Denali Backcountry Lodge

What an experience! From the helicopter to the sauna and everything in between, this place was great. I loved having activity options through my stay. You could be as active or relaxed as you wanted. The Naturalists were top-tier: knowledgeable, friendly, and accommodating. The food was amazing and I loved the Happy Hour talks each evening. Couldn’t have asked for better views or a more enjoyable experience.

We can't say enough great things about this experience. The staff is amazing, the chef and baker were superb, the masseuse was incredible, the nature and area was so beautiful and the ride into the resort was a trip in itself. The guided hikes were so much fun and so informative, the staff went out of their way to make sure everything was perfect. We highly recommend this unique experience!

Our family of 5 had an amazing time at the Backcountry Lodge. We arrived to stunning views of Denali via helicopter. We were fortunate to see unobstructed views of Denali for each day of our stay. The cabins and amenities were first class. Having hot water and in cabin bathrooms in the backcountry of a National Park made the adventures comfortable for all. We loved the food - and the staff. All of the staff both those we met and those we didn't made the trip excellent. You will not regret spending your time and money with the team of the Denali Backcountry Lodge. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience my family will not forget.!

The Denali Backcountry Lodge experience, while the Park Road is closed, can't be beat! The accommodations are comfortable, with all the necessary amenities, plus Wifi. The rooms are large enough to comfortably accommodate up to 4 people. ||After the 35-minute helicopter ride over the park, with incredible mountain views, you are greeted by a staff member who immediately shows you to your room, which has a large hiking pack and 32-oz water bottle for each member of your party to use during your stay. As your luggage is taken to your room for you by staff, your staff greeter shows you where the main lodge is for lunch and you can meet them there after you freshen up for a couple of minutes in your room.||Lunch is a fixed menu of about 7 selections. There is also a different soup and side each day. After lunch on arrival day, your staff greeter takes you on a short tour of the property to share the amenities and how your days will be structured. Then you're led to the desk where you sign up for which hikes/activities you'd like to do that afternoon. All hikes/activities are optional. Only on arrival day, you pick your dinner from a menu of three items so that it can be prepared before you sit down for dinner. After arrival day, you choose your dinner during your breakfast each day. There's a meat option, a seafood option, and a vegetarian option for dinner, with a new kind of roll, flavored butter, and dessert each day. There's also a plentiful snack bar, coffee carafe, and espresso machine for in between meals. Breakfast is a fixed menu of about 5 items, with a fruit cup.||At dinner, you look over the hiking options for the following day. Each day there is a casual hike, a moderate hike, and a challenging hike to choose from. When the moderate hike we wanted to do was filled to capacity (due to NPS rules), we asked about arranging another time of the day that we could do the hike and the BCL readily accommodated us and made sure that we'd get to do the hike we wanted. Each day there are also multiple shuttle rides to Wonder Lake to see what wildlife may be out and about. At Wonder Lake, on a clear day, you have a beautiful view of Denali and the north side of the Alaska Range. ||We booked 3 nights at the lodge, so on our 2nd full day, I booked a massage for after our Tundra Trek. The spa is an adorable little building with a wood burning stove in the massage area. On a 45-degree day in July, the heat was heavenly! The massage was just what I needed after 2 weeks in Alaska. I had the deep-tissue massage and left feeling relaxed and like I had actually been worked on. ||While the star of our time back here should have been the park, the food gave the park a run for its money! The lodge has a chef, a baker, a sous chef, and other kitchen staff to make the most delicious meals. We cleaned our plates AND our dessert plates every night. Then, when you get back to your room for the evening, there's an extra dessert treat to tide you over until breakfast! You will not go hungry at the DBL! There's also a well-stocked bar (as in it has a good stock, not that it only has well drinks) on the upper floor of the lodge that "officially" opens around the time one of the staff members gives a nightly presentation on an element of the flora, fauna, geology, or adventure of Denali National Park, though the bar is always available during the day.||While it's difficult to get to, the experience of being at the Backcountry Lodge is well worth the time and the expense. The staff obviously love their jobs and love meeting people from all over the world. They make you feel comfortable asking for anything and everything you could think of to make your stay absolutely perfect. If you have any desire to live this experience, go now. Once the park road reopens, this experience will never be the same. The isolation and limited capacity back there is what really made the experience magical for us. The road is slated to be open again in 2027, as of today.

