Alaska is an adventure lover’s paradise. Everyone should travel Alaska at least once in their lifetime. Seriously, I think my jaw was dropped everywhere we went- even when we were just driving Alaska’s highways. The scenery is just incredible. There are so many things to do in a 10 day Alaska RV Trip!
With that being said, I want to share the great Alaska road trip that we curated because each of the places we visited were simply amazing. In this Alaska travel guide, I will share the best things to do in Alaska from Homer to Denali.
- When to visit Alaska
- How to get to Alaska
- 10 Day Alaska Road Trip Itinerary
- Watch Our Vlog from Alaska!
We had the opportunity to visit Alaska last July and I couldn’t wait to start planning! We found an RV through rvshare.com, and after traveling Alaska this way, I wouldn’t recommend anything else because an RV is hands-down the best vehicle for an Alaska road trip.
RV traveling in Alaska is awesome for multiple reasons. First, it allows you to easily travel to multiple locations in one trip, without doing a cruise. Second, Alaska is one of the only states where there are no laws against pulling off along the highway to sleep. Third, you can save a lot of money because your RV serves as both your car, hotel, and you have a kitchen to cook some of your meals. And my favorite reason, you have your own personal bathroom, meaning not having to stop for pee breaks!
When to visit Alaska:
The best time to visit Alaska is in the summer months (May-September), with the best months being July & August! Alaskan summers are mild with temperatures in the mid 70’s.
If you are asking yourself what to pack for an Alaska trip in the summer, it is good to pack layers! The weather can fluctuate from being chilly to warm very quickly, especially when you are hiking. It is great to always have extra layers of clothes available in your backpack. Raincoats are highly advised as well, but from our experience we did not really run into much rain.
How to get to Alaska:
We flew into Anchorage, which is Alaska’s largest city. From there, you can easily rent a car from the airport, or in our case, arrange pick up of the RV with the owner. We were able to start our Alaska road trip from Anchorage.
10 Day Alaska Road Trip Itinerary
This is in no way a complete Alaska road trip guide. Alaska is such a vast state and there are so many things to do and see, that you could never do them all in a 10 day road trip, so if you have more time, even better!
However, despite lots of driving, this itinerary includes a lot of amazing Alaska road trip destinations, and we did not regret the 1,500 miles of driving! I would visit each and every one of these places again if I get the chance. When we chose all of our main destinations for this road trip, we wanted to be sure that we wouldn’t have to drive more than 5 hours in one day.
- Anchorage to Homer: 4.5 hours
- Homer to Seward: 3.5 hours
- Seward to Palmer: 3 hours
- Palmer to Valdez: 4.5 hours
- Valdez to Hatcher Pass: 5 hours
- Hatcher Pass to Denali: 3.5 hours
- Denali to Anchorage: 4 hours
Day 1: Anchorage, Alaska
We did not really spend any time in Anchorage, as Jake had already been there for a week of work. After I flew in to meet him, we had a light lunch at Snow City Café (which was fantastic if I might add) and then headed towards our first destination: Homer, Alaska.
Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city. There are plenty of options for food, fuel, and purchasing last minute gear. If you do not have any, I recommend buying bear spray in Anchorage for any hiking or camping you may be planning.
We left Anchorage right after lunch, heading south for Homer. The drive from Anchorage to Homer is about 4.5 hours.
- If you want to get to know Anchorage, I recommend doing so before getting an RV, so you do not have any difficulty driving or finding parking for the RV in the city.
Day 2: Homer, Alaska
On our way to Homer, Alaska, we stopped at Ninilchik beach to get out of the RV and stretch our legs. To our surprise, we were greeted by hundreds of bald eagles. This is not an exaggeration, there were literally hundreds of eagles flying around, perched on the cliff walls, and feasting on fish!
Homer is known for its halibut fishing, so if you have time, you may want to consider a halibut fishing charter. We did not do this, as we were only spending a day and a half in Homer.
Walking around Homer Spit, strolling on Bishop’s Beach, and getting a drink at the Salty Dawg Saloon are among some of the best things to do in Homer, Alaska.
We also hiked the Diamond Creek Trail. It is worth it to time this trail out with low tide to explore all of the tide pools on the beach, where the trail ends. I read that you can often see starfish, octopus, and even sea lions bathing on rocks. We did not see an octopus or sea lions, but we did find starfish and other neat sea life.
Day 3: Kachemak Bay State Park
Kachemak Bay State Park is accessible by boat from Homer. It is a short boat trip across the bay. We were able to walk up to Mako’s Water Taxi and purchase same day tickets. They drop you off on the shore with a park map and give you a time slot to be back to the boat for pickup.
We hiked the Glacier Spit/Saddle Trail. The trail starts on the beach, takes you through a woods, and then opens up to a beautiful glacier lake where you can spend time taking in the sight and relaxing, after the trek there.
We are positive we heard a growl of a bear while hiking through the woods here, so make sure you are prepared with bear spray, that you do not have any open food, and are alert on the trail. (This goes for any hike you do in Alaska). Read the park signs before you start a hike and educate yourself on bear safety.
Days 3 & 4: Seward & Kenai Fjords National Park
Leaving Homer, you will head back North to get to Seward, and it is about a 3.5-hour drive. Upon arriving there, we went to Kenai Fjords National Park and hiked the Harding Icefield Trail, and it was one of my all-time favorite trails I have ever done and definitely one of the best hiking trails in Alaska! The trail is 8.2 miles round trip, and you end at the top of Exit Glacier, opening up into the Harding Icefield. It is like entering a different world, and it makes you feel so incredibly small.
The trail is 4 miles of hiking up the mountain to the summit. As you go up, you start entering into snow. There were parts on the way back down the trail that we had to slide down on our bottoms. If you are not up for a difficult hike, you can do a shorter and much easier hike to the base of the Exit Glacier, and still get an incredible view of the glacier.
