Denali National Park Day Tours & Attractions

A lot of peo­ple swear to it: the best way to see Alas­ka is from an air­plane, and there may indeed be no bet­ter way to get close to the face of Denali. This one-of-a-kind flight­see­ing oper­a­tor makes it easy to see up close to the Great One with­out spend­ing a great deal of time.

Go flight­see­ing over Denali Nation­al Park in a very unique way: via heli­copter. Lift off on a 50-minute flight —land­ing the heli­copter on a glac­i­er, putting on spe­cial boots, and going for a walk on the frozen land­scape to get an up-close look at it. Or, vis­it Bus 142, made famous by adven­tur­er Christo­pher McCan­d­less. Flight­see­ing in a heli­copter is much dif­fer­ent from in a plane — learn all the ben­e­fits of this great way of check­ing out the  ...more

Denali Air flights see the majes­tic moun­tain a whop­ping 90% of the time, thanks to the company’s high­ly expe­ri­enced pilots and its unique abil­i­ty to access both the south and north approach­es to Denali. Pas­sen­gers appre­ci­ate the pri­vate airstrip, the long­stand­ing rep­u­ta­tion of Denali Air as the orig­i­nal flight com­pa­ny in Denali, and the fact that 99.9% of the tour is with­in Denali Nation­al Park boundaries. 

A guid­ed day trip out of Fair­banks reveals the qui­et win­ter land­scape of the Tanana Val­ley and Denali Nation­al Park. Walk or snow­shoe on pic­turesque trails through the bore­al for­est, deep in the heart of the Alas­ka range.

The best way to get an overview of Denali Nation­al Park is aboard one of the park bus­es, which fea­ture a trained nat­u­ral­ist who both dri­ves and pro­vides nar­ra­tion. Avail­able tours include the Nat­ur­al His­to­ry Tour (4−5 hrs), and the Tun­dra Wilder­ness Tour (5−5.5 hrs).

Tra­verse Alas­ka can craft ful­ly-guid­ed cus­tom adven­tures, or set you up on a trip into the Alas­ka wilder­ness arm­ing you with some know-how — and pro­vid­ing you with the inde­pen­dence to freely explore. Excur­sions include pri­vate day hikes, raft­ing and pack­raft­ing, and mul­ti-day backpacking. 

If you want to expe­ri­ence Denali Nation­al Park, Bike Denali has a fun, unique way to do it — on two wheels! Options include after­noon rentals to ride around the park entrance, full-day rentals to the explore the Denali Park Road to mul­ti-day rentals for bike camp­ing. Opt for a moun­tain bike, or eBike.

This flex­i­ble alter­na­tive to the stan­dard bus tour is an excel­lent option for inde­pen­dent trav­el­ers. Get off any­where, spend a few hours hik­ing, then catch anoth­er bus back to the park entrance (as long as a seat is avail­able). You can take a short ride before start­ing your adven­ture, or trav­el out to Kan­tish­na, at the end of the park road. See adjust­ed ser­vices for 2023.

Raft the pris­tine and scenic rivers in the Denali area with an expert, local guide. The most pop­u­lar water activ­i­ty is riv­er raft­ing, which can range from a scenic float to a more white­wa­ter expe­ri­ence on a class III+ riv­er. For a full day of adven­ture, you can com­bine a trip on the riv­er with hik­ing. Tra­verse Alas­ka also offers pack­raft­ing (each per­son is pad­dling their own small boat), which is a day-and-a-half class, tran­si­tion­ing from  ...more

Just out­side Denali Nation­al Park, the Nenana Riv­er offers a unique raft­ing expe­ri­ence: The riv­er is big and icy cold, with glacial­ly fed waters. But this raft­ing out­fit­ter based near the Park Entrance offers a soul-warm­ing expe­ri­ence on the riv­er, which makes an excel­lent coun­ter­part to a bus tour through the nation­al park. Choose a quick 3‑hour trip on mild water or splash through some rapids. Or opt for a longer 5.5‑hour run. 

