10+ Awesome Stops You’ll Love On An Alaska Road Trip

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When you tell most people you are going to Alaska they assume you are going on a cruise. For years I also thought that was the only way to see America’s last frontier. However, the best way to get the full experience is to plan a perfect Alaska road trip itinerary full of stops most cruise ships don’t even see. The drive from Anchorage to Seward has even won awards for being one of the most beautiful drives in the country. During your road trip, you will be showered with breathtaking landscapes, stunning mountains, glaciers and of course wildlife.

While a cruise can provide a wonderful experience, not much can beat an Alaska road trip in my opinion. Road trips allow you plenty of time to explore a destination with spontaneity, allowing you to uncover hidden gems along the way as well as providing the ability to explore breathtaking landscapes off the beaten path. For families, it’s imperative to have flexibility which is another reason we opted to experience Alaska by land.

Read on for all of our tips on creating the perfect Alaska road trip itinerary starting in Anchorage.

Planning the Perfect Road Trip in Alaska

First things first. You need a rental car. As you know there are so many rental options at the airports. Since it rains quite a bit and the roads are often unpredictable, we recommend visitors get an SUV with all wheel drive for that extra sense of security while driving on wet roads.

One of my number one tips for visitors is to book your rental car early. There are limited cars in Alaska in general and with summer being high season it can be difficult to secure the car of your choosing at the last minute. As soon as you book your flight, book your rental car too!

Sample 10 Day Alaska Road Trip Itinerary

Now that you have the car, where should you go? Here is a brief overview of the itinerary we followed. However if I had a bit more time I would have added on a further excursion all the way to the Arctic Circle. I would suggest heading up past Denali to Fairbanks on the Richardson and Glenn Highways and then to the Arctic. From what I’ve read, the scenery is spectacular, dotted with Alaskan villages and wonderful hiking opportunities. That is not included on this 10 day Alaska road trip itinerary, but if you have a few more days, you must do it and let me know how it was!

• Day 1 – Arrive to Anchorage
• Day 2 – Day Trip Around Anchorage – Earthquake Park & Flattop Mountain
• Day 3 – Anchorage to Denali
• Day 4 – Explore Denali National Park by bus
• Day 5 – Denali National Park
• Day 6 – Denali to Talkeetna
• Day 7 – Talkeetna to Seward
• Day 8 – Explore Seward by boat
• Day 9 – Explore Seward to Anchorage
• Day 10 – Depart from Anchorage

10+ Awesome Stops for Your Alaska Road Trip

Heading out from Anchorage will be the starting point for all Alaska road trip itineraries. From here you can decide which way to go that works best for your Alaska road trip plan, but either way you cannot go wrong. From the sea to inland, so much beauty, nature and wildlife await.

Anchorage: The Start of Your Alaska Road Trip

Most visitors planning to venture around Alaska by road will fly into Anchorage. This cute town of 300,000 feels citylike but isn’t too out of place among the towering mountains surrounding it. For most people a 1-2 night stop over will be plenty. Having a car in Anchorage makes it so much easier to get around and means that you can get out a bit to explore some areas just outside of town. We loved visiting Earthquake Park one morning for a quiet view of the city across the water.

It was also great to have a rental car so we could load up with fishing poles, waders and wellies before heading to Ship Creek where we joined the locals fishing for salmon. We looked like total amateurs but had fun experiencing a true Alaskan pastime. Without a car, we wouldn’t have been able to make this dream of my son’s a reality.

And lastly on our must do list in Anchorage is a beautiful hike in bear country at Flattop Mountain. We didn’t see a bear on our hike, but we did see a moose on the way back down which was pretty cool for us city folk! The drive up from the city was amazing, as were the views over the city from way up top.

Since you will be passing through Anchorage several times on your road trip, you MUST make time to do a bear viewing trip. It was one of the highlights of our entire trip. Seeing bears up close and personal will be one of the most memorable things you will ever do. It is expensive, but trust me, it is worth it. 

Any road trip in Alaska will mean a bit of back and forth since there aren’t a ton of different routes to follow. From Anchorage you can either drive north or south and most likely you will do both, so it’s your decision where to go first. We started off north, heading to Denali National Park before swinging back down along a different path en route to Seward.

Must See Stops From Anchorage to Denali National Park

The beauty of having a car while exploring Alaska is being able to stop at every spectacular site you see along the way, and you will see A LOT! The dreaded 5 hour drive from Anchorage to Denali surprisingly went by quickly as we made various stops along the way to take in the stunning scenery. Reflection Lake and Mirror Lake were two favorites for pretty views and a quick leg stretch. After being stuck in rain for several hours we were happy to stop at the Denali North View Point for a little hike. On a clear day, you get spectacular views of the Denali range, but for us, there was nothing to see except the riverbed below. Regardless the little hike with educational placards along the way was worth stopping for.

