Denali Cabins - Denali National Park

I traveled solo from Anchorage to Denali. I stayed in the Denali Cabins and I loved every aspect of my stay. The cabin was simple, but contained everything I needed. It was comfortable and cozy. The weather in mid September was already turning colder, but the cabin was warm with plenty of covers. The bed and pillows were better than I have at home. The Denali Cabins Shuttle service was convenient and on time. Drop offs and pickups were at all the places you needed to be: The Train Depot, The bus depot for guided tours, the Denali Visitor Center and the Denali Boardwalk. The drivers were there to help you and recommend the best pickups for your activities. All the drivers were great, but Sandy first picked me up at the train depot upon my arrival. Her smile and helpfulness made a great first impression. The coffee shop had grab and go choices in the morning and you were served by a nice service person. The Prey Restaurant and bar offered dinners starting at 5 pm while I was visiting. I ate there every evening I was in the park. Waiter Dennis was both friendly and efficient. My Denali Cabins experience was everything I could have hoped for.

First, the positives about our 3 night stay here and the reason why I am not giving it just 1 star. The location is close to Denali NP and therefore very convenient. Also, the food in the restaurant was fine. |Now the negatives:|-When my wife and I arrived, we were given the key to Cabin #8. When I unlocked it, a woman started screaming. She had been given this cabin and thought that we were breaking in. We went back to the check-in desk to find that the cabin had already been given to another person. After a lot of computer searching, 1 empty cabin was found and we were given the key. We found out later that this was the cabin that the screaming person had originally been given. The heater wasn’t working properly, so they gave her our cabin prior to our arrival. Which leads me to…|-The heater. It would either not stop pumping out heat or not work at all. We had maintenance stop by 4 times, each time assuring us that it was fixed. It always worked for a couple of hours, then ceased to function. We woke up each morning freezing.|-These cabins are really expensive. We knew that they were rustic and costly, but this was the only available lodging near Denali when we decided to go on this trip. For this price, at least the heating system should work. The many apologies by the assistant manager just didn’t cut it. She admitted that they knew that the heater was a problem, and that this was the case in many cabins. She said her superior had approved a free breakfast for us on our final morning there for our troubles. I pointed out that this wasn’t much compensation. She contacted her superior again, and that person agreed to deduct $50.00 from our stay.|My conclusion is that their bottom line is to invest the minimum amount in keeping up the cabins while realizing the maximum amount of profit. The quality of their customers’ stay was certainly not their priority. I would never recommend this establishment to anyone.

This was a great place to stay. There were 6 adults in our group, so we booked 2 cabins. The cabins were clean and warm. The property was very clean and kept up. There is also a restaurant and coffee shop on the property for convenience with great food and drink options. Matthew, at the front desk, was very kind and helpful. Sandy picked us up from the train station and continued to assist with getting our luggage inside our cabins. One of the main things that really impressed me is that Denali cabins took great care with our luggage. We had booked excursions for the day, and they took care of our luggage and took it to the train station so that we did not have to hang on to it all day long. Several other highlights about the property were the sauna and the covered fire pit. I would highly recommend this property for your stay in Denali!

Our family of four adults stayed two nights in the family cabin here before heading to its sister property, Denali Backcountry Lodge. The Cabins are pretty far away from everything else in Denali Park (except the Husky Homestead, which is walkable and worth it), and I wouldn’t stay here again were it not for the convenience of transit to DBL. The cabins are fine but could use some attention — the futon in our cabin was so bad we didn’t even want to sit on it much less sleep on it. The property’s restaurant is really the only place to eat without a decent drive (or shuttle) trip; luckily it’s good. The shuttle driver was very nice to drive us to and from Alpenglow restaurant — amazing — though he would not have been able to do it in peak season I’m sure. They offer box lunches which we ordered the night before our East Transit bus trip - we paid for 4 but they only made 3. Luckily it was enough food anyway but I never did get my money refunded. All in all this property is not in the same league as DBL and I would skip it and figure out transit for check in to DBLif I had to do it over again.