Among the best things to do in Alaska is to go sea kayaking, so the next day, we had a sea kayaking tour scheduled with Sunny Cove Kayaking. We did the first tour in the morning on Resurrection Bay, when the water was calm and easier to kayak on.
We loved being out on the beautiful bay surrounded by mountains and wildlife!
Afterwards, we headed to Mount Marathon in an attempt to summit the difficult trail. We got about halfway up before I decided I was too worn out from the hiking the day before. We left and headed to the Seward Brewing Company for some drinks and a bite to eat.
Even though we didn’t summit the mountain, we still got an awesome view overlooking Seward.
Seward is also a great place to book a whale watching cruise, however we chose to do this later in the trip when we went to Valdez.
Day 5: Palmer, Alaska
After Seward, we hopped in the RV and drove a little over 3 hours to get to Palmer. From there, we hiked the Matanuska Glacier. We opted to do a guided tour since we had never hiked on a glacier before. If you are looking for an awesome glacier hike in Alaska, this is it!
The Matanuska Glacier is the largest glacier that is accessible by road in Alaska. You have to follow a gravel road that takes you back to the glacier tours building, and from there they will give you instructions to get to your guided tour.
It was so cool walking on the glacier, while also learning valuable information about it from our knowledgeable guide.
Days 6 & 7: Valdez, Alaska
From Palmer to Valdez is about a 4.5-hour drive. Trust me, this drive is worth every minute because Valdez was one of my favorite places we visited in Alaska! On the drive into the town, you start seeing waterfalls everywhere, right along the road! It is an incredible drive, and I kept telling Jake it felt like we were entering a different planet because it didn’t even look real!
If you are looking for wildlife cruises in Alaska, we scheduled a 6 hour Glacier and wildlife cruise with Stan Stephens Glacier & Wildlife Cruises in Valdez. We did the Columbia Glacier Cruise, and it was amazing! The scenery in Valdez is just breathtaking. On this cruise we saw sea lions, eagles, sea otters, the glimpse of a whale, orcas, and of course the beautiful Columbia Glacier!
The wildlife cruise also included a meal, which was great since it was a 6-hour tour. If you opt to do a cruise, be sure to dress warm because it can get quite chilly out on the water.
While in Valdez, be sure to stop at the Nat Shack food truck for some amazing halibut fish tacos, and some of the best food in Alaska. They were seriously the most amazing fish tacos I have ever eaten.
Valdez also holds a special place in my heart because upon leaving, I spotted a beautiful overlook along the road. We got out of the RV to enjoy the scenery, and this is where Jake proposed to me!
After that excitement, we stopped at Worthington Glacier State Park, where you can do a short little hike right up to the base of the glacier.
We then drove 5 hours to Hatcher Pass to do some more hiking. Yes, Valdez is a bit of a long drive out of the way but is 100% worth it!
Day 8: Hatcher Pass
We had planned to wake up bright and early to hike the Gold Mint Trail in Hatcher Pass, which is a 16-mile round trip hike. To our surprise we woke up to rain and decided to hold off the hike.
Instead, we checked out Independence Mine State Historical Park, which was also really cool to see the old, preserved buildings from a historical gold mine.
After an hour or two, the rain stopped, and we decided to go ahead and start the Gold Mint Trail. The first half of the trail was very flat and followed a winding river in a beautiful green valley. Eventually you come up to a mountain, where you do a pretty steep hike up to the summit and ends with a little red hut at the peak.
If you are doing some backpacking in Alaska, you can hike up to the hut and spend the night. It is free to sleep in the hut, and it is first come, first serve. You can also take your tent and set it up anywhere around the hut. It would have been awesome to stay overnight, but we were not prepared for a backpacking trip, so we decided to hike the whole trail in one day.
It took us from 12pm until 9pm to finish the hike (thankfully Alaska does not get dark in the summertime), but we both agreed the hike was totally worth the time! If we ever go back, we will plan to spend the night on the mountain though.
If you are not up for this long of a hike, there are plenty of other great hiking options in Hatcher Pass. I wish we would have had time to do more!
Days 9 & 10: Denali National Park
The last two days of our trip were spent in the famous Denali National Park. From Hatcher Pass, Denali is about a 4-hour drive. Again, the drive is worth it because it is rated one of the most scenic highways in the United States!
There is only one road through Denali National Park, which is 92 miles from the entrance to Denali base. We didn’t drive this route, as it requires a permit, and when we went the wait list was full.
We decided it would be a good idea to rent bikes to ride in the park from Bike Denali. While it was fun, it was very difficult to ride the bikes up the steep road if you are not used to biking on this sort of terrain.
On our first day in Denali, the mountain was completely covered in clouds, and we couldn’t even find a glimpse of it. The next morning, we woke up and found Denali right away! It is such a beautiful and incredible sight!
If you would prefer a less strenuous method of seeing Denali, the park has a range of bus trips to choose from (free & paid). In hindsight, we should have done this one of the days because we did not even get close to the base of the mountain with our bikes. However, we didn’t like the idea of being on a tourist bus. We wanted to explore the park on our own terms.
Check the park website for information on bus trips, hiking, backpacking, trail information, ranger programs, etc.
If you enjoy going to breweries, stop at 49th State Brewing Company after your visit to the park. We had good beer and yummy food!
Day 11: Back to Anchorage
Day 11 was spent driving back to Anchorage for our return home. We lined up returning the RV to the owners, and they drove us to the airport to catch our flight.
-Morgan
John Muir, the famous naturalist, wrote in his journal that you should never go to Alaska as a young man because you’ll never be satisfied with any other place as long as you live.
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