Our family of four lives the Backcountry Lodge! The remoteness and beauty of the surroundings was breathtaking! The naturalists who led out hikes were super knowledgeable and friendly. Thomas was amazing. The food and beverages were great, and although it’s a pricey endeavor it’s well worth it!

The place was beautiful. All the people working there were friendly, informative, and fun. The food was fresh, plentiful, and very good. There is a huge lodge area with a lot of warm sitting areas. Many easy and casual trails to very challenging ones. We met a lot of great people from all parts of the USA. The bus trip is a little long, but we saw several Bears, Moose, Sheep, and even a fox with a little Denali critter burrito.

Outstanding from greeting to leaving. Staff friendly and knowledgeable. Location with less than 25 visitors made the visit all the more special. Highly recommend you make the the trip soon.

This was the best vacation experience I have ever had. From the helicopter ride out to the lodge, to Nova's excellent management and communication with us, to the guided hikes by our knowledgeable on-site naturalists who also provided nightly educational programs about the flora and fauna, park history, and the landslide which closed the park road. The food was amazing. The scenery was unmatched. Every detail of every need was exceeded beyond our expectations. This was the best part of Alaska!!

Right on a beautiful running creek, with the soothing sound of water taking all your stress away, this lodge is ideal for recharging life's battery. Totally off the grid: no phone, no tv, no internet. Can't get any better than this. The cabins have comfy beds, a great bathroom and spectacular views if you book one right on the creek outside. The meals are excellent and their bar with its huge fireplace is perfect for sharing stories from the day's adventures. This lodge has it all, fishing gear, hiking equipment, bicycles, vans, and much more. Their experienced staff will either take you on a private tour or they can customize a special one just for you. We walked, hiked and took hundreds of photos. We made friends and stared in awe of the wildlife surrounding the compound. Ok, they have WiFi in the main lodge only but it's very slow - it's just a reminder that you're there for something bigger than the internet. Breathe in sunshine.

The only reason to stay at Denali backcountry lodge is to get the most interior into the park as possible, this review is based on experience to price ratio. There are two other lodges located this far into the park, but one is clearly more for families and the other for those who are cool with sharing bathrooms with a number of guests. I fit neither of those categories, hence why I picked backcountry lodge. To start off, I went during June 2020 when there were only 8 total guests at the lodge(usually have 70+) and the trains were not running so barely any "day tip visitors" which I was told is anywhere from 100-200 extra guests at the lodge for the day. To say I was spoiled to be there with it so deserted is an understatement, but to make up for that the staff was anything but spoiling to us when it came to activities, going with the flow, or accommodating for the weather. Let's start with what everyone else talks about on here- the food! So, the food is pretty good. Breakfast and lunch exceeded my expectations. Dinner was so-so (any time you order a prime rib and they don't ask you how you would like it cooked should be a red flag). Dessert was above and beyond every night, so overall I say the food was a 4/5. The lodge and cabins are beautiful, maintained well and had no issues with heat in the room or bathroom water temperature. The bus ride into the park with Eric was phenomenal, he went slow for everyone to be able to spot wild life accordingly and he was very personable and kind with the guests. We saw 5 bears, a fox, caribou, a couple moose and even got to see a baby bear. The drive out of the park was a different experience, I felt like the driver was racing to get back for literally no known reason(trains weren't running) and he went so fast that there was no way to spot wildlife efficiently (I've been to Africa twice so I know a thing a two about spotting wildlife). He also mentioned to not bring up politics to him because we probably wouldn't like what he had to say. There was only 5 of us in the bus and we only knew his first name, so I'm not sure why he thought any of us would bring up politics with him to begin with so that was beyond strange IMO. I didn't realize that this lodge can only bring you out so far and you cannot do certain hikes near wonder lake because the other lodge there doesn't allow it (?) and the lodge only allows you to do 4-6 hikes nearby. A rogue bear in the area kept us from using the bicycles on site so that didn't help to the "not much to do situation" either. Steven took us on a guided hike which I had never done before but it was great because he taught us about the tundra and the history of Kantishna/gold mining. The staff kept saying we could do hikes on our own as well, but when asking to bring us out to a hike for us to do alone the seemed hesitant for some unknown reason. Sebastian also took us on a quick outing to Fannie Quigleys home and he was very knowledgeable about her and the overall history of the area as well. Garrett at the bar was fantastic, super personable and great talker. Other staff members who did not have direct verbal communication with us seemed a little unpleasant in the common areas considering we're all here in the middle of no where together. A smile back or simple hello is appreciated from someone like me but I do understand some guests there don't even want to look up from their phones let alone smile. Read the room! My biggest complaint of this place would be the manager. I did not even know who he was until the last day. I was sitting at the breakfast table where I just got my meal 5 mins prior (for whatever reason it took longer this day) and the manager had the audacity to scream "if you're leaving today you need to get on the bus now!". No joke, there were only 3 of us in the dining hall and I was the only one leaving since the other two just got there. Why he didn't have the courtesy to walk over to me to let me know I needed to stop eating and board the bus is beyond me, but when I found out later on the bus he was the manager I was livid. How dare you bring this place down in the last minutes of my time there. If you treat paying guests this way, how do you treat the staff? Might explain a thing or two.. Because of that incident, this place became hard to recommend. If you are thinking of staying here it should be because you want to get as far into the Denali interior as possible, sleep and bathe comfortably, and eat well. You can stay at the other lodges and do these hikes plus more, see Wonder lake and hike near there as well.

