With two-thirds of Alaska's 650,000 citizens living in the Anchorage-Matanuska Basin, visitors have easy access to Anchorage. Vehicle access is via the George Parks & Glenn Highways. Commercial flights, cruise ships or by Alaska Railroad from Denali National Park, Fairbanks or Seward.

Anchorage also serves as a commuter flight hub to Kodiak, the Aluetian Islands, historic Nome and many of the Alaska native villages and smaller communities not accessible by road.

Besides some of the best restaurants in the state, Anchorage offers museums, galleries, and the native cultural center. Boutiques sell Russian, Scandinavian and Alaska native art and wares.

Anchorage has miles of city maintained paths along the coastline perfect for walking, biking or bird watching. Bird watching tours are available to help visitors spot and identify birds from the over 130 species that summer in Alaska.

Guests that stay in hotels or bed & breakfasts downtown can walk to most attractions and many good restaurants. However, the city is spread out with most of the malls several miles from the downtown area. The city has a good bus system and city tours are available. Unlike some of the smaller communities, guests can rent vehicles in Anchorage, but it is more difficult to find a bicycle rental business in Anchorage then it is in Fairbanks.

Many tour companies that offer adventures in communities surrounding Anchorage use Anchorage as their operating center. Stream fishing, deep-sea fishing, canoeing, kayaking, horseback riding and flight seeing adventures can all be arranged in Anchorage, but most activities take place outside of Anchorage.

Surprisingly, the Klondike town of Dawson City, with its boardwalk streets, gambling casinos, and rich gold mining heritage is about the same distance from Fairbanks as is Anchorage. While traveling as far north as the Arctic Interior in Alaska, many visitors also choose to take 2-day tours, cross the mighty Yukon River, into Canada's Yukon Territory for a night of follies and gambling.

Dawson City is a small town, about 10 blocks wide by about 15 blocks long, with dirt streets, wood boardwalks and false fronted buildings that have been maintained in good condition since the turn-of-the-century Klondike gold rush. Guests will find museums, Robert Service poetry readings, dance hall follies and gambling casinos.

There are ample accommodations in modern and older, well maintained hotels, in Bed & Breakfasts, cabins and lodges. There are also ample RV parks, camping facilities and hostels. Guests can walk around the entire town and down to the Yukon River without public transportation. There are also a few taxis available.

There are several ways to access Dawson City. Travelers can drive to Dawson City on their way to or from Alaska, fly on commuter carriers from Fairbanks, AK or Whitehorse, YT. A bus company travels to/from Whitehorse to Dawson 3-times a week, and to/from Fairbanks daily. Travelers should not count on renting a car in AK and driving to Dawson City from Fairbanks, although the trip is scenic and can be done in a day, each way. However, rental companies in Alaska do not insure their vehicles to drive across the Canadian border and without proof of insurance at the border, rental vehicles cannot enter Canada. US travelers need to bring either their birth certificate and a picture ID or a passport. All others need a passport.

Guests driving to Alaska can take a detour from the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse and drive to Dawson City before arriving in Alaska. It is well worth the detour. The road between Whitehorse and Dawson is a good one, easy for RV traveling. From Dawson travelers can take the Top-of-the-World Hwy and the Taylor Hwy and arrive in Tok in a half day, or in Fairbanks in nine hours. A word of caution: the Taylor Hwy is gravel with many narrow points. It is scenic and crosses through the 40-Mile Mining District. Travelers should be aware that the major cruise lines take their guests on large coaches across this same highway. They use pilot cars to guide their coaches through the narrow, gravel road. Travelers that encounter a pilot car should come to a stop and allow the coach to pass - it is the safest course of action for both of you. However, keep in mind that the road is gravel and vehicles cannot pull as close to the side of the roadway safely as they could on a paved road. The drop-offs along the road are quite steep in most narrow areas.

Active and experienced outdoorsmen can rent rafts or canoes in Dawson City or Fairbanks and travel the Yukon River from Dawson City to Eagle, AK; Circle City, AK; or the Yukon River bridge on the Dalton Highway in the northern interior Arctic. Professional canoe/raft support transportation is available in Fairbanks to transport the boats back to their originating point and to take guests on to Fairbanks, Denali National Park or charter anywhere in Alaska, statewide.

Almost 70% of Alaska is owned by the federal government & operated as parks, preserves or reserves. The 6-million acre Denali National Park is located only 2-hrs south of Fairbanks and is traversed by only one, mostly gravel road, 90-miles in length. In 1980, the park annexed Mt. McKinely, the highest peak in No. America, towering at 20,320 ft. McKinley is also known as Denali Mountain. Denali is an "anglosized" word that reflects various Alaska native words used to describe the mountain as "the high one" or "the large one."

The park can be enjoyed as a day-trip from Fairbanks or as an overnight visit. Tours, shuttles and the Alaska Railroad transport guests from Fairbanks. The train departs at 8:30am and arrives just before noon, while shuttles, tours or private vehicles using the George Parks Hwy that parallels the rail tracks take from 2- to 2.5-hrs.

Guests are permitted to drive their private vehicle only 13 miles into the park. Travel through the park is via park contractor's buses. Guests spot black bear, grizzly, wolf, moose, fox, caribou and myriad other small critters and birds as they travel.

Just outside the park visitors can horseback ride, take flight-seeing trips in small aircraft or helicopters, find galleries & shops or enjoy float or white water raft excursion on the Nenana River. Visitors can enjoy dinner and an evening musical review that spoofs earlier miners in the Kantishna Mining District, now surrounded by the park.

Hotels in Denali are somewhat more expensive then in Fairbanks, with fewer Bed & Breakfast options, or other economical facilities. There are several RV parks, campgrounds and 2 hostels in the area along the highway just outside the park. Reservations are absolutely necessary during peak season between June 30-August 15.