Alaska with Kids: A Girdwood Base & Day Trips to the Glaciers

Trip Overview

I’ll be honest about how this trip came together: it wasn’t the plan. We were supposed to be in Iceland this summer. A Schengen visa problem pushed that trip out, and rather than lose the dates entirely, we pivoted to Alaska — glaciers, cold water, dramatic coastline, no passports required. It turned out to be one of the best travel decisions we’ve made by accident.

It was also shorter and simpler than we first sketched out. The early plan had us touring further down the Kenai Peninsula; what we actually did was pick one base — Girdwood — and take short day trips out from it. That constraint turned out to be the best thing about the trip. This was a multigenerational group: the four of us plus my wife’s parents, so two adults, two kids, and the grandparents in one SUV. That combination punishes ambitious itineraries. Staying put in one place and driving out for a single thing each day meant nobody spent the vacation packing, unpacking, or worn down in the back seat.

The honest takeaway: Alaska with kids is underrated, and you don’t need to see all of it. People picture Alaska as a cruise-ship destination for retirees or a hardcore backcountry trip. It’s neither. A single base in Girdwood, within easy reach of a glacier cruise, a genuine wildlife center, and Anchorage, was more than enough to fill the days — and left room to actually slow down.

Base: Girdwood, the whole time — day trips out to Whittier, Portage, and Anchorage

Best Time to Visit: Late June. We had classic Southcentral summer weather — 55–65°F, a couple of rainy stretches, and daylight that never really ended. The long days are the secret weapon with kids: a 6pm start still feels like mid-afternoon, so nobody’s racing the light.

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Base Camp: Girdwood

Getting There & Settling In

We flew a nonstop from SFO into Anchorage, picked up an SUV at the airport, and drove straight down to Girdwood — about 45 minutes along the Seward Highway, hugging the Turnagain Arm the whole way. This might be the best “arrival drive” of any trip we’ve done. The road runs along the water with mountains dropping straight into the inlet, and you don’t have to do anything to earn it — it’s just there, out the window, ten minutes after you leave the airport.

Girdwood itself is a small mountain town in a rainforest valley — the kind of place where the whole point is that there isn’t much of a point. We settled into a cabin and had our first dinner at Jack Sprat, a local spot doing what they call “global comfort food,” heavy on seafood and vegetables. It’s the kind of place that works for a table with a wide range of ages and appetites, which was the whole game on this trip.

Tips:

• Rent the SUV at the airport and keep it the whole trip — you’ll want the space, and the ground clearance is nice on gravel pullouts
• The Turnagain Arm has one of the largest tidal ranges in North America — if the timing lines up, you’ll see bore tides roll in
• Don’t walk out onto the mudflats at low tide; they behave like quicksand. Admire the Arm from the pullouts

Girdwood on Foot: Winner Creek, the Tram & Berries

The best days here didn’t involve moving the car at all — exactly the pace a multigenerational group needs.

Lower Winner Creek Trail: A mostly flat boardwalk trail through what’s often called the northernmost rainforest in North America — mossy spruce, devil’s club, the sound of water the entire way — ending at a gorge where the creek narrows and roars through the rock. It’s easy enough for the grandparents and interesting enough for the kids, which is the sweet spot for a family hike. The boardwalk sections mean you’re not fighting mud the whole time.

Alyeska Aerial Tram: The tram runs up the mountain from the resort base for panoramic views over the valley and, on a clear stretch, the hanging glaciers across the way. This is the “big view for zero effort” move — everyone gets the payoff and nobody’s legs are involved.

Berry picking: The unexpected highlight of the Girdwood days. The slopes above the resort are covered in wild blueberries and crowberries in season, and you can pick them right off the trail. The kids went from mildly interested to fully obsessed within about ten minutes. There’s something about food you find yourself — free, growing on a mountain — that lands with kids in a way a gift shop never will.

Girdwood Brewing Company: A local taproom with an outdoor area — good beer for the adults, space for the kids to move around, and the unhurried small-town feeling Girdwood does well. We also hit The Bake Shop a couple of mornings for sourdough and veggie omelets — a Girdwood institution and the right kind of breakfast before a trail day.

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Day Trip: Whittier & the 26 Glacier Cruise

The highlight of the whole trip, and an easy day trip from Girdwood.

On the way — Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center: Just down the road toward Portage, we stopped at the Wildlife Conservation Center. It’s easy to write this off as a roadside animal attraction; it isn’t. It’s a genuine conservation operation with bears, moose, wolves, musk ox, and a herd of wood bison on boardwalks and drive-through enclosures. The wood bison story is the one that stuck with me — the center helped reintroduce a species that had been gone from Alaska for a century. The kids got remarkably close to a musk ox, which looks like something that wandered out of the last ice age and never got the memo.

The tunnel to Whittier: You reach Whittier through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel — a 2.5-mile, single-lane tunnel that cars and trains share, so it switches direction on a schedule. Driving through a mountain to reach a town of a few hundred people, most of whom live in a single building, is the kind of thing that makes the kids think Alaska is faintly unreal. It is.

The cruise: A roughly five-hour catamaran cruise out of Whittier into Prince William Sound, past — as advertised — 26 glaciers. We watched tidewater glaciers calve: house-sized chunks of blue ice shearing off the face and dropping into the ocean with a crack you feel in your chest, then a wave. You wait, you watch the wall of ice, and when it goes, the whole boat gasps. The kids were transfixed. So were the grandparents. So was I.