Feel the thrill of crush­ing through white­wa­ter on the Nenana Riv­er just out­side the icon­ic Denali Nation­al Park. Do it with New Wave Adven­tures and you’ll have your choice of raft­ing trips — you can even decide whether to pad­dle or just take in the beau­ti­ful scenery — as well as oth­er excit­ing options like hik­ing and pack­raft­ing, all great options for fam­i­ly fun.

The Black Dia­mond ATV Trea­sure Hunt back­coun­try adven­ture, just out­side Denali, offers both a skilled guide and a splash of think-for-your­self adven­ture. Your ride can be fast and excit­ing or slow and leisure­ly — it’s up to you. Unlike some oth­er ATV trips, you don’t have to do the dri­ving; a pro is at the wheel of the Polaris ATV. You’ll explore old coal-min­ing trails and the Dry Creek Riv­er Bed, where Athabas­can Indi­an arti­facts have been found  ...more

This is your chance to expe­ri­ence the spec­tac­u­lar scenery along the Denali High­way, a road recent­ly ranked #2 world­wide as a ​‘Dri­ve of a Life­time’ by Nation­al Geo­graph­ic Trav­el­er Mag­a­zine. You’ll be giv­en the oppor­tu­ni­ty to take the wheel, or if you pre­fer, just sit back and enjoy stun­ning views of the peaks and glac­i­ers of the cen­tral Alas­ka Range. There is a guide in the Jeep up front, but you can stop wher­ev­er, when­ev­er, and as often as you  ...more

This tour is an adven­ture­some alter­na­tive to a bus ride into the park. Denali ATV Adven­tures offers sev­er­al tours that let you explore the areas sur­round­ing Denali Nation­al Park. On your jour­ney, you’ll splash through rivers, dri­ve over tree root-rut­ted trails, and four-wheel up to some of the area’s most spec­tac­u­lar vis­tas. Dri­ve your own ATV, or be the pas­sen­ger and enjoy the ride. 

Dri­ve your own 4‑wheel all-ter­rain vehi­cle (ATV) on this excit­ing off-road jour­ney through the back­coun­try adja­cent to Denali Nation­al Park. Black Dia­mond puts you in con­trol: stop when­ev­er you want, take pic­tures of the spec­tac­u­lar scenery, and laugh as you expe­ri­ence Alas­ka as it was meant to be: rough and wild. Explore old coal-min­ing trails and spill out onto the Dry Creek Riv­er Bed, then head high up on Black Dia­mond Peak to take in the  ...more

Small group back­pack­ing and base­camp hik­ing adven­tures in Denali, Gates of the Arc­tic, Wrangell St. Elias, Kobuk, and Lake Clark Nation­al Parks. Begin­ners with a high lev­el of fit­ness are wel­come but hav­ing com­plet­ed at least a few back­pack­ing trips is rec­om­mend­ed. Your guides are high­ly trained trip lead­ers who have glob­al moun­taineer­ing expe­ri­ence and wilder­ness med­ical training.

New Wave Adven­tures pro­vides expe­ri­enced guides who go beyond guid­ing your way — they enrich your jour­ney with insights into the area’s his­to­ry, flo­ra, fau­na, and geol­o­gy. Choose from 3 hikes in the Denali area: Oxbow, Triple Lakes, or Rock Creek.

For­get the trail­head on your next hike. Instead, take a short but very scenic heli­copter ride to a spe­cial wilder­ness area just out­side Denali Nation­al Park and start your trek from there. Your guide will lead your small group on a soft-adven­ture hike above the tree line, with sweep­ing views. You’ll learn about iden­ti­fy­ing ani­mal tracks and the local flo­ra and fau­na, and of course have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to spot wildlife like bears, moose, and Dall  ...more

Tra­verse Alas­ka can craft ful­ly-guid­ed cus­tom adven­tures, or set you up on a trip into the Alas­ka wilder­ness arm­ing you with some know-how — and pro­vid­ing you with the inde­pen­dence to freely explore. Excur­sions include pri­vate day hikes, raft­ing and pack­raft­ing, and mul­ti-day backpacking. 

Don’t just vis­it icon­ic Denali Nation­al Park, expe­ri­ence it by gain­ing a real under­stand­ing of how to sur­vive in the wilder­ness. You’ll do some off-tri­al hik­ing and learn skills like how to build a shel­ter and iden­ti­fy edi­ble berries. Their oth­er small-group hik­ing tours have an edu­ca­tion­al empha­sis too. Learn how the entire ecosys­tem fits togeth­er to bet­ter appre­ci­ate the area around you. 

