Alaska Road & Highway Maps

This north­ern­most sec­tion of the Parks High­way, paved and open all year, takes you through small towns and stretch­es of wilderness.

The Glenn is hard to avoid if you want the full Alas­ka expe­ri­ence. Not only does it con­nect you with pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tions and oth­er major high­ways, this well-main­tained road takes you from down­town Anchor­age to Alaska’s farm­lands, glac­i­ers, and beyond.

The dri­ve to McCarthy and Ken­ni­cott isn’t your run-of-the-mill road trip. It’s 7 – 8 hours from Anchor­age, with the last 61 miles-between Chiti­na and the Ken­ni­cott Riv­er-on an his­toric, grav­el road. Not all rental vehi­cles are allowed on the McCarthy road, so check with your rental agency before you travel.

The dri­ve from Anchor­age to the sea­side com­mu­ni­ty of Seward begins with two hours of spec­tac­u­lar views as you pass between the dra­mat­ic shore­lines of Tur­na­gain Arm and the jut­ting peaks of the Chugach Mountains.

Fair­banks, Alaska’s sec­ond-largest city, is a for­mer gold-rush town with a cut­ting-edge uni­ver­si­ty-and it still holds onto its fierce­ly inde­pen­dent roots. Tour old gold mines, take a his­toric river­boat cruise, or just wan­der around downtown.

It’s a 5‑hour dri­ve up to the park from Anchor­age, and you’ll find a num­ber of scenic high­lights and activ­i­ties along the way

Just two hours north from Anchor­age, Tal­keet­na is a town with authen­tic pio­neer feel and mod­ern tours and lodg­ing facil­i­ties. It’s the per­fect stop en-route to Denali, or as a day dri­ve from Anchor­age. Top excur­sions include raft­ing, jet boat tours, and flight­see­ing tours of Mt. Denali.

The dri­ve from Anchor­age to Valdez takes 6 to 7 hours on aver­age. But, there are many scenic vis­tas and unique places to stop along the way mak­ing it easy to spend more than 6 hours on the road. You will have views of sev­er­al moun­tain ranges, glac­i­ers, and more.

Dri­ving non-stop from Anchor­age to Homer would take a good 4.5−5 hours. How­ev­er, you’ll find plen­ty of rea­sons to pull over on the dri­ve south: Wildlife often appears along the road­side. Pull­outs offer pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties of whales, waves, and vol­ca­noes. Trail­heads lead to fab­u­lous alpine and ocean views. Restau­rants offer lunch breaks beyond the usu­al fast-food fare. Enjoy­ing all the scenery and activ­i­ties along the way could eas­i­ly stretch this  ...more

This dri­ve fol­lows the 368 mile Richard­son high­way from Valdez to Fair­banks, and takes approx­i­mate­ly 7.5 – 8 hours to com­plete. Even though the trav­el time is an invest­ment, like most Alaskan high­ways, the views are incred­i­bly rewarding.

The Ster­ling High­way begins at the Tern Lake Junc­tion of the Seward High­way and stretch­es 142 miles to the town of Homer

It’s 92 miles and about 5 hours from the park entrance to Kan­tish­na, the end of the Park Road. Pri­vate vehi­cles aren’t per­mit­ted after Mile 15, so you’ll need to take either the hop-on, hop-off park shut­tle bus or one of the tour bus­es. This road is only open in the sum­mer months between May and ear­ly Sep­tem­ber. Dates vary depend­ing on annu­al snowfall.

The Seward High­way hugs the dra­mat­ic shore­lines of Tur­na­gain Arm. One of the most beau­ti­ful stretch­es of high­way in America

Portage Val­ley south­east of Anchor­age at the head of Tur­na­gain Arm offers so many poten­tial adven­tures that you might have to tow a trail­er loaded with gear to sam­ple them all. What will you find here? Bik­ing, hik­ing, pic­nick­ing, fish­ing, pad­dling, wildlife view­ing, poten­tial ice­berg sight­ings — plus a nat­ur­al his­to­ry vis­i­tor cen­ter packed with inter­ac­tive dis­plays about the ecosys­tem of the val­ley and Prince William Sound. It’s like an outdoor  ...more

The Nome – Teller Road brings you with­in 55 miles of Rus­sia, and is as close as you can dri­ve to the Bering Strait Land Bridge. The road trav­els 73 miles north­west and takes about 2 hours one-way with­out stops. You end at Teller, an authen­tic Inu­pi­at vil­lage of few­er than 300 peo­ple who sur­vive on a sub­sis­tence lifestyle.

The short­est road out of town, Rezanof Dri­ve becomes Monash­ka Bay Road and runs north­west of Kodi­ak for 12 miles. On this dri­ve, you’ll get great views of the Spe­cif­ic coast, hik­ing trails, tide pools, a white-sand beach, and a museum.