Between glaciers we saw whales, sea otters floating on their backs, and puffins. And — a small, perfect detail — they serve a smoked salmon chowder onboard. We went through several bowls of Wild Alaska smoked salmon chowder, on a cold boat, watching ice fall into the sea. It’s the kind of sensory memory a kid keeps.

Tips:

• Book the glacier cruise well ahead — the good departures fill up in summer
• Bring real layers even in June: it’s meaningfully colder out on the water near the ice
• Dramamine for anyone prone to motion sickness; the Sound can get choppy on the open stretches
• Check the tunnel schedule so you’re not waiting 30+ minutes at the portal in each direction

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Day Trip: Anchorage & Flattop Mountain

Anchorage is close enough to Girdwood to make an easy day out, and it covered the two things Girdwood couldn’t: a real hike above the city and a proper run at the local food.

Flattop Mountain: A coworker told me this was the one hike to do near Anchorage, and it was right. Flattop is the most-climbed mountain in Alaska for a reason — the trailhead at Glen Alps is a short drive up from the city, and the payoff comes fast: sweeping views over Anchorage, Cook Inlet, and the Chugach range, with Denali on the horizon on a clear day. The final push to the summit is a steep, hands-on scramble; with the kids and the grandparents we went up as far as the family wanted and took the views from the shoulder, which are excellent on their own. You don’t have to summit to get the point of it.

Anchorage food: The reason to build in a city day. Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop — another coworker recommendation — is a genuinely good artisan bakery and worth timing a morning around. Hearth Artisan Pizza was the easy family-dinner win: wood-fired pizza that both kids and grandparents happily agreed on, which is not nothing on day four of a trip. And for a classic Anchorage brunch, Snow City Cafe earns its beloved-institution reputation.

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Trip Summary

Detail	Info
Total Days	6 days
Base	Girdwood — one place, the whole trip
Group	6 — three generations (2 adults, 2 kids, grandparents)
Vehicle	One SUV, picked up and dropped at Anchorage airport
Day Trips	Whittier (glacier cruise), Portage (wildlife center), Anchorage (Flattop)
Total Driving	Minimal — every day trip under an hour each way
Trip Highlight	26 Glacier Cruise out of Whittier
Originally Planned	Iceland — postponed, no regrets

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Practical Notes

The One-Base Strategy

This is the thing I’d tell anyone doing Alaska with a multigenerational group: don’t chase miles. Alaska is enormous and the instinct is to try to see all of it. Resist it. We picked one base — Girdwood — and did a single short day trip out from it each day. No one spent the vacation packing and unpacking, the drives were short and scenic, and the grandparents never got worn down by logistics. Girdwood alone, within an hour of a world-class glacier cruise, a real wildlife center, and Anchorage, was enough to fill the days with room to spare.

Getting Around

• Rent an SUV at Anchorage airport and keep it the whole trip. There’s effectively no public transit for what you’ll want to do
• The Seward Highway along the Turnagain Arm is one of the most scenic drives in the country — the drive out and back is part of the day, not a cost of it
• The Whittier tunnel runs on a schedule and switches direction — check the times before you go
• Fuel up before longer legs; services thin out between towns

With Kids

• The long daylight is a gift — a 6pm start still leaves hours of light, so you can be relaxed about timing
• Alternate a big day (the glacier cruise) with an easy one (a Girdwood trail, berry picking, the tram). The rhythm keeps everyone sane
• The wildlife is the hook: bears and musk ox at the conservation center, otters and puffins from the cruise. Kids who tune out scenery do not tune out animals
• Berry picking is free and unexpectedly the most memorable hour — let them fill their hands
• Pack real rain gear and warm layers for everyone, even in summer. “June” in Alaska is not June anywhere else

Food

Small-town Alaska and Anchorage both punch above their weight if you know where to look:

• Girdwood: Jack Sprat for a global, veg-and-seafood-friendly dinner; The Bake Shop for sourdough and omelets; Girdwood Brewing for an easy taproom evening
• Anchorage: Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop for pastry, Hearth Artisan Pizza for a no-argument family dinner, Snow City Cafe for brunch
• On the water: the smoked salmon chowder on the glacier cruise, eaten cold and windblown, counts as a meal you’ll remember
• Plenty of vegetable-forward options throughout — the non-seafood eaters were never stuck

Weather in Late June

Expect 55–65°F, intermittent rain, and daylight that doesn’t quit. The rain is part of the deal — it’s what makes the place that green — and it rarely settles in all day. Layers, waterproofs, and a flexible attitude cover it. The upside of the endless light is real: you never feel rushed, and the days stretch as long as your energy does.

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The Honest Summary

We planned Iceland and got Alaska, and we planned a bigger Alaska and got a smaller one — and I’d struggle now to feel like we lost either trade. One base in Girdwood, three generations, short day trips, and almost no time in the car, and we still watched glaciers fall into the sea, stood a few feet from a musk ox, hiked above Anchorage, and picked wild blueberries off a mountain. Alaska has a reputation as a cruise stop for retirees or a proving ground for the hardcore, and it’s neither. With kids and grandparents in the same SUV, a short and simple version of it was one of the most genuinely fun family trips we’ve taken. If your own version of Iceland falls through, this is a very good place to land.