Plan your amazing first trip to Alaska: Land of the Midnight sun

Being the largest of the states in the USA, Alaska is a treasure trove of wild, raw and gorgeous nature and there’s so much to explore. From jaw dropping glacier views to one of a kind wildlife experiences, Alaska will take your breath away. Here are some recommendations and notes from the travel research I did for our 5 day trip that includes when to visit, where to stay, what to pack, what to eat and what to do.

Some initial FAQs

Cruise vs Road trip. I have heard many people say that the best way to visit Alaska is through a cruise from the west coast. I am sure the cruise experience is great, but do not discount road travel. Driving in Alaska is super rewarding and there are so many beautiful inland locations that are easier to access if you are driving. All through the drive, you will be surrounded by serene snow capped mountains. I will recommend doing a road trip one hundred percent.

How long do you need to explore? I have heard many people say that you need to have at least a week or more to plan a trip to Alaska. Not true. You can plan a great long weekend trip if you know what you want to do in Alaska. Hopefully this blogpost will help you do just that.

Should I visit in the Aurora off-season? Northern lights is not the only attraction in Alaska. It’s completely okay if you are visiting Alaska in the off-season for the Northern lights. There are plenty of things that you can see and do in Alaska that are equally amazing in the other times of the year.

Getting to and around Alaska

Anchorage or Fairbanks are great starting points for a trip in Alaska. Both of them have international and domestic airports that you can fly into and there are several major airlines that can take you to either of these cities.

For getting around there are several options depending on how you like to travel. I highly recommend the road trip. You can rent a car from the airport for the duration of your road trip. If you do plan on renting a car, make sure to do it very much in advance. In fact, this is the first thing I’d book for a trip to Alaska. Alaska is not a state where you can walk in and book a car on the spot in peak seasons – you might end up without one unless you book it in advance.

We haven’t tried this but we also heard that rental car sharing is an option in case you do not find a rental car through the car agencies. Turo was an app that was recommended to us by the Budget cars employee when we were picking up our car.

Another way of getting around is via the railroad. It is more time consuming than driving, but will give you a less tiring and more relaxing way to see Alaska. The railroad stretches from Fairbanks in the north to Seward in the south stopping at various destinations like Denali, Girdwood, Talkeetna and Whittier.

Best time to visit

Summer (June-August) is the most popular time to visit Alaska. Temperatures are warmer, there’s lesser snow on the road making it easier to drive. The days are longer with upto 20 or more hours of sunlight giving you more time to stay outside and explore. In mid June, the snow has melted from most parts, the mountains have turned lush green, wildlife on land is out and about. Summer is also a great time for fishing.

Summer is also the time when there’s the most crowd in Alaska, bookings for tours and hotels/airbnb are difficult to come by unless booked very early. If you are looking forward to check out outdoor hikes, summer comes with mosquitos and bugs.

The shoulder months (May and September) have lesser crowds and less bugs but may offer similar temperatures and accessibility to most activities and attractions. May is a great time to see humpback and killer whales in action.

Winter months do not have favorable weather but Alaska has its own charm in the winter. Northern lights show up between December and March. Winter months will see glaciers and lakes freezing making it easier to access snow caves and snowfields. There are also some fun activities like ice fishing and sled dog races are possible in the winter months too.

What to pack

Where to stay

Wherever you look in Alaska, you are surrounded by mountains and nature. Its not difficult to find places to stay with your balcony opening to a view of the mountains or a private pier on a lake. Here are the places we stayed at and some unique places to stay in future on our list.

• Best Western Lake Lucille Inn in Wasilla is a great place to stay with a great view of Lake Lucille and the mountains beyond the lake. If you get a lake view room, your balcony can face this amazing view. The hotel also has private piers and gazebos on the lake that are great for sitting by and whiling away time in peace.
• Staying at Alaska Heavenly Lodge in Cooper Landing was the best decision we made on our trip. The lodge has multiple cabins of different sizes, has mountain views and offers bbq and hot tub. It’s an ideal place to stay to relax on your busy trip and spend some time with your family or friends. The hosts were friendly, responsive and made our trip memorable.

• Hatcher Pass Lodge is on our list of stays in Alaska for our next trip. Located in the Hatcher Pass area, the lodge is picture perfect and located in a great location. Imagine waking up in the middle of the mountains and surrounded by incredible views.
• Alaska Public Use Cabins are a great way to experience the wilderness and are also on our list of stays for our next trip. These cabins are located at remote locations all around Alaska – on beautiful lakes, rivers, hiking trails and even glaciers!
• Perch resort in Denali was one of stays that we considered while planning our trip. The resort has multiple cozy cabins on the pristine Carlo Creek and is a great place to stay if you plan to stay in Denali.

