I’m so excited to officially launch our Alaska RV Trip travel guide! We spent an entire summer and part of fall RVing all around Alaska with our small children, and I’ve packed everything we learned into this e-book.
There is a sample 7 day itinerary, 14 day itinerary, month long itinerary, and whole summer in Alaska itinerary. There is a city-by-city activity guide with kid-friendly Alaska activities, and each city has a recommended camping in Alaska spot (one RV park with hookups and one boondocking spot). I’ve shared free activities in Alaska and bucket list splurge worthy excursions. There are tips about driving in Alaska and a packing list with everything you’ll need to stay warm, dry, and safe in Alaska.
I really believe that this travel guide will save you hundreds of hours of research when planning your Alaska RV trip. I also know from talking to other RV friends that it has insider activities that many tourists miss. Whether you’re driving your own RV up or renting an RV in Anchorage, this guide will make your trip so much more memorable.
Keep scrolling below for more Alaska blog posts, too!
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
And if you need more personalized planning help for your Alaska RV trip, you can book a call with me here! I can almost guarantee it’ll be worth the cost with the money you’ll save from having insider advice on how to approach an Alaska trip.
For all of the free tips I’ve shared here about our Alaska RV trip and an amazing summer in Alaska, head to my Alaska highlights on Instagram and check out these posts:
Frequently asked questions about this Alaska RV trip travel guide:
Will I receive a copy of this in the mail?
No, this is an e-book which will be available for download straight to your computer in PDF form. You won’t receive a physical book copy, but you can take the e-book to a print shop and have it printed and bound for just a few dollars if you like!
Do you recommend campgrounds in Alaska?
Yes! For each destination, I’ve included my top pick of RV park and boondocking spot for those who prefer to be off-grid.
Will this be helpful for travelers without children?
I think so! There are only a handful of kid-specific recommendations that aren’t also fun for adults (like special playgrounds!) and a whole lot of information that will be applicable to everyone (like easy day hikes!).
Can I use this guide if I don’t have an RV?
Absolutely! I recommend campgrounds to stay at, but you can also buy a cheap tent and use that instead. Or just use the itineraries and activity guides and choose your own hotel / short-term rental!
Were you paid or compensated in any way for any activities or campgrounds in exchange for your recommendation?
Nope! We paid for everything out of our own pockets.
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The first step of an Alaska road trip is getting there! It took us 6 driving days to travel 1,257 miles from Dawson Creek, BC to Tok, AK on the Alaska Highway (or the Alcan Highway!). We drive slower and for shorter days because we’re towing our 37′ fifth wheel RV. You could definitely do it faster in a car.
One of the things that we learned was that only 5% of visitors arrive to Alaska via the Alaska Highway. After driving it ourselves, we can see why! We had to replace all 4 truck tires, a leaf spring on the RV, 2 cabinet door hinges, and some screws! You also can start your Alaska road trip by flying into Anchorage or taking the Alaska Marine Highway to Haines.
But it truly feels like an accomplishment to have made it on the Alcan. Even if we saw nothing in Alaska, the drive was so gorgeous that it wasn’t a wasted trip. Not to mention the many bears, moose, bison, bald eagles, foxes, and caribou we saw!
I’ll talk more about these places in future posts, but here are the major sights we visited along the way:
Mile 0 sign Dawson Creek
Tetsa river lodge’s famous cinnamon rolls
Toad River bridges
Folded Mountains viewpoint
Muncho Lake
Liard River hot springs
Welcome to the Yukon Sign
Watson Lake Signpost Forest
George Johnston museum
Teslin Tlingit Heritage Center
Whitehorse’s Miles Canyon
Haines Junction’s Village bakery
Kluane Lake
I found planning our Alaska road trip to be really challenging because there are very few resources on doing this with kids, the itineraries I found tended to be for just a week long trip, and the typical tourist activities are ridiculously expensive for a family of five.
So I wrote a travel guide for an Alaska road trip with kids that includes everything we’ve learned!
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
Now, on to the Alaska Highway recap! We started our Alaska road trip in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, which is the official start of the Alaska Highway!
It felt like a real accomplishment just to make it to mile 0, after traveling thousands of miles and overcoming passport hurdles. Dawson Creek is kind of a strange place, with what felt like half irritated locals annoyed with the other half of irritating American tourists.
Dawson is the last place for major supplies for a looooong time, and we took advantage of a few days to stock up and rest. That was a good call because the trip up the Alcan was a real journey in every sense of the word.
