Getting From Anchorage to Fairbanks (and back)
· Updated · BootsnAll
Anchorage holds about 40 percent of Alaska's population. Fairbanks, 580 km north and only 300 km short of the Arctic Circle, is the second city and the base for aurora viewing. Between them lies Denali.
How you travel between the two is one of the few genuine choices in Alaskan transport, and the slow option is the right one.
The Alaska Railroad
The Denali Star runs Anchorage to Fairbanks daily through the summer season, roughly mid-May to mid-September, and takes about twelve hours. It stops at Talkeetna and at Denali National Park.
Twelve hours for 580 km is slow, and the slowness is the point. The route runs through country with no road beside it, the domed observation cars are built for looking at it, and on a clear day Denali itself is visible for a long stretch. The mountain is only out about a third of the time, which makes it more of an event when it is.
In winter the Aurora Winter Train runs the same route on a reduced, mostly weekend schedule, and takes about the same time. Winter is the aurora season, so this is not a consolation prize.
Book through the Alaska Railroad. Summer sells out and the premium dome cars sell out first.
Driving the Parks Highway
About 580 km, six to eight hours, on Alaska Route 3. The road is good and paved the whole way, and it passes the Denali park entrance.
A car gives you the thing the train cannot: the ability to stop. Denali needs a day at minimum and the park road is restricted to buses beyond mile 15, so the car gets you to the entrance rather than into the interior.
Winter driving here is serious. Ice, very short daylight, long stretches with no services and no phone signal. Rent from a company that permits winter driving, carry warm clothing regardless of what the forecast says, and do not rely on your phone for navigation.
Buses
Scheduled shuttle services run the corridor in summer, taking around eight to ten hours, and are cheaper than the train. They are transport rather than an experience.
Winter service is limited.
Flying
An hour, with several flights a day year-round. It is the sensible choice if you are short of time, and it is the one that shows you nothing.
In practice a lot of visitors fly one way and take the train the other, which is a reasonable compromise.
A note on the season
Alaska's tourist season is short and intense: roughly late May to early September. Outside it, a great deal closes, the railroad drops to a winter schedule, and Denali's park road shuts.
Winter has its own case, and it is the aurora. Fairbanks sits under the auroral oval and is one of the best places on earth to see it, from about late August through April.