What to do in Alaska

There are no shortage of incredible things to do in Alaska. Depending on what you are looking for and your budget for the trip, you can pick and choose what you want to do and where you want to do it. Here’s our list of activities and places to visit that may help you choose what you want to do.

Hiking

Alaska is a heaven for someone who likes the outdoors. With raw and untouched outdoors, the state offers a large number of trails both for day use and backpacking. The two popular national parks (Denali and Kenai Fjords) are great places to hike and see wildlife at the same time. Talkeetna and the Kenai Peninsula offer many lush green trails with amazing views. Wherever you go in Alaska, you are sure to find great trails with incredible views. Be noted that most trails are in bear territories, so carry a bear spray along with you if the area is known for bears.

Here are 7 great hikes to take a look at while planning your trip.

Harding Ice Field Trail in Kenai Fjords National Park – A hard trail that can tire you out for the day, this trail is around 8 miles and goes to the ice field that is the source for multiple glaciers in the area.

Exit Glacier trail in Kenai Fjords National Park – An easy trail of around 2 miles will take you to a point where you can see the Exit Glacier spilling from the Harding Ice Field.

Russian River Falls trail near Cooper Landing – An easy 5 mile hike that will take you to a couple of neat lookouts over the Russian River waterfalls. Between mid-June and August, you can see hundreds of salmon swimming up the waterfalls on their journey to their breeding grounds. Black bears visit often during that season to fish.

Portage Pass trail in Whittier – A moderate 4 mile hike that gives a great view of the Portage Glacier and the Portage lake.

April Bowl trail near Hatcher Pass – A moderate 2 mile trail that offers incredible views. This was on our must-do list in our trip. The ideal time to hike this trail is in July-August when most snow has melted in the area.

Reed lakes trail near Palmer – A hard 9 mile hike that has multiple lakes and waterfalls on the way. Similar to the April Bowl trail, the ideal time to hike this trail is also July-August.

Mount Healy Overlook trail in Denali National Park – A hard 6 mile trail in Denali National Park that can give you amazing views of the national park. If there is enough time and energy, this is highly recommended. There are also several other easy hikes from the Denali Visitor Center to explore.

Fishing

Alaska is a dream for many people who love fishing. It is home for various species of fish including salmon, rainbow trout, halibut and cod. The best time for this activity is between June and September. You may need to purchase a fishing license if you want to fish. Some airlines even let you bring your catch home if you wish to.

Glacier activities

One of the unique and must do activities is exploring a Glacier. Some of the popular accessible glaciers in Alaska are Exit glacier, Matanushka glacier, Root glacier and Portage glacier. As the ice melts in the summer, ice caves close, new crevasses appear making the glacier change everyday. Hiking or ice climbing on a glacier can be very risky and dangerous. There are several guides that can take you for a hike or ice climbing on glaciers. We did the Glacier adventure tour with NOVA guides on the Matanushka Glacier.

Sea life watching

Sea life in Alaska include Humpback whales, Orca or killer whales, Puffins, Sea otters, Seals and Sea lions. Watching the humpback whales is an experience you will remember for life. You can take a cruise from Seward to watch the life in the ocean. We took a 6 hour tour with the Kenai Fjords Tours which includes both a trip to Aialik Glacier as well as Sea life watching.

Glacier watching

Have you ever seen a Glacier calve? It’s the most surreal thing you will ever see and will make you think about difficult topics like Global warming or Climate change. You can witness this in several different glaciers either by taking a cruise or kayaking to the glacier. The Aialik Glacier is one place you can see this, Portage Glacier is another.

Wildlife viewing

Grizzlies and black bears, Moose, Wolves, Caribou, Bald headed eagles and Dall sheep are a few of the wildlife you can come across in Alaska. Denali National Park is a great place to do wildlife viewing on land.

Flight seeing

Alaskan wilderness will take you into a National Geographic episode or an episode of Our Planet. Watching the mountains and glaciers from a flight is a popular activity. You can rent air taxis in multiple places throughout Alaska. Denali National Park is one of the popular spots for flight seeing. Several other national parks like the Katmai National Park in Alaska are also only accessible via an air taxi.

Places to Visit

Denali National Park

Denali National Park is a couple of hours south of Fairbanks or around 4 hours north of Anchorage. It’s the most popular national park in Alaska and is great for wildlife viewing and hiking. The best time to visit Denali is from June to September when all of the national park is open.

The only way to explore most parts of the national park is through bus tours. There are narrated tours which are more elaborate and non narrated tours which are cheaper. I recommend taking the non narrated tour. The bus drivers are experienced, will mostly talk about the national park and will also stop the bus for wildlife sightings. We took the non narrated tour and didn’t feel like we missed anything at all.

