Plan by region
Where to stay in Alaska
Four regions, thirteen gateway towns and a hotel market that changes completely between them. Start with the region, then pick the town, then pick the bed.
Alaska is roughly the size of the four largest states in the Lower 48 combined, and nobody plans a trip to “Alaska”. They plan to a region. The four below behave like separate countries: different climates, different seasons, different transport and, for our purposes, completely different lodging markets. Southcentral has the airport and the roads. The Interior has the mountain and the aurora. Southeast has no roads at all and arrives by ship. The Arctic and Bush have almost no beds and no way in but flying.
Start with the region
Southcentral
Anchorage, Girdwood and the Kenai Peninsula. The airport, the road network and the deepest hotel inventory in the state.
Interior
Denali, Fairbanks and Talkeetna. The mountain, the aurora, and nine of the twelve most-searched hotels in Alaska.
Southeast
Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and Skagway. The Inside Passage, reached by ship or plane, never by road.
Arctic + Bush
Utqiagvik, Kotzebue, Nome and the fly-in country. Few beds, high costs, and nothing on the road system.
Southcentral: where to stay
The region most trips begin in, and the only one where driving between towns genuinely works. Anchorage alone carries about 4,300 hotel searches a month, more than the rest of Alaska combined.
Towns and areas: Anchorage · Girdwood · Seward · Homer · Kenai and Soldotna · Palmer and the Mat-Su · Glennallen
Alyeska Resort, Girdwood
Alaska’s only true ski-in resort hotel, 40 minutes south of Anchorage in Girdwood, with an aerial tram and a Nordic spa.
Hotel Captain Cook, Anchorage
The landmark independent hotel in downtown Anchorage, family-owned and a fixture of the city since the 1960s.
Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, Copper Center
Princess land-tour lodge above the Copper River, the main hotel base for Wrangell-St Elias National Park.
See the full ranking in the twelve most-searched Alaska hotels, or read the full Southcentral: where to stay guide.
Interior: where to stay
Denali and Fairbanks, and the highest concentration of named-hotel demand in Alaska. Continental climate means colder winters, warmer summers and far clearer aurora skies than the coast.
Towns and areas: Denali · Fairbanks · Talkeetna
Borealis Basecamp, Fairbanks
Clear-roofed dome accommodation north of Fairbanks, built specifically for watching the aurora from bed.
Chena Hot Springs Resort, Fairbanks
Natural hot springs, an ice museum and dark Interior skies, about an hour and a half north-east of Fairbanks.
Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, Denali Park
The largest lodge complex at the Denali park entrance, and the standard Princess land-tour base.
See the full ranking in the twelve most-searched Alaska hotels, or read the full Interior: where to stay guide.
Southeast: where to stay
The Inside Passage. No road connection to the outside, so almost everyone arrives by ship, and hotel demand concentrates into short pre and post-cruise stays rather than long bases.
Towns and areas: Juneau · Ketchikan · Sitka · Skagway
We have not published named-hotel reviews in this region yet: our reviews are concentrated where the search demand is, in the Interior and Southcentral. The regional guide covers the lodging pattern in each town in the meantime.
Arctic and Bush: where to stay
Most of the state’s land area and a rounding error of its hotel inventory. Flying is the only way in, weather cancels routinely, and costs run well above the rest of Alaska.
Towns and areas: Utqiagvik, Kotzebue and Nome · Bush Alaska in detail
We have not published named-hotel reviews in this region yet: our reviews are concentrated where the search demand is, in the Interior and Southcentral. The regional guide covers the lodging pattern in each town in the meantime.
Common questions
Which region should I base myself in for a first trip to Alaska?
Southcentral, almost always. It has the only major airport, the only real city, and the only road network where driving between towns is practical. Most first trips run Anchorage to Seward or Homer, then north to Talkeetna and Denali. Southeast is superb but is effectively a separate trip reached by ship, and the Arctic is a specialist add-on.
Where should I stay to see the northern lights?
Fairbanks and the Interior, not the coast. Fairbanks sits under the auroral oval and has a continental climate with far clearer skies than Southcentral or Southeast. Stay outside the city light dome: the dark-sky properties sit roughly 25 to 60 miles out. Aurora season runs late August to mid-April, and is most reliable from September to March.
Where do I stay before or after an Alaska cruise?
It depends on the direction. Round-trip sailings usually leave from Seattle or Vancouver rather than Alaska. One-way northbound cruises disembark at Whittier or Seward, so an Anchorage night either side is the normal pattern. If your itinerary calls at Inside Passage ports, those are day stops rather than places you sleep.
Do I need a rental car?
In Southcentral and the Interior, yes, unless you are on a cruise land tour that moves you. The Alaska Railroad covers the Anchorage to Seward and Anchorage to Denali to Fairbanks corridors well and is worth using at least once. In Southeast a car is close to useless, because there are no roads between the towns. Book vehicles early: Alaska genuinely runs out of rental cars in July.
When is the cheapest time to visit Alaska?
May and September, the shoulder months either side of the summer season. You get materially lower rates, thinner crowds and, in September, the first autumn colour, at the cost of some tours and lodges not yet being open or already closed. Winter is cheaper again outside the aurora and ski markets, but much of the summer infrastructure shuts entirely.
How far ahead should I book?
For June to August, six to twelve months, and longer for the in-park Denali lodges and the well-known aurora properties, which sell out first. Small towns like Seward and Sitka have limited inventory and fill fastest. Shoulder season can often be booked a month or two out.