Alaska road trip day 1: Dawson Creek ➡️ Fort Nelson
It was an easy drive, minus a few long, steep grades. But it also wasn’t scenic, and we spent our only night in Fort Nelson figuring how to get our shredded front truck tires replaced, so I have no pictures from that day. The Fort Nelson visitor center is a great place to stop if you want information about the next section of the drive, plus it features free wifi and a free RV sani dump big enough for any size RV if you need it. Definitely make sure you fill up on gas here because you won’t see anything resembling affordable gas again until Watson Lake.
Alaska road trip day 2: Fort Nelson ➡️ Liard Hot Springs
This was when our Alaska road trip started getting gorgeous. We drove through fog so dense on Summit Pass (the highest point on the Alcan) that I couldn’t see the lines 😬 Summit Lake was absolutely beautiful when we drove back down, so your experience of it will really vary based on the weather. But then the area around Muncho Lake was stunning, and I would camp in the provincial park there were I to plan the trip again. If you have your own kayak, I highly recommend launching your kayak on Muncho Lake!
Liard River Hot Springs was pretty amazing. The hot springs were deliciously hot and relaxing and in a stunning setting. The boardwalk to the springs is a moose habitat. We got to watch a beautiful moose munching on a dinner of aquatic plants with fog rising over the marsh as we headed back from our soak.
Word to the wise: although the Liard River Hot Springs campground is convenient and allows RVs our size, I would not rate it as big rig friendly. I fit ours in there, but it took me circling twice. The neighbors even came out to say they were impressed 😅 You can, however, camp in the overflow lot across the street, which would be my advice for anything longer than a class C. Also, the gas in the Toad River / Muncho Lake / Liard River area is SO expensive. I don’t even want to talk about how much we paid haha.
Alaska road trip day 3: Liard River Hot Springs ➡️ Watson Lake
Watson Lake’s main attraction is the infamous Sign Post Forest. But this day was the day we crossed from BC to the Yukon, and that felt like a huge deal! Yukon is so so so remote that traversing it feels like an accomplishment. It made me realize how “remote” places in the lower 48 just really aren’t the same type of remote 😂 We were so excited to make it to a new part of Canada and to one that is so legendary.
The Watson Lake Sign Post Forest was started by a homesick guy helping to construct the Alaska Highway. It now contains over 90,000 signs from all over the world! We even found one from where we left — Huntsville, Alabama! It also has rusted out vehicles that actually helped build the Alcan, which were a kid fan favorite. The whole site is surprisingly large and really special feeling.
Visitors are encouraged to leave their own sign, and we did! Dan made a sign that said The O’Phalens out of Lego, which is very on brand for our family. People have made signs out of anything they have on hand. We found this stop to be even more interesting than we’d expected.
My advice about Watson Lake itself, though, is to gas up and keep on driving somewhere else to stay. There’s nothing wrong with Watson Lake, but there are so many more scenic options.
Alaska road trip day 4: Watson Lake ➡️ Whitehorse
We broke up the driving on this day with one of my favorite Alcan stops: Teslin! Teslin is a small town, but an excellent place to learn about the indigenous people of the area, the Tlingit (pronounced Klink-it).
The Tlingit are known for many things, including this beautiful style of artwork featured in a giant mural painted on the George Johnston Museum. This was a small but excellent stop for learning about how the building of the Alcan impacted the indigenous people of the area and what traditional lifeways looked like before the road system.
There was also the Teslin Tlingit heritage center, which had gorgeous totem poles out front, cultural artifacts inside, and an absolutely stunning display of graduation dresses as a temporary exhibit. We learned that local indigenous high schoolers often get two graduation celebrations. One is with the high school in Whitehorse where they have to leave to attend and one is at home with their community to celebrate their return.
We took a “break” for a couple of days in Whitehorse, the capitol of the Yukon. Most of our time there was spent replacing the rear truck tires (are you noticing a theme? 😂) which now looked bad after being told they were fine in Fort Nelson. One of the things that’s hard about the Alaska highway portion of the trip is that if you need anything, it’s hard to find! Even in Whitehorse, the biggest city on the road. Our tire saga included having to buy tires at one shop and drive them to another 🙃
Dan did take the kids out to the Miles Canyon hike, which was pretty but not a must-do for us. Although to be fair, our standards for beautiful views have gotten outrageously high! There is also a hot springs we didn’t get the chance to try out because it’s not kid-friendly, but it looked nice.
Alaska road trip day 5: Whitehorse ➡️ Destruction Bay
This leg of the drive was unbelievably scenic, as we drove alongside the dramatic mountains in Kluane National Park. We also spotted a grizzly right alongside the road! Kluane National Park also makes for great stargazing and aurora spotting in spring and fall because it’s a Dark Sky park.