Explore Denali Nation­al Park with Alas­ka Geo­graph­ic on an edu­ca­tion­al day tour led by a sci­ence edu­ca­tor. Dive into the park’s ecosys­tem, his­to­ry, and wildlife through hands-on expe­ri­ences, off-trail hik­ing, and unique sen­so­ry engage­ments. Suit­able for any­one aged 8 and up, the tour includes stops at sig­nif­i­cant sites like the East Fork of the Tok­lat Riv­er and offers inti­mate insights into the sci­ence and research of Denali. Enjoy a  ...more

The Denali Nation­al Park Vis­i­tors Cen­ter is actu­al­ly more of a cam­pus. The cen­ter itself is the main Nation­al Park Ser­vice wel­come and infor­ma­tion cen­ter and it is sur­round­ed by oth­er facil­i­ties that include a restau­rant, bookstore/​giftshop, bag check, bus stop and the Alas­ka Rail­road depot.

Go on the typ­i­cal zipline and you get a love­ly ride under a canopy of trees. But with this unique zipline tour — the only one in the Denali Nation­al Park area— you ride above the tree line, so that you can take in sweep­ing, 360-degree views of miles around, includ­ing the tun­dra and the Alas­ka Range.

Re-open­ing in 2022. Please vis­it our web­site for oth­er activ­i­ties avail­able dur­ing your stay. The Cab­in Nite Din­ner The­atre, per­formed out of the Denali Park Vil­lage, offers a true-to-life Gold Rush tale of Alaskan adven­tures in the ear­ly 1900s. Enjoy songs, dance, humor, and a large fam­i­ly-style meal topped off with berry cobbler.

This show at the McKin­ley Chalet Resort tells the sto­ry of the first ascent of Mt. McKin­ley. Laugh, eat, and be mer­ry while the actors and actress­es do dou­ble-duty as your servers for an all-you-can-eat meal of salmon and ribs.

Expe­ri­ence the thrill of the icon­ic Alaskan sport of dogsled­ding from vet­er­ans of the Idi­tar­od and Yukon Quest races! Oper­at­ing in sum­mer and win­ter from Cantwell, about a 30-minute dri­ve south of Denali Nation­al Park, the pri­vate tours will be just you and your group, led by expert guides. Win­ter tours can involve learn­ing to dri­ve your own dog team or rid­ing out to see the north­ern lights. In sum­mer, the excit­ed dogs pull a side-by-side on  ...more

Get the insider’s per­spec­tive on the Idi­tar­od Trail Sled Dog Race from vet­er­an mush­er and Alaskan celebri­ty Jeff King, who has claimed first place four times. He will regale you with tales from the trail and intro­duce you to his dogs dur­ing a tour of his sled-dog train­ing cen­ter, the Husky Home­stead. Here, for more than three decades, Jeff has offered vis­i­tors a look at what goes into cre­at­ing a cham­pi­onship team and carv­ing a life in the Alaska  ...more

If you want to expe­ri­ence Denali Nation­al Park, Bike Denali has a fun, unique way to do it — on two wheels! Options include after­noon rentals to ride around the park entrance, full-day rentals to the explore the Denali Park Road to mul­ti-day rentals for bike camp­ing. Opt for a moun­tain bike, or eBike.

To get a real sense of old-time Alas­ka, climb into Black Dia­mond’s fam­i­ly-friend­ly Cov­ered Wag­on Adven­ture for a trip through time. While guides fill you in on the area’s his­to­ry and nat­ur­al trea­sures, you’ll be pulled by two draft hors­es through the Alaskan tun­dra, with the moun­tains of near­by Denali Nation­al Park hov­er­ing over­head. Hear the his­to­ry of this coal-min­ing area as you pass through the wilderness. 

