Alaska is famous for glaciers and fjords, lakes, rivers, waterways, and mountains, promising a marvelous RV vacation and adventure. Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Wasilla are three popular RV rental locations in Alaska. Two of the most popular drivable RV-style rentals in Alaska are Class C and Class A motorhomes, which generally cost $175-$400 a night. If you have a vehicle strong enough to pull a load, you will also have plenty of travel trailer options. Many of these travel trailer models can sleep up to 10 people and are less expensive to rent. They run around $130-$160 a night. Consider one of Alaska's pop-up rentals if you still want a pull-behind camper but have lighter towing capacity.
At first glance, Anchorage looks like a typical American city; however, up close, you'll see some surprising facets of urban life in Alaska. Anglers come from all over the area to fish in well-stocked Ship Creek, the only urban salmon fishery in Alaska. See beyond the trails and roads in a flightseeing tour by plane or helicopter with professional pilots. Public art can be found throughout the city, from life-sized murals of Alaska marine life and bowhead whales to a bronze work honoring the legacy of Dena'ina Athabascan matriarch Olga Nicolai Ezi.
Fairbanks was originally a gold rush boomtown; today, it's known as the "Golden Heart of Alaska." Get lucky panning for gold, cool off in an ice museum, mingle with wildlife, or float down the Chena River. Visitors generally enjoy exploring the array of art galleries, museums, historic sites, and cultural venues. If you visit Fairbanks when the snow flies, you can take advantage of other cool things to do like skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, dog mushing, and snowmobiling.
Surrounded by the Talkeetna and the Chugach Mountains, Wasilla is a scenic spot nestled between Lake Lucille and Lake Wasilla. The city is 315 miles south of Fairbanks and 40 miles north of Anchorage by car. It serves as an entryway to the alpine adventures of Hatcher Pass, which reaches 3,886 feet in elevation above the treeline, providing scenic views of the jagged granite peaks of the Talkeetna Mountains.
Located in northern Alaska, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve sits entirely north of the Arctic Circle. It's essentially a vast untouched wilderness park with over 8.4 million acres of superlative natural beauty to explore with no roads, no trail, and no established campsites. The terrain is challenging and is ideal for experienced hikers. An air taxi is an option for those who lack backcountry skills.
Glacier Bay National Park covers 3.3 million acres of rugged mountains, deep sheltered fjords, dynamic glaciers, wild coastlines, and temperate rainforest. It sits in southeast Alaska, where the ocean currents sway with the weather. Glacier Bay has an abundance of plants, fish, and wildlife that are celebrated through dances, songs, stories, and ongoing traditional practices.
Kobuk Valley National Park is another national park in Alaska that has no roads to provide access, so commercial airplanes take care of most transportation needs from Anchorage to Kotzebue or from Fairbanks to Bettles. This nearly 1.8 million-acre piece of remote backcountry offers summer fun like flightseeing, boating, backpacking, hiking, camping, and wildlife watching. Skiing, snowmobiling, and dog mushing activities are available for individuals with their own equipment and keen Arctic winter survival skills.
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve is a piece of land with stunning beauty, craggy mountains, salmon runs, volcanoes, foraging bears, and shimmering turquoise lakes. This place strives to preserve the ancestral homelands of the Dena'ina people and history so that it can be shared with generations of Alaskans and visitors. Travel through the park using a canoe or kayak on the many lakes and rivers or hike the Tanalian Trails.
Denali National Parkis perhaps the best-known national park in Alaska, and is home to the highest mountain in North America. The park includes 6 million acres of forest, glaciers, snow, and bare rock, and it's larger than the entire state of New Hampshire.
Katmai National Park has become well-known in recent years for its bear cam that captures bears fishing. The area protects Mount Katmai and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and is an active volcanic area, as well as being home to 9,000 years of human history.
Chena River State Recreation Area offers 397 square miles of forests, rivers, and alpine tundra for exploring and outdoor adventure. The park follows the Chena River, making it ideal for kayaking, canoeing, and fishing. In addition, you can cast a line in one of the three small well-stocked ponds. Hiking among the abundance of wildlife is great any time of the year.
Chilkat State Park sits about seven miles south of Haines and stretches across over 6,049 acres. It's nestled in a mixed forest of deciduous trees and evergreens featuring diverse wildlife viewing opportunities. The park provides the most amazing views of Rainbow and Davidson Glaciers, exceptional salmon fishing, and a boat launch for sea exploring. Camping, kayaking, hiking, and swimming at the beach are a few activities to do here.