We stayed in Destruction Bay at Congden Creek campground, which is first come first served with no hookups. Lakeside spots fill up fast, but the wooded pull-through are peaceful, too. No cell service though! I planned to do some hiking in the area, but our late start due to tire drama meant we had to skip it. We played by the gorgeous (but chilly) lake before dinner and then rested up for the last couple of hours of driving before Alaska!!
Alaska road trip day 6: Destruction Bay ➡️ Tok, Alaska
This was the toughest part of our entire Alaska road trip by far. We drove for hours not able to go above 40 mph, sometimes averaging 15 mph for miles. This is probably much easier if you’re not towing anything, but was a long, tough stretch in our RV. Consider splitting this up into two days if you’re towing and not in a rush.
Beaver Creek is a tiny town, but the visitor center has adorable free endangered animal coloring books. Our kids have been working on them for weeks! Highly recommend a stop if you have kids who would appreciate that. Otherwise, there’s not much on this stretch to stop for except the Alaska welcome sign!
That feeling you get when you make it to the Alaska part of your Alaska road trip after 8 days on the Alaska Highway!
Alaska road trip: Timing
If you don’t want to drive in snow, you have approximately from late May until mid September to do an Alaska road trip. That’s no guarantee, but it means you’ll likely not encounter any snow. I *highly* recommend driving the Alcan in mid-September for the incredible foliage. I mean, take a look at this forgettable stretch of road in June that was stunning in September:
Alaska road trip: Alaska portion!
Head here for my 7 day Alaska itinerary or buy the e-book with longer itineraries here. I’ve done all the planning for you!
For more posts about our adventures in Alaska, check these out:
An action-packed 7 day Alaska itinerary filled with bucket list adventures like glacier hikes, dog sledding, and gorgeous Alaska views!
One of my superpowers is travel itinerary planning, and today I’m sharing some of my superpower with a sample 7 day Alaska itinerary! I took my in-laws on a trip to Iceland back in 2017, and my father-in-law recently confessed that when he learns someone else has been to Iceland, he immediately feels bad for them because their trip can’t have been as amazing as the one I planned for us. Hilarious and sweet.
Even I found planning a trip to Alaska to be a challenge, however, and I learned so much spending a whole summer here that I want to share with you! So I’ve put together this 7 day Alaska itinerary for those of you thinking about planning a trip up here. If you want more details on how to plan the best Alaska trip ever, please feel free to check out my e-book about RVing Alaska! It has longer itineraries for those of you with more time, 20+ pages of activity ideas, a thorough packing list, and more! You might also like my blog posts on our favorite camping in Alaska spots and the best hikes in Alaska with kids (or without!). Now, let’s get to the itinerary!
7 Day Alaska Itinerary
Day 1: Fly into Anchorage and head to the Palmer/Wasilla area, where you’ll spend the next two days. Visit the Iditarod Headquarters museum in Wasilla and take a short dog sledding ride for $10 a person (or a longer, pricier one if you can!). Grab a picnic at the grocery store and drive up to Hatcher Pass for a sunset hike and picnic. I recommend the April Bowl trail.
Day 2: Get an early start and rent ATVs from Alaska Toy Rentals for a trip out to the Knik Glacier if you’re comfortable driving off-road. If you’re not, an hour drive out to Matanuska Glacier offers glacier hiking tours or ice climbing.
Day 3: Stop at Alaska Chicks in Wasilla or Palmer for a cute hoodie. Then start the drive south through Anchorage on the scenic Seward highway. Stop at every viewpoint on the Turnagain Arm, including Beluga Point! It’s breathtaking, and you might catch a tidal bore coming in if you time it right. Drive up Portage Road to hike Byron Glacier or take a boat tour to Portage Glacier. Sleep for the night in Alyeska if you don’t have an RV, Moose Pass if you do.
Day 4: Finish the drive to Seward, stopping at Bear Creek Weir on your way if it’s summer and the salmon are running. Have a more relaxed day walking the waterfront park, scoping out the local murals, and taking a walk on Fourth of July Beach. Then get to bed early for the next few days of big adventures because you’re more than halfway through your 7 day Alaska itinerary!
Day 5: Spend the whole day on a kayaking tour to Bear Glacier Lagoon with Liquid Adventures. If you don’t love kayaking, take a wildlife boat tour. Have dinner at one of the cute local restaurants and head to bed for an early start tomorrow.