The cabins are unique but also very basic. With the rustic ambience come some downsides: the room was hot with outdoor temperature of 48 degrees because the heater was generating heat even though it was off, regulating the shower temperature was a challenge, the sink was leaking onto the floor. The price seemed high based on the room quality, but then, everything in Denali is high priced. The availability of shuttle services was a real bonus and the reason we chose this booking. I found nowhere else that offered shuttle service. Denali offers no public transportation nor Uber services. Traveling by train, the shuttle service was essential.

When my wife and I arrived I had 2 different envelopes thanking us for our stay and another happy birthday card Also I had a package of chocolate chip cookies, and the largest and best tasting cinnamon roll I ever had. My cabin was located next to a beautiful trout stream and picturesque mountains all around. The cabin was exceptionally clean and since I had some health issues I couldn’t stay from the year prior so they let me do the following year The nice lady at the front desk recognized my name when I checked in because she had talked to my wife over the phone. Everything about my stay was perfect! I recommend that everyone stays here if you are going to Denali!

Tiny cabin which was clearly once a larger cabin and was subdivided into 2 units with a thin wall in which you can hear everything from your neighbor's cabin. Fortunately our neighbor was our daughter but I would not want anyone else on the other side of the wall. ||Bed is super small, perhaps a double.||Bathroom is also teeny, just wide enough for a stand up shower.||There is no fridge in the cabin.||There is a good amount of road noise.||Extremely basic and not really quaint.||Hot tub was cloudy and unappealing for relaxation after a day of hiking and exploration.||The landscaping and flowers are pretty.||Service in the restaurant is exceptional! Breakfast was great but the food at dinner was disappointing.

These cabins were a great place to stay near the park. We felt like we were in our own world, not having to share walls with anyone. Listening to the rain on the roof was a special memory. Only a few miles from the park, it was easy to get to each day. The staff was super attentive; after dinner, we stopped by the front desk to mention an issue with the heater, and they beat us to the room to fix it.

We absolutely LOVED our stay at the Denali Cabins! We took the train up from Anchorage, and they were waiting at the station to pick all the guests up. So convenient. The rooms were super nice, clean, and spacious. Heater worked great, kept us nice and warm. Only downside was that the shower door didn't seal properly, so matter what we did, our floors were soaked. I was a little worried about getting around since the hotel is a bit further away from main Denali, but their shuttle service is fantastic. We didn't have any problems navigating Denali without a car. And Bradley was great - he gave us all kinds of advice for our trip. They also have a restaurant (Prey) and a coffee shop (Mount Hunter). Coffee shop was great! We came here for breakfast and coffee each morning. Their restaurant, on the other hand, was lacking. Food was expensive and was just adequate - our cornbread was so hard we couldn't hit it against the table. Bonus tip: You can check out bear spray for free at the front desk when you plan to go out hiking. Overall, we had a great stay and would stay here again.

First, the positives about our 3 night stay here and the reason why I am not giving it just 1 star. The location is close to Denali NP and therefore very convenient. Also, the food in the restaurant was fine. Now the negatives: -When my wife and I arrived, we were given the key to Cabin #8. When I unlocked it, a woman started screaming. She had been given this cabin and thought that we were breaking in. We went back to the check-in desk to find that the cabin had already been given to another person. After a lot of computer searching, 1 empty cabin was found and we were given the key. We found out later that this was the cabin that the screaming person had originally been given. The heater wasn't working properly, so they gave her our cabin prior to our arrival. Which leads me to... -The heater. It would either not stop pumping out heat or not work at all. We had maintenance stop by 4 times, each time assuring us that it was fixed. It always worked for a couple of hours, then ceased to function. We woke up each morning freezing. -These cabins are really expensive. We knew that they were rustic and costly, but this was the only available lodging near Denali when we decided to go on this trip. For this price, at least the heating system should work. The many apologies by the assistant manager just didn't cut it. She admitted that they knew that the heater was a problem, and that this was the case in many cabins. She said her superior had approved a free breakfast for us on our final morning there for our troubles. I pointed out that this wasn't much compensation. She contacted her superior again, and that person agreed to deduct $50.00 from our stay. My conclusion is that their bottom line is to invest the minimum amount in keeping up the cabins while realizing the maximum amount of profit. The quality of their customers' stay was certainly not their priority. I would never recommend this establishment to anyone.

