Last summer, we took an Alaska cruise to see Southeast Alaska, and afterwards, we drove from Anchorage to Fairbanks, so that we could see Denali National Park. Here we write up this final leg in Denali and in Fairbanks.

Getting to Denali

The afternoon after we disembarked from the cruise ship, rented a car and drove 4.5 hours from Anchorage to just outside of Denali, stopping halfway at Talkeena for a break. We arrived in the Denali area in the early evening, just in time to get dinner.

Denali effectively has a small town right outside the park entrance, which has hotels, restaurants, and the usual tourist fare. We stayed at a place called Denali Crow’s Nest Cabins, where the guests were put in little log cabins which fit the surroundings. Some of the cruise lines actually had their own hotels for their guests doing rail-sea tours.

In a “normal” year, it can be worthwhile to book a tour of Denali, since the furthest you can self-drive is effectively to the Savage River area, about 15 miles into the park. However, a landslide in 2021 closed the road at mile 43 (of 91), and it’s not supposed to open until 2027. This seemed to limit the usefulness of the Denali tour to us (plus the available ones were in the super early morning).

So in our planning, we decided to just see what we could see doing self-driving. But, definitely check your options in a few years. (Some have suggested that the best way to see Mount Denali during the closure is to take a tourist plane from Talkeetna).

Denali National Park

In any case, our suggestion is to get an early start, which we did the following morning, since the parking areas can fill up in the summer. We arrived at the Visitor Center basically at opening time the next morning, after having breakfast in a cafe in town.

Our first priority after the initial Visitor Center visit was to go to the Savage River Trail area at milestone 15. We had a nice hike there, it was roughly 2 miles and reasonably flat, along a river. It was scenic, fun, and accessible, and worked well for our family.

Savage River was basically the last stop open to private vehicles, so from there we turned around. We went to the Mountain Vista stop, since this is a place where on a clear day, you’re supposed to be able to get a good view of Mount Denali. But our day was on the cloudier side, so it just wasn’t possible. We did hike a short 0.6 mile loop, which is supposed to have different vantage points.

Despite not getting the real clear Mount Denali view, we were happy with our time there. On the way out, we spent a bit time in the visitor center on the way back, looking at some indoor exhibits.

We effectively spent the morning at Denali National Park, and while more time could have been nice, it was enough for us. For others, I could imagine making a priority to doing somewhat more, especially if a park tour is a must. From there, we got in the car, and continued our drive, getting some lunch on the way out.

Fairbanks Area

The drive from Denali to Fairbanks was about 2 hours. As we approached Fairbanks that afternoon, there were 3 main places where we stopped:

• We found a place where you can pan for gold (Gold Daughters). This was a surprisingly fun stop! Panning for gold was more work than expected, but we got a few small flakes in the end.
• The Museum of the North, on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, has a decent-sized collection on display, with some info about the region.
• The Pioneer Park had old buildings on display from the pioneer days of Fairbanks. It was a little quiet, but fun to walk through.

After our flurry of stops, we stayed the night near downtown Fairbanks.

Our overall impression was that Fairbanks felt somewhat more tourist-friendly than Anchorage. We had a nice dinner in the evening, and a crepe breakfast the next morning. Our flight home (at least the leg to Seattle) was scheduled the next day, in the early afternoon.

We did have time to see the Fairbanks Museum that following morning before our flight, as well as to spend some time walking along the Fairbanks Chena Riverwalk.

Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Alaska, and were glad that we tacked on the time in Denali and Fairbanks at the end. A day or two longer could have been nicer as well, though in our case, our youngest needed to be back for his high school’s “football camp” — sometimes that’s how schedules with kids work — but we were grateful to be able to see what we did.

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