Getting Around Alaska

A handful of highways connect Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, the Mat-Su valleys, Denali, Fairbanks and Valdez, plus the Alaska Highway to Canada. Juneau, Nome, Bethel, Kodiak and most villages are not on the road system at all.

Distances are long and services sparse on routes like the Dalton and Denali highways — carry a spare tire and fill up whenever you can.

Small aircraft are the backbone of Alaska travel. Air taxis on wheels, floats and big tundra tires drop hunters, anglers and hikers on lakes, gravel bars and beaches. Weather rules everything: build spare days into any fly-in trip.

The state ferry system links Bellingham, Washington and Prince Rupert, B.C. with Southeast Alaska, and runs across the Gulf to Prince William Sound, Homer, Kodiak and out the Aleutian chain. Book vehicle space early in summer.

The railroad runs from Seward and Whittier through Anchorage to Talkeetna, Denali and Fairbanks. In summer it is one of the most scenic ways to reach the Kenai and Denali; the Hurricane Turn train still makes flag stops for cabin dwellers.

Anchorage is the hub. Jets and regional carriers fly to Fairbanks, Juneau, Kodiak, King Salmon, Nome, Bethel, Kotzebue, Utqiaġvik and dozens more communities, where bush operators take over.