Alaska Road Trip: 10-Day Itinerary From Anchorage to Denali and Kenai

The best Alaska road trip for a first visit is a 10-day loop from Anchorage. Drive the Seward Highway to Seward for a Kenai Fjords boat tour, continue to Homer, return to Anchorage, then head north to Talkeetna for a flightseeing trip around Denali and spend two or three days at Denali National Park. Go between mid-June and mid-August. Book the rental car first, read its gravel-road rules and check the current status of the Denali Park Road before you plan your days there.

Alaska is enormous. It is more than twice the size of Texas, with fewer miles of road than many small states. That makes road tripping here different from anywhere else in the country. Most of the state is unreachable by car, so the road network around Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula and the Parks Highway to Denali is where nearly all visitors spend their time. Luckily, those roads pass some of the most spectacular scenery in North America.

• 10 daysFor the classic loop
• ≈1,100 miOf driving, Anchorage and back
• 20,310 ftDenali, the highest peak in North America
• 19+ hrsOf daylight in Anchorage at midsummer

Three things to know before you book

First, the season is short. Most tours, lodges and boat trips run from mid- or late May to mid-September. June and July are peak, with the longest days and highest prices. August brings berries, fall color starting up north, and more rain.

Second, rental cars are scarce and expensive. In summer, rental rates in Anchorage can be some of the highest in the country, and cars sell out. Book as soon as you have your dates. Most major rental companies prohibit driving on gravel roads like the Denali Highway and the McCarthy Road. A few local companies allow it, for a price.

Third, Denali is not what most people imagine. The park has one main road, 92 miles long, and private vehicles can only drive the first 15 miles to Savage River in summer. Beyond that, you ride buses. And since August 2021, a landslide at Pretty Rocks, around mile 43, has blocked the road. Buses have turned around there while a bridge is built over the slide. The park has been working toward reopening the full road. Check nps.gov/dena for the current status before you plan your visit.

The 10-day loop

Days 1–3: Anchorage and the Seward Highway

Spend your first day in Anchorage recovering from the flight. Walk or bike part of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, where moose sometimes wander, and visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center to learn about the state’s Indigenous cultures.

The Seward Highway, about 127 miles from Anchorage to Seward, is a National Scenic Byway and one of the best drives in the country. For the first 40 miles, it hugs Turnagain Arm, with mountains rising straight up from the water. Look for Dall sheep on the cliffs at Windy Point and beluga whales chasing salmon in late summer near Beluga Point. Turnagain Arm also has a bore tide, a wave that rushes up the arm with the incoming tide, sometimes several feet high. Check a bore tide schedule if you want to see it.

Stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Portage, where you can see rescued bears, moose, musk oxen and wood bison up close. It is a sanctuary, and your best chance to see some species if wild sightings don’t happen.

In Seward, drive to Exit Glacier, the only part of Kenai Fjords National Park you can reach by road. A short trail leads toward the glacier, with signs marking where the ice stood in past years. The retreat is sobering. Strong hikers can take the Harding Icefield Trail, about 8 miles round trip with roughly 3,500 feet of gain, to a view over an ice field that covers some 700 square miles.

On day three, take a Kenai Fjords boat tour. Full-day tours visit tidewater glaciers where ice calves into the sea, and you can see humpback whales, orcas, sea otters, puffins and Steller sea lions. Pick a full-day trip if you can; shorter ones stay in Resurrection Bay and miss the glaciers. Take seasickness medication before you board if you need it. The open water can be rough.

Days 4–6: The Kenai Peninsula and Homer

From Seward, drive west through Cooper Landing, where the Kenai River runs a shocking turquoise color. In salmon season, anglers stand shoulder to shoulder in “combat fishing” along the banks. Continue to Homer, at the end of the road, where the Homer Spit sticks about 4.5 miles into Kachemak Bay. On a clear day, you see glaciers and volcanoes across the water.

Homer is the base for bear-viewing flights to Katmai and Lake Clark national parks, where brown bears dig for clams on the beaches and fish for salmon. These trips are expensive, often more than $900 per person, and they are among the most memorable wildlife experiences on Earth. Book early. Homer is also called the Halibut Fishing Capital of the World, and a fishing charter is a popular day.

On day six, drive back toward Anchorage. Detour to Portage Glacier for a boat cruise to the ice, or through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel to Whittier. At about 2.5 miles, it is the longest highway tunnel in North America, and cars share it with trains, so traffic runs one direction at a time on a schedule. Check the times before you go.

