Alaska's Best Roadside Adventure Lodges

Dis­cov­er cozy cab­ins, great food, and big Alaskan adven­tures at this inti­mate lodge that sits on the edge of the wilder­ness yet is super-acces­si­ble from Anchor­age. It lies tucked in at the back of the Knik Riv­er Val­ley and at the end of Knik Riv­er Road, where Alaska’s real wilder­ness opens up, with moun­tain and riv­er views — but with­out a flight or long dri­ve. It’s the per­fect place to escape for a few days, with lots of activ­i­ties avail­able from  ...more

Alas­ka Heav­en­ly Lodge offers the best of both worlds: all the seclu­sion and lux­u­ry nor­mal­ly asso­ci­at­ed with fly-in lodges, as well as the afford­abil­i­ty and con­ve­nience of being on the road sys­tem. Built in 1974, Alas­ka Heav­en­ly Lodge is made up of three hand-hewn log cab­ins. The Main Lodge fea­tures a full kitchen, a 16-per­son din­ing room table, a com­fy sit­ting area with a wood-burn­ing fire­place, a loft library, and a deck over­look­ing the Kenai  ...more

Alaskan adven­tures and great lodg­ing await at the Great Alaskan Adven­ture Lodge. This all-inclu­sive expe­ri­ence lets you dri­ve or fly in to the prop­er­ty, which sits on 25 acres at the con­flu­ence of two rivers. An old home­stead with cab­ins and lux­u­ry tent options, the lodge makes for a com­fort­able stay. You’ll also find an array of adven­tures — every­thing from great fish­ing to glac­i­er cruis­ing. The own­ers have been per­fect­ing their itin­er­aries for  ...more

Look out your win­dow to the junc­tion of the Kluti­na and Cop­per Rivers, 200 acres of wilder­ness, and the park’s awe-inspir­ing mountains.

Just 2.5 Hours from Fair­banks on the Richard­son High­way, The Lodge at Black Rapids is an undis­cov­ered gem.The peaks of the Alas­ka Range, trout-filled lakes, swift rivers, and alpine tun­dra sur­round the lodge, which is named for the Black Rapids glac­i­er. The own­ers built the Lodge over near­ly 10 years, design­ing it to fit into the land­scape. There are six rooms in addi­tion to the bunkhouse, with queen beds and pri­vate baths. Large windows  ...more

The Alaskan Ken­ni­cott Glac­i­er Lodge is a repli­ca of one of the his­toric cop­per-min­ing build­ings. It’s a lux­u­ri­ous prop­er­ty that sits in the heart of the ghost town and the cen­ter of Wrangell-St. Elias Nation­al Park and Pre­serve, sur­round­ed by spruce and moun­tains. Curl up by the fire­place with a book, enjoy the home-cooked meals, and linger with a glass of wine on the deck that near­ly juts out over the Ken­ni­cott Glac­i­er. Choose from either the  ...more

Live off-the-grid, Alas­ka-style, at this fam­i­ly-run bed-and-break­fast lodge off the Denali High­way, in the heart of Alas­ka. Camp or stay in a lodge room and indulge in the nat­ur­al beau­ty sur­round­ing you.

Locat­ed sev­en miles from the park entrance, the com­fort­able accom­mo­da­tions at Denali Park Vil­lage are far enough from the park’s hus­tle and bus­tle that you can focus on Alaska’s nat­ur­al treasures.

Want to find out where Alaskans take their vis­i­tors? Vis­it McCarthy Lodge and the Ma John­son Hotel for an expe­ri­ence Nation­al Geo­graph­ic calls ​“authen­tic, sus­tain­able, mem­o­rable.” McCarthy offers small-town charm nes­tled among spec­tac­u­lar glac­i­ers and moun­tains – in a nation­al park twice the size of Denali. Equal­ly impres­sive is that it is the only accom­mo­da­tion and restau­rant rec­om­mend­ed by Miche­lin Guide for the McCarthy-Ken­ni­cott area. It’s  ...more

Look­ing for an inti­mate and acces­si­ble get­away with an authen­tic Alaskan feel? Alas­ka Wild­land Adven­ture’s Kenai River­side Lodge will fit the bill, with just 16 cab­ins set on the Kenai Riv­er, sur­round­ed by 3,000-foot snow-capped moun­tains. This easy-access river­side lodge has a remote feel, but is still right on the road sys­tem. Meals are served fam­i­ly-style, cre­at­ing a more inti­mate expe­ri­ence, and allow­ing you to min­gle with fel­low guests and  ...more

An exclu­sive lake­side oasis with hide­away cab­ins acces­si­ble by car and only 7 miles south of Denali Nation­al Park entrance. In addi­tion to lux­u­ri­ous accom­mo­da­tions, you can enjoy the art gallery, arti­san bak­ery, and spa­cious lawn with a camp­fire cir­cle and a love­ly view of the Alas­ka Range.

This pri­vate lodg­ing busi­ness may be the ulti­mate way for inde­pen­dent trav­el­ers to stay in the famous­ly just-off-the-grid McCarthy. They’re locat­ed just before the foot­bridge lead­ing into town, so you can park your car right by your pri­vate guest house —with­out the has­sle of park­ing and hav­ing your stuff schlepped over the bridge. A favorite among locals and vis­i­tors alike, the mod­ern guest hous­es have great views of the Wrangell St. Elias  ...more

This 86-room lodge not only has end­less views over a vast val­ley, but it also sits on the banks of the Kenai Riv­er, which teems with fish. With vault­ed ceil­ings made of nat­u­ral­ly fin­ished wood, cozy sit­ting areas with wood-burn­ing stoves and pri­vate porch­es, it’s easy to feel like the whole place is yours. The area is famous for its fish­ing, but you also have easy access to Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, a wild land filled with glac­i­ers, marine  ...more