Note: This 7 day Alaska itinerary assumes you’ll be flying in and out of Anchorage, as most people do. It also assumes you’ll be staying on the road system. If you’re comfortable driving something as large as a U-haul truck, I’d recommend renting an RV for this trip because you’ll be able to camp in gorgeous spots. If not, there are plenty of hotels and airbnbs available. This itinerary also does something somewhat controversial and skips Denali National Park. I know, I told you it was controversial. Denali is gorgeous, and you should go there if Denali is on your bucket list. However, it wasn’t my favorite part of our summer because of the crowds and the plethora of amazing views and wildlife elsewhere. I think heading to Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward is better if you only have a week.
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
When you google search “best Alaska hikes with kids,” there are literally no search results for that exact phrase. And that’s exactly why I decided to start my travel e-book collection with RV Alaska with Kids! Alaska is an AMAZING travel destination for families, but there isn’t a whole lot of information online about how to take an Alaska trip with small children. So I made one!
And now I’m setting out to be the first google result for “best Alaska hikes with kids!” So after a whole summer of unbelievable hiking, here are the best Alaska hikes with kids (in our opinion!). I’ll link to the AllTrails listings where possible, because it’s especially important to check trail conditions in Alaska! If you’re in need of suggestions for hiking gear, check out my post Alaska Packing List Summer.
1. Savage Alpine Trail
This hike is located within Denali National Park and I would classify it is moderate. If you do the trail as AllTrails suggests, it’s a 4-mile, 1500 feet of elevation gain point-to-point trail, which means you’ll park at the Savage River Trailhead and need to catch the free Denali shuttle bus back to your car at the end. What we did instead was start and end at the Savage River Trailhead and skipped the last 200-300 feet of switchbacks at the top of the trail to make it a bit easier for our kids who were already tired after a long day. The views were absolutely worth it as soon as you get out of the vegetation and onto the alpine slopes. We loved this trail!
2. Byron Glacier Trail
This hike is located in Portage within the Chugach National Forest, and I would classify it as easy. It’s just a bit over a mile (and relatively flat!) to the point at which an avalanche has made the trail impassable unless you’re a serious scrambler. But it’s totally worth the short hike to a fabulous view of Byron Glacier that even small toddlers can hike themselves.
3. Exit Glacier Trails
These trails are located in Seward, and there is the easy version and the very challenging version. The easy version is the Exit Glacier Overlook trail, which is a 2-mile gentle walk. The challenging version is the Harding Icefield trail where the photo above was taken, and it is 8+ miles and 3,000 feet of elevation gain. There are several stopping points along the way on this trail that make it worthwhile if you don’t want to complete the whole trail, one of which is Marmot Meadows and the other is Top of the Cliffs. Our 5 and 7 year olds made it to Top of the Cliffs with this incredible view, while my husband wore our 2 year old. I won’t lie, this trail is only for intrepid families, but it.is.worth.it.
4. Tonsina Creek Trail
This trail is located in Seward, and I would rate it as moderate. It has mild elevation changes, but it’s not a terribly long trail. It starts off in beautiful Alaskan rainforest foliage and passes several stunning beaches that make the perfect spot for rock throwing or a picnic.
5. Beluga Slough Trail to Bishop’s Beach
This trail is located in Homer, and is really more of a gentle 1 mile walk down to Bishop’s Beach. What makes it special is that the beach views are gorgeous, with mountain ranges and glaciers in the distance, and that you can find amazing tide pools there at low tide. Combine this hike with a trip to the Alaska Maritime Wildlife Refuge visitor’s center, where the kids can become Junior Rangers or Junior Biologists (ask the rangers!).
6. April Bowl Trail
This trail is located in Hatcher Pass, which is one of our absolute favorite places in Alaska. It’s only 2+ miles, but straight up switchbacks to gain almost 1,000 feet. You can stop at the lake to make that just half the elevation, and stopping there is still totally worth it. We think this hike is massively underrated and was one of our summer favorites.
7. Gold Cord Lake Trail
This trail is also located in Hatcher Pass, and I would classify it as moderate if the snow is completely melted, hard if not. It’s only 2 miles and 500 feet of elevation, but snow on the trail makes it way more difficult and can linger until July, so check the trail conditions! This alpine lake is absolutely stunning, and the hike can be combined with a visit to Independence Mine State Historical Park.
8. Thompson Pass South Trail
This trail is outside of Valdez in Thompson Pass and can be as easy as you’d like to make it. You can walk 50 feet from your truck or walk for miles into the pass. The views are some of the most breathtaking we’ve seen in Alaska. The photo above totally doesn’t do it justice because we had professional family photos taken there and didn’t bother to get too many iPhone photos because of it.
