Alaska

Alaska's national parks run from Denali, on a highway and a railway from Anchorage, to Gates of the Arctic, with no roads or trails into it at all. The four reachable by road or by boat, Denali, Kenai Fjords, Glacier Bay and Wrangell–St. Elias, had 1,817,553 visits between them in 2025. That is fewer than Olympic National Park alone, for an area many times larger.

Visits crowd into a short summer: July was the busiest month at all four of those parks in 2025. We read the figures below on 27 October 2026 on the National Park Service's pages, the Alaska Department of Transportation's, the Alaska Railroad's, the Municipality of Anchorage's, the University of Alaska Fairbanks', the US Naval Observatory's and NOAA's normals.

Which Alaska national parks can you reach without a bush plane?

Alaska has four national parks that a visitor can reach by road, rail or scheduled boat. Glacier Bay counted the most visits in 2025 and Wrangell–St. Elias the fewest.

Kenai Fjords' Exit Glacier, at the end of an 8.6-mile road, is the only part of that park reachable by car. The fjords and tidewater glaciers are seen from boat tours out of Seward. Since 14 September 2026 the Park Service has prohibited entering the ice-fall zone at the face of Aialik Glacier, where collapses can raise local tsunami waves.

The Park Service compares Wrangell–St. Elias with Yellowstone, Yosemite and Switzerland combined. Its main visitor centre is at Copper Center, about 200 miles from Anchorage. Two gravel roads lead in: the Nabesna Road, 42 miles, and the McCarthy Road, 59 miles. There is no fuel inside the park.

Kennecott takes seven to eight hours by car from Anchorage, the Park Service says. Drivers park at the Kennicott River bridge, and a private shuttle covers the last 5 miles in summer. Most rental car companies do not allow their cars on the McCarthy Road, in the Park Service's words.

Four more parks are reached almost only by air. Katmai National Park and Preserve is reached by plane or boat from King Salmon, about 290 air miles south-west of Anchorage.

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is off the road system, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve has no roads or trails, so visitors fly in or hike in across rivers from the Dalton Highway, and Kobuk Valley National Park is reached by air taxi from Kotzebue or Bettles.

Why does a week in Alaska's parks cost two visitors $30?

Alaska's parks charge visitors from abroad almost nothing, because none of them is on the 2026 list of eleven parks with a $100 surcharge for non-residents. The Glacier on that list is Glacier National Park in Montana, not Glacier Bay.

Kenai Fjords, Glacier Bay, Wrangell–St. Elias, Katmai and Lake Clark charge no entrance fee. Denali charges $15 a person aged 16 or over for seven days, with no car fee, and takes cards only. Two adults from abroad therefore pay $30 in all, every dollar of it at Denali.

The $250 non-resident annual pass never pays off on a trip that stays in Alaska. Denali's own $45 annual pass is sold only to US citizens and residents. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors lists the surcharge parks elsewhere.

Should you see Alaska from a cruise ship or a rental car?

A cruise shows Alaska's coast and its tidewater glaciers, while a car reaches the interior parks the ships never see. Up to two large cruise ships a day spend about nine to ten hours in Glacier Bay, and rangers board them.

Ships also pass Hubbard Glacier and Mount St. Elias, both inside Wrangell–St. Elias, and many cruises begin or end in Seward, beside Kenai Fjords. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, in the port of Skagway, had 1,489,935 visits in 2025, the most of any Park Service site in Alaska. The state charges an excise tax of $34.50 per passenger on voyages of more than 72 hours in Alaska's waters, collected by the cruise line.

A road trip from Anchorage reaches Denali, Kenai Fjords' Exit Glacier and Wrangell–St. Elias. Beyond Mile 15, Denali's park road is open only to buses, bicycles and walkers in summer, so even drivers see most of it from a bus.

The state ferry, the Alaska Marine Highway, is a third way along the coast. It serves more than 30 communities over 3,500 miles of coastline, from Bellingham in Washington to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians. Passengers without a cabin sleep in recliner lounges or solariums, and small tents are allowed on the upper decks.

The ferry takes US currency only, though cards from foreign banks are accepted. Walk-on passengers check in two hours before departure at Bellingham and Juneau, and one hour elsewhere. On 27 October 2026 the ferry's home page still carried 2025 notices about its cross-gulf and Prince Rupert sailings, so check the schedule itself before planning on them.

What does the Alaska Railroad cost for summer 2027?

The Alaska Railroad's site already shows 2027 fares and dates, and its 2026 summer fares are no longer published. The Denali Star runs the 356 miles from Anchorage to Fairbanks in 12 hours, daily from 12 May to 16 September 2027.

Northbound, it leaves Anchorage at 8:20 a.m., reaches Talkeetna at 11:05 a.m., Denali at 3:40 p.m. and Fairbanks at 8 p.m. The Coastal Classic runs daily from 14 May to 12 September 2027, leaving Anchorage at 6:45 a.m. and reaching Seward at 11:20 a.m. It leaves Seward again at 6 p.m.

