A guide to visiting Denali, when to go and what to do

Mt. Denali on a clear day mirrored in the Reflection Pond

Denali National Park and Preserve is a sacred place for many Indigenous people

(Image credit: Alan Musy - ADM PhotoGraphics / Getty Images)

Denali National Park and Preserve checks all of the Alaska boxes: unspoiled wilderness, roaming wildlife, massive glaciers and snow-covered peaks. Covering more than 6 million acres and home to the highest mountain in North America, Denali is the rugged last frontier in all its splendor.

What to know before you go

Four caribou bulls amid fall foliage on a cloudy day at Wonder Lake in Denali National Park and Preserve — Wildlife watching is a must during any visit to Denali National Park and Preserve

The park is open year-round, but there are only two seasons observed there: summer, running mid-May to mid-September, and winter, which is the rest of the year. From Anchorage and Fairbanks, visitors can drive, take a bus or ride a train to Denali. But prepare to ditch the car — there is one road in Denali, and most of it is open only to bus traffic.

In the summer, there are a few bus options. Transit buses are designed to "move people around within the park," the National Park Service said, while narrated tour buses feature a "trained naturalist who both drives the bus and narrates during the trip." Three free shuttles take travelers from the visitor center to trailheads, sled dog demonstrations and facilities like the Riley Creek Mercantile.

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Summer adventures

A woman and two men use hiking sticks while walking on a trail in Denali National Park and Preserve — Off-track hiking is a major perk for some visitors

This is when the park is in full swing. Go hiking, biking, rafting, backpacking and wildlife watching, take a helicopter to a glacier, embark on a photo safari, camp out and try flightseeing, which is "one of the more dramatic ways to tour Denali National Park and Preserve," the National Park Service said.

Denali has some marked trails, like the "stunning Triple Lakes Trail, where you might be able to add beavers to your wildlife-viewing checklist," Condé Nast Traveler said. Off-trail hiking is allowed and encouraged, if you are comfortable with choosing your own route and not having a path to follow. Talk to a ranger first if you have questions or concerns.

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Backpacking here is "just like the park: big and wild," said Backpacker, with "wide-open tundra hiking, miles of braiding rivers" and the "certain knowledge that no other place will ever make you feel so small."

Winter escapades

A green northern lights sky above a Denali sign inside Denali National Park and Preserve — The northern lights can be seen in the park during winter

Do not sleep on Denali in the winter. Because of how far north it is, this is the "predominant season," the National Park Service said, and while during this time "snow blankets the park, daylight disappears and temperatures can plunge to a frigid -40 F," there remains plenty to do. Cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and winter biking are popular activities, along with visiting the canine-ranger sled dogs.

This is also the "ideal" time to witness the northern lights, Afar said. The "kaleidoscopic ribbons of colored light" appear in the sky year-round, but it is "only dark enough to catch them from early fall to early spring" when the nights are longer.

A wildlife bonanza

A female grizzly bear walks through a meadow at Denali National Park and Preserve — Grizzly bears are part of the park's 'Big 5' animals

You never know what creature might be around the corner in Denali. Foxes, arctic ground squirrels and marmots are spotted regularly, and visitors are always keeping an eye out for the elusive "Big 5": moose, caribou, grizzly bears, Dall sheep and wolves. Two of the "hot spots" for wildlife viewing are Sable Pass and the Teklanika River, EXP Journeys CEO Kevin Jackson said to Travel and Leisure.

A spellbinding mountain

An aerial view of Mt. Denali taken from a plane at sunrise — Flightseeing tours take visitors over the mountains of Denali

One of the most majestic sights in Denali National Park and Preserve is its namesake 20,310-foot mountain. Because it starts at a base of 2,000 feet, "on a clear day you will be transfixed by over 18,000 feet of ascending rock, ice and snow," Lonely Planet said. The "colossal peak" often plays "peekaboo," said National Geographic, hiding behind a "thick curtain of cloud, which is formed by the mountain's temperamental weather system."

The name Denali means "the tall one" in the language of the Koyukon Athabascan, and is what most Alaskans, Indigenous and otherwise, have always called the mountain. From 1917 to 2015 and starting again in January 2025, the federal government has officially referred to Denali as Mount McKinley, after President William McKinley.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.