Denali National Park

Visiting Denali National Park is a highlight for many tourists in Alaska. Even guests on cruise ships docking 7 hours away in Seward find a way to visit this massive national park. And for good reason. Denali has only one road cutting through it’s 6 million acres and that road is not accessible to regular cars (for most of the year), which means that the park has continued to stay wild.

Hop aboard one of the many shuttle buses that take you from only a few miles into the park to deep within the park to experience it in all its greatness. Denali National Park is unique in that they encourage visitors to hike off trail and explore the vast wilderness as they want. We spent time on established trails, but honestly the most fun we had was climbing through waist high bushes, in search of a golden eagle who was flying overhead.  Take the time to go wild here, it will be worth it.

Talkeetna: The Adorable Hippy Town You Must See

If you have time and/or can’t bare to drive all the way back to Anchorage or even further south to Seward, stop off in Talkeetna. This adorable hippy town still feels like it must have in days of old. In early summer it is packed with adventurers heading off to hike Mt. Denali. In late summer, it is filled with tourists hoping for a look at that infamously shy mountain! It’s great for a one day stop over, but you can also fill your time with flightseeing tours, water tours or just pottering around the eclectic shops and enjoying the delicious food on offer. We definitely recommend at least an afternoon, or a night if you can. 

Hatcher Pass Scenic Drive

To change things up a bit on the way to Seward via Anchorage, we went off roading on the Hatcher Pass Scenic Drive. In the Talkeetna Mountains between the towns of Willow and Palmer, Hatcher Pass is a favorite. You can detour to visit Independence Mine Historical State Park or just enjoy the rushing river alongside the road while being surrounded by mountains filled with falcons and golden eagles.

This detour adds a bit of time to the drive, but the 60 miles between Palmer and Willow is beautiful. The road is gravel for about 22 miles and can be rough in some parts. We were able to drive over it quite easily in our SUV as were our friends in their sedan, but be aware after heavy rains.

Alaska by Road: Stops from Anchorage to Seward

The drive from Anchorage to Seward is one of the most beautiful stretches of land in the state. It is also one of the most touristed as it is the direct route between where the cruise ships dock and Anchorage. Even with it’s summer time traffic, this bit of the state is breathtaking and filled with amazing places to visit en route to the water or the city! Here are our top picks for your drive between Anchorage and Seward.

Stunning Coastline at Turnagain Arm

As you get out of Anchorage heading south, you will be ready to pull over for your first (of many!) stops once you see the beautiful coastline of Turnagain Arm. The Cook Inlet is on the right with the beautiful mountainous region of Chugach State park on the right. There are various pull outs during this section of the drive so feel free to stop (again and again) to take photos. 

As you continue to drive south along the Sterling Highway, keep an eye out for Beluga Point Lookout. Here you can see a great view of Turnagain Arm. It is also a great spot to look for wildlife. We didn’t see any during our stop, but we still enjoyed reading the interpretive signs providing details on the surrounding area.

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

Now that you have passed through Anchorage again, you will start your drive south towards Seward. The road between Anchorage and Seward is beautiful and filled with many places to stop. For animal lovers, one of the best stops between Anchorage and Seward is the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center just outside of Portage. The conservation center houses rescued animals from all over the state. With a great number of animals, you can easily spend several hours here checking out the animals as well as taking in a few feeding sessions with the trainers.

Glaciers at Kenai Fjords National Park

Being huge national park junkies, one of the main reasons for our visit to this part of Alaska was to see the various glaciers at Kenai Fjords National Park. This park can be experienced both on land and from the water. We highly recommend visiting both if you have time. For an up close look at a glacier, visit Exit Glacier. Here you can do a quick hike to get right up next to the ice, while also seeing huge ice chunks float down the river next to the trail. In order to see the park from the water, you will need to book a tour in advance of your trip. It is here that you can see the fabulous glaciers from the water.

Seward: More Than Just A Port Town

Heading all the way down to the coast takes you to Seward (or Homer if you took the right turn off!) which is a port to many cruise ships and is home to Kenai Fjord’s National Park. To really get a sense of Seward and its surrounding areas, you have to have a car. There are a great number of hikes around the area to really get off the beaten path and experience Alaska’s beautiful nature close up. That said, Seward is also a great base for water excursions. One of our favorite days on our entire Alaska road trip itinerary was taking a wildlife and glacier cruise from Seward. We saw whales, puffins, otters and seals in their natural habitat in Resurrection Bay. It was spectacular even in the drizzle!

Even though many visitors experience the rugged beauty of Alaska from the coastal waters, there is so much to see inland making a road trip worthwhile. Road trips also allow you to have more control over your budget by choosing where to stay and where/how often to eat out. Alaska is still never going to be a budget vacation (read more about what to expect in Alaska), but it also doesn’t have to cost several thousand per person like many cruises end up costing. And you get to see bears in the wild. Not much is better than that! 

What do you have on your Alaska car trip itinerary? Anywhere we missed?

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