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Travel to Alaska can be done in several ways. Your choices, if you start out on the American continent, are:
If you want to start your travel adventures early, try driving the Alaska Canadian Highway, better known as the Alcan highway. And DO pick up your own copy of the Milepost Magazine before you start - the indispensable guide for your Alaskan highway trip. Also pick up some good information about this highway by reading about people's experiences on the Alcan. And feel free to add your own story after you've traveled this fabulous highway! To travel to Alaska, you can cross the U.S. border into Canada at many different points, then head towards Dawson Creek in British Columbia.
That's the official beginning of the The Alcan....To give you an idea of road distances you will be traveling – here are some examples, from the U.S. to Dawson Creek: - From Spokane, Washington – 825 miles (1328 km) going east slightly through Alberta. There are no major cities on this route.
- From Great Falls, Montana – 866 miles (1394 km) going through Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta.
- From Minot, North Dakota – 1093 miles (1759 km) going through Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and through Alberta.
- From Minneapolis, Minnesota – 1630 miles (2623 km) going through Winnipeg and Edmonton on your way to Dawson Creek.
And from Dawson Creek to the Alaskan border is a little over a 1000 miles (1609 km). So you can see this is NOT a short trip!
If you don’t have enough time, or you'd rather NOT put those 2000 or more miles on your vehicle, take your car, truck, camper, or other vehicle, and go on the Alaskan Ferry to Haines. That could shorten your trip some, if you are not too far from the US or Canadian west coast when you start. From Haines, it's about 640 miles (1030 km) to Fairbanks or about 750 miles (1207 km) to Anchorage. Or you can even take the Alaska Ferry to Whittier which is only about 60 miles from Anchorage.
TIP: By either of the above methods, you will be driving through Canada. So you will need to show the Canadian border guards that you have enough money to get through Canada, as well as a valid driver's license. Recently, they have also been requiring passports, birth certificates or other appropriate proof of citizenship for all travelers. Check the requirements before you go, if you have such things as firearms. There are special rules for those.
 However, if you only have two weeks for a vacation, you will probably want to take a flight to Alaska... OR If you are traveling to Alaska from elsewhere in the world, of course, you would have to take flights to Alaska on one of the major airlines or a cruise to Alaska... No matter how you travel to Alaska, this is only the FIRST part of your Alaskan vacation. Now that you have some ideas about how you are going to get here, you may want to find out how to get around Alaska and where to stay... Return to Top of Travel to Alaska Page Return to Tips for Backwoods Alaska Vacations Home Page
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