9. Iditarod Trail to Rapid’s Yurt
This trail is in Eagle River at the Eagle River Nature Center, and I would classify this as easy. It’s 4 gentle miles, but you don’t have to complete the whole trail, and it’s perfect for letting young children walk it out. The mountains are stunning, and your chances of wildlife spotting are high! Plus this trail is super convenient from Palmer/Wasilla or Anchorage.
Honorable Mentions:
These are the trails that we didn’t personally do (so I don’t feel comfortable recommending!), but come highly recommended as amazing hikes in Alaska with kids.
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
We drove just about everywhere you can drive in Alaska and spent all summer RV camping in Alaska, both in paid campgrounds with full hookups and in roadside boondocking spots.
The views everywhere were incredible, but these two spots had some of our favorite views, combined with other benefits like usable cell service (with AT&T) and solid overall camping experience.
I mean…come on…look at this view from our yard:
It was honestly really challenging to pick just two camping in Alaska spots, but here they are:
Favorite campground: Paradise RV Park in Palmer, Alaska
Paradise RV Park in Palmer, Alaska is appropriately named! This park has unbelievable 360-degree mountain views in an idyllic farmland setting. The owners are super friendly, and the park is immaculately maintained. The price is right, too! Campgrounds in Alaska are definitely on the pricier side, but this campground was more affordable than some of the other Palmer, Alaska campgrounds and it was definitely the nicest.
Check out this drone footage that Dan put together of Paradise RV Park on his Instagram.
Favorite boondocking spot: Upper Trail Lake in Moose Pass, Alaska
Upper Trail Lake is Alaska camping at its best (and most authentic!). It’s a big gravel lot with room for dozens of big rigs that’s right off the Seward highway, but not visible from the road (so the road noise is basically non-existent!). Every spot has mountain views and many are lakeside, which makes for AMAZING early morning kayaking. I even just sat in my kayak one morning floating and drinking my coffee. The other cool perk is that you can watch float planes from nearby Moose Pass taking off and landing. Our kids loved that the Alaska Railroad train to Seward was visible, too. Locals love this spot during the summer, which can be a fun way to meet some new Alaskan friends. Be aware that Alaskans like to take full advantage of the summer midnight sun, and this spot may be noisy until later in the evening.
The photo of our RV at the top of this post was taken in this boondocking spot, and so was this picture of me kayaking Upper Trail Lake literally steps from our front door:
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
Alaska is the land of epic adventures, but it’s also the land of needing to be epically prepared! With that in mind, I thought I’d share an Alaska packing list summer must-haves for any RV family planning to make the journey! This isn’t an exhaustive packing list, just some of our most important gear for staying warm and keeping our RV functional in Alaska. If you want the complete packing list (along with Alaska RV itineraries and money-saving hacks!), please check out our RV Alaska with Kids e-book. If you want to skip the chatter and get a quick link to my Alaska packing list gear, head to my Amazon affiliate storefront Alaska list. Otherwise, read on!
Kid Clothing
Summer in Alaska is probably colder and wetter than you expect. At least, it was for us! Here are a few Alaska summer packing list kid must-haves:
Quality rain gear (we didn’t have rain pants, but they sure wouldn’t have hurt to have!)
Keens hiking boots (Alaska is one place where it’s worth splurging to make sure everyone, even the kids, has good hiking footwear)
Adventure Gear
Nowhere is it easier to have a bucket-list style outdoors adventure than in Alaska. There is some gear that we either brought with us or bought up here to take advantage of all of the fun.
Inflatable kayak (I’ve been raving about mine because it’s affordable, packs up small, and has allowed me to see so much more in Alaska!)
Drone (if you want amazing footage of giant landscapes, this is the place to nab some drone footage, and this drone is AMAZING)
Alaska field guides (for identifying all of the flora and fauna on your adventures!)
Fishing rod and tackle (when the salmon are running!)
RV Supplies
An Alaska RV trip is worth all the hassle, but your RV will take a beating in Alaska. Be prepared to “rescue” yourselves because you might have RV trouble miles from cell service or a sizeable town. For these reasons, I’ve included some emergency supplies we actually used on this Alaska summer packing list!
Bottle jack (we’ve had to jack up our RV twice on this trip)
I hope this Alaska packing list summer RV trip essentials guide was helpful to you! I know I spent a lot of time researching what we’d need, so I thought I’d pass that knowledge on. Don’t forget to check out our guide to RVing Alaska:
If you’re looking for Alaska vacation ideas, you’ve come to the right place! This guide features 20+ pages of what we learned throughout a summer RVing Alaska with Kids.
Disclaimer: Links in this blog post are Amazon Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
For more of what I’ve written about our adventure in Alaska, head here:
