Easy Day Trips with kids from Anchorage, Alaska

Anchorage is a great place to base your stay in Alaska - or perhaps 1/2 of your stay if you plan on going further north as well! We stayed for an entire month, and loved having our place in Anchorage to come home to. We also got a good feel of the area so I hope these tips for day trips around the city help you plan your visit to Anchorage!

Eagle River Nature Center : 33 minute drive

This was actually the first thing we did when we arrived in Anchorage and it was a fun stop. It is a short walk down from the parking lot to the viewing decks and you get a WONDERFUL backdrops of some marsh & mountains. We even saw our first moose!!! You have the option to extend you walk beyond the viewing decks if you’d like and explore more of the views around you!

Hatcher Pass / Hatcher Pass Lodge | 1 hour

Hatcher Pass is a beautiful area to explore, and the cute little lodge you pass on your way up is worth a photo, or two. Right beyond the lodge is also Independence Mine Historical State Park where you can walk around an old Mining area & step back in time to see where the miners lived. You are also surrounded by 360 views and have trails all around you, should you choose to hike and explore more on your own!

Byron Glacier Trail | 1 hour

This is a great & rewarding hike because you end at the base of a glacier and the views are just stunning! Its about 3.2 miles roundtrip and mostly flat, so it is good for all skill levels!

Eklutna Lake | 45 minutes

You HAVE to go here. Another free stop with a very short walk from the parking lot down to the lake. We found lots of logs great for sitting, but if you have camping chairs this would be a great spot to bring them! The view is gorgeous and it just felt like a little hidden gem where you could bring wine, some snacks and hang out until sunset.

Potters Marsh Wildlife Refuge |16 minutes

Perhaps worth a stop if you want to stretch your legs or take in the view of the mountains on a clear day! We saw lots of birds and enjoyed the walk along the boardwalk.

Alyeska Aerial Tram | 45 minutes

The Alyeska Resort is in Girdwood, which would be a great place to stay if you didn’t mind being about 45 minutes from downtown Anchorage! They have a tram at the resort that you can purchase tickets for and take to the top of the mountain behind the resort. Its a little pricey, but worth it in my opinion because you get a totally new view from the top and can take in the views of the peaks & spot glaciers! Make sure to do this on a clear day so the view is worth seeing!

Matanuska Glacier | 2 hours

I chose to do this in a day, but it does make for a long outing! After reading about it online, I decided I wanted to go with a tour group so I could be led by a guide and provided with crampons and a helmet. That proved to be a great decision because this glacier was massive & I wouldn’t have been able to navigate it on my own!

If you have the time, this would be one of my top 5 MUST DOS while here in Alaska. It was a once in a lifetime experience for sure!

Other stops worth mentioning:

Girdwood Gas Station | 45 minutes - but you will pass it often!

Yup, you heard me right. One thing you will learn fast is that when roadtripping in Alaska there aren’t many stops between your point A & point B - so bring snacks and always fill up before you go! We passed this gas station a few times anytime we headed south on Seward Highway and stopped EVERY time. There is a bakery, clean bathrooms, gas of course, and an ice cream shop with fun Alaskan flavors! Make sure to try the Alaskan Wildberry & Fireweed!

Beluga Point | 15 minutes

You have to get lucky and catch the tides and time of year just right - but you CAN actually see Belugas swim here! We saw a family swimming by at high tide in mid-September. If you don’t happen to see any, the view on a clear day still makes it worth a stop for a photo!

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center | 1 hour

If you want to see some Alaskan wildlife up close - this is great stop where you can walk or drive(!!) and see moose, bears, caribou - and many more animals up close!

Palmer | 45 minutes

Palmer is a large town not too far from Anchorage and home of the Alaskan State Fair. We happened to be visiting in September while the fair was going on and made sure to stop for some “only found in Alaska” cuisine. Colin had the deep fried halibut, reindeer sausage, and salmon tacos! We also visited a reindeer farm right outside of town which was a fun experience for the girls as they also have some Moose you get to feed!

Char feeing a Reindeer at the farm in Palmer

Hopefully with these stops and the many more you will get to discover, you are on the way to planning a wonderful trip to Anchorage!