Talkeetna

Talkeetna is a charming little town south of Denali with cute shops and restaurants which can give you great views of the mountains along with Denali. Many people stay here for a relaxing day or two with the family. You can also do flight seeing of Denali from Talkeetna.

Hatcher Pass

Hatcher Pass is a must do in my opinion for anyone who is visiting Alaska for the first or the nth time. It is an hour or so from Anchorage as well as Talkeetna and has multiple trails that give you a view of the mountains and lakes. In the spring and summer, it looks like a mini Switzerland out there. Hatcher Pass Lodge and the Independence Mine are two of the picture perfect spots in the area.

Matanushka Glacier

I would recommend visiting the Matanushka Glacier for both the Glacier experience as well as the drive there. The drive will give you incredible views of the mountains and the Matanushka river. The glacier used to be the largest glacier that was accessible by car and visitors could walk onto the glacier without a special permit. However, access to the glacier has been limited this year. So, the only way to access or walk on the glacier currently is to go with a guide. NOVA and MICA are two of the popular glacier guides in the area.

Cooper Landing

Cooper Landing is a great midpoint if you want to explore the Kenai peninsula. The small town is along the blue Kenai River and has several places to fly fish in the rivers nearby. The town also has shops that will rent you fishing gear. Russian River Falls area is a great area for hiking as well as fishing. Since its at a good distance from most places in the peninsula, you can make multiple day trips to various destinations like Portage Glacier or Seward or Homer while staying here. Skilak lake scenic drive is a great place to see wildlife like Moose and bears.

Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park

Seward is the entrance to the popular Kenai Fjords National Park. Kenai Fjords National Park is famous for two main attractions – Exit Glacier and Sea life viewing. Seward is probably the most touristy place in the Kenai peninsula – you will find several hotels to stay here as well as activities like cruises or kayaking in the ocean.

Whittier

The tiny one building town is called the one roof town. The town has one main building which is home to all of the people who live there as well as the town hall, post office, school, rec center and everything else that is needed for a town to function. The other thing that the town is famous for is the Portage glacier. You can rent a kayak or a jet ski to go near the glacier and observe. You can also do this in a cruise.

Anchorage

Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska. Its a great place to start your Alaska trip at or end your Alaska trip at. There are several day trips you can do from Anchorage. The town has great sea food restaurants and is a great place to grab groceries if you are on the way to somewhere else in Alaska.

If you are staying in Anchorage, Mirror lake and Elkutna lake are two of the lakes I would recommend visiting. Anchorage also has a bunch of biking trails and water rafting guides that are great.

Others

Other places that are worth visiting south of Fairbanks are Girdwood, Homer, Hope and Palmer. Girdwood is known for great views and ski resorts. Homer is a cute little mountain town at the end of the Kenai Peninsula that many recommend very highly. Hope is another tiny town that was famous during the gold rush and is still caught in time. Palmer is a midpoint stop between Talkeetna and Anchorage and is a great place to explore several different trails, glaciers and lakes.

What and where to eat

The best food in Alaska is from the sea. Most seafood restaurants offer fresh catch of the day and whatever the fish is, its going to taste delicious and fresh. Well, fish is not the only popular food in Alaska. We found several other great restaurants and foods we enjoyed tasting.

• Seafood. Fish is the main food of Alaska – you have to definitely taste seafood when you are there. 49th State Brewing and Glacier Brewhouse are great options to try seafood if you are in Anchorage.
• Moose Tooth Pizza. Many people call this America’s best pizza. Moose’s Tooth Pizza in Anchorage has an Apricot pizza with cream cheese, apricot sauce, carrot, chicken and mozzarella cheese which is popular among locals as well as tourists.
• Reindeer hotdogs. Reindeer hotdogs are sold in Anchorage downtown on the road side carts. The hotdogs are made of caribou meat, pork and beef. Tia’s Gourmet Sausages and Hotdogs is one of the carts you can get the hotdog at.
• Fireweed ice cream. Fire weed is one of the wild flowers that grows in Alaska in summers. This one of a kind ice cream is made out of these wild flowers. Wild scoops in Talkeetna is a great place to find this flavour of ice cream in the right season. Call them up to ask if they are serving the flavour before you head out.
• Spruce tips and berries. Foraging for berries and spruce tips is a fun activity you can do in Alaska to fetch fresh berries and spruce tips.

Whether you’re catching a glimpse of glaciers, spotting wildlife, or simply soaking up Alaska’s untamed beauty, your trip will be unforgettable. Alaska has a way of leaving you inspired, and I hope these tips make your adventure smoother and even more memorable. Here’s to your Alaska journey—may it be just the first of many!