Day 7: Talkeetna

Head north on the Parks Highway to Talkeetna, a quirky small town where climbers fly out to attempt Denali. This is where we recommend splurging on a flightseeing trip. Small planes fly around Denali’s massive glaciers and peaks, and some land on a glacier so you can step out onto the snow. On a clear day, it is one of the best travel experiences in the world. Weather cancels many flights, so book for an early day in your Talkeetna stay and keep a backup.

Days 8–9: Denali National Park

Denali National Park covers six million acres of tundra, rivers and mountains. Private cars can drive the first 15 miles to Savage River, where there are short trails and good wildlife spotting. Beyond that, buses run deeper into the park. Narrated tour buses and non-narrated transit buses both operate. Book seats on recreation.gov or through the park’s concessioner early in the season.

While the road beyond Pretty Rocks has been closed, buses have turned around before the slide, so you see less of the park than visitors did before 2021. You can still see grizzlies, caribou, moose, Dall sheep and wolves along the route, and the scenery of the Teklanika River valley and Polychrome area is spectacular. Check for any reopening news when you book.

Denali itself, at 20,310 feet, is often hidden in clouds. Visitors see the summit only part of the time in summer. If it shows, stop everything and look.

Off the bus, hike the Savage River Loop, the Horseshoe Lake trail or the Mount Healy Overlook trail. Visit the sled dog kennels, the only ones in a national park, where rangers still use dogs for winter patrols.

Day 10: Back to Anchorage

On the drive back, consider a detour to Hatcher Pass near Palmer, where a winding mountain road climbs to the old Independence Mine and alpine lakes. It is open in summer, usually from early July. Or stop at the Matanuska Glacier on the Glenn Highway, where guided tours let you walk on the ice, if you have an extra day.

Wildlife: what you will likely see

Moose are everywhere, including in Anchorage. Give them space; they can be aggressive, especially mothers with calves. Bald eagles are common along the coast. On a boat tour, expect sea otters and seabirds, likely humpback whales and possibly orcas. In Denali, grizzlies and caribou are common from the bus. Carry bear spray when hiking, make noise, and know what to do in an encounter.

The midnight sun

In June, Anchorage gets more than 19 hours of daylight, and it never gets fully dark. That is wonderful for long days, and hard on sleep. Pack an eye mask, choose hotels with blackout curtains and use the extra light: an evening hike at 10 p.m. in full daylight is one of the strange joys of Alaska.

What it costs

Alaska is one of the most expensive road trip destinations in the US. A summer rental car can cost $100 to $200 or more a day. Hotels in Seward, Denali and Talkeetna often run $250 to $400 a night in peak season. A Kenai Fjords tour is usually $150 to $250 per person. Flightseeing in Talkeetna ranges from about $300 to $600 or more, with glacier landings at the top. Bear viewing from Homer often exceeds $900. Gas is pricier than in the lower 48. A 10-day trip for two can easily run $6,000 to $10,000 before flights. Our budget travel tips can help, as can camping, which is plentiful.

RV or car?

Many people tour Alaska by RV, and it makes sense here: campgrounds are plentiful and lodging is expensive. RV rentals in summer are also costly and book out early. If you are considering it, read our guide on how to rent an RV and price both options carefully.

Packing list

• Waterproof jacket and pants. It rains often.
• Warm layers, hat and gloves for boat tours and glaciers.
• Bug spray or a head net. Mosquitoes can be intense inland.
• Binoculars. You will use them every day.
• Bear spray, bought in Anchorage. You can’t fly with it.
• An eye mask for the midnight sun.

Common mistakes

Planning to drive deep into Denali. You can’t. Plan for buses.

Booking late. Rental cars, lodges and tours sell out for summer.

Overpacking the itinerary. Distances are long and weather cancels plans. Leave a spare day.

Choosing a short boat tour. The glaciers are on the full-day trips.

Driving in Alaska: what is different

The roads on this loop are paved and well maintained, but they are mostly two lanes with long gaps between towns. Gas stations can be 50 to 100 miles apart in places, so top up whenever you pass one. Frost heaves, bumps caused by freezing and thawing ground, can jolt a car at speed. Summer is construction season, and waits at flagger stations of 20 minutes or more are common. And moose are the biggest danger on the road. Collisions with moose kill and injure drivers every year. Drive with your headlights on, scan the shoulders and slow down at dusk and in the brushy stretches.

Alaska law requires slower vehicles to pull over when five or more cars are stuck behind them. Use the pullouts. Locals will thank you.

Frequently asked questions

Book in this order

1. Rental car or RV, as soon as you pick dates.
2. Lodging in Seward and near Denali.
3. A full-day Kenai Fjords boat tour and Denali bus seats.
4. Flightseeing in Talkeetna, on an early day of your stay.