Dri­ving north from Anchor­age isn’t as instant­ly dra­mat­ic as going south, but with­in an hour you’re immersed in stop-and-shoot scenery. The Glenn High­way runs north­east to agri­cul­tur­al Palmer, and from there you can take a moun­tain road to scenic Hatch­er Pass.

Head­ing south­west out of town and then curv­ing towards the north, this rel­a­tive­ly short road offers access to salmon streams, wildlife habi­tat, hik­ing, win­ter recre­ation, the Coast Guard golf course, and a pro­tect­ed bay that’s great for sea kayak­ing and beachcombing.

This 18-mile-long loop grav­el road is the pre­mier wildlife-view­ing area on the Kenai Penin­su­la, and you’ll get spec­tac­u­lar views of lakes and glac­i­ers. Don’t for­get to stop and explore all the nature and wildlife around you!

Dri­ving north from Anchor­age isn’t as instant­ly dra­mat­ic as going south, but with­in an hour you’re immersed in stop-and-shoot scenery. The Glenn High­way runs north­east to agri­cul­tur­al Palmer, then twists east along the Matanus­ka Riv­er Val­ley, sand­wiched between coastal and inte­ri­or mountains.

A 17 mile one-way jaunt from Chini­ak High­way, this road was com­plet­ed along­side the devel­op­ment of the Alas­ka Aero­space Cor­po­ra­tion launch site, which is at the end of the road. In addi­tion to access­ing the pri­vate site, the paved road offers recre­ation­al­ists and trav­el­ers access to great fish­ing beach­es and rivers, surf spots, state parks, and scenic views of alpine pass­es and ocean. There’s also a pri­vate ranch here, where semi-domesticated  ...more

Nome — Coun­cil Road spans 72 miles (East) and takes 2 hours one-way with­out stops. For spec­tac­u­lar bird­ing, sweep­ing coastal views, and the famous ​“Last Train to Nowhere,” explore the Nome — Coun­cil Road. Addi­tion­al high­lights include the Safe­ty Road­house, which is the last stop on the Idi­tar­od Sled Dog Race, and the small com­mu­ni­ty of Coun­cil, which boast­ed a pop­u­la­tion of 15,000 in its heydey.

Under an hour from Anchor­age, this 22-mile dri­ve takes you away from Alaska’s towns and cities, and into Chugach State Park. The road is smooth with twists and turns, and runs along­side Eklut­na Riv­er, and the beau­ti­ful and glacial Eklut­na Lake. You can also see Twin Peaks over the trees.

A curvy road fol­low­ing the shore­line south from town, this 42-mile high­way will take you past the U.S. Coast Guard Sta­tion, salmon streams, long ocean inlets, and exposed surf beaches.

When locals want to see trees, they head north on The Nome — Tay­lor Road (also called Beam Rd. or Kougarok Rd.) The 85-mile grav­el road runs north-south and takes 2 hours one-way with­out stops. The route winds past many old min­ing claims, the pop­u­lar Salmon Lake, and offers a side trip to his­toric Pil­grim Hot Springs.

To explore the road less trav­eled, take the Old Glenn High­way to Palmer, a back road that feels like old Alas­ka. This 19-mile coun­try road cuts through the heart of Alaska’s farm­land and is a scenic, qui­et alter­na­tive between Anchor­age and Palmer. The road access­es state parks and recre­ation areas, pet­ting zoos, and hik­ing trails and pass­es through pic­turesque ter­rain: pas­toral coun­try­side beneath the Chugach Moun­tains and Pio­neer Peak. The…  ...more

Where can you dri­ve to see an amaz­ing glac­i­er, a muse­um with a saloon, and an old town site in a lit­tle over 30 min­utes? The 32-mile trip from Valdez to Wor­thing­ton Glac­i­er is short, but worth­while. The dri­ve itself is beau­ti­ful, with this span of the Richard­son High­way just along­side Lowe River.

To enjoy a scenic dri­ve just a few min­utes from down­town Anchor­age, head north to mile 6.1 on the Glenn High­way. From here, you can head up the steep and wind­ing, Arc­tic Val­ley Road. The dri­ve itself is only 45 min­utes, but once you get there, you’ll want to spend more time pho­tograph­ing and exploring.

