National Parks
VISITING ALASKA IN MAY
We made the decision to visit Alaska before peak travel season in 2022. The month of May turned out to be the perfect time to experience Alaska.
What to know about May in Alaska:
- It’s before peak travel season, so prices are a little bit cheaper but not everything will be open or attractions could still be operating at winter hours
- It’s the driest month with the least amount of rain. The weather is perfect for the outdoors (60s/40s).
- If you’re hiking, expect to be limited by melting snow and ice. Pack waterproof shoes and hiking poles to help traverse the ice
- It’s too late in the year to see the northern lights. The sunset is 11:30pm (or later) by May. This means you aren’t constrained by light to fit in your activities. Bring on those midnight sun hikes! Bring eye covers for help with sleeping.
- Expect a lot of mosquitoes due to melting snow and standing water. This is true all summer long
- You get to see more snow capped mountains when visiting in May compared to summer, which we believe makes scenic views much more beautiful!
Follow our detailed 7 Day Itinerary below to explore and experience Alaska. We drove ~1500 miles during our Alaska trip because we figured we would not be returning to Alaska for many years if at all. We wanted to see as much as we could on our trip. To cut drive time significantly, consider cutting out Fairbanks completely from the itinerary and instead spending more time in Anchorage.
- Table of Contents
- DAY 1 – Flight to Anchorage. We drove from Anchorage to Talkeetna once we landed because early the next day we had booked a flightseeing.
- DAY 2 – Talkeetna and Denali National Park
- K2 Aviation plane ride – Flightseeing has been on our bucket list and this turned out to be the perfect location for an airplane ride over the Alaska mountain range. This was the most expensive excursion on our itinerary, but I highly recommend booking. We got some incredible photos and videos from the plane.
- Talkeetna – The small town was mostly closed when we visited, but we walked around and got some delicious breakfast at Conscious Coffee.
- South Denali Viewpoint – After the plane ride, we started our drive north up to Denali NP. When we visited the skies were clear and we got some great shots of Denali Mountain. On the way, you will also pass North Denali Viewpoint on the way into Denali, but this viewpoint was still snowed over and closed in May when we visited.
- Igloo – MM 188.5, this is another quick photo stop off the freeway. It’s an old abandoned igloo shaped hotel.
- Denali NP – We made it to Denali! Denali NP has only one long highway on it. Private vehicles can drive up to MM15 once the peak season starts (after Memorial Day). Past this point, you must book a shuttle (not free) to cross MM15. There are both hop on/hop off shuttles and bus tours (were about ~$100 per person). However, before that and when we visited private vehicles were still able to drive past MM15. We chose not too because the road is gravel and unpaved.
- Denali Visitor Center – The Visitor Center has some fun exhibits about the national park. The park is more tourist friendly than I thought. The visitor center area is large and well-maintained. There is even a nice cafe here.
- Sled Dog Show – If there was one mistake we made on our Denali NP visit, it was not checking the timings of the sled dog tours before visiting. I assumed they were still closed for the winter season, but there was one show at 2PM on the day we visited! We luckily caught the last 5 minutes of the show, but we regret not being able to learn more about these incredible dogs that help keep Denali running over the winter.
- Mountain Vista Trail – After this we did our only hike for the day. Hiking was limited because of melting snow. At 0.7 mi without elevation gain this is a short and easy hike to do, but even this hike was covered in mud and snow. Make sure to bring your hiking poles and waterproof hiking shoes. We enjoyed this short trail and even got to see a moose!
- Savage River Viewpoint – We drove to MM15 which is where the Savage River Loop starts. This trail was still completely snowed over, but we got some fun photos here.
- After this, we made the long drive up to Fairbanks to stay the night. It was a very long day with the drive added in but we wanted to make sure to visit Fairbanks on our trip. This is a beautiful and scenic drive on Parks Highway.