This was a hidden treasure! From start to finish the cabins, staff, hospitality, shuttle, and food was amazing! We began our three nights journey on a Saturday. We settled in and hit the ground running to hike the Denali trails! We began our mornings with coffee and breakfast from The Prey. Food was homemade and delicious. We ended our hiking days with dinner from The Prey as well. Salmon, vegetables, pork chops were delicious! The cabins were cute, quaint, and clean! The staff was incredible! If you want an experience about 10 minutes from touristville central DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND BOOK THESE CABINS! We will be back!

Gayle and I stayed here as part of a tour package. Our standard cabin (#26) was small, but comfortable. Or as a fellow traveler mentioned, you won't be hosting guests within the cabin. But, there turned out to be plenty of space up front in the common areas to socialize. You can't walk to anything from the Denali Cabins (except maybe the Husky Homestead Dogsled attraction next door), but they do have a regular (on the hour) shuttle that runs the Denali Visitor's Center or the "Gulch" areas. On site is also a nice coffee place that opens at 5 AM (just before the Denali Backcountry bus leaves) and a surprisingly good restaurant (Prey). A 24-hour hot tub is also on site, along with a sauna cabin. There's also a cute gift shop and a group of staffers (from all over) who were anxious to please during their short summer stay near the Park. Compared to other places to stay in the Denali area, there are more luxurious choices. But looking at it as a "total is greater than the sum of its parts", we easily turned a 3-star accommodation into a 4-star "resort" experience.

Didn't have a good sleep. It's right next to the road and trucks go by all night and despite there being a quiet time after 11PM, it's not enforced and people were up late making noise. Their have a strict refund policy, so if your unhappy, you're out of luck and your money.

This set of 45 (or so) cabins are handy to Denali and actually house the buses that tour out to Kantishna, the furthest by-road tours in the park. It's a friendly little compound, cabins are clean and compact. There's a fire pit area, central housekeeping, two large hot tubs. Note: you're not getting near the hot tubs, because the kids are using them as pool facilities. There's a crazy expensive restaurant on site, if you're just too tired to venture out after your day at the park. Parking seemed to be swallowed up by company vehicles, making loading and unloading a bit difficult. It's expensive here, in general. This is a pretty decent option.

There are lots of cabins near Denali to stay at, as well as a few hotels. These cabins were totally fine, with an older mattress, and older carpet. However, you don't come to Denali to be in the lap of luxury anyway! Since I didn't want to camp alone, this place was perfect! They have plenty of gorgeous hanging flower baskets all around the grounds. There are also picnic tables, a gazebo and fire pit, and two hot tubs outside. The lounge has a computer to use, and some travel books on Alaska. The breakfast was ok-I stuck with coffee, muffins, and fresh fruit. The employees here are all seasonal workers, as are most in Denali, but they are extremely friendly and helpful and full of great suggestions. The shuttle from the train station also has a schedule to take you to the few restaurants in the area, as well as some of the other spots where activities and tours are. It did rain a bit one day when I was here, and it was quite chilly-in July!!-so I had to turn the heat on in my cabin. Also, there are plenty of people of ALL ages that stay here, which is wonderful to see the diversity in a cabin setting at Denali!

Great location. Rooms are comfortable in beds are comfortable. Rooms are a little bit dusty/cobwebs.