If you want to disconnect from your electronics, this is the place! This place is at mile marker 92, it's at the end of the only road that enters Denali National Park. A lot of outdoor activities for both adults and kids. We took the backcountry adventure tour and stopped here for lunch. My kids wanted to to go panning for gold in the river. Great time! We did not stay overnight here, but we did peek into a room while housekeeping was in it...smaller room, I did not see a TV, bright white linen sheets with an older style look.

This is a beautiful place. Very relaxing! Your away from all the normal distractions. No TV, No cellphone service. The cabins are taken care of and cleaned very well daily. The staff was wonderful & very accommodating. Our only complaint is the food. It's average and it's almost impossible to get a second helping. The experience was great, but way over priced. Glad we did it but wouldn't pay that much to go back.

We had a wonderful experience!! The staff were all super helpful, engaging, generous, and knowledgeable. The meals were unbelievable, the hikes were well organized, and the lodge had a nice simplistic vibe. A few shoutouts to our amazing bus driver-Missy, and some other awesome staff members: Theresa, Atalie, Jess, David, and Drew. Thanks for such a special time!

Such a relaxing experience. No TV, no telephone, no internet. What we got was fresh air, good food, comfortable accommodations and a hospitable, attentive staff at the Denali Backcountry Lodge located at the 92 mile marker, the end of the only road into the Park. The lodge contains public rooms: a lounge, bar area, dining room and screened porch with rocking chairs. Cabins across the way have very comfortable beds, adequate bathrooms and sufficient drawers and hanging space for clothing. Ours also had a table and two chairs. There is also a drying room at the lodge for togs that get wet when out in the rain. Wi-fi is usually available in the Lodge, but not the cabins. I was impressed by several things. First was the cabins. Rustic in design, but more than adequate whatever the length of stay. Beds are made daily and fresh towels supplied as requested. Important to the success of such an endeavor is the staff. Most were young people, probably mid-20s to 30-ish, none of whom had an "attitude". Whatever a visitor asked, whether directions or for some needed item, the response was courteous, given with a smile and handled promptly. Each wears several hats -- reception, wait staff, housekeeping. If they weren't having a good time, they were great actors! Activities are somewhat limited due to the location. What they do provide -- mountain bikes and helmets, boots, fishing gear and walking sticks -- are appropriate, There are several hiking trails with maps available showing their locations. From several places along the way Denali can be seen on a good weather day. Hikes can be taken in small groups with a guide or be self-guided. There were twice-daily shuttles to Wonder Lake for those who didn't relish walking the 5 miles to get there! Breakfast and lunch were buffet-style. Breakfast usually included scrambled eggs, pancakes, oatmeal, potatoes, bacon and sausage, excellent fresh fruit, bread and croissants. Lunch's menu included two soups, breads for sandwiches, a plethora of deli meats and cheeses, "fixin's" such as tomato, onion and lettuce, salad, a hot pasta dish, and dessert. Dinners began with a wonderful fresh salad, followed by the entree (with alternatives of chicken or a vegetarian dish), two fresh vegetable dishes and a dessert. Of course, coffee, tea (a wide variety was available), milk on request and water were available at all meals. This destination provided what we sought: the ability to leave far behind constant daily pressures to do as much (hiking, biking) or as little (napping, rocking) as we wanted while in quiet surroundings, breathing fresh air and being catered to with healthy, tasty meals by a staff of great people.

