Alaska’s Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge: The must-stay possibility on an Alaska cruisetour

Autumn begins early in Alaska’s inside. After watching the season’s first snow mud the peaks of Denali Nationwide Park from my window seat in a motorcoach final August, I disembarked and took a deep breath of brisk mountain air earlier than coming into the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge’s nice room.

A grand stone fire drew my gaze upward to the vaulted ceiling and rustic pine-tree-inspired chandelier. Beneath the carved wooden mantelpiece, folks performed playing cards, whereas others drank espresso from the cafe subsequent to the final retailer, which bought all the things from rain jackets to postcards. (As my tour director, Sylvie, joked, you may’t go 100 yards in Alaska with out hitting a present store.)

Though this cozy area sits only one mile from Denali Nationwide Park’s most important entrance, it is not a part of any park-owned lodge. That is the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, a non-public retreat owned by Princess Cruises — the cruise line that is without doubt one of the leaders in Alaska holidays, each on land and sea.

Nearer to the park’s entrance than every other lodging possibility, the 666-room advanced is without doubt one of the hottest locations to remain within the Denali space, serving as a base for Princess cruisers visiting the huge nationwide park on multiday “cruisetours” that mix a cruise and overland touring.

Final August, I checked into the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge as a part of an 11-day Princess cruisetour that began with a three-day land itinerary via Denali earlier than boarding Sapphire Princess for a seven-day cruise of the Inside Passage.

Right here is all the things you want to find out about a keep at what some contemplate essentially the most comfy full-service lodge close to the doorway to Denali Nationwide Park.

Cozy rooms, with enjoyable retro particulars

Set on 25 forested acres above the Nenana River, the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge organizes its lodging into a number of “neighborhoods” named after native wildlife. Throughout my current keep, I used to be in “Wolf Den,” a set of rustic two-story log buildings housing dozens of visitor rooms. It was a five-minute stroll from the primary lodge and steps from a number of on-site eating places.

The entire vibe inside my just lately renovated ground-floor room felt like a grown-up summer time camp, with cozy but refined retro touches, such because the Denali Nationwide Park Pendleton blanket throw on the finish of my ultra-comfortable, king-size mattress.

However the outdoorsy decor wasn’t simply surface-level — it was additionally extremely sensible. A few of my favourite particulars included a built-in scrubby mat on the entrance to take away mud from my sneakers and hooks for moist garments within the hallway constructed from railroad ties. An analog barometer and thermometer allowed me to verify the climate with out consulting my cellphone. The lavatory was small however practical with a step-in bathe, heated fake wooden floors and a darkish stone sink.

Ornamental darkish wooden paneling and wallpaper, that includes a topographical map of the park, offered loads of moody texture and a way of place to the room. The artwork was minimal, aside from a single black and white {photograph} of a bull moose within the nationwide park, hung close to the mattress.

Although the navy, grey and cream shade palette felt elevated, cozy materials and patterns — together with plaid wool upholstery, sheepskin throws, herringbone carpeting and a espresso desk long-established from a tree stump — added heat to the area.

A pair of sliding glass doorways with views of the forest past lets the outside in. I might even get pleasure from espresso on the small non-public patio within the morning.

An abundance of on-site eating 

Since its location is pretty distant, I used to be happy that Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge provided half a dozen on-sote eating choices, starting from an off-the-cuff pizza shack to an upscale eatery serving fancier seafood fare.

With hearty burgers (beef, hen, vegetarian and blackened Alaska rockfish are choices) and shakes, Grizzly Burger offered an off-the-cuff expertise in a log cabin-style eating room for lunch and dinner. The lodge’s high-end dinner restaurant, King Salmon, served rustic but refined seafood — similar to asiago-crusted Alaska halibut and salmon, accompanied by a buerre rouge sauce — alongside views of the mountains past. (If you are going to buy the eating plan together with your cruisetour bundle, you will get a cluster of huge wild Alaska Bairdi snow crab legs included, like I did.)

