Planning a trip to Denali National Park and want to spend more than a day? Then consider staying at the Grande Denali Lodge. It is located just outside the gates of one of the largest national parks – only 1.6 miles away from the lodge. With mountain-top panoramic views of Denali Canyon, it’s a wonderful way to experience the treasures of Denali while steeped in Alaskan comfort.
As one of the largest parks, Denali consists of 6 million acres of largely untouched wilderness, larger than the state of New Jersey. (By comparison, Yellowstone National Park is only 2.2 million acres.) Wildlife encounters can include moose, caribou, wolves, Dall’s sheep, grizzly bears and black bears. Only one park road traverses the wilderness. Be advised that most services are at the entrance to the park.
Mountain-top views of Denali Canyon
Grande Denali Lodge sits on top of Sugarloaf Mountain, high above the highway hustle and noise below. Besides featuring some of the best views of the Alaska Range in the area, the Grande Denali Lodge also provides a courtesy shuttle that will take you to Denali National Park visitors center, Alaska Railroad depot, and Denali bus depot and area attractions.
Enjoy Alaska humor on your way to the mountain-top lodge as you read numerous signs that will have you chuckling.
Grande Denali Lodge – A Mountain-top resort
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The Grande Denali Lodge lobby features river rock fireplaces, comfortable seating, and vaulted ceilings. The front desk is open 24 hours a day and a gift shop is located just off the lobby.
Guest Rooms at Grande Denali Lodge
The Lodge is a smoke-free property, with 160 guest rooms and 6 guest cabins. It is conveniently located one mile north of the entrance of Denali National Park.
Each of the air conditioned rooms (necessary in the summer) includes dark hardwood furniture with a work desk, refrigerator, and a coffee maker. Complimentary Wi-Fi is available as is Cable TV.
For added convenience, the Denali Lodge has an ice machine and laundry facilities on the first level.
Amenities in each room include:
Fine-dining at Alpenglow Restaurant
During our stay in May, the Alpenglow opened for a buffet breakfast and for dinner. The buffet breakfast is around $28.95 plus tax, and includes items such as reindeer sausage, fruits, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt.
The dinner menu offers fine-dining with wonderful views of the valley. Expect locally sourced ingredients to be featured as well as a robust wine list that has received awards from Wine Spectator Magazine for its depth and diversity.
The restaurant features New American cuisine with a focus on fresh Alaskan seafood with seasonal fruits and vegetables. For our dinner, we split an appetizer of Grilled Snow Crab Cakes and a Super-Food Salad. Our entrees included Alaskan Halibut Filet with a hazelnut crust, white bean ragout, grilled zucchini and a lemon crème. My husband order the Alaskan Seafood Pasta with Spaghetti pasta, halibut, salmon, scallops, seasonal vegetables, and cajun crème. It is listed as Gluten-Free (GF).
Our Super-Food Salad was fresh and consisted of organic greens, red cabbage, spinach, kale, broccoli florets, carrots, red onion, apples, avocado, blueberries, almonds, strawberry vinaigrette.
Extra Perks & Activities
A shuttle is available to assist with shopping and local sightseeing. Additionally, a variety of activity and tour sales are offered from mid-May to mid-September. Activities include ATV wilderness tours, Flight Seeing, Glacier Landing & Helicopter Tours, Dog Mushing, Scenic and white water rafting on the Nenana River, ziplining, jeep tours, and fly-fishing.
Directions
The Grande Denali Lodge is located at mile 238 on the Parks Highway, and can be reached by train, motorcoach or personal vehicle.
The train is one of the easiest ways to get to Denali and highly recommended. The Alaska Railroad’s Denali Star Train provides daily service between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The shuttle picks you up from or can deliver you to the train station.
- Southbound Train: departs Fairbanks at 8:20 a.m., arrives in Denali Park at 12:10 p.m., continuing on to Anchorage arriving at 8:00 p.m.
- Northbound Train: departs Anchorage at 8:20 a.m., arrives in Denali Park at 3:55 p.m., continuing on to Fairbanks arriving at 8:00 p.m.
If you take the train to Fairbanks, consider staying at the Sophie Station Suites.
Booking a Room (May 17-Sept12)
Rates vary substantially based on whether you book during shoulder or peak season. Currently, these prices are quoted on their website:
Standard Room//Shoulder $269| Peak $359
View Room//Shoulder $299|Peak $389
Cabin//Shoulder $329|Peak $419
Note that prices do no includes 7.5% hotel tax. Also, discount rates of !0% are offered to AAA, Military, AARP, and Alaskan Residents. Check the hotel website for any specials that might be offered. At the time of this writing, the property had just opened for the season and no specials were listed.
You can book directly at the Grande Denali Lodge, or at an online hotel booking such as Expedia or Hotels.com.
The author was hosted for one night at Grande Denali Lodge for purposes of this review. As always, all opinions are those of the author. All photos are by writer/photographer Karin Pezo with the exception of the featured image and the wine image. Both of these images are courtesy of Grande Denali Lodge.
