By rail
Denali station, the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage
North America · United States
Denali, United States
Glaciers, grizzlies and North America's highest peak
Getting there
By air
Fairbanks (FAI) or Anchorage (ANC), ~2 h or ~4 h by road
Best time to visit
June to August — summer
Don't miss
Denali
Wonder Lake
The Savage River
The park road
Things to do
The park-road bus tour
Flightseeing around Denali
Glacier landings
Where to eat
Sources: Photo: Fährtenleser · CC BY-SA 3.0
What to pack
Rain gear, warm layers, binoculars
A quieter corner
The Horseshoe Lake trail near the park entrance
Questions travellers ask
Which months work best for Denali?
June to August, in summer. Bring rain gear, warm layers and binoculars.
How do I get to Denali — road or rail?
It's about 2 h by road from Fairbanks (FAI) or about 4 h from Anchorage (ANC). You can also take the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Denali station.
What are the big experiences in Denali?
Take the park-road bus tour, go flightseeing around Denali or try a glacier landing. Wonder Lake and the Savage River are also on the list.
What's a hidden gem near the Denali park entrance?
The Horseshoe Lake trail near the park entrance. Afterwards, try Alaskan salmon or reindeer sausage.
About Denali
- Mountains
Where it is
Denali National Park and Preserve is in interior Alaska in the United States, in the Alaska Range between Anchorage and Fairbanks. It surrounds North America's highest mountain, about 6,190 m high, called Denali and, in US federal naming since 2025, Mount McKinley.
History
Athabascan peoples have long lived around the Alaska Range. The area was protected in 1917 as Mount McKinley National Park, largely at the urging of the conservationist Charles Sheldon, and in 1980 it was greatly enlarged and renamed Denali National Park and Preserve.
People
Athabascan peoples, among them the Koyukon, Tanana and Dena'ina, have long hunted and gathered around the Alaska Range, and the name Denali comes from an Athabascan word for the mountain, usually translated as the high one. Few people live near the park; Healy and Cantwell on the Parks Highway are the nearest communities.
Known for
- North America's highest peak
- Grizzly bears, moose, caribou and Dall sheep
- Bus trips along the park road
- Flightseeing and glacier landings
- The park's working sled dog kennels
Did you know?
The first person to stand on the summit, in 1913, was Walter Harper, a young Alaska Native raised in the Koyukon culture of his mother.
We haven't written a guide for this place yet — you can still plan a trip here.