Photo Credit: Copper River Princess Lodge

Alaska's Best Roadside Adventure Lodges

Far away from the tourist traps...

Looking for high quality, high value lodging that isn't overrun by tour buses--but don't want to spend what it takes to get to fly-in wilderness lodges? Rent a car, drive our scenic highways, and stay at these roadside lodges. They're on the way to, or near our top attractions and national parks. Yet you'll get a more intimate, authentic experience of Alaska, because they're small and personal. Think of them as similar to small inns in the Lower 48, with one big difference: you'll enjoy Alaska-sized views and activities.

Not all roadside lodges are created equal. We've collected our favorites around the state: you can count on a clean, comfortable room, courteous service, friendly staff, quality food, and exciting nearby activities. The map below shows all the locations you can choose from.

Depending on where you stay, you can cast a line for salmon at a nearby fishing stream. Float or paddle down glacial rivers on a guided rafting trip. Ask the lodge to arrange a flightseeing or bear viewing tour into the wilderness. Discover gorgeous landscapes on nearby hiking trails. Saddle up for a horseback ride into the Alaskan wilderness. Take a guided trek on a nearby glacier using crampons and an ice axe. Go canoeing, dogsledding, gold panning, and more.

Show Map

Roadside Adventure Lodges

Season: May 20 - Sept 16 $1200+ all-inclusive packages 3+ days

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

$279+

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

Season: Year Round $199+

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

Season: May 16 - Sept 19 $295+

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

Season: Year Round $150 - $175 per night

Icon­ic and remote Alaskan adven­ture lodge in the Tal­keet­na Moun­tains, acces­si­ble by road just 60 miles north of Anchor­age. Open year-round, you’ll stay in rus­tic, com­fort­able cab­ins with access to some of the best hik­ing and ski­ing in the world, just out­side your door. The lodge and cab­ins sit dra­mat­i­cal­ly above tree­line, offer­ing breath­tak­ing moun­tain views and end­less adven­ture opportunities.

$377+

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.

Season: Mid-May to Mid-Sept $199 1 - 8 nights

This inti­mate, 85-room lodge with amaz­ing views is the per­fect place to stay on the way to Amer­i­ca’s largest nation­al park, Wrangell-St. Elias. Look out your win­dow to the junc­tion of the Kluti­na and Cop­per Rivers, 200 acres of wilder­ness, and the park’s awe-inspir­ing mountains.

Season: Year Round $2000 per night

Immerse your pri­vate group in this lux­u­ry year-round lodge, sur­round­ed by the beau­ty of the Alaskan wilder­ness just south­east of Denali Nation­al Park. Sit­ting on a pri­vate 75-acre plot on Yogi Lake, it offers the remote feel­ing of a fly-in lodge — even though it’s acces­si­ble by road in sum­mer. Hire pri­vate guides for cus­tom adven­tures, like hik­ing, pack raft­ing, canoe­ing, flight­see­ing, fish­ing, and bird watch­ing. Or in win­ter, go cross-country  ...more

Season: May 18 - Sept 11 $269+

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

Season: Memorial Day–Labor Day Call for rates

Acces­si­ble only by water, Tree­house Cove Wilder­ness Lodge is Alaska’s only ocean­front tree­house and hand-built beach house, with per­son­al­ized ser­vice and adven­ture pack­ages available.

Season: Year Round $325+

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

Season: May 27 to Sep 04 $225+

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

Season: Jun 01 to Sep 11 $895+ per night, meals all-inclusive

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.

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