- DAY 3 – Fairbanks and North Pole
- Chena Hot Springs Resort – From Fairbanks this is still ~1 hr drive out east. Our day started out with a dip Chena Hot Springs and brunch at Chena Hot Springs Resort. Unfortunately, they had just cleaned out the hot springs and were refilling the pool when we visited early in the morning. They told us it would be around noon when the water would be more manageable. I do wish this was advertised better on the website as we could have easily rearranged our day to visit here in the afternoon. They do have regular indoor and outdoor pools which we enjoyed for an hour. The temperature was still ridiculously hot but we decided to take a quick refreshing dip to make the trip worth it. After this, we had a delicious brunch at the resort restaurant.
- Alyeksa Pipeline Viewpoint – Next we had a quick pit stop at the pipeline which transports oil all across Alaska. There are some interesting facts about this engineering feat here.
- North Pole – North Pole, Alaska is home to Santa Clause House that spends Christmas all year round. The House is actually a large gift shop. Again, the attractions were all closed (including reindeer petting zoo), but the gift shop was open. We bought a ornament for our home Christmas tree here.
- Morris Cultural Center – This museum is free to visit in central Fairbanks, and I highly recommend a visit. It was interesting learning about the lives of native Alaskans here.
- Pioneer Park – We took another stop at this free park which is a historic village that preserves cabins and buildings from the Alaskan gold rush. These buildings were moved from Fairbanks downtown into this interesting park. The shops, restaurants, and museums here were still closed in May but it the park itself was open to walk around the outside.
- We chose to again stay in Talkeetna this night, so made the long drive back after this.
- DAY 4 – drive back to Anchorage, Alaska Conservation Center
- Today we started the drive back to Anchorage. Alaska is home to majestic beauty and scenic drives. There are so many incredible viewpoints right off the freeway. It was hard to decide what to stop at and do on our drive. Today we drove south making many stops while driving south.
- Lucille lake
- Reflections Lake
- Mirror Lake
- Thunderbird Falls Hike – a moderate 1.8 miles out and back trail. There is an upper viewpoint as well as an option to take the lower trail directly to the falls.
- Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria – We had lunch at this delicious pizzeria. We loved it so much we came twice. This also might be the most popular restaurant in Anchorage. It was very busy.
- Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center – We highly recommend adding this outdoor zoo to your Alaska itinerary. We had the opportunity to see numerous animals here including bison, bears, porcupine, moose. After this we started the drive back to Anchorage making stops again while driving north.
- Portage Glacier
- Beluga point
- Potter Marsh Boardwalk – This marsh is a great spot for birdwatching. We spotted a bald eagle here! We stayed in Anchorage tonight.
- DAY 5 – Matanuska Glacier hike
- Today was entirely dedicated to the Matanuska Glacier. There are numerous tour groups that take visitors down to the glacier. We booked with MICA guides. This is a unique experience and highly recommend. There are a few glaciers that are accessible from Anchorage, the Matanuska Glacier was a 2 hour drive from Anchorage.
- DAY 6 – Seward and Kenai Fjords NP
- On our last day in Alaska we drove south to Seward, a unique coastal town that is home to Kenai Fjords National Park
- Kenai Fjords National Park – This national park is best seen on the water and there are numerous boat and kayaking tours that leave from here. We didn’t have the time to do this on our trip but instead hiked the short Exit Glacier Trail within the park. This easy 2.2 mile trail leads you to the exit Glacier and can be extended to include the longer Harding Icefield Trail. The park has labeled the points where the Glacier used to lie by year. Climate change has taken a significant toll on this glacier and it is obvious that within a few year this glacier will not even be able to be seen from the current Exit Glacier Trail and it will need to be extended.
- Alaska Sea Life Center – This marine museum was another highlight of our trip. We had the chance to see numerous wildlife here including sea lions, otters, and our favorite-puffins!
- Seward and Resurrection Bay – After this we explored downtown Seward and small shops and took photos of the coast.
- We made the drive back to Anchorage stopping at Tern Lake.
- DAY 7 – Flight home
- We had an overnight flight back to Houston today. Overall we had 5 full days in Alaska using this itinerary. This trip was one of our favorites!
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