For what it is, not bad. The rooms are overly small and, dare I say, rustic. Four people were a little much per cabin especially because the bathroom is barely separated from the rest of the cabin. If you're used to camping, this will be luxurious, but if you're a hotel regular, I highly recommend checking out some of the other, newer places to stay in the area. They do have internet, though, in the lounge area, which was vital to my medical school application process. The continental breakfast is pretty bad, but so is most of the food by Denali. At least it's free. I did enjoy the Day Trip that's offered, though. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Denali National Park has very restricted access, so to get into the park you need to be on a commercial bus, win a car lottery, or take the national park bus in. To get the deepest access to the park, the Denali Cabins Day Trip is the way to go. Essentially, the buses are Alaskan safaris. You drive slowly through the park, stopping for wildlife sightings and visitor centers, ending at the Denali Backcountry Lodge and then turning around. It's an all day adventure that felt a little odd to be doing when I'm used to hiking rather than riding around. In retrospect, I'd also look into other buses that don't stop as often so we could get on some of the trails. You can get to the second visitor center from other bus tours, and that's about the best view you'll ever get of Mt. McKinley anyway. If you can, make sure to be on Martin's bus. He's full of interesting information and even kept me up at 6am. We ended up seeing a bunch of moose, grizzlies, sheep, caribou, and foxes. There are snacks offered on the bus but you may want to bring something healthy along if you don't want to be stuck eating cookies all day. The lunch at the Backcountry Lodge isn't terrible but not delicious.

My wife and I booked here as a jumping off point for going into the national park. The room itself is pretty nice, with good space and a reasonably comfy queen bed, if a bit dark. Our room was a handicapped accessible version, so the sink was outside the bathroom proper - it contains just the toilet and shower. The property overall is pretty nice, with lots of individual cabin rooms and an onsite restaurant as well. A couple of things to keep in mind before booking here: they power wash their shuttle buses from 7:30-9:30/10pm EVERY NIGHT using a very loud compressor and the water has a pretty terrible taste. I'm sure the water is safe, but if you care how it tastes be prepared to bring your own for drinking. (It wasn't just our room, as the restaurant water tasted the same.)

This place was great! The cabins were cute and comfortable and had a nice rustic vibe as opposed to a large lodge style hotel. The cabin was very clean and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Shower was pretty tiny but worked ok! The staff were very friendly and helpful, especially Macy at the front desk. We would absolutely stay here again and highly recommend it! Hot tubs were great and there's a convenient shuttle service which was wonderful since we didn't rent a car!

If you want to listen to a deafening roar of a power washer EVERY night between 8-10 pm, by all means, stay here. These cabins are part of a Denali bus tour company and they power wash many buses on their property for 1-1/2 to 2 hours each evening when you're back in your room trying to settle in after a long day of hiking. And I do mean deafening. If you are trying to enjoy some time at the gazebo or fire pit or hot tub, think again because you won't even be able to think, let alone carry on a conversation. Even in our room it was astoundingly loud. Aside from this, I don't feel that these cabins warrant a $300/night price tag at all. Below is my list of positives and negatives, but believe me, the power washing for close to two hours each night we were there, should be more than enough to have you book elsewhere (I did speak to the manager and while he was sympathetic, he had the power to do nothing. I suggested that the buses be power washed off site so that guests could relax...thank goodness I wasn't trying to put a child to sleep!) POSITIVES * Ceiling fan * Black out curtains * Cabins cute * King bed comfortable * Screens on room windows and nice cross breeze * Coffee maker in room * Large towels * Ice machine outside office and ice bucket in room NEGATIVES * Broken holder for shower head * No where to put soap etc in shower. Am I supposed to hold shampoo and soap or put them on the floor????? * Small sink and nowhere to put anything * Phones in rooms but they don't work * Bed is against wall so you have to climb over the other person. We managed to move it out a bit, but then the headboard stays put. * No screens in bathroom so you can't open window to air out * Locked both door and deadbolt since we had laptops in the room. Housekeeping left deadbolt undone. Should have been left the same way it was found. * Small table is anchored to wall. You can't sit at it with both chairs because the second chair is right in front of the furnace which sticks out in to the room about 6". And if the propane furnace is on, you will definitely burn yourself and possibly the chair by sitting there. Unsafe.

