Alaska: Luxury Lodges, Log Cabins, Accommodations - 2

Traditional log-cabin lodges: affordable options

If you’re looking for something that’s uniquely Alaskan but not so upscale, consider a lodge that offers an “a la carte” menu of lodging, meal and activity options. Accommodations at these lodges will tend toward the rustic—some might even call them primitive, but chances are your experience will be genuine and memorable.

“Here, you get away from all those crowds, which are so far removed from what Alaska is all about,” says Bettles Lodge’s Tyler Klaes, son of owners Dan and Lynda. “We get people who’ve never been in the woods or wilderness before.” That includes children as young as 4 years old, who get a big thrill out of watching hundreds of caribou from a floatplane, seeing fish in the water almost everywhere they go or just running around on the lodge’s lawn.

If simply a clean bed to rest your head is all you need, discard the postcard lodge image unless you know for a fact that the place you’re staying features hand-hewn logs, roaring fires and other creature comforts. It’s just as likely to be a collection of cabins with a few outhouses out back or a row of rooms with a shared bath at the end of the hall.

I enjoyed one night at a historic lodge where the delightful owners offered me their ATCO unit—a sort of construction trailer—because the rooms in the main lodge were full. Luxury it wasn’t, but the price was right, and it kept out the rain. It’s all in what you expect, and when it comes to Alaskan lodges, be ready for anything—unless you do your homework.

Recommended full-service lodges

Alaska’s Boardwalk Lodge

Tel. 800-764-3918; www.boardwalklodge.com. The Boardwalk is an Orvis-endorsed lodge, with rates starting at $3,995 for a three-night stay.

Though many guests come for the world-class salt-water and freshwater fishing, Alaska’s Boardwalk offers a whole slew of activities in the lush rainforest of Prince of Wales Island and its surrounding waters. Explore historic totems nestled among stately cedar and hemlock trees, wind your way through one of the largest caves in North America, visit sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks, or hike along a network of old logging roads. You’ll return happily exhausted each evening to enjoy a five-course meal and swap stories in the hand-hewn log dining room. The staff-to-guest ratio is nearly one-to-one, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a friendlier group of folks. A minimum age of 10 is recommended. When I was there, three generations of the Smith family from Kansas, including two 10-year-old cousins, were having the time of their lives, staging fishing derbies and reeling in lunkers.

Bettles Lodge

Tel. 800-770-5111; www.bettleslodge.com. A two-night package is $1,080 per person. If you don’t want to stay overnight, the Arctic Circle day trip is $500 per person.

A great place for exploring Alaska’s Arctic, including the Brooks Range and the Gates of the Arctic. The original lodge, dating from 1948, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The accommodations are basic, but there’s a full menu of a la carte activities, including fly-out fishing, float trips to the gold rush ghost town of Old Bettles, flightseeing for caribou and other wildlife, and treks to the native village of Anaktuvuk Pass. Lots of folks sign on for aurora borealis viewing in the winter, as there’s no light pollution. I enjoyed the down-home atmosphere and the chance to rub shoulders with real Alaskans as well as with guests from around the world.

 

• The only traditional lodge in Bettles is a national historic site.

Hiroshi Ando

Winterlake Lodge

Tel. 907-274-2410; www.withinthewild.com. Three-day float trips start at $1,895 per person.

Take off by floatplane from Lake Hood in Anchorage, and within an hour you’ll be touching down at Winterlake Lodge on the shore of pristine Finger Lake, one of the first Iditarod Race checkpoints. Owners Kirsten and Carl Dixon will likely be on hand to greet you personally and help you plan your stay. You can hike Wolverine Mountain, float the Happy River, fish Canyon Creek, or choose from a number of other options, including bear-watching at the Dixons’ Redoubt Bay Lodge. Trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, Kirsten also offers gourmet-cooking classes featuring fresh ingredients from the lodge’s expansive gardens. While I was there, I learned to make Gruyere Cheese Puffs with salmon pate before I headed out to canoe around Finger Lake. Later I lounged on the deck and took in the expansive views of Trimble Glacier and Rainy Pass while admiring Carl’s amazing feat of raising a massive log lodge in a place where all materials have to be flown in on small planes.

Road-accessible lodges (accommodations only)

A Taste of Alaska Lodge

Tel. 907-488-7855; www.atasteofalaska.com. More upscale than many of its counterparts, room rates start at $175 per night.

Just outside of Fairbanks, this 7,000-square foot log lodge offers great mountain views and a variety of guest rooms and suites, all with private baths.

Gakona Lodge

Tel. 907-822-3482; www.gakonalodge.com. Rates start at $95 per night.

Between Tok and Fairbanks, this family-owned lodge dates back to 1905. It’s on the rustic end, with shared baths, but there’s a great restaurant on site and a lot of historic appeal.

Motherlode Lodge

Tel. 866-369-4050; www.motherlodelodge.com. Rates run $135 for a double in the summer.

Located in Hatcher Pass, about a 90 minutes north of Anchorage, the lodge began as a roadhouse in 1942. Rustic but charming in its relative isolation.