A lit­tle less than half of the 127 mile trip from Glen­nallen to McCarthy involves paved road­ways, and the grav­el sur­face of the McCarthy Road makes the trip slow going. How­ev­er, if you’re pre­pared for any con­di­tions (stop by the Chiti­na Ranger Sta­tions, and be sure to bring a spare tire and jack!), the dri­ve from Glen­nallen to McCarthy is well worth the effort. The dri­ve is one of two access points to Wrangell-St.Elias Nation­al Park, and takes  ...more

NOTE: The Cop­per Riv­er High­way is cur­rent­ly closed beyond mile 36, where there is a failed bridge. As of this time, the road does not go beyond that point. The 49.5 mile Cop­per Riv­er High­way leads from the town of Cor­do­va to the Mil­lion Dol­lar Bridge. The Mil­lion Dol­lar Bridge was once used by the rail­road to haul cop­per from Ken­ni­cott to the port of Cor­do­va, and was added to the Nation­al Reg­is­ter of His­toric Places in 2000. Aside from the  ...more

Paved and well-main­tained (with some rough patch­es in win­ter), this 125 mile dri­ve is a great way of see­ing Alaska’s back­coun­try. While it is a beau­ti­ful dri­ve year-round, locals have said their favorite time to take the Tok Cut­off is the fall and the spring, not only for the changes in flo­ra, but for the start of migrat­ing caribou!

The Denali High­way, stretch­ing 135 miles from Pax­son to Cantwell, is cer­tain­ly one of the most spec­tac­u­lar dri­ves in the world. Much of the route lies above tim­ber­line, so the vis­tas go on for­ev­er. The moun­tains and glac­i­ers of the Alas­ka Range form a majes­tic back­drop, with miles of rolling tun­dra punc­tu­at­ed by shal­low lakes in between. There are a few along the way, and you can camp any­where along the highway.

The skies of Inte­ri­or Alas­ka are not some­thing to miss, and the Steese High­way is an excel­lent way to expe­ri­ence them. In the sum­mer, the sun hangs low in the sky for long peri­ods of time and numer­ous small clouds come and go, cre­at­ing a mov­ing dance of light and shad­ow. You can dri­ve to Eagle Sum­mit (3,624 ft.) dur­ing sum­mer sol­stice (June 21^st) to see the sun crawl across the hori­zon. Or you can dri­ve the Steese High­way in the win­ter and get a  ...more

His­to­ry Tay­lor High­way is a route through gold min­ing his­to­ry. Gold was dis­cov­ered here as ear­ly as 1881, and dis­cov­er­ies in 1887 and 1888 lead to inte­ri­or Alaska’s first gold rush. Min­ing set­tle­ments like Jack Wade, Chick­en, and Franklin were estab­lished prac­ti­cal­ly overnight. Walk­ing trails were quik­ly forged by men trav­el­ing between near­by Eagle and the new min­ing set­tle­ments. These paths even­tu­al­ly became wag­on roads, and then Taylor…  ...more

Dri­ve down the 42-mile Nabesna Road for tremen­dous views to rival any road sys­tem in Alas­ka. The Wrangell, Men­tas­ta and Nut­zotin Moun­tains cre­ate a majes­tic panora­ma, char­ac­ter­ized by some of the high­est moun­tains in North Amer­i­ca. Nabesna Road is one of two that allows access to Alaska’s largest nation­al park, the Wrangell-St Elias Nation­al Park and Pre­serve. Ser­vices are lim­it­ed and road con­di­tions vary with the sea­sons, but there are plen­ty of  ...more

The Alas­ka High­way, some­times known as the ALCAN (Alas­ka-Cana­da High­way), is the only way to dri­ve up to Alas­ka from the low­er 48s. While the trip in total from Daw­son Creek, British Colum­bia to Delta Junc­tion, Alas­ka is 1,387 miles, the dri­ve from Port Alcan at the bor­der is clos­er to 200 miles. This guide will give you good rea­son to make stops between the bor­der and Delta Junc­tion, where the Alas­ka High­way meets the Richard­son Highway.

Tay­lor High­way (Hwy 5) is open sea­son­al­ly from April to mid-Octo­ber. Con­di­tions of the road can range any­where between good to poor and depend heav­i­ly on weath­er and main­te­nance. Keep in mind that there are very lim­it­ed ser­vices or facil­i­ties avail­able along the road past Eagle.

If you’ve seen the TV show Ice Road Truck­ers, then you’re famil­iar with the James W. Dal­ton High­way, a 414-mile stretch of grav­el and dirt that runs from the town of Liven­good up to Prud­hoe Bay and through some of Alaska’s most remote wilderness.

Open year-round, the Elliott High­way is paved until it meets the Dal­ton High­way at mile 73. But don’t let a lit­tle change in the road stop you from tak­ing this amaz­ing dri­ve! Pass through the White Moun­tains and get the first good views of the Alas­ka Pipeline, and relax at the nat­ur­al hot spring in Manley.

The name isn’t com­plete­ly arbi­trary – For most of the ride you dri­ve along the peaks and crests of moun­tains and hills, leav­ing you a view of the val­leys below. Though only open in the sum­mer months, this 79 mile grav­el-road has some spec­tac­u­lar views of the Alas­ka Range, and can take you on your way to Daw­son City in the Yukon.