Alaska rail tours include winter season packages with hotel stays and land tours. See panoramic vistas, wildlife, river valleys and rocky gorges, including Mt. McKinley and Denali Park. Alaskan winter activities include dog sledding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, flight-seeing and soaking in hot springs, as well as viewing world-class museums and the northern lights. From five-night trips to weekend getaways, there are a number of Alaskan winter rail adventures available on the Alaska Railroad.
Train Trip to Interior Alaska and Arctic Circle
Alaska Railroad’s “Arctic Circle Adventure” is a five-night tour from Anchorage to north of Fairbanks and back. This rail tour is offered from October through April. Arriving in Anchorage, travelers can explore the Anchorage Museum of History and Art or flightsee the Chugach Range. After spending the night in Anchorage, passengers take the Aurora Winter Train through the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and Denali National Preserve, past Mt. McKinley, North America’s tallest peak, to Fairbanks.
From Fairbanks, travelers take Northern Alaska Tour Company’s Arctic Circle Aurora Adventure. This tour takes travelers across the Yukon River deep into the Arctic to view the exceptional northern lights and see vast arctic tundra landscapes. While in Fairbanks, consider a day trip to the town of North Pole. The return to Anchorage is by airline. This tour includes hotels in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Coldfoot; flightseeing; rail, van and air transportation.
Train Trip to Alaska’s Arctic Circle
Alaska Railroad’s “Aurora” is a three-night tour from Anchorage to the Arctic north of Fairbanks and back from October through April. Travelers arrive in Anchorage, where they can visit the Alaska Aviation Museum, Alaska Center for Performing Arts or the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. After overnighting in Anchorage, they travel to Fairbanks on the Aurora Winter Train through birch and spruce forests. Watching for wildlife and seeing Denali National Park are highlights of this trip.
Passengers spend the night in Fairbanks, then take Northern Alaska Tour Company’s Discover Alaska’s Arctic tour. They fly over the Yukon River Valley, the Arctic Circle and beyond to the Gates of the Arctic National Park. Travelers can spend an extra day in Fairbanks, visiting the Museum of the North or Chena Hot Springs Resort’s Ice Museum. Or they can fly back to Anchorage. The tour includes hotels in Anchorage and Fairbanks, flightseeing, and rail and air transportation.
Train Trip to Alaska Interior and Hot Springs
Alaska Railroad’s “The Great One” winter rail vacation takes travelers on a three-night journey from Anchorage to Fairbanks. This rail tour is offered from mid-September through mid-May. From Fairbanks, travel to Chena Hot Springs Resort, where a variety of adventures are available – dogsled rides, ice skating, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, sleigh rides, snow coach tours and flightseeing. Stay overnight at the resort, relax in the natural hot springs and visit the Aurora Ice Museum.
Return to Fairbanks and visit the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North, dine at Fairbanks restaurants and shop. After overnighting in Fairbanks, ride the Aurora Winter Train to Anchorage while viewing wildlife and unique Alaskan winter landscape scenes. This tour includes hotel stays at Chena Hot Springs Resort, Fairbanks and Anchorage; a tour of the Ice Museum; and air, rail and van transportation.
Weekend Train Trips to Alaska’s Interior
Alaska Railroad offers a “Talkeetna Getaway” one-night retreat on weekends from mid-September through mid-May. This train trip begins in Anchorage on the Aurora Winter Train to Talkeetna. Winter activities include snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, flightseeing tours of Mt. McKinley and viewing the aurora borealis. This tour includes round-trip rail from Anchorage and a hotel stay in Talkeetna.
Alaska Railroad’s “Winter Escape” offers a weekend getaway from mid-September through mid-May between Anchorage and Fairbanks. This tour is a rail-fly option with the possibility of an extended stay in Fairbanks, Chena Hot Springs Resort or the Arctic Circle. The “Winter Escape” includes one-way rail between Anchorage and Fairbanks, a hotel stay in Fairbanks and return airfare.
Rail tours of Alaska’s interior can be part of an Alaskan cruise shore excursion or a trip all their own. Travel from Anchorage to Fairbanks and the Arctic Circle on the Alaska Railroad for winter vacations. Land tours, hotel stays and activities are included in many of these tour packages of Alaska. More winter rail tours in Alaska include trips to the World Ice Art Championships and the start of the Iditarod.
More train tours in the Northwest U.S. are available to five western U.S. National Parks, Glacier National Park, along the U.S. West Coast and in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.
Susan Lynne Hamilton - Award-winning writer Susan Lynne Hamilton is the Topic Editor of Suite 101's Northwest U.S. travel section, showcasing its rich ...
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