My husband and I stayed for 3 nights while traveling through Alaska. Let's start with "Rustic". True wood cabin, with no insulation. Cute, but... cold and damp. The wood walls showed water stains at every corner, the indoor/outdoor carpet was VERY stained and gross, and the wooden floor beneath the carpet felt like it was open to the crawl space below. The cabin we stayed in was a "Family Suite", with a sitting room separated from the sleeping area by a partial wall. The bathroom walls don't go to the ceiling??? Very strange and doesn't make for much privacy in there. The sink and dressing area are out in the open sitting area?? If it weren't just my husband and I, I'd think that could be an issue. We thought the our stay included a Continental Breakfast, but I hadn't understood that it wasn't complimentary. Not too big a deal, but the Continental Breakfast that is available at the restaraunt on site, Prey, was $14 a person. I feel that is a lot to pay for breakfast anywhere. In their favor, they did have a really nice spread. Pretty much anything you might want, from cold cereal to scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage. Hot oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, assorted bread and bagel. We ate there the first morning, because we were going out on an excursion and didn't have time to do anything else once we realized breakfast wasn't complimentary. Our shower never drained, from the morning we got there. So clearly the cleaning people had to know about the issue before they allowed us to check in. To be fair, we didn't complain while we were there, because we were always on the go. So they didn't have a chance to address it. But I still think the cleaning crew must have known prior to our arrival. All the staff we encountered were very nice and helpful. The excursions we did from the Cabins were Awesome!! And I also liked the paraben-free toiletries. Beds were comfy with lots of fluffy pillows. Futon couch in the sitting room, not so much. They have free WiFi, but it kinda sucked. Couldn't stay logged on. Shuttles come to the cabins to take you pretty much anywhere you need to go. There are no stores or markets within walking distance. All in all, we didn't come here for a fancy hotel stay. We came to see Denali. The cabin was fine, but I felt it was pricey for what we got.

I have been to Denali National Park many times but this was my first time staying at Denali Cabins. I thought they were very cozy and we loved the outdoor hot tubs. The paraben-free toiletries were a plus. All staff members were awesome and went out of their way to be helpful! The reason I'm giving Denali Cabins three stars is the price and value for the money. I paid about $200 a night for a cabin with two beds. I was disappointed that we didn't receive clean towels every day. I think spending $400 warrants more than two bath towels for two people. If I stay here again, I'll make sure to request clean towels every day. I did enjoy my stay and would stay here again.

Denali Cabins are located on the south side of Denali, approximately eight miles from the park's entrance. A shuttle leaves every hour and will drop you off in the downtown region; the shuttle will also be there to greet you as you arrive via the Alaskan Railroad (a scenic but lengthy ride if coming from Anchorage). Denali itself possesses stunning beauty and is all abut nature so one would expect accommodations to be more charming than plush; while Denali Cabins are adequate, they are starting to show signs of age and could use updating. The website boasts about "modern amenities" such as a telephone and television; in 2013 an old tube television that receives four channels and a landline hardly fall in the "modern" category. The rooms are smallish, but sufficient as people generally do not spend much time inside in Denali. There is no air conditioning which usually is not an issue in these parts, but on our trip it was record highs (upper eighties) and was a bit uncomfortable. The cabins also have poor sound proofing. The grounds are pretty nice; there are a couple of hot tubs and a great restaurant/bar called Prey serving far better cuisine than one would expect at a wilderness resort (see my separate review of Prey for more details). There is no wifi in the cabins, but there is wifi available near a staff area that you can stand outside and log onto if you need to access theinternet. Mosquitoes in Denali are fierce, so make sure to bring strong repellant. It is great they provide a shuttle a there is not much in waking distance; several minutes away is a nice looking restaurant called 229, but I did not see anything else in the vicinity. In the downtown area there is several restaurants (none looked as good as Prey), several other hotels, some touristy shops and sme excursion vendors. Be sure to take a tour deep inside the park; such breathtaking beauty and abundant wildlife; if you are fortunate enough to have a clear day the views of Mt. McKinley are amazing. The best part of Denali Cabins is the people; everybody we encountered was extremely friendly and really made the stay. Much of the staff is seasonal, so the 2014 and beyond crew may not be as good - but if you are visiting in 2013 you will be well cared for. Denali Cabins is certainly a viable option if you are staying in the area, but there definitely is a mixture of pros and cons.

Small beds, tiny, tiny bathroom. Not bad, but a bit expensive for the size ($159). Breakfast that was included was terrible. We stayed 3 nights and skipped it every morning after we tried it.