Located in southcentral Alaska, mostly within the municipality of Anchorage, Chugach State Park contains about 495,000 acres of land with diverse landforms and rugged topography. The region has extensive ocean shorelines, ice fields, massive glaciers, and an abundance of lakes. Enjoy the sights found in the Chugach Mountains by hiking, biking, and ATV riding or rafting and kayaking in the lakes.
Denali State Park is located entirely in the Mat-Su Borough, adjacent to Denali National Park, and is almost one-half the size of Rhode Island. This 325,000-acre park sits between the Talkeetna Mountains to the east and the Alaska Range to the west, creating the perfect hub for recreational opportunities.
Popular campgrounds in Alaska are found almost everywhere throughout the state. As one of Alaska's premier RV parks, River's Edge Resort has full hookups and basic hookup options with wide pull-through sites. Homer Spit Campground is another great location right along the shores of Kachemak Bay. With its full-hookup beachside sites, you will not want to miss stopping here. If you're planning a river-rafting experience on the Kenai River, park your RV rental at the Diamond M Ranch Resort and schedule your excursion down the river at the office. This resort has full-hookup RV sites right along the river.
When taking your RV out for a long adventure, you'll want to stop in at a dump station to rid your tank of its wastewater. Alaska has many free options to clean your tank, including the Holiday Gas Station in Wasilla, Mendenhall Lake Campground in Juneau, and 2-Go Marts-Tesoro Gas Station in Anchorage. Some dump stations charge for this service, including the Trapper Creek Inn & RV Park in Trapper Creek and Centennial Park Campground, which has a set charge of $10. Some campgrounds and RV parks in Alaska offer free dump station access for campers, but visitors generally have a small fee to pay. Other dump stations are open 24/7, so you'll be able to stop at one any time of the day.
Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race – This annual long-distance sled dog race runs in early March from Anchorage to Nome, where a team of 14 dogs and a musher cover the distance in eight to 15 days. Stops along the route will allow spectators to see the lineup as each musher arrives.
Winter Folk Fest – This Fairbanks festival is held on either the first or second Saturday in February and often features 30 or more performances with new local music artists every 20 minutes. Another stage is set up for dancers.
Sitka Music Festival – Since 1972, this festival from early June to early July has brought talented string musicians to perform for Alaskans and visitors.
Alaska offers various natural and historic landmarks and monuments. At the northern end of Dalton Highway, you'll find Prudhoe Bay General Store. This store may not have all of what a big grocery store has but does offer some of the main essentials that you would need.
In Homer, you'll come across the Salty Dawg Saloon, which began as one of the first cabins built in 1897. This place served as the first post office, a grocery store, a railroad station, and a local mining office for 20 years. Throughout the years, the Salty Dawg Saloon has changed owners several times; today, it is owned and operated by John Warren as a place to sit down and have a drink.
Wrangell St. Elias National Park & Preserve is the largest national park in the United States and is also designated a World Heritage Site. There are four distinguishing mountain ranges, with St. Elias being the second highest peak in the United States at 18,008 feet. Mt. Wrangell stands at 14,163 feet and is one of the largest active volcanoes in North America; the last reported eruption was in 1900.
Swing into the small town of Chicken with a small population of about 12 people and see the huge chicken standing tall watching over the city. This area was an original gold rush town. Today, tourists generally pass through the area while others stop to take a family photo under the big chicken.
Denali stands at 20,310 feet, crowning the Alaska Range. It towers 3.5 vertical miles above its base, making it a mile taller than Mount Everest. Many consider Denali to be the world's coldest mountain because of its high elevations and subarctic location.
On average expect to pay $213 per night in Alaska.
Do you need to be a certain age to rent an RV in Alaska?Yes. The minimum age is 25 to be eligible to get an RV Rental in Alaska from RVshare.
Does RVshare have emergency roadside assistance?Yes. Every RV rental booked through RVshare receives 24/7 emergency roadside assistance.
Does RVshare offer one way RV rentals in Alaska?Yes. Prior to renting any RV, check with the owner since not all will offer this particular option.
Do you need a special license to drive an RV in Alaska?No. You don’t need a special license or CDL to drive an RV in Alaska.