The fares are the railroad's own; GoldStar, its upper class, costs roughly twice as much. In winter only the Aurora Winter Train runs, northbound on Saturdays and southbound on Sundays from 19 September 2026 to 9 May 2027. Anchorage to Fairbanks on it costs $265 for an adult.

How do you drive through the Whittier tunnel?

The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel carries cars and trains to Whittier in turn, on a single lane. The Alaska Department of Transportation calls it the longest combined road and rail tunnel in North America.

Departures alternate direction every 15 minutes, so each direction gets a slot every half-hour. From 1 May to 30 September the tunnel opens daily from 5:30 a.m. to 11:15 p.m. From 1 October to 30 April it opens from 7 a.m. to 10:45 p.m., and the gates lock at 11 p.m.

At 32°F or below, the tunnel opens only for the last five minutes of each window, and extra trains can add 15 to 30 minutes. A car, motorcycle or RV under 28 feet pays $13 for the round trip, and $22 with a trailer. The tolls are paid in cash, by local or travellers cheque, or by Visa or Mastercard. Bicycles and pedestrians are not allowed through; the Glacier Discovery train runs from Anchorage to Whittier.

How do you reach Juneau with no road to it?

Juneau, the state capital, has no road to the rest of North America, and the Alaska Department of Transportation calls it the largest community on the continent without one. More than 31,000 people live there.

Visitors fly in, with daily jets from Anchorage and Seattle, or arrive on the state ferry, the only public surface transport. Glacier Bay is reached from Juneau too: the flight to Gustavus takes about 30 minutes, and a road of about 10 miles runs on to Bartlett Cove. A daily boat tour leaves Bartlett Cove for the tidewater glaciers in summer.

Which airlines fly into Anchorage from abroad?

Ted Stevens Anchorage International lists three international passenger airlines: Air Canada, Condor and WestJet. Condor flew from Frankfurt seasonally, from 16 May to 12 September 2026, three times a week. The airport's other twelve passenger airlines are domestic, and Fairbanks lists domestic airlines only.

The distances are our own routing, which comes within two miles of the Park Service's 126 to Seward and 240 to Denali. The airport is about 6 miles from downtown. Denali is 120 miles from Fairbanks, so a one-way trip that flies home from Fairbanks saves the drive back.

How long are Alaska's days, and when do the northern lights show?

Alaska's daylight swings from almost none in December to almost all day in June, by the US Naval Observatory's tables. Fairbanks has 21 hours 49 minutes between sunrise and sunset on 21 June, and stays in civil twilight all night.

The northern lights season in Fairbanks runs roughly from 21 August to 21 April, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute says. Between those dates the sky is too light for them. The institute names 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. as the usual best hours. It also says the chance over Interior Alaska is roughly twice as high at the equinoxes, in March and September, as at the solstices. Three clear nights make a sighting highly likely, in its words.

How far should you stay from Alaska's bears and moose?

Stay at least 300 yards from bears and 25 yards from moose and all other animals, the Park Service's rule at Denali. Never run from a bear, and use bear spray when one is within about 20 feet. At Katmai's Brooks Camp the rule is 50 yards, and every visitor attends a bear safety orientation on arrival.

Moose weigh up to 1,600 pounds; cows are defensive in spring and bulls in autumn. If a moose charges, the Park Service's advice is the opposite of the bear rule: run, and put obstacles between you. The state's Department of Fish and Game tells walkers to always carry a deterrent, bear spray or a firearm, to travel in groups and to make noise. Denali rents bear spray at its bus depot.

How cold do Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau get?

Alaska's climate changes more between the coast and the interior than between north and south. Fairbanks, inland, is the warmest of the three cities in July and much the coldest in January, while Juneau, on the coast, is mild and wet.

The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 average highs and lows. Juneau gets 67 inches of precipitation a year, on about 230 days, and September is its wettest month, at 9.15 inches. Fairbanks averages about 114 nights a year at or below 0°F.

By late October Alaska is already in winter. On 27 October 2026 Denali's alert said its road was open only to Mile 3, Park Headquarters. Kenai Fjords showed the Exit Glacier road closed to cars, and Wrangell–St. Elias' visitor centres closed in mid-September and stay shut until May. The Denali Star and the Coastal Classic do not run again until May 2027.

Which taxes and time zone apply to an Alaska trip?

Sales tax in Alaska depends on the town. Anchorage levies none, and the mayor's 3% sales tax was postponed indefinitely on 13 January 2026. Juneau charges 5%, and its 9% hotel tax brings a room to 14%.

Anchorage adds 12% to rooms rented for under 30 days; a rise to 14% was postponed indefinitely on the same day. Car rental in Anchorage carries an 8% tax, capped at $120 a rental. Cruise passengers pay the state's $34.50 a voyage through the cruise line. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains why prices are shown before tax.

Almost all of Alaska is on Alaska time, an hour behind Seattle and California. The Aleutian Islands west of longitude 169.5°W are on Hawaii-Aleutian time. Alaska's clocks went back an hour on 1 November 2026.