Fanny Q’s is a saloon that is open for lunch and dinner and serves gastropub-style bites similar to jalapeno Alaska crab dip and beer-battered Alaska cod served with tater tots. (The lodge additionally serves its breakfast buffet right here within the mornings.) Within the evenings, a piano participant performs nightly, and friends collect across the bar requesting fashionable tunes till late.

For much more informal choices, you may drop into Lynx Creek Pizza and Pub, a country wood-paneled cabin serving thin-crust pizza and pitchers of beer that is a favourite amongst locals. River Run Espresso in the primary lodge is the spot to seize a to-go espresso. Total, the number of cuisines and atmospheres provided on-site meant that I by no means needed to search far for a spot to eat and did not have to consider leaving the resort to seek out tasty and filling native meals.

On-site facilities and actions

Along with the primary lodge, there are many out of doors areas for friends to calm down. They provide hearth pits to remain heat and Adirondack chairs to benefit from the views of the river under and the mountains of Denali past. Have to go memento procuring? There is not any want to go away the advanced for that both, since there is a village of log cabin reward retailers promoting Alaska souvenirs and artwork, like carved wood moose heads and extra.

If you wish to discover immediately from the lodge, you may go for a scenic stroll on the River View Pathway set above the Nenana River or take one other strolling path to the Music of Denali dinner theater on the close by Gold Nugget Saloon. Or, you may stroll throughout the road to the reward retailers and eating places there.

Seamlessly organized actions and excursions

In fact, Denali Nationwide Park is only a 10-minute drive down the street. Princess gives hourly shuttle service from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m. between the lodge and the Denali Nationwide Park Guests Heart, the Wilderness Entry Heart and Horseshoe Lake. It prices $5 round-trip per particular person.

To discover deeper within the park, there are lots of excursions you may e-book via Princess. Longer Princess cruisetours sometimes embrace a pure historical past tour of the park within the itinerary. That is an roughly four-hour guided bus tour within the park’s well-known renovated college buses. Company are picked up and dropped off on the lodge and make a number of stops contained in the park. It stops on the Denali Bus Depot for a 17-minute video in regards to the park’s founding in 1917 and once more on the 100-year-old Savage Cabin nonetheless utilized by park rangers within the winter.

On the day I visited, heavy rains and the primary snow of the season closed the park street after mile 15. Nevertheless, the pure historical past tour sometimes continues to Primrose Ridge for a presentation about Alaska Native tradition. Extra adventurous varieties can e-book a tundra wilderness tour, a bus tour that goes so far as Murie Cabin close to the East Fork River at mile 43 of the park street.

Bus excursions of Denali aren’t the one tour choices you may e-book via the Princess lodge. You may also experience an ATV, hike the backcountry, go whitewater rafting, strive fly fishing, or see Denali from the sky on a flightseeing or helicopter tour. You may even go to the kennel of an Iditarod musher to fulfill sled canines. There are such a lot of choices, and you may e-book all of them immediately via Princess.

The price and easy methods to e-book

A multiday Princess cruisetour of Alaska usually features a keep at this lodge, which provides to the already awe-inspiring expertise of cruising Alaska. Cruisetours will be booked immediately via Princess’ web site, and charges begin from $2,600 per particular person primarily based on double occupancy for a 10-day cruisetour in 2026.

It’s attainable to e-book the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge independently, however since cruisetour friends get precedence availability, I would suggest reserving the entire seamless expertise to ensure a keep for the upcoming 2026 season.

Backside line

Simply moments from Denali Nationwide Park’s entrance, Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is a superb basecamp for maximizing your time there. This full-service resort provides round-trip transportation to and from the park to the resort foyer, half a dozen on-site eating places serving native Alaska specialities, and comfy and clear rooms that make sure you’re effectively rested in your subsequent journey.

For me, a keep on the lodge set the tone completely to proceed on a seven-day Princess cruise down Alaska’s southern shoreline, finishing my nice Alaska journey.