuriously Carmel Valley (lofty comforters, soaking tubs).

Each morning, you can venture out in the lodge’s boat to explore the wet, green maze of surrounding islands. Joann, George and Ed, locals who guide for Favorite Bay, will take you kayaking, fishing, or hiking on the moss-covered trails. There are more bears than people around here, so you’re pretty much guaranteed solitude. Paddle from island to island, pull your kayak ashore for lunch, then drop a line in a promising pool.

Back at the lodge, the prime-cut meat and gourmet fish—think halibut you dragged out of the water a few hours earlier, served with chipotle—are prepared by chef Pierre Coutou, a Frenchman who splits his time between Alaska, Monterey, and Aix-en-Provence. Keep an eye on the bay windows: the strait just beyond is a major humpback whale thoroughfare, and you might see the lead-colored beasts breaching while you dine.

Having a great time! “I was in a boat near the lodge, and it felt like a scene out of Fantasia,” says David Armanasco of Pebble Beach. “Salmon were jumping, and we saw a bear and its cubs frolicking in the water. And the whales—we could actually hear them spouting.”

-Chris Smith

ALL-INCLUSIVE RATES PER PERSON RANGE FROM $3,400 FOR A THREE-DAY PACKAGE TO $6,150 FOR A SEVEN-DAY PACKAGE. 866-788-3344, FAVORITEBAY.COM.