Hotels

Patterns of land ownership and the uncontrolled development around Denali have led to a hodgepodge of roadside hotels, cabins, lodges, campgrounds, and restaurants in pockets arrayed along more than 20 miles of the Parks Highway. There are rooms of good quality in each of the pockets, but the going rates vary widely. The most expensive rooms, and the first booked, are in the immediate vicinity of the park entrance. Better bargains are in pockets south of the park, with prices getting lower the farther you go. Both these areas are entirely seasonal. Good deals are had in Healy, too, 12 miles north of the park, where you can find a hotel room for $50 less than a comparable room near the park entrance. A few links to B&Bs are on the Healy Chamber of Commerce website (www.denalichamber.com, click on "Directory"). If you don't have a car Healy is not convenient; in that case, stay nearer the park entrance. The other choices are a wilderness lodge in the Kantishna area; or Talkeetna, the back door to the park. Despite their high prices, rooms can be hard to find at the peak of the season, and it's wise to book ahead.

Near the Park

This area, known formally as Nenana Canyon or more commonly as "Glitter Gulch," extends about a mile north of the park entrance on the Parks Highway. Large, luxurious hotels dominate. Owned by the Princess and Holland American cruise lines, each hotel has superb rooms and public areas that were rebuilt in grand style within the last few years. Objectively the best lodgings in the area, I give them brief mention mainly because they serve package-tour passengers nearly to the exclusion of other guests. The giants are the Denali Princess Lodge, Mile 238.5, Parks Hwy. (tel. 800/426-0500 reservations, 907/683-2282 local; www.princesslodges.com), and the McKinley Chalet Resort, Mile 239.1, Parks Hwy. (tel. 800/622-7275 or 907/272-7275; www.reservedenali.com). Rack rates are high at each of these places, but you usually don't have to pay them. You can stay for much less if you arrive on one of the days when the flow of cruise-ship passengers is down, or early or late in the season, or if you book one of their packages. Good deals are to be had there as packages with the Alaska Railroad or out of peak season.

At one time the canyon contained a variety of smaller, locally owned hotels catering to independent travelers, but the extraordinary value of the property and ever-growing flow of cruise-ship passengers has led to consolidation of lodgings, campgrounds, shops, restaurants, and other businesses into the hands of the two main cruise lines (which are, in reality, only two arms of the same corporation, Carnival), and ARAMARK, the park concessionaire, which operates under the name Denali Park Resorts outside park boundaries.

All of the hotels in this area are open only during the tourist season, roughly from May 15 to September 15.

In Healy

Healy is 10 miles north of the park entrance, but a world away. It's a year-round community with an economy based partly on a coal mine. It sits in a large, windy valley with a few patches of stunted trees and big, open spaces of tundra. There are hotels and B&Bs with rooms well below the cost of those near the park, and most businesses stay open in the winter when the rest of the region shuts down tight. They say the water tastes better, too. On the downside, you need a car to stay in Healy. Besides the lodgings listed below, Denali Dome Home (tel. 800/683-1239 or 907/683-1239; www.denalidomehome.com) is a neat place, a huge house in a geodesic dome on 5 acres, run year-round by a family for many years. The seven rooms are $148 double in summer and have many amenities.

South of the Park

Lodgings south of the park are in widely separated pockets of private land concentrated 7 and 14 miles south of the park. You may also want to try Denali Cabins, Mile 229, Parks Hwy. (tel. 877/233-6254 or 907/376-1992; www.denali-cabins.com).