Imag­ine tee­ing off under the mid­night sun, sur­round­ed by the Alaskan wild. The relax­ing envi­ron­ment, fresh moun­tain air, and spec­tac­u­lar panoram­ic scenery make play­ing Black Dia­mond’s nine-hole golf course a once-in-a-life­time oppor­tu­ni­ty. This course was built in 1995, right on top of the Alaskan tun­dra. The rugged grass is chal­leng­ing, but designed for easy dri­ving (via pow­er cart) or walk­ing. Haz­ards include moose-hoof prints, tun­dra marsh,  ...more

Built in 1939 by the Civil­ian Con­ser­va­tion Corps, the Won­der Lake his­toric ranger sta­tion was built to serve as quar­ters at the west end of the road. Today it pri­mar­il­ly serves vis­i­tors. The Park staff use addi­tion­al struc­tures for sum­mer hous­ing. The com­pact site has indi­vid­ual ranger bunkhous­es, a head­quar­ters build­ing, a shop, a pump shed, and a few oth­er mis­cel­la­neous small struc­tures. Eight Park rangers are on site from mid-May to…  ...more

Only 33 miles from the sum­mit of Denali, and at an ele­va­tion of 3300’, Eiel­son offers some of the most spec­tac­u­lar views of Denali (for­mer­ly Mt McKin­ley). There are many activ­i­ties you can do here, includ­ing ranger-guid­ed hikes up to near­by Tho­ro­fare Pass and self-guid­ed expi­ra­tion of the high-alpine tun­dra environment.

From mid-Sep­tem­ber to mid-May, the Murie Sci­ence Learn­ing Cen­ter serves as Denali Nation­al Park’s win­ter vis­i­tors’ cen­ter. It’s open from 9am to 4pm and pro­vides an array of park exhibits and movies. You can talk with rangers about cur­rent trail con­di­tions, bor­row a pair of snow­shoes, and get back­coun­try per­mits for overnight trips. Head out to explore trails from the cen­ter or dri­ve a cou­ple miles fur­ther up the park road to the Park…  ...more

The Denali Nation­al Park Vis­i­tors Cen­ter is actu­al­ly more of a cam­pus. The cen­ter itself is the main Nation­al Park Ser­vice wel­come and infor­ma­tion cen­ter and it is sur­round­ed by oth­er facil­i­ties that include a restau­rant, bookstore/​giftshop, bag check, bus stop and the Alas­ka Rail­road depot.

Har­ry Karstens was the first ranger of Denali Nation­al Park. He arrived in ear­ly sum­mer 1921, and estab­lished his head­quar­ters on the north­west bank of Riley Creek, an ide­al spot for mon­i­tor­ing vis­i­tors using the trail lead­ing into the park. In 1925, the head­quar­ters moved to it’s cur­rent loca­tion at mile 3.4 of the Denali Park Road. 

Orig­i­nal­ly con­struct­ed by the Alas­ka Road Com­mis­sion in 1924 – 1925, the Sav­age cab­in and inter­pre­tive trails are now used as part of liv­ing his­to­ry pre­sen­ta­tions in the sum­mer months. Dur­ing the win­ter the cab­in become strict­ly util­i­tar­i­an by pro­vid­ing shel­ter for patrols.

Mile 43 Denali Park Rd, small cab­in is vis­i­ble down the embank­ment on the south side of the road

This train trav­els through the forest­ed areas north of Anchor­age into the bore­al for­est, and even­tu­al­ly into the tun­dra regions fur­ther north. On a clear day the train will slow down to allow you to see beau­ti­ful vis­tas of Denali. You may also spot wildlife along the way. Day Trip from Anchor­age: Tal­keet­na Day Trip from Fair­banks: Denali Mul­ti-Day Trip from Anchor­age: Tal­keet­na, Denali Nation­al Park, and / or Fair­banks Mul­ti-Day Trip  ...more

Dri­ve through Alas­ka with an audio tour guid­ing you along icon­ic routes. Audio Tour Alas­ka gives you an insider’s take on every­thing from points of inter­est to his­to­ry, wildlife, and cul­ture, along with cap­ti­vat­ing sto­ries. Guides to pop­u­lar routes include Anchor­age to Tal­keet­na; Tal­keet­na to Denali Nation­al Park; Denali to Fair­banks; Anchor­age to Seward; Tern Lake to Homer; and the Denali Park Entrance area and the Denali Park road.