5 Days in Denali National Park & Talkeetna from Anchorage
Season
Mid-May through mid-September
Transportation
Why This Trip?
This itinerary is the perfect mix of city, town, and nature. It gives you a great overview of Anchorage, lets you experience an authentic pioneer town, and takes you up to explore iconic Denali National Park, with its gorgeous scenery and abundant wildlife.
Itinerary
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Welcome to Anchorage! Take today to explore Alaska's largest city. Go on a city tour via trolley or bike to get an overview, or join a brewery tour and sample some of the innovative suds being brewed here. Then get an in-depth picture of the city and state at the Anchorage Museum, or visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center for a dose of history and culture. Of course, you'll also want to experience the city's fantastic bars and restaurants.
Travel to charming Talkeetna by car (2 hours), train (3 hours), or bus (2.5 hours). Then explore the one-block main street, ducking in and out of the quaint shops and restaurants. And definitely take a tour. You're close to Denali, so go flightseeing and check out the mountain up close; you could also take a guided walk, a rafting trip, try ziplining, or go for a thrilling jetboat ride.
If you'd like to cast a line or try out some fly-fishing, there are multiple adventures to choose from!
Depart from Talkeetna for iconic Denali National Park, either by car (2.5 hours), train (4.5 hours), or motorcoach (4 hours). Head to the park's visitor center to start getting acquainted with this vast expanse of nature. And try an activity! Go flightseeing and get a bird's-eye view of the vast Alaska Range as well as the summit of Denali. Enjoy some river rafting, go for a guided hike, or take a Jeep/ATV tour and drive yourself over the tundra.
Today, you'll spend all day exploring the beauty of this park. Private vehicles are not allowed beyond mile 15, so you'll explore by bus. Opt for the National Park Service's hop-on, hop-off transit bus, or take a narrated tour. Spend 7-8 hours traveling 62 miles into the park on the Tundra Wilderness tour, or take 12 hours and go all 92 miles to the end, at Kantishna. Along the way, look for wildlife and of course, North America's tallest peak.
An alternative to a bus on the Park Road is to ride a bike! Bike Denali offers afternoon, full-day, and multi-day rentals. Bike from the park entrance, or put your bike on a shuttle to catch a ride into the park and then pedal out!
If there's time in the morning, squeeze in an extra tour. Perhaps you'll go rafting, which gets you out quickly into the wilderness along either calm or fast-moving glacial rivers. Then it's time to make the trip back to Anchorage. If you're taking the train, it departs at 12:30pm and gets into Anchorage at 8pm.