This place has tons of reviews, so I'll just tell you the things I wished I'd known. Pick-up: The school bus will pick you up at either the Denali Cabins or the train depot. We chose the train depot and were a little confused about where *exactly* the bus came since the depot footprint is large. Walk to the south side of the train depot toward the A and B car flags - there's a parking lot there where the bus will come and pop out a sign that reads "Denali Backcountry Adventure." They'll load your suitcase in the back, but there's overhead storage for smaller bags/backpacks. Getting to the lodge: Yes, it's a 7ish hour ride on a school bus to the lodge, BUT there are stops every 90ish minutes for picture-taking, bathrooms, and/or snacks. They'll also stop for any wildlife sightings. I thought DBL was the only lodge deep in the park, but there are two others a mile or so closer, so there are a lot of buses on the road. At the lodge: They unloaded our luggage and took it to our cabin, and dinner the first night is at 8 pm. Each morning, there will be a clipboard at the main lodge with your 3 dinner selections for the evening - vegetarian, fish, and meat/chicken option, which rotates every 5 days, so you'll only eat the same thing twice if you stay longer than that. The meals were DIVINE. Breakfast was a buffet with scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, French toast/pancakes/waffles, yogurt, oatmeal, juice, water, and coffee/decaf. Lunch was two different types of sandwiches, salad, soups, and sweet treats. Dinner was the option you chose and dessert... and those options were like what you'd get in a nice restaurant. Besides the night you arrive, dinner's at 6 pm. There's also a full bar upstairs. Wireless: It's only in the main lodge, and it's the strongest upstairs. However, it gets spotty the more people that're on it. Excursions: Each afternoon, the adventures for the following day were posted in the main lodge. There are easy, moderate, and strenuous hikes; gold panning; rides to Wonder Lake; flight-seeing; etc. There's also a wonderful spa where you can get all different types of massages. Rooms: We got a cabin by the stream and loved listening to it at night while we slept. There are heaters in the rooms, but there didn't seem to be A/C. (We didn't need it - maybe you never do?). Toiletries included a shampoo/conditioner combo, lotion, and body and hand bars of soap. There are hair dryers for borrowing at the main lodge, but it's a super relaxed place and no one's putting on a fashion show. The walls between the room were pretty darn thin, so be conscious of your neighbors. Leaving the lodge: Super early departure (6 am) and even earlier breakfast (5:15 am), but the ride out is shorter since you've already taken pictures. They still stop for animal/Denali photos, bathrooms, and a snack. Other tidbits: - The mosquitoes were CRAZY in early June. Don't be a hero - borrow the bug spray and mosquito hats! Our cabin had a flyswatter, too. - There's also bear spray if you want to take unguided hikes, which we did. There are usually granola bars next to the door to the lodge if you want to grab some snacks when you head out. - Between the mosquitoes and the landscape, I'd recommend pants and long-sleeves for hikes. Most of the trails go through stiff, overgrown brambles, and being covered also helped with the bites. There's also a drying room if your clothes or shoes get wet. - Contrary to some other reviews, they do have keys for the cabins now. We rarely locked ours, but it was nice to know you could. We also didn't have any bears wander onto the property, so we never needed to dive into the closest unlocked cabin. - Speaking of animals, we were really hoping to see an animal on property, but after 4 days, it never happened. The property is pretty loud with people and buses, and while we saw plenty of moose poop and heard stories of random animal sightings, it does seem like this would be too trafficked for an animal to visit. It's still wonderful though! - The staff are pretty great. They're always happy and ready to help, and they even drove my in-laws around the park a little to look for animals, even though that wasn't technically an excursion. Seriously, first-rate service.